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A sailing story for the weekend
My wife and I sailed our boat to St Martin from Connecticut. We started from there an sailed BVIs, Puerto Rico, St Martin/St Bart, Saba, St Eustachia, St Kitts, Nevis, Antigua and Guadalupe. It is possible to sail from island to island without sailing overnight, except for the sail from the BVIs to St Martin. For that, you have to leave at midnight and you will arrive late afternoon the next day. It is essential that you arrive during daylight as there are many reefs and obstructions that make landfall at night dangerous.
Although these islands are close to each other in distance, they are very different geologically and politically. The “older” islands have rounded hills while the “newer” islands have small mountains and the volcanoes that created them are still prominent.
The volcano on Saba is frightening to look at as you can see strong evidence that a cataclysm of unimaginable proportion happened here. The top of the volcano has been blown completely off leaving a gaping crater with jagged peaks surviving at the edge. You can see the huge lava flows down the side of the remaining piece of the volcano leaving a convoluted external skin to the volcano. You can’t look at this without feeling a sense of the great forces that created the earth.
Politically the islands inherit their culture from France, England, Spain and the Netherlands. The French islands have wonderful food and a strong French culture. Many people are naked on their boats and on the beach. They are totally uninhibited and seem to be unaware of their lack of clothes.
The Spanish islands have a wonderful culture filled with fun loving people that are very friendly. Vieques and Culebra are two of the most wonderful islands with very few tourists and give a feeling of what the islands were like 30 years ago.
The British islands are polite and reserved, but Tortola in the BVIs has the wildest bar I have ever seen in my 67 years! They brew a tea made from local hallucinogenic mushrooms; they are not allowed to sell the tea, but they can give it away, so if you buy a cup for ten dollars, you get all the refills you want without charge. What makes it really wild, is that they offer free drinks to any woman that takes off her panties. From the collection of panties hanging in the bar, I would say the tea certainly eliminates the reserve of many women! They have a party every full moon and people come by ferry from all the nearby islands – quite the party – to say the least.
I still love to party, but my favorite thing to do is to find a deserted cove and drop anchor. I put on the Mozart clarinet concerto and watch the sunset and think I am one of the luckiest people in the world to experience this.
Although these islands are close to each other in distance, they are very different geologically and politically. The “older” islands have rounded hills while the “newer” islands have small mountains and the volcanoes that created them are still prominent.
The volcano on Saba is frightening to look at as you can see strong evidence that a cataclysm of unimaginable proportion happened here. The top of the volcano has been blown completely off leaving a gaping crater with jagged peaks surviving at the edge. You can see the huge lava flows down the side of the remaining piece of the volcano leaving a convoluted external skin to the volcano. You can’t look at this without feeling a sense of the great forces that created the earth.
Politically the islands inherit their culture from France, England, Spain and the Netherlands. The French islands have wonderful food and a strong French culture. Many people are naked on their boats and on the beach. They are totally uninhibited and seem to be unaware of their lack of clothes.
The Spanish islands have a wonderful culture filled with fun loving people that are very friendly. Vieques and Culebra are two of the most wonderful islands with very few tourists and give a feeling of what the islands were like 30 years ago.
The British islands are polite and reserved, but Tortola in the BVIs has the wildest bar I have ever seen in my 67 years! They brew a tea made from local hallucinogenic mushrooms; they are not allowed to sell the tea, but they can give it away, so if you buy a cup for ten dollars, you get all the refills you want without charge. What makes it really wild, is that they offer free drinks to any woman that takes off her panties. From the collection of panties hanging in the bar, I would say the tea certainly eliminates the reserve of many women! They have a party every full moon and people come by ferry from all the nearby islands – quite the party – to say the least.
I still love to party, but my favorite thing to do is to find a deserted cove and drop anchor. I put on the Mozart clarinet concerto and watch the sunset and think I am one of the luckiest people in the world to experience this.
Andiamo: "I hope you have more". As it so happens.... Next time I'll treat y'all to my adventures with Backseat Betty after the Homecommings. These also involved a couple of interesting orbs and I also had trouble figuring out the suspension device. Again a dissapointed lady in a remotely parked car at night....a lot of parallels actually. And a navy tie-in with the submarine and the periscope.
FLman: Close - she went by Emilia...
FLman: Close - she went by Emilia...
Coctail napkins, drinks, couldn't see your diddly, orbs, jets and helium. It all makes sense and is perfectly clear to me. Puerto Rico is one of the points of the Bermuda Triangle. Was the waitress who drew the map named Emily, by any chance?
"So in the meantime Eric........................letterip "
You plagiarist..you. And taking my words out of context! Hummm..your context is way funnier! lol
You plagiarist..you. And taking my words out of context! Hummm..your context is way funnier! lol
Meki: are you implying my writing is malodorous? LOL
Goofydad: Great story and very well told. I hope you have more. When I was in Vieques, the Navy had already left; you still had to worry about unexploded bombs in some places though.
