Industry Bay, Bequia

It's 2001, and we are on a charter from St. Lucia to the Grenadines. The group has been to the Grenadines in the past, so we know of a few places we want to see again. Captain Don likes to keep us moving, he likes to squeeze the most out of a vacation. The boats we charter will never get a whole lot of rest. It is fun to see a lot of places, but then again, when you find a great spot it is nice to soak it in for more than a few hours. Such was the case with Bequia.

On this trip the crew decided that we wanted to stay a day in Bequia. We wanted to explore the island in a little greater detail. As such, we decided to rent a few jeeps from Andy's Rentals. We packed everyone into the jeeps and headed out to explore the Island. First we headed South to see what was on that end of the island. There were a few little bays, with small villages to explore. The villages were typical of a small island, very cute and oriented to the bay. We got to the very south end of the Island where the Airport was located, and had a Guiness at the "First Stop" Bar.

Next we headed back up toward the North end of the Island. There was a Turtle Sanctuary at this end of the Island that Lisa wanted to see. On our way up toward "Old Heg" turtle sanctuary, we passed a very picturesque beach at Industry Bay. There were a lot of "Wow, is that Beautiful" going around the Jeep. We took the jeeps to the very northern end of the island past "Old Heg" and captured a few pictures on the little mountain top.

On our way back down the mountain top, we stopped at "Old Heg" to pay tribute to the little Turtles. Then we started back toward Admiralty Bay (where the Stargazer was anchored). On our way we were passing by Industry Bay. We saw a quaint little resort nestled into the bay. Everyone decided it would be a great idea to stop and admire the beach. There was a little bar at the resort, and lots of empty recliners along the beach. This ended up being one of the best decisions we made on the trip. The beach, and the resort, were almost deserted. This was absolutely amazing, because the beach was fabulous. It has a fantastic crescent shaped beach which the resort is practically the only thing on it. There was a protective reef to stop the heavy waves from crashing along the beach. A very gentle swell allowed you to walk in the sea without the waves crashing and soaking your shorts. The resort was remote, but very cool. Here is the link: http://www.bequia.net/eden/crescentbeachinn.htm There were little villas that - since they were empty - we were able to walk through and see what they were like. They are right on the beach, and have a fantastic view. The resort has a little bar/restaurant. And a ton of chairs, grass umbrellas, and recliners. We took up residence for at least two hours. Everyone was reluctant to leave. What a fantastic little slice of heaven. If you ever want to find a remote resort with the perfect - quiet beach, this IS the place. Un-believably romantic setting. Disappear for as long as you can afford to!

Captain Pete!

Ok, does anyone find it ironic that the Captain's license that Pete acquired yesterday is called the "6 Pack"? No, Really. I'm not kidding!

For all of you land lubbers that did not know, Pete spent the last two weeks in Cape Coral taking a Captain's course. Low and behold, he passed in flying colors (only 1 missed question). We now have two captains in our midst. SkippyofBVI, and Cap'nPush!

Another coincidence - the two captains spent several days last week in Fort Myers preparing for the drinking portion of the test. Apparently you have to consume a bottle of rum all by your onesies.

Kudos to Captain Push! May he sail straight and true! He's going to have to switch to rum now, we will see if that takes...

Help a Brother out!

I have added a link to my "Favorite Links" section on the Blog site. It is the "Beer and a Stuben Boats and Crews List". This takes you to a page that lists all of our trips, the boats, and the crews. Please review the list and GET BACK TO ME on any changes that I should incorporate into this list. There are several "blank" spots in my memory. Some of it is easy to explain (I was no on the specific trip - therefore have no memeory of it), some of it I write off to either alzheimers or alcohol.

To get to the link you need to be on the actual web site, so remember to click the link to the web site on this e-mail (below).

Wet pants times two!

Ok, I have heard many people say "stop or I'll wet my pants" when you really get them laughing, but I have only seen one person actually do it...

