Part Animal, Part Machine...

Yes fans, I'm still alive. Thanks for all the e-mails and wondering where I have been. I know it's been awhile since I posted and much has happened. It's been a non-stop flurry of great sailing, great friends, and of course, plenty of great rum. So grab your favorite poison and sit back, this will be a long-winded (it might take you a couple of sittings to get through all this) recap of the past two weeks.

As you might remember from my last post, Jaymie and I had gone to get fuel in Venezuela and bashed back to Grenada, arriving on the 29th from Los Testigos. The trip from Los Testigos was 88 miles as the crow flies but when we dropped anchor in Prickly Bay, the GPS log showed that we had covered more than 140 nautical miles. 20+ knots of wind on the nose coupled with a current that registered over 4 knots at times caused us to lose over 50 miles during the voyage. We made it fine, and as I wrote before we went about doing errands for a few days in preparation for the arrival of another crew member. Jaymie's boyfriend was to join us for the final leg of her month long trip on the Boogie. His name is Billy and she and I thought he was going to arrive on the 30th of June but it turns out neither Jaymie, nor myself, know what day it is now that we have become honorary Grenadians. She thought he landed on Monday but it turned out he didn't arrive until that Tuesday, the 1st. We got a good laugh out of it as we could have stayed another day taking in the overwhelming peacefulness of Los Testigos. Oh well, we had an extra day for chores. Billy was set to arrive at 5 PM, with Jaymie anxiously awaiting she got a text from him that he would be delayed several hours in Jamaica, where his connecting flight was. Not a bad place to be stuck. Anyway, we picked him up after 10 that night and he managed to do just fine during his delay when he discovered that he could buy Vodka duty free in the airport there, obviously this was my kind of guy and we were going to get along. After the first day of getting settled in, we took an island cruise (by car) so Billy could see the interior of the island as well as some of the villages along the way. We stopped in Gouyave which is the local fishing village about midway up the west side of the island. We wanted some fish and after stopping at the market we ended up with 6 lbs of fresh tuna and paid 16 dollars U.S. for it. The plan at that point was to get everything we needed and set sail the following day for Union Island followed up with the Tobago Cays. We made a great dinner and I had invited another guy from a boat nearby to join us. Let me digress here to introduce Fabian, our new English buddy. Fabian is doing basically the same thing I plan to with Boogie. He runs charters from here in Grenada and he is about a year and a half ahead of me in the whole process of getting the boat dialed in. I won't go into all the details but his boat is very nice. Ironically it is the EXACT same as Boogie. Same year, model, equipment, everything. So he is a great resource to me as I run into various problems and I expect that I will be writing about him again in the future. I had met him originally back in May but never got to really hang out. I borrowed a piece of plumbing from him recently to fix a small leak on a Sunday when absolutely nothing is open and I told him to come by and have dinner and drinks on the boat with Jaymie, Billy and I. He is 28 but has lived an incredible life so far. He has sailed a lot in the Indian Ocean, is a dive instructor and even lived in Madagascar for quite a while. During his stay there he was close with a tribe called the Vazo and they taught him how to carve little pirogue sailboats from boabab trees. He's a fascinating guy and just has a great energy about him. When he came over he brought a bottle of dark rum with him and we all sat down to a great dinner and a bunch of great stories from his travels. Billy was still a little jet lagged at this point so he and Jaymie crashed while Fabian and I kept comparing stories about the Caribbean. As the line on the rum bottle kept getting lower the topic shifted to the respective boats we are on (he doesn't own his either) and I suppose you can imagine a couple of drunken sailors (especially an American and a no good Brit) carrying on late into the night about sails and electronics and engine model numbers, blah blah blah. By the time I sent him on his way the rum was gone and some whiskey had even come out. It was a blast though and since that night we were able to spend some more time with him and he is a terrific guy. So when I woke up sometime after ten in the morning, we started getting this old girl ready to sail up to the Cays and we had the hook up and were off by a little after 1 that afternoon bound for Chatham Bay in Union Island, waving goodbye to a hung over Fabian as we sailed by his boat Vazo Vezo.

