Princess Marisa
4 years ago
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Google in French
March 29th, 2008 10 AM Gustavia, St. Barths Island, French West Indies
Great. I'm using free Wi-Fi internet in some crazy expensive place and since I go through Google for my blogs and I'm in a French territory, I'm having to try and figure out Google in French. If this turns out weird, you will know why. Freaking Frenchies. Since my last blog, we have covered quite a bit of ground. It’s been over a week since the girls left in St. Thomas and as soon as I dropped them off and got back to the boat we were off. Initially, the weather report didn’t look good calling for large swells from the North and lots of wind right from the direction we needed to go. The plan was to go to St. John and hang out there until the weather eased a bit. Due to the fact that we were headed east along the south side of the islands, we were actually able to hide a little from the northerly swells and ended up making it past St. John and finally anchored in Pirates Bight, Norman Island. This place was packed, mostly with charter boats, so it was tough to find a spot but we managed. I dove to check the anchor and make sure it was stuck. It was 35’ of water so it’s no problem for me to make that depth. After I checked it I was on my way up when I caught a shadow out of the corner of my mask. When I surfaced, I scanned down around under the boat to see if I could catch a glimpse of what was swimming around. Then I saw a few more shadows down at about 20 feet. I dove down to see what they were. Half a dozen large fish, probably 30 pounds or more each, were lazily hovering around staring at me. I wasn’t sure what they were at the time but they resembled yellowtail (I later read that they are called Cero fish here and are supposed to be good to eat). This story in itself isn’t remarkable except for the fact that Norman Island is technically a British Virgin Island and therefore, any spearfishing is strictly forbidden. I was dying to get a spear into one of these bastards who obviously knew they were protected because they stared at me basically daring me to do something. I swam up and told Brian that if the anchorage wasn’t so packed we would have been having a nice fish dinner. Oh well. I took the dinghy (which we didn’t lose, even though we towed it, again) into the beach area. This island is definitely worth writing about. There is a small dinghy dock that leads up to a small white sand beach, maybe a half mile wide. All along the beach area and throughout the bay there are boats everywhere. The photos I posted that show a beach with a small building with a red roof that says Pirates is the place. That building is currently the only thing on the entire island. I was told it is privately owned and that plans to build the owner a vacation home on the east side are moving forward. There is a small place to eat, a bar and a gift shop in this little area and everything is very laid back. One of the cruising guides we had suggested hiking this island so I took a quick walk to see what the trails offered. I was treated to amazing panoramic views of both sides of the island, see the photos posted. I went back to the boat and began packing my overnight hiking pack. I had Brian drop me off and we arranged to meet at noon the next day. I had a great hike and checked out every corner of the island before finally settling into a small place called Money Bay near the East side of the island. I set up my tent under some small trees and made a small fire right on the sand. What an amazing night. The full moon was out and lit up the water of the bay. It was so bright out that I was able to read by moonlight lying in the sand next to the fire. The trades were blowing a nice breeze that night and it couldn’t have been better. This island (it is claimed) was the inspiration for the book Treasure Island because apparently over half a million dollars in silver was found there by natives of Tortola. It is a strange feeling, but one I’m enjoying, being able to see so many places that have such a stamp in history. So many of the things and places we have seen hold such rich pasts it’s hard to explain how you feel when you are standing on the same site as people did five hundred years ago. I guess in grade school when you learn about Colombus you never really expect to actually see the places the wind took him. Sorry to report, I found no money in Money Bay but I’ll take the perfect night under the moon and sleeping soundly in the sand. The next day I hiked out and met Brian for lunch as planned.
Back on the boat, weather a little more settled, we set out for St. Martin, 80 miles to the East. Of course, pounding into 25 knot tradewinds and bashing into the swells that had veered back to their more normal easterly direction made for a long ride over. Unable to sail, we had to motor directly into it for over 24 hours. It was a fairly uneventful crossing and we arrived into Simpson Bay, St. Martin the next day around 4 in the afternoon. That was last Sunday. There is a large lagoon there that is only accessible three times a day. There is a small drawbridge that gets lifted for outgoing and incoming boats during these times. We entered at 5:30 PM and anchored up in the lagoon. There are several hundred boats there. St. Martin is an island that is split. The northern part is French and the southern part, where the lagoon is, is Dutch. This area has become a haven for mega yachts during the winter and I can tell you there are an unreal number of these throughout the area. To clarify for those of you who may not have much nautical savvy, a mega yacht or super yacht is basically a gigantic private yacht, usually over 100 feet in length. There are typically a full time paid crew aboard complete with a cook, engineer, several waiter types and maids. I have talked with many of the various crew people who do different jobs and have been told that some of the larger ones cost in excess of thirty grand a day to operate, even when it sits at the dock. Yeah thirty grand, that’s five zeros behind a three, every day. That’s crew salaries, fuel, dock fees, insurance, maintenance, etc. One deckhand told me that the fuel bill for the yacht he works on varies between two hundred to four hundred thousand dollars a month, depending on how much they move around. One of the yachts in St. Thomas at the Yacht Haven Grande marina had a helicopter on top of it near the flying bridge. It’s mind blowing to think how much money these people have, actually it’s almost impossible for me to comprehend because they exist on a completely different plane of existence than anyone I have ever known. I think it was Tish telling me a story about a woman from one of these types of yachts that had flown down from Puerto Rico to Panama and she had forgotten her purse so she had the crew fly back to get it. From the anchorage it Simpson Bay Lagoon you can see the airport and there were several private planes there taking off and landing all day. Anyway, while we were in St. Martin it was time to get to fixing several things on the boat. There are good marine stores here so I spent most of the week working on bilge pumps, engines, and my favorite, all the stuff on the mast that was broken. I had Brian winch me up the mast again (but no worries, we finally got a Bosun’s chair) and I started by fixing the steaming light. Then I had him take me to the top where I had to figure out what was wrong with the electronic wind instrument and the anchor light. While I was up there I also discovered why the onboard VHF radio wasn’t working well, the antenna was shot. So the following day we rounded up all the necessary parts and I went back up and got to spend two wonderful hours flopping around the top of the mast mounting, bolting, wiring and taping new parts and antennas on but on the bright side, it all works again. One of the days there, Brian rented a ridiculously small car and we set out to drive the entire island. We headed east and then north through the French territory. The drive was scenic and along the way we found a hardware store and some other random things we needed. We ended up having lunch near Marigot, the French capital. This is a very cool area and after I hiked up to an old fort to take in the views and take a few pictures, I wandered around through the shopping area. I was very excited to find a duty free liquor store where I got some Captain Morgan Private Stock rum for 11 dollars as well as a bottle of real Absinthe, which I fear the consequences of the night in the future when I choose to open said bottle. To be honest, for all the hype, St. Martin isn’t quite what I thought it would be. Most of the people still live in various states of poverty and much of the island is dirty and rundown. It reminded me of some areas of the Dominican Republic and even small parts of Puerto Rico. The waterfront areas are truly this islands only bright spots. During our stay in the lagoon I did quite a bit of work on the boat. This was apparently noticed by my new friend Axel. He is a German guy who recently bought a sailboat in Tortola and from what I saw, he might need to order a few reference books from Amazon about boating. Nice enough guy but one night we came back from dinner to find that his boat was drifting rapidly towards the boat off his starboard side. I raced over in the dinghy and knocked on the hull to wake him just in time for him to fire up the motor and narrowly avoid an unpleasant collision. The following day I was sitting on the back of our boat working on a pump and covered in dirt and oil from being down in the engine room most of the afternoon. Axel pulled up in his dinghy, smiled wide and informed me that I was a “dirty boy” (when you say that do you your best creepy German accent). He also said that I was a good worker and asked how much I was paid for my work. I laughed and let him know that Brian is running a new brand of slave camp held aboard a boat and that I was merely doing all this work so I wouldn’t die some night from the boat sinking due to crashing into some freighter that couldn’t see us cause the lights don’t work and after the crash we can’t pump the water out because none of the bilge pumps were working. More or less self preservation is the motivator for working so hard. All kidding aside he asked if I could do some work for him on his boat and that he would pay me. So I’m hoping that we can meet up with him in Martinique and I can make a couple hundred bucks doing some work for him. I really hope it isn’t some sick German freako trick to get me into his boat and lock me in the bilge like a floating dungeon. I know my friend Ron will be jealous of this story, up til now he was the only one I knew of that had been hit on by some German dude.