We were in St. Johns at Cruz Bay. There are a lot of shops and restaurants near the dinghy dock. Everyone had awakened early, showered (not a custom on these trips in the morning) and we all headed in to the pier so that we could shop and eat. Everyone was having a great time. Girls were in their glory with the shopping, boys were happy with the bloody mary's and the screwdrivers. It had the makings of a fantastic day in paradise.

The girls finished their shopping and decided that they wanted to drop off the loot on the boat before exploring the town a little bit. As we all walk toward the dinghy, Mauler trips on a deck cleat and falls face first into the fuel and seaweed littered dinghy area! We all start laughing because it was so sudden - and Mauler looked like a drowned rat. Lisa, however, laughed so hard that she both wet her pants, and was involuntarily drooling. Which, of course, added to the moment rather nicely.

The men headed back to the dock side bar while the ladies went back to the boat for another shower and change of clothes.

Life comes at ya fast, don't forget to enjoy it all!

Room w/a view at Trembling Hills

Yes, Steven J. Lehner always has sage advice.

The first few years of our bareboat charter trips I always wondered why my older cousin took a 10th day of vacation. The end of the trip would come around, and he would always be talking about Monday on the couch. He would joke about checking himself into a room at Trembling Hills. Detox with a view!

Years went by, and I got older. Suddenly I did not enjoy that first day back at work, having just returned at 1 AM in the morning from a solid 9 days of "breakfast cylinders", rum runners, and 2AM beer & a Stuben. In fact, most of my Monday at work revolved around me - face down on the desk - sweating and hoping that I did not get a lot of phone calls. Praying for the day to end so that I could go home and collapse on the couch in the fetal position. I would spend the day wondering why I did not take Monday off - that critical 10th day of recovery.

Here is to you Steven J. Lehner, and the critical 10th day of vacation. I plan to make my reservation for a room w/a view at Trembling Hills in advance of our next trip! Or you can just book it for me when you place your reservations!

Re-visiting Transylvania Ave

Here is evidence of Pete, then Stub and Vinnie, re-visiting our long lost trail.

Swimming with the sharks?

One of my favorite places in the world is The Bitter End Yacht Club. I cannot picture a more perfect resort - anywhere. There is a little for everyone. Sailing, dancing, relaxing, diving, snorkeling, the baths a short distance away, the list goes on. We seem to always end up here whenever in the BVI's for a few days. It is very relaxing, and there is a little island (Saba Rock) that used to be a very cool bar/band area easily reached by a dinghy from the moorings in the bay. We could have dinner at Bitter end, then either catch a band at the yacht club, or motor over to Saba Rock for some fun.

One night after much entertainment at the yacht club, we were headed back to the boat. It had been limbo night, and we were well lubricated to compete in the event. On the way back to the dinghy you pass a shark tank. It has a short little railing all the way around it. Stub thought it would be funny to give the group a scare. He ran up the the rail/fence and mocked jumping in. To his surprise the railing gave was slightly. He rotated over his hip on the railing and was all of a sudden hanging upside down above the tank - feet pointing directly at the moon. Someone grabbed his shoes and pulled him back to earth. I believe that is the only time I have ever seen a look of fear/shock on Stub's face. The guy seems to take almost anything in stride.

It did not take long for the jokes to start rolling in. Mauler was wondering what she would have told her sister if her son had ended up swimming with the sharks. I told Mauler that the nurse sharks would have had a hard time "gumming" him to death. The fall on his head might have done him some good too!

When in the BVI's don't miss O'Malley the black irish entertainment guide!

As authored by Davie Laitsch!