We made our landfall about 10:30 that night and were swinging comfortably in the perfectly calm bay by 11 that night. I dove the anchor as usual and we were hooked well. I took a shower and came out to have a quick night cap before drifting off to sleep. Billy was sitting in the salon (basically the kitchen table, looks like a booth in a restaraunt). We got some jack and coke going and started talking music. Billy Blackburn. Billy is a musician who recently released his first CD with almost every song on it written by him. He gave me a copy of his CD while I was in Fresno and I knew from the first song, as well as reading in the liner notes that he loves playing Hank Jr's "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound" when he gets drunk, that he and I would get along famous. I can't yet play that song when I'm drunk but I can play it on the Ipod like none other. Jaymie and I have had a very positive, fun vibe on the boat the whole time she was here and from the moment he arrived it just increased immensely. I had been looking forward to picking his brain for pointers on guitar playing as I have a guitar on the boat but had up to that point not even started to attempt to play it. I got mine out to get his opinion on it and he lit up the second the instrument was in his hands. In moments he was jamming on it and I was blown away. Over the next few hours I was treated to acoustic versions of songs from Seger, Cash, Hank Jr, Pearl Jam, etc. It was unreal. Passion is contagious and I thrive on being around people who challenge me and make me better. This guy is motivating. When I say that we were sitting there while he played, you may be picturing some dude just sitting there strumming along singing half assed versions and fucking up here and there, uh, no. This dude rages. Veins start blasting out of his neck and shoulders. His foot rhythmically slams the floor. And his voice, nothing I could write would do it justice. I couldn't help it, I was instantly a Billy Blackburn groupie, I had no choice. I'm sure the fact that he and I put away Jack all night helped but for the whole time he was on the boat it was like that. He would jam, I would gawk. Check him out at www.billyblackburn.com and I also have this link on my blog.

The next day we needed to check into customs over at Clifton which was about a 2.5 mile ride by dinghy. One of the local boat vendors came alongside and offered to do a beach bbq for us and we accepted. He also gave Billy and I a ride into town in order to check in. After some harassment at customs, we found a local bar called Pelican Bar that has a great view overlooking Clifton Harbor. This place was great. We had to walk down a long path and up a hill to the bar. When we entered there was no one there but we found a phone with a sign saying dial 1. We did, a woman answered, I told her we wanted some beers and five minutes later our pal Keron stepped in. It was hysterical. This was the beginning of another drunken 4th of July. We threw back a few there and headed back into town to get some groceries and other little things. By the time the boat vendor, our new pal Seckie, loaded us up in his boat for the ride back to Chatham ol Billy boy and I were well on our way to being in the bag. We got back and by dinner time on the beach I was in full 4th of July drunk Shane party mode and spent the rest of the night on the beach busting chops and carrying on in some retarded Caribbean accent while Billy jammed for the locals. At the end of dinner a freaking possum had climbed down into the bar area and got on the table attacking the left overs. Seckie and his girlfriend are from Union Island and have since also become good friends of ours. They got us back to Boogie and the next day, Vanessa, Seckie's girl, came back out to braid Jaymie's hair. We spent all day hanging around the back of the boat drinking beer while she did the braids. Typical 5th of July, keep on partying. The funniest part about that day was Vanessa calling Jaymie by the wrong name. At no point in all our interaction with Vanessa did she get her name right. She remembered Billy and I but Jaymie is now known as Lisa. None of us know where it started but it was a source of much laughter for the remainder of the trip.