We left St. Martin on Thursday and headed for St. Barts (actually it is St. Barthelemy) which is 15 miles southeast. We stopped at Isle Forchue, a small half moon shaped island and anchored there. The diving was supposed to be good there so after arriving I swam around looking at the reef and all the various fish. The only big ones I came across were a couple of Great Barracuda that swam by eyeing me. I was hoping to find a turtle but had no luck. So often in this part of the Caribbean I have seen turtles lounging on the surface of the water and as the boat approaches they stick their head and neck way up out of the water to get a deep breath of air and then they vanish beneath the waves. Forchue was a nice stopover and Friday morning we set off to St. Barts. I was assuming that it would be packed here because this weekend they are holding a sailboat race for mega sailing yachts. There are 30 entrants in the race and only two of them aren’t over 100 feet long. As I type this I’m watching out to the south from Rum Boogie and all the yachts are setting sail and beginning the race. This evening when they come into port I will get some pictures of these and post them when I can. St. Barts is a cool little town with a fun vibe. Most of the people I walk past are speaking French but luckily for me most speak English as well. Along with working on my Spanish I have also started to learn some French but I still suck at it. The plan is to stay here until possibly Monday and then sail to St. Kitts next. So until next time, watch out for crazy Germans, especially Wedemeyer.
Great. I'm using free Wi-Fi internet in some crazy expensive place and since I go through Google for my blogs and I'm in a French territory, I'm having to try and figure out Google in French. If this turns out weird, you will know why. Freaking Frenchies. Since my last blog, we have covered quite a bit of ground. It’s been over a week since the girls left in St. Thomas and as soon as I dropped them off and got back to the boat we were off. Initially, the weather report didn’t look good calling for large swells from the North and lots of wind right from the direction we needed to go. The plan was to go to St. John and hang out there until the weather eased a bit. Due to the fact that we were headed east along the south side of the islands, we were actually able to hide a little from the northerly swells and ended up making it past St. John and finally anchored in Pirates Bight, Norman Island. This place was packed, mostly with charter boats, so it was tough to find a spot but we managed. I dove to check the anchor and make sure it was stuck. It was 35’ of water so it’s no problem for me to make that depth. After I checked it I was on my way up when I caught a shadow out of the corner of my mask. When I surfaced, I scanned down around under the boat to see if I could catch a glimpse of what was swimming around. Then I saw a few more shadows down at about 20 feet. I dove down to see what they were. Half a dozen large fish, probably 30 pounds or more each, were lazily hovering around staring at me. I wasn’t sure what they were at the time but they resembled yellowtail (I later read that they are called Cero fish here and are supposed to be good to eat). This story in itself isn’t remarkable except for the fact that Norman Island is technically a British Virgin Island and therefore, any spearfishing is strictly forbidden. I was dying to get a spear into one of these bastards who obviously knew they were protected because they stared at me basically daring me to do something. I swam up and told Brian that if the anchorage wasn’t so packed we would have been having a nice fish dinner. Oh well. I took the dinghy (which we didn’t lose, even though we towed it, again) into the beach area. This island is definitely worth writing about. There is a small dinghy dock that leads up to a small white sand beach, maybe a half mile wide. All along the beach area and throughout the bay there are boats everywhere. The photos I posted that show a beach with a small building with a red roof that says Pirates is the place. That building is currently the only thing on the entire island. I was told it is privately owned and that plans to build the owner a vacation home on the east side are moving forward. There is a small place to eat, a bar and a gift shop in this little area and everything is very laid back. One of the cruising guides we had suggested hiking this island so I took a quick walk to see what the trails offered. I was treated to amazing panoramic views of both sides of the island, see the photos posted. I went back to the boat and began packing my overnight hiking pack. I had Brian drop me off and we arranged to meet at noon the next day. I had a great hike and checked out every corner of the island before finally settling into a small place called Money Bay near the East side of the island. I set up my tent under some small trees and made a small fire right on the sand. What an amazing night. The full moon was out and lit up the water of the bay. It was so bright out that I was able to read by moonlight lying in the sand next to the fire. The trades were blowing a nice breeze that night and it couldn’t have been better. This island (it is claimed) was the inspiration for the book Treasure Island because apparently over half a million dollars in silver was found there by natives of Tortola. It is a strange feeling, but one I’m enjoying, being able to see so many places that have such a stamp in history. So many of the things and places we have seen hold such rich pasts it’s hard to explain how you feel when you are standing on the same site as people did five hundred years ago. I guess in grade school when you learn about Colombus you never really expect to actually see the places the wind took him. Sorry to report, I found no money in Money Bay but I’ll take the perfect night under the moon and sleeping soundly in the sand. The next day I hiked out and met Brian for lunch as planned.