Sorry Slim, somehow this e-mail slipped passed me and I did not respond. My version goes like this,,,,Don, Vollmer, Craig (I think), Toast, Stub and I were in Tortolla. We went to some huge outdoor Reagae/political rally at some soccer complex/park. It was kind of a dud, so we went out for a bite to eat, and after we were walking to our next destination, a bar to drink of course. It started to rain a bit, and we were kinda looking around for a taxi. Two local guys stopped their SUV and asked us if we needed a ride. Don and Vollmer decided to head back in for the night and the young guys were on their own. We were a bit hesitant at first because we had no idea who they were, and they had no "taxi" signs on their vehicle. Their truck was pretty new/nice and they were dressed nice, clean (etc) so we said what the hell and we piled into their truck. They asked us what we wanted to do, and we told them to take us out to some "action in the bars". We never really negotiated any fee's or anything and these two guys took us to a couple bars, and were our personal tour guides. I think I speak for all of us when I say that these guys surprised the hell out of us because they were super cool, and they were buying rounds of drinks, just like they were part of our crew. They were asking us about where we were from, what we were doing and so on. The guys started busting my balls about getting hammered and being left behind in San Juan. They laughed and said I was lucky that I did'nt get killed. Then one of the guys said to me " you probably did'nt get capped beacause you look kind of Puerto Rican. So I said "if I look like I'm Puerto Rican, then you look like you're Irish". I was a bit nervous because he was a "big Brother", but everybdy started cracking up. So then I went on to call him O'Malley and the joke kept rolling on. For the rest of the night he was O'Malley. These guys were the coolest ever!! They drove us around all night drinking, from bar to bar to bar. We even went to a strip bar out in the middle of F..ing NO-WHERE. It had a super high cover charge, and if I recall correct O'Malley negotiated a lower fee, and then paid the cover for us!!! It was awesome, we were having the time of our life. After a thousand more beers, and bars they drove us right back to the pier safe and sound. We asked them how much we owed them,and I belive they said $50. I think we gave them about $85. or so. When we got back we were wondering how we were going to get back to the boat; it was tied up to a "moore"? out in the marina, not on the pier. As we were trying to figure out who was dumb enough to swim out to the boat to get the Dingy, Vollmer pops up out of a Dingy tied to the pier (sleeping and all hammered), and told us that he has been waiting for us!! We hopped into the Dingy and went back to the sailboat!! It was truley one of my favorite nights ever!! So there you have it...my version of the O'Malley story. DL

Captain Don's Surprise

This is our second trip, and we are in our favorite place - Key West. The group heads down to Duval Street and bounce from bar to bar. Lots of fun, dancing and vague memories of late night pizza. Finally we stumble back to the boat at about 4 AM. No one is prepared for "Captain Don's Surprise" ...

Everyone has found a quiet dark corner to crawl into and hide from the impending hangover. It is now 5:30 AM and we are fully passed out and in another dimension. All of a sudden there is a loud cadence throughout the boat "DAAA da ditty da, daa da ditty da, WAKE UP! RISE AND SHINE!" all to the sound of trumpets. The loud won't go away, no matter how long you try to ignore it. After roughly 4 - 5 minutes of this racket, a very angry Stub gets up and starts tearing through the cabin. "Where the !@#$% is that noise coming from!". He starts tearing through the cabinets. Finally, he sticks his head out a port hole in the boat and yells at the top of his voice to the entire harbor "SHUT UP! TURN THAT !@#$ing NOISE OFF!" This from a normally rational and sane adult. I still don't know how he got his large mellon out the relatively small port hole...

About 2 minutes later Pete pulls a cat alarm clock from the cabinet in his bunk.

Captain Don strikes again!

I can still remember him laughing for about 20 minutes that early morning. Relatively proud of your prank - weren't you Captain Don?

I fully believe that Stub is still planning his revenge. That cat will resurface at the old folks home - set to go off every night at 7:30 PM!

Sometimes you stumble upon Paradise

We are on our way back to Granada from the Grenadines. The trip is unfortunately winding to a close. We are all somewhat preparing for the trip back to reality, and not really wanting this slice of heaven to end. As is usual in this latitude, we are running short of ice. Our crew is used to COLD weather this time of year. Temps in the upper 90's and a brutal sun has the crew rapidly drinking cold beverages. No matter how much ice we pack in the ice chest, it always seems to disappear in day.

We are headed South and determine that we will need some ice for our sail to Grenada. Carriacou Island is off the starboard bow and we decide to slip into Tyrrel Bay and pick up some ice at a store in Harvey Vale. As we sail up, there are hardly any boats in the bay. We wonder if there is enough civilization in the bay to produce a store that would carry ice....