Sunday, the 6th, I was partied out and getting anxious to get over to the Tobago Cays. We set up to pull the anchor and of course the wind was shrieking over the hill against us and the current was kicking as well. The windlass (for hoisting the chain and anchor) had been acting up and decided to give us all kinds of problems that afternoon and while manuevering I managed to get the painter line holding the dinghy on to the boat wrapped around the port side prop shaft. Dive gear went on and I spent the next 20 minutes getting my ass kicked by the current, fighting to loosen the line up and mother F ing myself the whole time. I finally got the stupid thing but was thoroughly disgusted with myself for getting in a hurry and being a bonehead. We got over to the Tobago Cays about 2 hours later and dropped the hook in 10 feet of pristine sand. The Cays were still as amazing as the first time I went there and both Jaymie and Billy were blown away. There were a couple dozen boats there (usually well over 100 during busy season) and we found out from Seckie that St. Vincent was having Carnival at that time. We debated checking that out but we were in too good a spot there and spent the next few days snorkeling with turtles and rays, lounging in the sun and just enjoying existing in this beautiful place. We lucked out and had perfect weather for the whole week and there were loads of turtles, many of which were grazing the small grass areas just off the port side of the boat. All day you could just glance over and see the green heads pop out of the water to get a breath for the next dive down. During our stay there we discovered these little black birds that are ballsy little pricks. We were able to feed them out of our hands and laughed as they nervously bounced around trying to decide whether or not to trust us. One morning I kept hearing what sounded like someone messing with a plastic bag and assumed it was one of the crew getting some chow. When I woke up I found a hole in the bread bag and little chunks missing. Those little punks had flown into the galley and even got through some foil to get a couple bites of a chicken breast. When we left to go diving that afternoon it was the first time I have ever had to worry about locking the cabin doors for "bird security". We cruised back over to the little island I wrote about before that they filmed the rum burning on in Pirates and Billy and I broke open some coconuts with some rocks to drink the water and walked around the island eating fresh coconut. Life is good in the Cays. Of course all good things gotta end right?

So regrettably on Thursday the 10th we pulled the hook and headed 5 miles south to Clifton to anchor overnight and check out of customs. We got there in the afternoon and set the hook just off Happy Island, despite the lunatic boat vendor known as "The Germon" who is a complete pest and screams "MORE CHAIN" 9 million times while you are trying to get anchored up properly. We got into town, checked out of customs, got some provisions and headed back out to the Boogie. The plan was to take in a sunset drink at Happy Island which is the bar that a local Union Islander built from conch shells and has a terrific location out on the reef, accessible only by dinghy. Enter Janti, the owner and designer of Happy Island. This dude is cool. He knows how to entertain and has a great set up. I will post pics and I'm sure I will be writing about this place again. We sat down and had our first round. As we talked and got acquainted it was clear that Janti is on another level. He carries himself well and some of the statements he makes are pretty heavy. It was another great vibe with good friends and conversation as we watched a terrific sun setting behind Union Island. Billy had his guitar with him and on Janti's request (he turned down the reggae) he started playing. As I mentioned before, Billy has a very powerful voice and sings from the deepest part of his soul so it was no surprise when we saw a dinghy light headed into Happy Island (at this point it was just the 4 of us). We heard a voice ask who was singing and pretty soon plans were made for all of us to have dinner together. As it turned out, a cruiser from Texas and his chick from St. Thomas could hear Billy tearing it up from all the way out in the anchorage and he wanted to be able to play some music later on. We all ended up going in to dinner at a nice local place and our table was a great mix with Jaymie, Billy, Seckie, Vanessa, Janti, myself and then towards the end we were joined by Bob and Mary, the cruisers that heard Billy. Bob had brought his instrument with him and busted it out, he played a few songs and kind of called Billy out to play on it. Oh maybe I should tell you that it was a freaking ukelele. Yeah. One of those. Billy had never played one so it took him a few short minutes to get a feel for it but in no time he was belting out "Sweet Home Alabama" on a four string ukelele. The best part about it was that by the middle of the song he had Seckie and Vanessa singing along (which is a huge accomplishment because the ONLY music that exists there is reggae and soca) as well as the waitress and bartender clapping along from a distance. It was a surreal setting. Watching local islanders mumble mouth along to that song is right on par with the time in Acapulco Jeffro and I were eating green enchiladas at 5 in the morning with two cool chicks, one from Idaho the other from Vegas who happened to be a gorgeous opera singing go-go dancer who blasted out some opera with mariachis as her band, also at our table were two gay (literally homosexuals) guys that were backpacking down through Mexico. How I get myself into these bizarre mixes I will never understand but I'm sorry, I digress... The plan was to go back to Happy Island and finish the night with Billy and Bob the ukelele playing cruiser having a jam session but the rain changed that. That was ok with me because I had only had a couple of beers because my plan was to leave at 5 in the morning for Grenada. When my alarm went off at 5 I went outside to find the harbor in chaos. 30 knots or better of wind and rain coming down so hard it was being blown in sideways. There was no way we were leaving so I checked the weather forecast and found that Hurricane Bertha was 660 miles southeast of Bermuda but along her trek she had kicked up some swells that came down the northeast and that can get it nice and rolly here. By early afternoon the wind had laid down enough for us to make a run for the lee of the islands and cruise back to Grenada. So when we were a few miles from our anchorage at Ross Point off St. Georges, we were talking about our plan for the next few days. After I laid out what I thought was a good idea (keep in mind at this point I thought it was Friday) Billy straightened me out. It was freaking Thursday. I was convinced it was Friday! I have officially lost my concept of dates and times. It's awesome. We all got a good laugh and Jaymie was ecstatic because she "gained" a day on her trip. So two days ago, on the REAL Friday, we went downtown to see my marketplace girlfriend Teresa and walk around the fort. It's always fun down there and this time Teresa paraded me through the outdoor marketplace yelling at all the other ladies selling spices and produce about how she got her a man and for those women to stay away from me. The whole time she is doing this she has a handful of my ass and we were pretty sure she was smashed on rum. It rocked. We moved Boogie back over to Prickly Bay to tie up in the marina that afternoon. I needed to refill the water tanks and poor Boogie needed a good bath so it was nice to tie up for the night and have access to water. It was also perfect because the pizzeria/outdoor Tiki hut bar had live music so we hooked up with the Englishman Fabian and had some dinner and drinks. They closed before midnight but Billy, Fabian and I sat up listening to Billy jam on the guitar and watching Fabian get hopelessly smashed on rum. Yesterday we all chipped in and rented a car to go up to the north side of the island and check out the big leatherback turtles I wrote about before. It worked out good even though it's late in the season and we were able to see one last night. We didn't leave Levera Beach until midnight and I drove us back. Today was basically cleaning the inside of the boat and me using the car to go get groceries for myself for the next few weeks. Unfortunately, my crew were leaving on a jet plane today. I have to say that it was fantastic having Jaymie on board for a month and I couldn't have asked for someone better. Billy just made it even better and we had a great dynamic the whole time. You never know what will happen on a boat after a few days being cooped up with people but we honestly never had a problem and were able to work well as a team. I laughed constantly and told tons of stories about my crew back home, my family, my old job, etc. and I can't wait until I can make another trip back to Cali so we can all hang out and I can check out their lives in Sacramento. They also wanted me to convey a big thank you to Brian for allowing them to experience something like this.