Back on the boat, weather a little more settled, we set out for St. Martin, 80 miles to the East. Of course, pounding into 25 knot tradewinds and bashing into the swells that had veered back to their more normal easterly direction made for a long ride over. Unable to sail, we had to motor directly into it for over 24 hours. It was a fairly uneventful crossing and we arrived into Simpson Bay, St. Martin the next day around 4 in the afternoon. That was last Sunday. There is a large lagoon there that is only accessible three times a day. There is a small drawbridge that gets lifted for outgoing and incoming boats during these times. We entered at 5:30 PM and anchored up in the lagoon. There are several hundred boats there. St. Martin is an island that is split. The northern part is French and the southern part, where the lagoon is, is Dutch. This area has become a haven for mega yachts during the winter and I can tell you there are an unreal number of these throughout the area. To clarify for those of you who may not have much nautical savvy, a mega yacht or super yacht is basically a gigantic private yacht, usually over 100 feet in length. There are typically a full time paid crew aboard complete with a cook, engineer, several waiter types and maids. I have talked with many of the various crew people who do different jobs and have been told that some of the larger ones cost in excess of thirty grand a day to operate, even when it sits at the dock. Yeah thirty grand, that’s five zeros behind a three, every day. That’s crew salaries, fuel, dock fees, insurance, maintenance, etc. One deckhand told me that the fuel bill for the yacht he works on varies between two hundred to four hundred thousand dollars a month, depending on how much they move around. One of the yachts in St. Thomas at the Yacht Haven Grande marina had a helicopter on top of it near the flying bridge. It’s mind blowing to think how much money these people have, actually it’s almost impossible for me to comprehend because they exist on a completely different plane of existence than anyone I have ever known. I think it was Tish telling me a story about a woman from one of these types of yachts that had flown down from Puerto Rico to Panama and she had forgotten her purse so she had the crew fly back to get it. From the anchorage it Simpson Bay Lagoon you can see the airport and there were several private planes there taking off and landing all day. Anyway, while we were in St. Martin it was time to get to fixing several things on the boat. There are good marine stores here so I spent most of the week working on bilge pumps, engines, and my favorite, all the stuff on the mast that was broken. I had Brian winch me up the mast again (but no worries, we finally got a Bosun’s chair) and I started by fixing the steaming light. Then I had him take me to the top where I had to figure out what was wrong with the electronic wind instrument and the anchor light. While I was up there I also discovered why the onboard VHF radio wasn’t working well, the antenna was shot. So the following day we rounded up all the necessary parts and I went back up and got to spend two wonderful hours flopping around the top of the mast mounting, bolting, wiring and taping new parts and antennas on but on the bright side, it all works again. One of the days there, Brian rented a ridiculously small car and we set out to drive the entire island. We headed east and then north through the French territory. The drive was scenic and along the way we found a hardware store and some other random things we needed. We ended up having lunch near Marigot, the French capital. This is a very cool area and after I hiked up to an old fort to take in the views and take a few pictures, I wandered around through the shopping area. I was very excited to find a duty free liquor store where I got some Captain Morgan Private Stock rum for 11 dollars as well as a bottle of real Absinthe, which I fear the consequences of the night in the future when I choose to open said bottle. To be honest, for all the hype, St. Martin isn’t quite what I thought it would be. Most of the people still live in various states of poverty and much of the island is dirty and rundown. It reminded me of some areas of the Dominican Republic and even small parts of Puerto Rico. The waterfront areas are truly this islands only bright spots. During our stay in the lagoon I did quite a bit of work on the boat. This was apparently noticed by my new friend Axel. He is a German guy who recently bought a sailboat in Tortola and from what I saw, he might need to order a few reference books from Amazon about boating. Nice enough guy but one night we came back from dinner to find that his boat was drifting rapidly towards the boat off his starboard side. I raced over in the dinghy and knocked on the hull to wake him just in time for him to fire up the motor and narrowly avoid an unpleasant collision. The following day I was sitting on the back of our boat working on a pump and covered in dirt and oil from being down in the engine room most of the afternoon. Axel pulled up in his dinghy, smiled wide and informed me that I was a “dirty boy” (when you say that do you your best creepy German accent). He also said that I was a good worker and asked how much I was paid for my work. I laughed and let him know that Brian is running a new brand of slave camp held aboard a boat and that I was merely doing all this work so I wouldn’t die some night from the boat sinking due to crashing into some freighter that couldn’t see us cause the lights don’t work and after the crash we can’t pump the water out because none of the bilge pumps were working. More or less self preservation is the motivator for working so hard. All kidding aside he asked if I could do some work for him on his boat and that he would pay me. So I’m hoping that we can meet up with him in Martinique and I can make a couple hundred bucks doing some work for him. I really hope it isn’t some sick German freako trick to get me into his boat and lock me in the bilge like a floating dungeon. I know my friend Ron will be jealous of this story, up til now he was the only one I knew of that had been hit on by some German dude.
We left St. Martin on Thursday and headed for St. Barts (actually it is St. Barthelemy) which is 15 miles southeast. We stopped at Isle Forchue, a small half moon shaped island and anchored there. The diving was supposed to be good there so after arriving I swam around looking at the reef and all the various fish. The only big ones I came across were a couple of Great Barracuda that swam by eyeing me. I was hoping to find a turtle but had no luck. So often in this part of the Caribbean I have seen turtles lounging on the surface of the water and as the boat approaches they stick their head and neck way up out of the water to get a deep breath of air and then they vanish beneath the waves. Forchue was a nice stopover and Friday morning we set off to St. Barts. I was assuming that it would be packed here because this weekend they are holding a sailboat race for mega sailing yachts. There are 30 entrants in the race and only two of them aren’t over 100 feet long. As I type this I’m watching out to the south from Rum Boogie and all the yachts are setting sail and beginning the race. This evening when they come into port I will get some pictures of these and post them when I can. St. Barts is a cool little town with a fun vibe. Most of the people I walk past are speaking French but luckily for me most speak English as well. Along with working on my Spanish I have also started to learn some French but I still suck at it. The plan is to stay here until possibly Monday and then sail to St. Kitts next. So until next time, watch out for crazy Germans, especially Wedemeyer.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Eastward...
The girls fly out in a few hours from here in St. Thomas and as soon as we drop them off we will be off to St. John. That will be a staging point for us to wait for a little better weather for our trek to the East and our destination of St. Martin/Sint Marteen. This island is half owned by France, half by the Dutch, hence the two different spellings. It's supposed to be a great island and I'm looking forward to seeing it. It's around 100 miles total but we are ready to move on. I got quite a bit accomplished on the boat over the past two days and I should be able to finish most of the projects by the time we leave St. Martin to continue south along the path. After we leave here, I will in most likely lose cell service and internet availability is questionable at best. I will do my best to update with photos and stories but chances are I will have fewer opportunities resulting in me cramming several days worth of info into each update. We'll see. After I fixed both bilge pumps yesterday, Tish, Jo Ann and I took the dinghy over to Water Island and walked around a little. This island is at the entrance to Charlotte Amalie and there are some really cool old forts there. I got several up close pictures of the forts, their construction and even the spots that used to have the cannons, I will get those posted soon. Can't do it now because I'm sitting in the Barefoot Buddha (a pseudo Starbucks) eating a turkey wrap, drinking a Red Bull and using their internet terminals all for the low price of 9.50 U.S.
Monday, March 17, 2008
And I rode a moped to get there...
Hey all, sorry for the short lame blogs lately. Haven't really had a chance to sit down and write about some of the funny things that have been happening. But I'm in the good old Offshore Bar, buy a beer get half an hour free internet so I should be good for a while. If my writing starts getting weird I guess you'll know when the beer starts hitting me, it is St. Patricks Day after all.