We pull up along the Northern shore line and notice all the mangroves. We anchor out near the mangroves and take the dinghy into shore. Once we get there we are surprised. The town is very nice, the locals are enchanting, and there are a lot of stores, bars and restaurants. We proceed to walk down the main street that runs between the beach and the buildings. First a beer at a bar, then a stroll through some stores. We find a liquor store. The prices are fantastic. Most of the crew buy tarrif free liquor for home. I personally buy a bottle of grenadier, and a couple of other long strange looking liquor bottles with tall thin bottle necks. (they never make it back to college - as they are tossed back and forth in the plane they break inside my duffle bag soaking all my clothes with sticky liquor...)

Everyone shops at their own pace, and most of the group split up and see what they want to see. I buy a few beers and anchor myself in front of the main pier watching the world go by. I cannot imagine a more peaceful setting. Candy pulls up as my wing man. We wait for the others. Eventually everyone works their way back to the dinghy pier. We saddle up in the dinghy, head back to the boat, and weigh anchor. I remember thinking - man we really missed out on a great place to stay for a night. Too bad the boat was due back in Grenada this evening.

Oh well, it was a fantastic find, and a wonderful reminder of how easy life could be if we allowed ourselves to slow down and enjoy it!

Oh yeah.....Scope.

So, this is your first bareboat charter. You think you know a lot about sailing, right? Been a sailor for decades, right? This should be a breeze! Then again.....

As the title of this blog states, we are from the midwest. Not real familiar with the idea of tide, or the general nature of the bottom for anchorages in Southern Florida. In Lake Michigan, Tide is not a factor, and it is such a deep lake that you rarely ever anchor out. Go find yourself a marina dude!

So, now you have the primer.

We are all excited as this is our first bareboat charter. The Florida Keys sound like the perfect chain of islands to explore for 10 days. The crew is comprised of Don and Mary Ann (Captain and Cook - also the benefactors of this little vacation), and a bunch of early 20 something kids (Jim, Pete, Lisa, Troy, and Steve.) Most of us have been sailing for decades. We pick up the 42 foot Endeavor - Aeolus (AO-Bus; our nickname as it is not a real competitive sailor) in Miami at Florida Yacht Charters. After a brief introduction and a short test, followed by sea trials, we depart on our journey. Our final destination - Key West. However the goal for the first night - Key Largo. The sail down is great; why wouldn't it be in comparison to winter in Wisconsin. Sailing in Hawks Channel with beer and cocktails beats snowblowing the driveway any day.

As we get close to Key Largo, we begin to look for a place to "drop the hook" for the night. Largo Sound looks like a great place, so we navigate our way in and weave through the ships that have beat us to prime anchorage locations. We finally drop anchor a little North of Transylvania Ave. A crew is quickly dispatched to get fuel for the dinghy and Ice. Little did we know that the closest store is all the way out at US Hwy 1... Not a short walk later we find what we need and then venture back. As we motor back to the boat, night is setting and Mary Ann is ready with dinner. We all are relaxing after dinner, laughing at the table. The wind is picking up outside. We individually notice it I am sure, but no one pays much attention to it. Soon a strange alarm is going off in the cabin. And about the same time we hear some yelling outside the boat. As we run up the steps to the cockpit, we see a group of people on our starboard side yelling at us from their sailboat. "Wake Up! Your adrift!" Sure enough the boat is drifting in the wind at about 5 knots down wind. We quickly fire up the diesel and motor forward. When we set the anchor this time, we leave out a lot of scope (extra line) and hope the anchor holds. It was a long night as we listened to the wind whip through the sound. Always wondering if we were adrift again.

Next morning, we weigh anchor and head out the narrow channel that leads from Largo Sound to Hawks Channel. This was our reminder to check the charts for tide when we depart locations. As we were leaving, we felt the keel touch down in the channel. Thankfully, the prop and rudder are set significantly higher on the AO Bus. The keel only touched down in a few short places, and the 89 hp Turbo Diesel pushed us through these little snags.

