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 ;)

Captain Overboard!

Captain Don loves to fish on our bareboat cruises. His favorite is towing a line behind the boat when we are on our long sails. He has been known to take crew members to South Beach while on layover at Miami Airport just so he can pick up fishing gear from his favorite tackle shop. He has done this more than once! He even rented a car once because it was cheaper than taking a taxi.

We were on a trip from St. Lucia to the Tobago Cays. The second day in to the cruise we were headed South from St. Lucia toward Bequia. Lisa wanted Lobster Pizza from Mac's so our goal was Admiralty Bay by sunset. My guess is that we were roughly 5 hours into the sail when we hooked a nice sized King Fish. Everyone jumped up and we dragged the fish on board. It was kicking and flopping around at first, and as usual we were a little taken off guard. Captain Don knocked the fish out, and asked me to go down below into the galley to get a pail to rinse to cockpit out. The fish was somewhat messy, as Captain Don was beginning to filet the fish.

I was not even to the galley when I heard a shriek up above. Sister Lisa was screaming. When I got back up top, I found out why. Captain Don was about 100 feet behind the boat. Lucky for him he was wearing a red Tee shirt. Lots of things were running through my mind. First - we were under full sail and the boat was on autopilot. I grabbed the wheel and pulled the autopilot release arm. As I spun back around I noticed that Dad was disappearing with each wave. He would only be visible on the crests. He was already about 100 yards back. I asked Troy and Sara to point their finger at him so that I would know where to go. Always point your finger and don't drop your arm (provides a reference when he disappears).

It was about this time that Captain Don realized that he was in the open ocean with a knife in one hand, and a bleeding King fish in the other. He let go of both and watched the mast as it moved away.

Back on the boat Lisa is screaming to drop the sails. I consider this for a fraction of a second and decide that would take WAY to long, we would lose him. Option 2 - come about and head down wind of him. We were on a Southern tack with the wind off the port bow. I came about and headed back North, but ran down wind to the North West (Wind was out of the ESE that day). I kept watching Sara and Troy's arms to know if I was making headway toward the target. My plan was to get directly down wind of him and run straight up wind toward him with the aux engine on. This took about 4 -5 minutes. It seemed like an eternity... Once directly down wind I fired up the diesel and headed up toward him. It was about this time that I realized that this was going to be a little harder than I anticipated.

We were in 6 -8 foot waves and Dad was still disappearing in the troughs of the waves. The wind was moderate, and was creating a lot of luffing of the sails (noise and potential to catch the wind and draw the boat in one direction or another with a wind change). The motor was running, and the bow was diving into the waves. I realized that if I headed directly to him I could either drop on top of him or catch him with the prop. I decided the safest thing was to head slightly downwind in case the wind caught the sails and took me North. As we got closer, Dad was passing to our South, along the Starboard side of the boat.

It was about the time he was perpendicular to us that I realized that I was too far away. He was swimming toward us, but the wind was taking the boat away too quickly, and the waves were pushing him toward the stern. I was thinking I would have to take another pass, or maybe take the sails down so that they could not interfere with the rescue, when Steve grabbed the genoa line and threw it to Dad. It was the perfect throw, and the right length. He grabbed the line and was dragged behind the boat. Sara and Troy were on the step transom. The pulled Captain Don in and little Sara (130 lbs) pulled Dad straight up out of the sea - one arm and single handed.

Now you would think that the story was over.... Wrong! MaryAnn had thrown a seat cushion toward Don when we were floating by him. This was about 20 seconds before Steve brilliantly threw the line. The cushion was blown away faster than Don could swim for it. Now, it was down wind and moving fast. Don decides that the $100 dollar cushion is not worth losing, so he drops the dinghy in and chases it down in the open ocean.... Getting the dinghy back on board proved to be more of a challenge in 6-8 foot seas than we bargained for. Hind sight 20/20 we should have left the cushion go. Oh well, life is an adventure!

The perfect afternoon

The morning had been spent snorkeling out at sand island, and we decided that we were going to go to the BBQ and jump up at Foxy's on Jost Van Dyke. We were close so we thought that we would head in early. As we were sailing up, we noticed a small beach bar in a remote beach West of Foxy's. Everyone voted to stop in and have "one". The boat was anchored, and we all dove in and swam to shore.

As we waded in from the sea, we noticed that the bar was named the "Soggy Dollar". How appropriate. The bar was know for their "Painkillers" so the group ordered a round. The first one tasted so good, we sent several back to the boat to get more Soggy dollars. Another painkiller turned into a few more. As the afternoon wore on, more and more crews began to arrive. A group of six college students arrived in a sport fisherman boat. They found a game in the bar, called the ring game. We ended up playing that game for hours. Check it out! http://www.soggydollar.com/ringgame/

The bar was built on the beach, and the view was fantastic. We continually waded into and out of the water. Sat on loungers. And enjoyed almost 5 hours at the bar killing pain...

Finally, we had to go. Foxy's jump up was calling, and we needed to have a painkiller there to check out which bar served the best one on Jost Van Dyke. Man that was rough duty.... Sign me up to live that day over and over again!

Dinner and a Donkey...

Captain Don decided that this trip to the British Virgin Islands should be different from the last. He wanted to go to Anegada. As we had not gone to Anegada before, the charter company required that we take a captain along for the ride. We picked him up at the North end of Virgin Gorda and headed toward Anegada. The day was very calm, so the sailing was slow. The mood on the boat was strange, because captain Don did not want another captain on the boat and we had done enough bare boat charters that we really didn't need a captain along. This was our seventh bareboat trip as a group. Oh well, more beer!

The hired Captain directed us to the very West end of the Island, then we proceeded East inside the reefs to a secluded beach. We were the only boat anchored in the bay. Lisa - true to form - was reading in the travel guide. She found a restaurant in the bay and discovered that you needed to radio in before 4 PM to let them know if you were going to have dinner. Seemed odd, but we followed directions. Later that night we figured out why. We were the only patrons at the restaurant that night....

About 6 pm we rolled off the boat into the dinghy and headed in to the restaurant. It was a very cool little building. It was open through the middle (basically just a roof over the top, and the kitchen was on the West end of the building. A small bar was built into the East side of the building wall. We ordered dinner, and then settled into cocktails. Our crew drifted in and out of the bar as the sun set. It was a hot evening, with a very warm breeze. Some sat inside with easy access to the bar, others in beach chairs out by the beach. This restaurant was literally ON the beach, which was very cool. It was also about the only building in the bay at all. We are talking about hundreds of yards of pristine beach with maybe one other building along it. A very....very....very relaxed and remote setting.

Dinner arrived and we had all sat down to eat. everyone was having a great time. The sun had set, and it was early dusk. The only light in the area was coming from inside the restaurant where we were eating. Remember - open in the middle on both sides (North - South). This was providing a great breeze. It must have smelled great outside the restaurant as we were eating. Everyone was laughing and carrying on. All of a sudden we realized that there were 9 of us (instead of the eight that came to shore). It wasn't staff at the restaurant either... A Donkey had walked in to the restaurant from the North (inland side) and was slowly meandering through the building. Absolute silence. I swear everyone was thinking at the same time "am I halucinating?" Out the Donkey walked on to the beach... Everyone breaks into laughter. First time I ever ate dinner with a Donkey.

We finished up dinner and headed in to "The Settlement" looking for night life. Not a lot was found, but we already had our story for the evening!