For the past week, Tish and Jo Ann, Brians' girlfriend and good friend have been cruising with us through the British Virgin Islands. We have been going at a pretty good pace, moving from island to island everyday. In this area it is only 5 to 10 miles to each neighboring island so it's an easy cruise to move around. Last week we pulled out of Charlotte Amalie on Thursday to head over to St. John. This island is about 5 miles east of St. Thomas. Now prior to our leaving I had gone out on Tuesday night with my buddy Roy (you might remember from the gargantuan stripper story). He picked me up at Offshore after I had written a blog and we did some bar hopping that night. That is of course after we swung by his cousins so he could buy a couple big fat joints to smoke that night. We ended up staying out until 6 AM at which point we scored a pizza from the Caribbean Saloon for winning a game of foosball. He was so high by this point that the drive home wa interesting to say the least. I really wasn't too worried about it. It seems to be the routine here. We drink all night. Roy and Eric smoke out, we hop in their cars and we absolutely haul ass around very steep hills and hairpin turns, usually while Roy is still puffing away at what is left of his roach. I crashed on Roy's couch at his apartment for a few hours before heading back to the marina. I needed to get over to the marina store on the east side of the island and get some parts for the boat. We don't have transportation and my buddies here were working so I ended up renting a scooter. Me. The dude who never gets on motorcycles rented a scooter to speed around an island full of hills and where you drive on the left side of the street. The chick rented me one and gave me the crash course and I was turned loose into traffic. Needless to say, keep left was a mantra I kept chanting to myself so I wouldn't forget and end up on the wrong side. I reached Red Hook and found the store. I collected some parts and dropped a piece from the dinghy outboard off to get repaired. I left there with the intention of going to get some food and I almost crashed the stupid moped when I came around a curve and a police car switched it's lights on from the opposite side of the street. I wasn't sure if he was stopping me and I just happened to apply the brake a little too hard. I managed to keep the bike from launching me off it but not before I skidded off the road into the deep irrigation gutters they have to prevent the roads from being washed out. On my way into the gutter I narrowly avoided running over a huge iguana (what is it with me and these freaking reptiles) before I finally stopped. These iguanas are everywhere and they have scared the shit out of me on more than one occasion when they come running out of random bushes at the worst times. Anyway, F iguanas. So I went and ate, picked up the part and cruised back towards the marina via the north side of the island. This is a very scenic drive and was capped off at Magan's Bay at sunset (see pics) which was all time. I got back and layed low that night, thank god Roy had to be at work so I was safe. The next day I scootered (is that a word?) over to the west side to find a few more parts because I was woken up by Brian at 7:30 that morning asking me if I could dive down and find a part he dropped in the water. A part slighty larger than a quarter, in 35 feet of water, with a strong current, in a commercial port, with less than two foot visibiliity. Yeah, right. The depth is no problem. The rest, problem. I'll scooter over to Yamaha and pay four bucks for the part. After I did that I hit the grocery store and bought myself some stuff. Back on the boat, I finished fixing the dinghy and we set sail for St John around 2 PM. It was a nice cruise over and we reached a nice little spot called Cinnamon Bay. We got anchored up, I dove to check and make sure we were set and we had a nice relaxing night in this beautiful little cove drinking rum and coke, listening to music and enjoying the stars. Next day, we went to pull the hook and oh great, the freaking windlass (the machine that pulls up the heavy chain and anchor) was no worky. Now we had already had the starter motor rebuilt in St Thomas for this thing because it quit on us back in Vieques. Now we had a different problem, the drive wasn't engaging on the gear so it wouldn't wind in the chain. Once again we had to hand over hand pull in the chain and anchor, old school style. We sailed north to Jost Van Dyke to Great Harbour and dropped anchor in 15 feet of water. Now initially Brian wanted to anchor in less than 7 feet of water, on rock, near the reef... Umm, no. I dove and literally there was barely room for me to swim between the keel and the bottom. I moved the boat out a little deeper and we anchored amidst a huge field of boats that were mostly chartered. That means someone rents the boat and has very little idea what they are doing as was evident when I swam around looking at the surrounding boats anchors to make sure we would be safe. Most of them had very little chain out and the anchors were not set on some of them. Not a good feeling, especially when 3 large catamarans sailed in and I kid you not, side tied to each other on anchor like we do at the freaking lake. Wow. To say that some of this shit is a huge adjustment for me to make is a massive understatement. On the bright side, Jost Van Dyke is a bad ass island. Get there sometime in your life. Before I'm gone I guarantee I will be doing a New Years party there once. Foxy's bar on the east side of the small white sand beach is a world famous place and I highly recommend it. Foxy is an old dude born and raised there who still plays music and hangs out welcoming all the guests. Fri and Sat nights they do a BBQ buffet and have one of the best bands I have ever heard in any bar playing until the wee hours of the morning. When I shook his hand he told me to enjoy myself and sleep on the beach if I wanted, no one would bother me. I did lay in one of the hammocks as I listened to that great band. In between Red Stripes I managed to hang one of our FFD on duty shirts above the bar (see pics) which is cool cause the entire bar is covered with stuff. After getting back to the boat I could hear the music wafting through the harbor until well after 3 in the morning, it was great. Jost Van Dyke is my kind of place.
The next day (Sat) we pulled up the anchor and set sail for Tortola. Quick little two hour cruise and we pulled into Road Town, the capital of the British Virgin Islands. Road Town wasn't as great as the other places we had been. It's a little older town, a little dirty and just didn't have the same vibe from the people. I tried like hell to track down the parts for the windlass but to no avail. I did manage to have my first Painkiller here. This is a drink famous in the BVI. Basically it is pineapple and coconut juice, a little bit of nutmeg and a shitload of Pussers Rum. Pussers was the official Rum of the Royal Navy and each sailor was given half a pint allowance a day all the way up until 1970. It is actually pretty good rum and the Painkiller you ask, they are awesome. Much like Buffalo Milk that is native to Catalina Island back home for me, a really tasty drink that will kick your ass if you aren't careful. Sunday morning we pulled the hook and headed west to Sopers Hole. This is still on the island of Tortola and is a very cool little spot. It's a small anchorage and marina used as a hurricane hole. We ended up grabbing a mooring there instead of anchoring and we spent the majority of the day cruising the wharf shops and marina. About 90 minutes before sundown I cruised Tish and I in the dinghy over to the north side of the island for a twilight snorkel near Brewers Beach. Very cool little spot with lots of sand, scattered rocks and reef strewn randomly about. It was a very chill little dive and by the end of it Tish was getting after it learning how to freedive and clear her ears. She kicked ass and said she enjoyed herself so we launched the dinghy from the beach into the surf and were off for the boat. Last night I was trying to get some internet in Pussers Bar and Grill but instead had some Painkillers and bullshitted with the crew from a racing sailboat that is chartered out. Tish and I checked us out of customs this morning and we had a great afternoon of sailing all through the islands on our way back to Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas. The plan is to spend the next few days here finishing up a few projects on the boat, provisioning at the store, taking on fuel and water and getting the boat ready for our cruise to St Martin. The weather doesn't look good until Friday so hopefully around then we will be able to head out. It's about 100 miles to the east of where we are right now. I'm hoping we will sail to St John on Thursday and I will be able to hike the Reef Bay Trail there and spend the night up on the mountain they have in the National Park. I will hike out on Friday morning and set sail for St Martin at that point. That pretty much catches up everything for the last week.