So, all in all, Day 1 was full of learning experiences. We became much wiser sailors. However, it will always be remembered for three guys and a few beers at the end of Transylvania Ave.!

What's a Stuben anyway?

Ok,

I realize that most of you know what a "Stuben" is, but this is for the folks that stumble across this blog.

The "Stuben" was invented by Stub. I am willing to stand corrected, but here is my recollection:

In the BVI's, long night of fun at the Bitter End Yacht Club. The crew stumbled back to the dinghy and motored back to the boat. Stub was hungry after a long night of beer and rockets. He looked into the ice chest and found a smorgesboard of leftovers. In typical Stub fashion, this was an opportunity to push the edges and make the crew laugh. He pulled out the bread and stacked it with anything he could find in the ice chest. If I remember correctly it a few of the ingredients were beef jerky and string cheese. Everyone that was up got a chuckle. At first we called it a "Dagwood" but then "Stuben" was thrown out and eventually stuck.

Ever since this day, the group has made a tradition of building Stubens when we get back home from a long night of drinking. The picture attached is from this Spring in Fort Myers Beach after a long night of drinking. Give it a try, you might really enjoy what you create!

Stub vs Mr. Johnson!

We pull into Canouan Island. This had been after a casual night in the Tobago Cays. The group was interested in night life. As we pull into Charles Town, we anxiously look for an anchorage near any bar. Captain Don, as usual, weaves in and out of boats in the bay. He tucks in very close to shore, but actually found an opening for once. We set anchor, test it with one of the two aux engines. All appears ship shape. Everyone piles into the dinghy and we head for shore.

On shore we find a little bar above a restaurant. We are practically the only patrons at this time - early afternoon. It has the slow turning leaf shaped ceiling fans, and tons of wicker furniture. We proceed to order a few rounds and relax the afternoon away. I spent some time walking around the little bar, and exploring. It seems to be in such a remote location in the world. The bartender disappears for long periods of time, basically requiring us to track them down when we need another round. The port is very quiet, and there does not appear to be a whole lot of activity going on. It is early March in 1994 so there is no airport on Canouan Island, or any fancy resorts. Just a very peaceful and tranquil existence.

Eventually, we end up back on the boat. A small sailboat comes in as we are eating dinner, and they are looking for a place to drop anchor. The boat decides that in front of our cat would be the best location, so they drop anchor and drift toward us. A few of us remark that they are cutting it a little close. Oh well, we continue on with our evening and several hours and many laughs later - call it a night.

Now, it has to be 2 AM when I hear the wind pick up outside. I am actually relieved because the boat has been a hot box for the last few days. Nothing like being within the tropic of cancer to turn up the heat on a situation. The wind feels fantastic, and helps to purge the cabin of it's musty smell. (hey I was bunking with Candy...two guys in a little room gets a little ripe!) Shortly after the wind picks up, I start to hear this weird noise. It is a clicking noise. Kind of like a chain running along a......rudder? YIKES! I jump up and stick my head out the hatch. Mark and I are in the front Port cabin. I had pole position for the nights events. The boat in front of us was drifting free of it's anchorage. It was on top of our boat, and the clicking noise was the rudder of the boat in front of us running up and down the bridle (Cat's have a bridle system for the anchor to keep the nose pointed into the wind.) The boat was only 10 feet off of our bow.

Now, at this time I (not so delicately) kick Candy in the head and yell GET UP! I run to the Front Starboard cabin and yell at either Stub or Toast - GET UP! I need your help. Very quickly the entire crew (less Candy) is up and yelling at the boat in front of us. A head sticks out of the companion way. Something is yelled back in French.... Lisa steps forward and tries to communicate. The couple aboard the boat in front of us is obviously new to charter boats as he is fumbling around and clueless. He acts like he is going to start the engine and we all scream at him NO! (his prop would have wrapped up in the anchor chain that is running under his hull!