So there you go...my long ass breakdown of what was two unbelievably cool weeks on the boat. I wish I could convey the good energy and vibes that were felt the whole time as well as introduce everyone to the cast of characters that has made up this past month. I want to say thanks so much to both Jaymie and Billy for a wonderful time, I'll see you in Panama. Come on, Bocas del Toro, arrrrrrgggggghhhh!!

Last thing, my Aunt Nani passed away on the 5th. It was tough because I didn't find out until the 9th. I wrote about her before and as I said, she was a bad ass lady with many people who will miss her terribly, myself included. I'm so glad I was able to get back and see her and that she supported my decision to go for my dream and I know she will be in the wind with me wherever I sail. There is a memorial website that my cousin Greg put together at http://sandinewcomb.legacy.com/lmw/homepage.aspx All this does for me is reinforce the knowledge I have that life is truly too short and every second you burn right now you will never get back. Two months ago my Aunt was excited about her trip to Florida and now she is gone. Just like that. So quit making excuses. Quit worrying about stupid shit like your credit score or a sale at the mall. Get out and live your dreams. It's not better to wait, it's ignorant and complacency destroys passion. Get fired up about something. Buy that Harley, get a tattoo, jump out of a plane, swim with sharks, check out Burning Man, fly to the Caribbean go skinny dipping and drink rum on some deserted island but just stop living in fear. Don't wait for tomorrow. Get out of that box and smash that fucker to pieces with a sledgehammer. Now I'm going for swim in a gnarly thunder and lightning storm here in the anchorage, have a rum and coke, read the rest of my book and let Boogie rock me to sleep. No matter where it is that you are dreaming of going, JUST GO...talk to you soon.