The chaos has continued to plague us because there are still fucking bananas on the boat and almost daily there is something new that we have to fix. So far in the last week the pull cord ripped out of the outboard motor on the dinghy, the windlass broke twice, the dinghy is leaking air somewhere I can't find yet, 3 of the 4 shower sump pumps are out, all four bilge pumps aren't working, I have had to dive 3 times to unwrap the tow line we are using on the dinghy (yes, we are still towing the dinghy, yes, the motor is still on it) from the port side propeller because someone has backed down on it while we are anchoring as well as some fishing line once, the front toilets keep clogging for some reason unknown yet so they have to be taken apart, the steaming light and the anchor light at the top of the mast are out, and I still have to pump out the bilges by hand sometime this week. Brian is wild. Everything that dude touches gets demolished. He knows how to fix things but when something breaks he basically rips it apart and usually ends up adding a half day of work to what might have been a simple fix. It's amazing. I honestly have no idea how this dude is alive. After some of the stories Tish and Jo Ann have told me I think I'm going to lock him in his room while we are underway just to keep him from either burning the boat down or just crashing into an island while I'm sleeping. Seriously, the more I get to know him the more I am just in a constant state of wonder as to what is next. But fuck it, I hope when I'm 64 I'm in half as good a shape as him. The guy still can pull the chain and anchor up I know guys my age that can't so I can only imagine what a bad ass he was in his day. Life is good and keeps getting better. The islands are everything you've dreamed of and more.
One more thing before I sign off. A guy who is like a brother to me, Josh Henderson aka The Deer, was hurt yesterday in a dirt bike accident. This dude is a great firefighter, an absolute demon on a dirt bike, one of the funniest guys ever and just a good man. He broke L3 in his back and shattered his Tib/Fib on his right leg. So far they are holding off operating on his back but they say he will recover, albeit his road will be a long one. If you know this clown, call, text, e-mail, or just get off your ass and go see him. If not, keep him in your thoughts or prayers or whatever it is you do. I know he will be alright, the little bastard is as tough as a coffin nail. Get better brother, I miss you and I want pictures of you in all your goofy looking casts and back braces.
For the past week, Tish and Jo Ann, Brians' girlfriend and good friend have been cruising with us through the British Virgin Islands. We have been going at a pretty good pace, moving from island to island everyday. In this area it is only 5 to 10 miles to each neighboring island so it's an easy cruise to move around. Last week we pulled out of Charlotte Amalie on Thursday to head over to St. John. This island is about 5 miles east of St. Thomas. Now prior to our leaving I had gone out on Tuesday night with my buddy Roy (you might remember from the gargantuan stripper story). He picked me up at Offshore after I had written a blog and we did some bar hopping that night. That is of course after we swung by his cousins so he could buy a couple big fat joints to smoke that night. We ended up staying out until 6 AM at which point we scored a pizza from the Caribbean Saloon for winning a game of foosball. He was so high by this point that the drive home wa interesting to say the least. I really wasn't too worried about it. It seems to be the routine here. We drink all night. Roy and Eric smoke out, we hop in their cars and we absolutely haul ass around very steep hills and hairpin turns, usually while Roy is still puffing away at what is left of his roach. I crashed on Roy's couch at his apartment for a few hours before heading back to the marina. I needed to get over to the marina store on the east side of the island and get some parts for the boat. We don't have transportation and my buddies here were working so I ended up renting a scooter. Me. The dude who never gets on motorcycles rented a scooter to speed around an island full of hills and where you drive on the left side of the street. The chick rented me one and gave me the crash course and I was turned loose into traffic. Needless to say, keep left was a mantra I kept chanting to myself so I wouldn't forget and end up on the wrong side. I reached Red Hook and found the store. I collected some parts and dropped a piece from the dinghy outboard off to get repaired. I left there with the intention of going to get some food and I almost crashed the stupid moped when I came around a curve and a police car switched it's lights on from the opposite side of the street. I wasn't sure if he was stopping me and I just happened to apply the brake a little too hard. I managed to keep the bike from launching me off it but not before I skidded off the road into the deep irrigation gutters they have to prevent the roads from being washed out. On my way into the gutter I narrowly avoided running over a huge iguana (what is it with me and these freaking reptiles) before I finally stopped. These iguanas are everywhere and they have scared the shit out of me on more than one occasion when they come running out of random bushes at the worst times. Anyway, F iguanas. So I went and ate, picked up the part and cruised back towards the marina via the north side of the island. This is a very scenic drive and was capped off at Magan's Bay at sunset (see pics) which was all time. I got back and layed low that night, thank god Roy had to be at work so I was safe. The next day I scootered (is that a word?) over to the west side to find a few more parts because I was woken up by Brian at 7:30 that morning asking me if I could dive down and find a part he dropped in the water. A part slighty larger than a quarter, in 35 feet of water, with a strong current, in a commercial port, with less than two foot visibiliity. Yeah, right. The depth is no problem. The rest, problem. I'll scooter over to Yamaha and pay four bucks for the part. After I did that I hit the grocery store and bought myself some stuff. Back on the boat, I finished fixing the dinghy and we set sail for St John around 2 PM. It was a nice cruise over and we reached a nice little spot called Cinnamon Bay. We got anchored up, I dove to check and make sure we were set and we had a nice relaxing night in this beautiful little cove drinking rum and coke, listening to music and enjoying the stars. Next day, we went to pull the hook and oh great, the freaking windlass (the machine that pulls up the heavy chain and anchor) was no worky. Now we had already had the starter motor rebuilt in St Thomas for this thing because it quit on us back in Vieques. Now we had a different problem, the drive wasn't engaging on the gear so it wouldn't wind in the chain. Once again we had to hand over hand pull in the chain and anchor, old school style. We sailed north to Jost Van Dyke to Great Harbour and dropped anchor in 15 feet of water. Now initially Brian wanted to anchor in less than 7 feet of water, on rock, near the reef... Umm, no. I dove and literally there was barely room for me to swim between the keel and the bottom. I moved the boat out a little deeper and we anchored amidst a huge field of boats that were mostly chartered. That means someone rents the boat and has very little idea what they are doing as was evident when I swam around looking at the surrounding boats anchors to make sure we would be safe. Most of them had very little chain out and the anchors were not set on some of them. Not a good feeling, especially when 3 large catamarans sailed in and I kid you not, side tied to each other on anchor like we do at the freaking lake. Wow. To say that some of this shit is a huge adjustment for me to make is a massive understatement. On the bright side, Jost Van Dyke is a bad ass island. Get there sometime in your life. Before I'm gone I guarantee I will be doing a New Years party there once. Foxy's bar on the east side of the small white sand beach is a world famous place and I highly recommend it. Foxy is an old dude born and raised there who still plays music and hangs out welcoming all the guests. Fri and Sat nights they do a BBQ buffet and have one of the best bands I have ever heard in any bar playing until the wee hours of the morning. When I shook his hand he told me to enjoy myself and sleep on the beach if I wanted, no one would bother me. I did lay in one of the hammocks as I listened to that great band. In between Red Stripes I managed to hang one of our FFD on duty shirts above the bar (see pics) which is cool cause the entire bar is covered with stuff. After getting back to the boat I could hear the music wafting through the harbor until well after 3 in the morning, it was great. Jost Van Dyke is my kind of place.