Stub and I jump in the dinghy. We figure that we are going to have to pull him off of our anchor line. We pull in front of his boat, and he tosses a line to Stub. I start to back up - pulling him forward and away from our boat. At first there does not appear to be any progress, so I start to dial up the throttle. The outboard on this little inflatable dinghy is a 35 HP. Way over sized. I - in my adrenaline rush - decide that if there is no movement at low throttle, then why not just Give 'er! Stub starts to scream "Your pulling my arms off, slow it down!" Later he swears that he almost went swimming as I tried to pull the dinghy out from underneath him. After a few dozen yards, we slow down, and the couple fire up their engine. The sailboat pulls forward and we go back to the cat. We watch the young french couple set their anchor again, and then go down to sleep again.

Next morning as we are all sitting around the big table in the open cockpit, we are discussing the evenings events. Candy actually says "your kidding, I don't remember a thing!". I swear that Mark could sleep through a small nuclear blast ;)

I thought I had heard it all...

I have heard many tall tales in my life, but I think this one took the cake...

We were all sitting around the table after eating dinner. We were on a rather comfortable boat this year (Contango II, 49 foot Hylas). After dinner we were bantering about. Lots of stories were being told, and one focused on "Hot" food. Now to preface this tale, Kelly seemed to have a habit of always having a better story than the one you just told. If you had a fast car, her car was the fastest in the state. If you could eat a one pound hamburger, she once ate a 1-1/2 pound hamburger. You could never get away with finishing your story and having it be done, everyone move on to a new subject. Nope, Kelly had a better story waiting...

So back to the tale. Someone ate something really hot and there was a funny story about it. The best part about this story is that no one will ever remember what the funny story was that started this tale. That is because the "Mine is better than yours" story took the cake. So Kelly starts off something like this. "Well I once flew into Buffalo NY, and on my layover I stopped into THE original Buffalo Wing bar. I ordered the hot wings and took them back to my hotel room. They were SO hot that when I ate them I got a blister on my lip!" Stub bursts out laughing. Pete makes a comment that lands him in the dog house - God bless ya buddy, you were keepin' it real! But to this day, I have never heard a taller tale about hot food!

Laaahlll Laaaahhlll!

That is a direct quote of Pete - and it is done by rolling your tongue inside your mouth. Try it - Laaahlll. It's fun!

Now I suppose you are wondering.....what is this about?

Good question. It was our first trip to the Bahamas on the original Pathfinder! We had sailed through heavy seas to make it to Bimini, but I already re-capped that trip. The next day we sailed out to the Concrete Boat just South of the South island. we spend the afternoon snorkeling around the boat. It is pretty cool, and you are warned that this was a live bombing target for american pilots in the past so be careful what you touch!

Later that day we headed back to Bimini and back to The End of The World bar. Many pain killers later we work our way back to the boat. It is now about 2 AM. Don decides that this would be a great time to start sailing to Nassau. Nassau is not very close to Bimini so we would waste an entire day if we waited until morning. So the reasoning was - why not start now at 2 AM while the majority of the crew is sleeping. This is very compelling reasoning. Especially to a bunch of drunken sailor! So, 2AM we cast off lines and fire up the diesel.....or was it the other way around? Out the channel we go. Around the North End of the North Island and headed East toward what else? The tongue of the ocean! This was when Pete fired off the "Laahlll Laaahll!" He was working on the charts and figuring out our navigation route for the trip when he discovered that we would be sailing into the "Tongue of the Ocean" The next 3 hours in the dark, as we navigated around un-lit channel markers, Pete and I continued to drink beer and shout out the occasional "Laahll Laaahlll!"

Pete and the Jellies!

After my last posting, Pete sent me the following e-mail!

Don’t forget that one time in the Bahamas when we sailed at night and the luminescent jellies where in schools under a full moon. I don’t remember what island, but we never went to shore. I remember there was a big fight on that night and we could hear the yelling coming from a house/shack on shore. Very weird

This sums up our adventures!

Take a chance. All life is chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure thing boat never get far from the shore.--Dale Carnegie


We need the picture of Pete in full weather gear eating spaghetti in the open hatch, at night - sailing in Hawks Channel! That would complete this quote.

Unbelievable night sail!