Tumbleweed: thanks for the vote of confidence for captain; I think it will take someone with better management skills than me to manage this group - LOL.
Goofydad: Great story and very well told. I hope you have more. When I was in Vieques, the Navy had already left; you still had to worry about unexploded bombs in some places though.
Tumbleweed: thanks for the vote of confidence for captain; I think it will take someone with better management skills than me to manage this group - LOL.
whoever wrote that was high on some cush stinky....thanks for that! really enjoyed it!
I'm still trying to get my arms around "the high desert of Oregon"...good one...hope you get to the bottom of some of the things youre experiencing...really enjoy your posts...be well...
Goof: awesome story...kinda "Apocalypse Now" with fishies...how many ex-wives you got dude? Youre kind of the Elizabeth Taylor of the board huh? With better legs....
Goof: awesome story...kinda "Apocalypse Now" with fishies...how many ex-wives you got dude? Youre kind of the Elizabeth Taylor of the board huh? With better legs....
"So in the meantime Eric........................letterip "
Uhmmm but puhlease say excuse me --- and fan the air a bit...
*giggle*
Uhmmm but puhlease say excuse me --- and fan the air a bit...
*giggle*
Hey I can light up when properly excited too. Right conditions and my butt can glow like a bouncing firefly on crack. But I digress.
Yes- I've swam in the halucegenic lagoon. But no fancy tour boat for me, no Sir. Using a map the waitress drew on a cocktail napkin, I took my beat-to-death rented Suzuki Samarai down through the jungle roads after dinner and drinks in Isabella Segunde. Beat a path through the brush and waded out myself - possibly in my birthday suit, but my memory fades.
So out in the middle of the black I was - I don't know how far 'cause I couldn't see diddly. I was doing summersaults and lit up like a Christmas tree. The water was lit up like some acid trip gone awry. And my head was reeling. It started to occur to me that this wasn't the smartest thing I had done that day.
This is when the darkened helecopter dropped two glowing orange orbs into the sky. I still don't know how they were suspended - maybe they were descending slowly on parachutes, but I don't think so. I do remember orangey smoke surrounding them, like the haze around a highway flare. Possibly helium or hot air held them up, as they appeared to be stationary. Anyway, it was trippy. And scary - they were not too much further out than I.
And next, out of nowhere, the straifing jets. I never saw them - just heard the first pair thundering through. This dude kicked up his heels and headed back to the beach (well... shore ,,there was no beach) like a bat of of Hell - which was exactly where I felt I might have been leaving at that moment.
Absolutely true story.
When I got back to wife Number One in the little jeep she was all freaked out from her experience of sitting calmly in the Samarai, unaware of anything but some jet noise. That didn't go well, LOL.
Yes- I've swam in the halucegenic lagoon. But no fancy tour boat for me, no Sir. Using a map the waitress drew on a cocktail napkin, I took my beat-to-death rented Suzuki Samarai down through the jungle roads after dinner and drinks in Isabella Segunde. Beat a path through the brush and waded out myself - possibly in my birthday suit, but my memory fades.
So out in the middle of the black I was - I don't know how far 'cause I couldn't see diddly. I was doing summersaults and lit up like a Christmas tree. The water was lit up like some acid trip gone awry. And my head was reeling. It started to occur to me that this wasn't the smartest thing I had done that day.
This is when the darkened helecopter dropped two glowing orange orbs into the sky. I still don't know how they were suspended - maybe they were descending slowly on parachutes, but I don't think so. I do remember orangey smoke surrounding them, like the haze around a highway flare. Possibly helium or hot air held them up, as they appeared to be stationary. Anyway, it was trippy. And scary - they were not too much further out than I.
And next, out of nowhere, the straifing jets. I never saw them - just heard the first pair thundering through. This dude kicked up his heels and headed back to the beach (well... shore ,,there was no beach) like a bat of of Hell - which was exactly where I felt I might have been leaving at that moment.
Absolutely true story.
When I got back to wife Number One in the little jeep she was all freaked out from her experience of sitting calmly in the Samarai, unaware of anything but some jet noise. That didn't go well, LOL.
If not everybody...then almost everybody enjoys your stories...becuse you write so well....we can feel the wind whipping through our hair. It has been a lovely diversion...and I think for you it reminds of wonderful times,....I see it as a tonic for all. Don't stop writing....at least til I get my sail in. Then you can take a writing/typing break...an I'll jump in write of our new adventure. The Lord Willing. I'm trying to stay positive. and think about sailing....going to Europe..jus remember there is like after tx think about meeting you and your wife after tx.......and just sail out to the sunset. I've travelled all over the world , and the last few years..I havn't gone anywhere. I hope to have my ducks in row end of tx...and get the tickests ready and I'm gone. Appreciate the beauty God provided for us.