The next day (Sat) we pulled up the anchor and set sail for Tortola. Quick little two hour cruise and we pulled into Road Town, the capital of the British Virgin Islands. Road Town wasn't as great as the other places we had been. It's a little older town, a little dirty and just didn't have the same vibe from the people. I tried like hell to track down the parts for the windlass but to no avail. I did manage to have my first Painkiller here. This is a drink famous in the BVI. Basically it is pineapple and coconut juice, a little bit of nutmeg and a shitload of Pussers Rum. Pussers was the official Rum of the Royal Navy and each sailor was given half a pint allowance a day all the way up until 1970. It is actually pretty good rum and the Painkiller you ask, they are awesome. Much like Buffalo Milk that is native to Catalina Island back home for me, a really tasty drink that will kick your ass if you aren't careful. Sunday morning we pulled the hook and headed west to Sopers Hole. This is still on the island of Tortola and is a very cool little spot. It's a small anchorage and marina used as a hurricane hole. We ended up grabbing a mooring there instead of anchoring and we spent the majority of the day cruising the wharf shops and marina. About 90 minutes before sundown I cruised Tish and I in the dinghy over to the north side of the island for a twilight snorkel near Brewers Beach. Very cool little spot with lots of sand, scattered rocks and reef strewn randomly about. It was a very chill little dive and by the end of it Tish was getting after it learning how to freedive and clear her ears. She kicked ass and said she enjoyed herself so we launched the dinghy from the beach into the surf and were off for the boat. Last night I was trying to get some internet in Pussers Bar and Grill but instead had some Painkillers and bullshitted with the crew from a racing sailboat that is chartered out. Tish and I checked us out of customs this morning and we had a great afternoon of sailing all through the islands on our way back to Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas. The plan is to spend the next few days here finishing up a few projects on the boat, provisioning at the store, taking on fuel and water and getting the boat ready for our cruise to St Martin. The weather doesn't look good until Friday so hopefully around then we will be able to head out. It's about 100 miles to the east of where we are right now. I'm hoping we will sail to St John on Thursday and I will be able to hike the Reef Bay Trail there and spend the night up on the mountain they have in the National Park. I will hike out on Friday morning and set sail for St Martin at that point. That pretty much catches up everything for the last week.
The chaos has continued to plague us because there are still fucking bananas on the boat and almost daily there is something new that we have to fix. So far in the last week the pull cord ripped out of the outboard motor on the dinghy, the windlass broke twice, the dinghy is leaking air somewhere I can't find yet, 3 of the 4 shower sump pumps are out, all four bilge pumps aren't working, I have had to dive 3 times to unwrap the tow line we are using on the dinghy (yes, we are still towing the dinghy, yes, the motor is still on it) from the port side propeller because someone has backed down on it while we are anchoring as well as some fishing line once, the front toilets keep clogging for some reason unknown yet so they have to be taken apart, the steaming light and the anchor light at the top of the mast are out, and I still have to pump out the bilges by hand sometime this week. Brian is wild. Everything that dude touches gets demolished. He knows how to fix things but when something breaks he basically rips it apart and usually ends up adding a half day of work to what might have been a simple fix. It's amazing. I honestly have no idea how this dude is alive. After some of the stories Tish and Jo Ann have told me I think I'm going to lock him in his room while we are underway just to keep him from either burning the boat down or just crashing into an island while I'm sleeping. Seriously, the more I get to know him the more I am just in a constant state of wonder as to what is next. But fuck it, I hope when I'm 64 I'm in half as good a shape as him. The guy still can pull the chain and anchor up I know guys my age that can't so I can only imagine what a bad ass he was in his day. Life is good and keeps getting better. The islands are everything you've dreamed of and more.
One more thing before I sign off. A guy who is like a brother to me, Josh Henderson aka The Deer, was hurt yesterday in a dirt bike accident. This dude is a great firefighter, an absolute demon on a dirt bike, one of the funniest guys ever and just a good man. He broke L3 in his back and shattered his Tib/Fib on his right leg. So far they are holding off operating on his back but they say he will recover, albeit his road will be a long one. If you know this clown, call, text, e-mail, or just get off your ass and go see him. If not, keep him in your thoughts or prayers or whatever it is you do. I know he will be alright, the little bastard is as tough as a coffin nail. Get better brother, I miss you and I want pictures of you in all your goofy looking casts and back braces.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Cruising the U.S. and British Virgin Islands...
Not a lot of time to write at the moment. I'm in Tortola which is an island in the British Virgin Islands. We have been cruising for the last few days with the girls. We anchored in St John Thursday, Jost Van Dyke yesterday and now we are in lovely little Road Town, the capital of the British Virgin Islands located here in Tortola. I'm running around trying to track down a few parts we need for the windlass and so far have been unsuccessful. Everyone here is definitely on island time. There have been quite a few funny things lately and when I have more time and a better internet connection. I posted a few pics from St Thomas and a few I took in Jost Van Dyke, a very cool island in the BVI's. There is a really famous bar there called Foxy's and I got one of the Fresno Fire on duty shirts hung up above the bar, see the pics. I even signed the names from my Truck crew from 3's so relax boys, we made it to Foxy's. Hope everyone is good. Look for the update sometime early in the week as we will be back in St Thomas picking up some parts and provisioning for our run down the Leeward Islands.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Where we are...
Click this link http://www.google.co.vi/imgres?imgurl=http://www.caribpro.com/Caribbean_Map/!Caribbean_MAP.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.caribpro.com/Caribbean_Map/Caribbean_Map.html&h=116&w=139&sz=159&tbnid=5alOBYkrIWIJ:&tbnh=116&tbnw=139&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image&cd=1
to see where we are. Look to the east of Puerto Rico. The Virgin islands of the U.S. If you want to see closer images of these islands just google U.S. Virgin Island maps and St Thomas is the biggest one. Look to the south for Charlotte Amalie, right in the middle.
to see where we are. Look to the east of Puerto Rico. The Virgin islands of the U.S. If you want to see closer images of these islands just google U.S. Virgin Island maps and St Thomas is the biggest one. Look to the south for Charlotte Amalie, right in the middle.
From the streets of Puerto Rico to the strip clubs of St Thomas...
Ok well I tried updating this earlier today but apparently it didn't take. My wireless connection at the Barefoot Buddha was shaky at best so here goes again...by the way, this is long cause I haven't been online for a week so shut the hell up Brandon and just read.
Hey everyone, sorry it has taken a while to update but internet connections vary from impossible to find to unbelievably expensive. One of the wireless connections I can get here in the harbor has a rate of over 25 dollars an hour. Or I could buy a 36 hour package for only $497.50. I’m in Charlotte Amalie, on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin islands and things here are C R A Z Y expensive. We arrived here on Sunday morning early. I'll get back to St Thomas in a bit.