We had decided that a stop in Mustique on our way back from the Tobago Cays would be more of an adventure than just going back to Bequia. We headed North and charted a course to Mustique. This is the island of the rich and famous. Only 100 villas on the entire island. Lots of celebrities are supposed to own property here. As we pull in to Obsidian Bay, we notice a long pier and a bar/restaurant. I (as usual) am concerned about the anchorage. It appears that the boats are not swinging in unison on their anchor chains. A lot of confusion, and not a lot of space. The harbor is relatively full.

Also as usual, Don wants to get the boat in close so that we have a short dinghy ride to shore. The bay is deep, so this is not a bad idea anyway. We drop anchor, make a quick change of clothes and hop in the dinghy to head in to the bar. When we tie up on the pier, we have a bit of a walk to get to the bar. As we are walking along the pier we notice the LARGEST COCKROACH I have ever seen in my life. It had to be 2 inches long, an inch wide and an inch tall. The ladies would not have slept a wink if they had been sleeping on shore! We arrived at Basil's Bar after a short walk. It overhangs the bay, and we all have a great view of the boats in the harbor. Dinner was great, and the drinks were fantastic. I am, however, noticing that the boats are all swinging randomly in the harbor. I am concerned about the boat, and say something to the Don. He does not appear concerned.

After dinner and a few drinks, we all head back to the boat. The group goes to bed, but shortly after midnight I am awakened by Troy. He has been hearing a clunking noise outside his cabin. When we investigate topside, we notice that the boat has drifted stern to stern with another at anchor, and the dinghy of the other boat is banging into our boat. We push the boat away. Minutes later, the same thing occurs. Troy, Stub and I spend the next hour pushing the boats apart. Finally we wake the Don. He takes the issue into consideration and decides, lets just sail to Bequia!

We pull anchor and motor out of the harbor. Once outside the harbor, we set sail and kill the motor. The night is cloudless, and the stars are unreal. I have never seen more stars in my entire life. The waves were washing past the hull, and there was a fantastic warm breeze. Clearly one of the most memorable night sailing experiences of my life. I enjoyed that morning at the helm more that words can describe. Pure joy and relaxation. Beautiful.

Now, would you believe that the name of the vessel we are sailing on is "Stargazer"? Yeah.....really.

The best destination he never saw...

We were on our first cruise to the Abaco's in the Bahamas. The day before had started out at Pete's in Little Harbor. We spent the majority of the day relaxing at the pub. We headed up toward Elbow Cay at the end of the day. It was a protected sail inside the reef. We made it to Hope Town as the day was ending. We found a slip at the Lighthouse Marina. As we had been "tippin'" all day, we grilled out and hung out on the Rumpleteaser that evening. Stub was in the zone and didn't want the evening to end. Eventually we all turned in.

The next day we all woke up late and realized that we were in a picturesque little harbor. There was a candy cane light house above us. We all had some breakfast and coffee and decided to climb up the hill and tour the light house. Steve groaned in the corner and laid back down on his bunk. We took the dinghy into town and strolled the narrow streets buying shirts, hats and knick knacks. There was a really cool little bar overhanging the harbor. We had lunch and a few beers.

Toast found out that there was a band or DJ (can't remember which) playing here this evening. We all piled back into the dinghy and went back to the boat. Steve was still horizontal. He covered his head with a pillow as we waited for evening.

That night we all tried to coax Stub out of his coma. He moaned and sat up. Two minutes later he laid back down. We all piled into the dinghy to go to the little bar hanging over the harbor. There was some good music and lots of cocktails. The harbor was dark with a few lights showing the rippling water. The wind was building, and it was cool. We had a great time that night watching the band and the harbor. After many hours, we all piled into the Dinghy and headed back to the Rumpleteaser.

Next morning we woke up early and headed out to our next destination. Steve had missed the entire stay at Little Harbor in Elbow Cay. I swear this has to qualify for the most incredible place someone visited and never saw or experienced.

