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 ;)