After I landed in Ponce back in Puerto Rico, Brian picked me up and we headed back to the marina in Salinas where the boat was anchored. The plan was to leave the following day, which would have been last Wed. In the morning, one of the cruisers we met in Luperon brought us the weather report and it didn’t look good. Lots of wind and big seas were forecast so we waited to leave until Friday in the late afternoon when the trades die down. Puerto Rico was cool. We were anchored in a quiet place near the Salinas marina. My first day there I spent the majority of the time unpacking and getting settled into the boat. It was interesting since I have essentially "moved" on board and this is literally my new home. I have the aft port cabin (back cabin on the left Mom). The following day, last Thursday, I hiked around Salinas for a few hours checking things out, taking pictures and trying to find some place to use internet. It wasn't meant to be though, I could not find any place at all to connect. The following day I spent getting the boat ready to leave that night. We took the dinghy motor off and lashed it down well in the cockpit and hooked the dinghy up to the davit and lifted it up. Sorry to disappoint but we aren't losing any more dinghies or motors. We left around 5 that evening and had a decent run up the coast to the East. Our destination was a bay on the island of Vieques in the Spanish Virgin islands. We had read about these two bays at this island that were reknowned for their bioluminescience. We arrived in Point Ferro around 6 in the morning on Saturday and got anchored up. I slept most of the day cause I had run the boat almost the whole time. Our stay there was very tranquil and quiet and I was able to read 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. I really enjoyed the book. I've had it on my shelf for years but just never read it. I spent the majority of my time lounging around reading and doing some studying, I have the Rosetta Stone software and I'm working on my Spanish as I will need it this summer down in Colombia. During the night I went outside to see the famed water and how bright the phosporesence was but that night it wasn't much more than I have seen back home in Long Beach waters. I lounged around and did a lot of the same the next day because the plan was to leave around midnight and run the last 30 or so miles to St Thomas. We pulled up anchor on schedule and we were off at midnight. Had a great cruise over to St Thomas. Flat seas and tons of stars the whole way. The sunrise was amazing, there is a pic in one of the slideshows. We dropped the anchor right around 9 in the morning in the harbor of Charlotte Amalie. St Thomas is a U.S. Virgin island but we weren't sure if we had to check in with customs and this is the only port of entry on this island. We had to be here by today (Tuesday) because Brian's lady Tish and one of their good friends, Joann, flew in to hang with us for ten days. I slept most of the day on Sunday after we arrived so I was all fired up for the night.
This starts one of the cooler nights I have ever had doing this type of stuff. I went in originally with the plan to grab some sushi. As soon as I arrived at Beni Iguanas (rip off?)Sushi Bar, they were locking the door. I asked a local where I could get a little chow and a brew and he said to cruise over the Shipwreck Bar and Grill. Say no more my good man, sounds like my kind of joint. Jam packed with locals, tourists, and yachties this was a perfect place for me. Newcastle on tap and awesome chicken sandwiches, what more can you ask. Oh yeah, for girls, duh. They didn't disappoint. Spring break is nearing and it's obvious down here. One of the guys sitting next to me at the bar had moved here from Montana 10 months ago and we got to talking boats. He had another buddy with him that was a born and raised local. Eric is Montana dude, Roy is the local. They invited me to go to a REAL local bar that was way up one of the hills. I said sure and we were off. I figured if it got ugly I could take both of them and I only had about forty bucks on me anyway but these guys were aces, both way too cool. We hauled ass up the hill (they drive on the opposite side of the street here and Eric isn't really used to it yet) and went to Sibs. Total local dive bar, right up my alley. Had a great time there while Roy and Eric partook in some weed outside. They were gracious enough to offer me some but I was good with my Bud Light. We drank there until well after 3 when Roy asked if I wanted to go to the strip club. Roy is the proverbial island guy. Great island accent, black dude with all kinds of smooth and style and wearing a pink collared shirt. I had to go. We left and ten minutes later pulled up in front of basically a house. We went upstairs and found the "Strip Club". Basically a converted upstairs on a residential structure, I was treated to island living. A makeshift bar in the corner got our beers. Roy ordered shots as the next girl was announced. A six foot black girl with huge tits and an ass that wouldn't quit came out from the back room. Holy shit. I was in for some fun. It was unreal. You haven't lived until you check this place out. We ended up staying for two hours. It was wild. Roy informed me that Luscious, one of the girls, said that I was cute. I told Roy I was terrified and that we had to use the buddy system the rest of the night. Too much fun. The boys dropped me back at the marina around six in the morning and I finally got some sleep.
The last few days have been spent working on the boat and hanging low key. Tish and Joann arrived today so we will be getting out some over the next few days. Tomorrow I rented a scooter so I can cruise around and check the island out. As for tonight, I'm sitting in a place called the Offshore Bar and Cyber Cafe typing this and waiting for Roy and Eric to come pick me up. I managed to find internet here. For every beer I buy I get a half an hour free internet. My kind of deal. Leave it to me to find that. There are some locals throwing a big bonfire bash or something tonight so hopefully I'll survive the night. I have my laptop bag and I have to kayak back to the boat tonight so this should be interesting. Hope you're doing well.
Hey everyone, sorry it has taken a while to update but internet connections vary from impossible to find to unbelievably expensive. One of the wireless connections I can get here in the harbor has a rate of over 25 dollars an hour. Or I could buy a 36 hour package for only $497.50. I’m in Charlotte Amalie, on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin islands and things here are C R A Z Y expensive. We arrived here on Sunday morning early. I'll get back to St Thomas in a bit.
After I landed in Ponce back in Puerto Rico, Brian picked me up and we headed back to the marina in Salinas where the boat was anchored. The plan was to leave the following day, which would have been last Wed. In the morning, one of the cruisers we met in Luperon brought us the weather report and it didn’t look good. Lots of wind and big seas were forecast so we waited to leave until Friday in the late afternoon when the trades die down. Puerto Rico was cool. We were anchored in a quiet place near the Salinas marina. My first day there I spent the majority of the time unpacking and getting settled into the boat. It was interesting since I have essentially "moved" on board and this is literally my new home. I have the aft port cabin (back cabin on the left Mom). The following day, last Thursday, I hiked around Salinas for a few hours checking things out, taking pictures and trying to find some place to use internet. It wasn't meant to be though, I could not find any place at all to connect. The following day I spent getting the boat ready to leave that night. We took the dinghy motor off and lashed it down well in the cockpit and hooked the dinghy up to the davit and lifted it up. Sorry to disappoint but we aren't losing any more dinghies or motors. We left around 5 that evening and had a decent run up the coast to the East. Our destination was a bay on the island of Vieques in the Spanish Virgin islands. We had read about these two bays at this island that were reknowned for their bioluminescience. We arrived in Point Ferro around 6 in the morning on Saturday and got anchored up. I slept most of the day cause I had run the boat almost the whole time. Our stay there was very tranquil and quiet and I was able to read 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. I really enjoyed the book. I've had it on my shelf for years but just never read it. I spent the majority of my time lounging around reading and doing some studying, I have the Rosetta Stone software and I'm working on my Spanish as I will need it this summer down in Colombia. During the night I went outside to see the famed water and how bright the phosporesence was but that night it wasn't much more than I have seen back home in Long Beach waters. I lounged around and did a lot of the same the next day because the plan was to leave around midnight and run the last 30 or so miles to St Thomas. We pulled up anchor on schedule and we were off at midnight. Had a great cruise over to St Thomas. Flat seas and tons of stars the whole way. The sunrise was amazing, there is a pic in one of the slideshows. We dropped the anchor right around 9 in the morning in the harbor of Charlotte Amalie. St Thomas is a U.S. Virgin island but we weren't sure if we had to check in with customs and this is the only port of entry on this island. We had to be here by today (Tuesday) because Brian's lady Tish and one of their good friends, Joann, flew in to hang with us for ten days. I slept most of the day on Sunday after we arrived so I was all fired up for the night.