Raw (T)ide! - Big Pine Key Style

The boys trip was off to a good start. We all were a little fuzzy this morning from our night on Duval Street. Fat Tuesdays had been a lot of fun, but left a mark. We decided to sail North today to Big Pine key. For cryin' out loud, we rented a sailboat so we better get it out of the harbor! The day started a little late, but we were not in a big hurry. The sail up the chain was relaxing, and we were all lazing about listening to the stereo and having a few cocktails. There was a lot of activity overhead as the fighter jets were preparing for the Gulf. It was cool watching them blaze back and forth. A little strange - we were basking in the ultimate expression of freedom sailing in the keys on a lazy vacation - while they were preparing for war... Glad to be on the boat for more reasons than one.

As usual, the sun was setting as we were pulling in to Big Pine Key. The entrance to the anchorage is very narrow and shallow. We worked our way back very slowly listening to the depth alarm go off constantly. We finally found a great anchorage between Ramrod Key and Little Torch Key. There were a couple other boats in the anchorage, but it was basically empty. We snapped a quick picture of the sunset with the boat next to us drifting at anchor.

At this time the Captain and his mate had decided that they had had enough excitement the first couple nights in Key West. They were going to hang out on the boat and relax. The "boys" decided that we were going to find the night life in this stretch of the keys. We did not have Lisa and her travel book along, so we were going to have to wing it! We quickly showered and jumped into the inflatable dinghy for our trip to shore. The closest island was Ramrod Key. There were a lot of lights over there so we headed in that direction. We found out that the area we were in was extremely shallow. We had the motor tilted up and were using the oars as sounding rods. It took a while (30 minutes) to get close, but we realized that this was all residential lots with no place to tie up. We decided to head East toward Big Pine Key. Again, we ran into trouble with depth. We were putting along constantly sounding with the oars to insure that we did not run aground. It took about an hour to finally find civilization on Big Pine Key.

Now keep in mind that we had taken a 12 pack of beer along, and there was none left at this point. We were all holding the last can as we poured out of the dinghy. The building where we landed looked like a small resort. We were thinking "Where's the bar?" As we looked closer, we discovered that the majority of the people present were kids. An adult noticed us and quickly walked outside. Before we could even ask she blurted out "You can't be here!" We begin to ask where the night life is, but she keeps pushing us toward the dinghy. Craig finally stops and and says "We're leaving but were is the closest bar?" The lady points up the channel. We pile into the dinghy and head up the channel.

As we cross underneath the bridge, we notice a long dock with a bar. We found "The Sand Bar"(Now called Parrotdise Bar). We head in and belly up to the bar. There are not a whole lot of people present, but it is a bar, and they serve cold cocktails. We start talking to the owner. He is a really nice guy and likes our story on how we got here. An old sailor walks in and sits down next to us. He asks the owner if he can tie up to the dock for the night, and all is well. He explained that he sailed down from Key Largo today, and as the night sets in the wind died. He had no outboard on his little sailboat, so he tied a line to the bow and walked the boat the last few miles to The Sand Bar.

About an 1-1/2 hours after arriving the bar empties out and we are the last patrons left. The owner decided to close. We ask where the best night life in the area is? He explains that this would be "Montego Bay" on Big Pine Key. (The Sand Bar is located on Little Torch Key) We ask if we can call a taxi, but the owner offers to drive us instead. BONUS! The old sailor decides to tag along. As we walk out, he explains that he needs to go back to his boat to get his teeth... A few minutes later we pile into the owners car and head to Montego Bay.

Now, little did we know, Montego Bay is a Packers Bar. The wings are fantastic, and the bar is active. We hang out while harassing our waitress (a fiery little cuban who graduated from Key West High School). We also run into a group of young girls and discover that they work at Sea Camp. We proceed to give them a hard time about their hospitality. They all laugh and tell us that we should not have been there (Sea Camp) either.... Several hours later the bar closed down and we catch a taxi back to the Sand Bar. We are all VERY over served at this time and not as concerned about the shallow bay. The dinghy is cracked wide open and we begin singing the theme song to "Raw Hide" as directed by Mark. I swear we were doing great, but I am sure it was well out of key and had many ad lib lyrics.

Next morning, Spanky and Doctor tell us that they could hear the singing from about a mile away ;)