So in the meantime Eric........................letterip
Y
So in the meantime Eric........................letterip
Y
Thanks for that link. It is now in my address bar so I can have it for the grand babies. That is so very, very old and so very, very good.
You KNOW who the Captain has to be - Eric !! LOL
You KNOW who the Captain has to be - Eric !! LOL
Speaking of sailing...
When my kids were young they enjoyed hearing this at bedtime. I still get a request for it every once in a while. I read it to my daughter a few months ago. It gets kids to sleep and reduces riba rage like magic. Try it.
http://www.pb-enterprises.co.uk/site/winkinblinkinnod.htm
When my kids were young they enjoyed hearing this at bedtime. I still get a request for it every once in a while. I read it to my daughter a few months ago. It gets kids to sleep and reduces riba rage like magic. Try it.
http://www.pb-enterprises.co.uk/site/winkinblinkinnod.htm
No, I wanna be Mrs. Thurston Howell! She had the best clothes....But you know who I think would be a great Maryann too? YOU!!!! And I think Debnevada would be a good Ginger...Jim would be a good Professor...now who could be the Skipper? And remember a lot of people dropped by the Island, so there's room for everybody on here! (psst> I don't know if Goof was that crazy about being Gilligan, lol) But Gilligan had the best part! And Bob Denver had a pHd too boot!
thanks for that story. Vieques is my overall favorite island. Did you ever swim in biolumenescent lagoon? It is populated with a plankton that can produce light when excited. We went out in an electric boat run by a local tour group. There was no moon and it was very dark. The bow wave was glowing and as the bow wave startled the fish, they swam quickly leaving a luminescent trial behind them.
We dropped anchor and went swimming - leaving trials of light behind us. We lifted our arms out of the water and streams of light ran down our arms.
We dropped anchor and went swimming - leaving trials of light behind us. We lifted our arms out of the water and streams of light ran down our arms.
Before the Navy. This brings back some nice memories. So thanks. I saw what was by far my most exciting baseball game there - a night game that we stumbled upon lost in a little jeep. It looked like highschoolers. Maybe little league - I dunno. There were hundreds of fans hanging on every pitch - I guess one team came over from the PR and the other represented Vieques. It was simply electrifying. Food vendors grilling local chickens, and local beer in the old fashioned cans...
Can I be Mrs. Thurston... LMAO ----
But YOU forsee --- YOU could be Ginger... Yeah --- That's the ticket...
OOooh baby --- yep - you got that part... I'll be Mrs. Thurston... We'll go party at Starbucks --- when the crate washes ashore....
LMAO!
Meki
But YOU forsee --- YOU could be Ginger... Yeah --- That's the ticket...
OOooh baby --- yep - you got that part... I'll be Mrs. Thurston... We'll go party at Starbucks --- when the crate washes ashore....
LMAO!
Meki
Who do you think Gilligan would be? I don't wanna say but follow my eyes, could it be, Goofydad???? I think Lonestar looks a little like Maryann too...he he he....
Have you been there since the nave departed? It has really changed; property values have gone crazy. The locals are still wonderful though. It's a great place.
Nice story. I'm a big fan of Vieques myself - though not what our military has done to it - squeezed all the landowners into the center strip. Mainland Puetro Rico sold them out. I'll tell a funny Blue Lagoon story when I have more time....
I appreciate your comments.
Yes boating has gotten so expensive that it is now ridiculous to pay these prices. Normally I do most of the work myself to keep the cost down; this year I have been too sick to do it, so the boat is badly neglected.
I will try another story on a day when I am feeling better. I take my shot on Monday and Tuesday is usually the worst day of the week for me.
Thanks for the tip on the poem. I will look for it.
Yes boating has gotten so expensive that it is now ridiculous to pay these prices. Normally I do most of the work myself to keep the cost down; this year I have been too sick to do it, so the boat is badly neglected.
I will try another story on a day when I am feeling better. I take my shot on Monday and Tuesday is usually the worst day of the week for me.
Thanks for the tip on the poem. I will look for it.
I surely hope you don't stop posting your sailing stories Eric. I for one would miss them. And I s'pose you'd have to be a sea person to appreciate how much you have to give up to do what you do. I have seven brothers who are all in love with the sea and they're always broke. Every penny they earn goes back into the boat. ; ]
Your posts are more than a diversion. Though, jeez, we need one. Hep C almost becomes an OCD disease doesn't it? It doesn't matter if we have it, are treating it, relapsed or SVRrd, we never stop thinking about it. It's the monster in our closet.
Thank you for your post cards. There's another piece here that's not really a diversion but a reminder and no less beautiful. It's OrphanedHawk's poem The Invaders. Scroll down if you haven't seen it yet.
I think poor Meki starts back to work today. Poor baby. Now I'd better get my butt to work. ; ]
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