This starts one of the cooler nights I have ever had doing this type of stuff. I went in originally with the plan to grab some sushi. As soon as I arrived at Beni Iguanas (rip off?)Sushi Bar, they were locking the door. I asked a local where I could get a little chow and a brew and he said to cruise over the Shipwreck Bar and Grill. Say no more my good man, sounds like my kind of joint. Jam packed with locals, tourists, and yachties this was a perfect place for me. Newcastle on tap and awesome chicken sandwiches, what more can you ask. Oh yeah, for girls, duh. They didn't disappoint. Spring break is nearing and it's obvious down here. One of the guys sitting next to me at the bar had moved here from Montana 10 months ago and we got to talking boats. He had another buddy with him that was a born and raised local. Eric is Montana dude, Roy is the local. They invited me to go to a REAL local bar that was way up one of the hills. I said sure and we were off. I figured if it got ugly I could take both of them and I only had about forty bucks on me anyway but these guys were aces, both way too cool. We hauled ass up the hill (they drive on the opposite side of the street here and Eric isn't really used to it yet) and went to Sibs. Total local dive bar, right up my alley. Had a great time there while Roy and Eric partook in some weed outside. They were gracious enough to offer me some but I was good with my Bud Light. We drank there until well after 3 when Roy asked if I wanted to go to the strip club. Roy is the proverbial island guy. Great island accent, black dude with all kinds of smooth and style and wearing a pink collared shirt. I had to go. We left and ten minutes later pulled up in front of basically a house. We went upstairs and found the "Strip Club". Basically a converted upstairs on a residential structure, I was treated to island living. A makeshift bar in the corner got our beers. Roy ordered shots as the next girl was announced. A six foot black girl with huge tits and an ass that wouldn't quit came out from the back room. Holy shit. I was in for some fun. It was unreal. You haven't lived until you check this place out. We ended up staying for two hours. It was wild. Roy informed me that Luscious, one of the girls, said that I was cute. I told Roy I was terrified and that we had to use the buddy system the rest of the night. Too much fun. The boys dropped me back at the marina around six in the morning and I finally got some sleep.
The last few days have been spent working on the boat and hanging low key. Tish and Joann arrived today so we will be getting out some over the next few days. Tomorrow I rented a scooter so I can cruise around and check the island out. As for tonight, I'm sitting in a place called the Offshore Bar and Cyber Cafe typing this and waiting for Roy and Eric to come pick me up. I managed to find internet here. For every beer I buy I get a half an hour free internet. My kind of deal. Leave it to me to find that. There are some locals throwing a big bonfire bash or something tonight so hopefully I'll survive the night. I have my laptop bag and I have to kayak back to the boat tonight so this should be interesting. Hope you're doing well.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Lizards: 1 Boeing 757: 0
Survived another long night of traveling. At the moment I am in San Juan Int'l Airport awaiting the small commuter plane that will take me down to Ponce. I should be boarding in about twenty minutes. The time here is four hours ahead so it is 5:30 PM here and my plane left LAX at 2:50 AM this morning. I ended up paying a huge additional premium to check 3 extra bags and two of them are over the maximum weight allowance. I don't feel like I brought that much stuff. One bag is clothes, one books, one some random food, but I guess when you are moving full time you end up having to bring a lot. There has been a lot that has happened in the past week and the flurry of trying to completely cut ties to the states. I will update with a blog later once I'm settled into the boat, hopefully sometime tonight around 9 PM. I'm tired from the flights which were fairly uneventful up until our first attempted landing here in San Juan. We were probably no more than 1000 feet off the ground when the pilot abruptly pulled the plane back up and we started gaining altitude fairly rapidly. We banked hard over left back out towards the ocean when we got the announcement.
"Ladies and gentlemen, as you may have noticed, we have had to bypass this attempt at landing and we are currently gaining altitude in order to circle back around and once we are cleared we will make our final approach...again. The pilots received word from the tower that both runways were unavailable at the moment due to the fact that there are IGUANAS sunning themselves. The ground crews are working to clear the runways right away and we should be on the ground shortly, thank you for your patience."
How much money in fuel and time did American Airlines burn because iguanas want a tan? Welcome back to the Caribbean my friend.
"Ladies and gentlemen, as you may have noticed, we have had to bypass this attempt at landing and we are currently gaining altitude in order to circle back around and once we are cleared we will make our final approach...again. The pilots received word from the tower that both runways were unavailable at the moment due to the fact that there are IGUANAS sunning themselves. The ground crews are working to clear the runways right away and we should be on the ground shortly, thank you for your patience."
How much money in fuel and time did American Airlines burn because iguanas want a tan? Welcome back to the Caribbean my friend.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Gone for good
CON LA SABIDURIA QUE DA LA EXPERIENCIA.
That's it. I'm finally gone for good. At the moment I'm sitting on the floor of the LAX airport awaiting my flight that has been delayed more than two hours. Perfect. We don't take off until 3 AM now. I'm sure all of you can appreciate how incredibly busy I have been for the short week I had back at home. For those of you that I didn't get to spend much time with, please know I was just so overwhelmed and those of you who know me well know exactly how much my friends mean to me. I can honestly say it's a small wave of relief to be officially done and out of California, for however long I stay. The hardest parts of the week was my four year old niece telling me how much she was gonna miss me and asking if she could come visit me on the pirate ship. She is however very excited about having an Uncle who is a pirate of the Caribbean. Also dropping off the dog for the last time wasn't easy. Especially when he ran up to the truck as I was trying to pull out. These are all sacrifices that I have chosen to make in order to chase the dream. I will miss you all terribly and I really hope you will all e-mail me when you get time, I truly love hearing from everyone as I go. I will update as I go and post pics when possible. I'm going to try and sleep a little before the flight. Until next time, I will leave you with the words of my man Puss in Boots.
La vida es corta, vivela.
That's it. I'm finally gone for good. At the moment I'm sitting on the floor of the LAX airport awaiting my flight that has been delayed more than two hours. Perfect. We don't take off until 3 AM now. I'm sure all of you can appreciate how incredibly busy I have been for the short week I had back at home. For those of you that I didn't get to spend much time with, please know I was just so overwhelmed and those of you who know me well know exactly how much my friends mean to me. I can honestly say it's a small wave of relief to be officially done and out of California, for however long I stay. The hardest parts of the week was my four year old niece telling me how much she was gonna miss me and asking if she could come visit me on the pirate ship. She is however very excited about having an Uncle who is a pirate of the Caribbean. Also dropping off the dog for the last time wasn't easy. Especially when he ran up to the truck as I was trying to pull out. These are all sacrifices that I have chosen to make in order to chase the dream. I will miss you all terribly and I really hope you will all e-mail me when you get time, I truly love hearing from everyone as I go. I will update as I go and post pics when possible. I'm going to try and sleep a little before the flight. Until next time, I will leave you with the words of my man Puss in Boots.
La vida es corta, vivela.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
