Punta Gorda Snorkeling

What a day! My buddy Rocky, who works here in the restaurant, invited me to return to Punta Gorda for a swim, and we made the deal for yesterday. I arrived about 11:30, and this time, the taxi ride in daylight let me see some of the views from the hills and the beauty of the reef when the road took us past an opening in the trees. Punta Gorda is on the north east part of the island so the reef there is a different environment than here in the French Key area. For one thing, it is waaaay out there, perhaps 300 or 400 yards from the beach.
Punta Gorda is the oldest Garifuna settlement in Honduras, dating back to 1784, I think, when a boat load of slaves travelled here from St Vincent in the eastern Carib. Not sure about the details but I understand they had been set off a ship in St Vincent, and they made or stole a boat and came this way. The Garifuna still celebrate the date as we do our Independence Day, and they paint the colors of their flag in their homes, and on their buildings and even the telephone poles have the stripes - black, white, and gold, I think. Rocky demonstrates his great pride in his home town, and took as much pleasure showing me around as I remember my dad doing to visitors in Pittsburgh.
So, Rocky's mom made us a lunch after we took a walk along the road and Rocky gave me the tour of the area. Fried shrimp, pasta, and rice. Was a great lunch. And then we gathered 2 of his buddies and the 4 of us set off for a swim, out to the reef. This old fat guy did pretty well, keeping up with these kids.
What a great trip! Just after slipping into the water from the dock off a palapa owned by a bar, a big sting ray swam by me, perhaps 6 feet away. And as we made our way out, the guys were looking hard for lobster and conch, having taken some sticks with a big fishing hook on the end, used to snag lobsters from their holes in the coral.
Rocky spied 2 lion fish for me and I later found one on my own. Lion fish are the only species that the government WANTS the locals to kill, as they are so poisonous, and I heard that they eat the corals, but not sure about that. Rocky has really sharp eyes, and spotted and re-spotted a 2 1/2 foot moray eel swimming on the bottom through sea grass, obviously hunting. It was so well camouflaged that I lost it in the grass several times, but Rocky would re-find it and point it out for me.
Then we swam over a really big area of clean, white sand, and it was dotted with huge starfish - we counted at least 30 and there had to be dozens and dozens - each 18 inches. When we arrived at the reef, Rocky found a lobster in the coral and handed me the stick to try my hand at snagging it out of its hiding place, but I just don't have that skill down yet, and lost it. Amazing how fast they swim when they want to escape.
When we were finished, we took the long swim back to the dock - perhaps 20 or 30 minutes, and I ran up to the bar and bought us a few beers. Below is Rocky, enjoying his first. These are the 3 guys who, I must say, kept an eye out for my safety and to make sure I had a good time. The boy in the water is 17, and recently lost his father in a shooting, and I must say, I have Gringo misgivings buying him beers, but bought several for him. I know I cannot impose my US standards or morals on these people, but still..... buying beers for a 17 year old is way out of character for me. Neither of these 2 speak English, so there was little inter-action between us, other than slapping the water and pointing at things for me.

After that first beer, it was time to clean the conch. Some of the little guys came out to play in the water too. That is Rocky's little brother in the water. I ended up buying everyone a 'fresca' - a coke or sprite or whatever they wanted. It was fun watching the kids play, even though I didn't understand anything they said or laughed about.This is a view back from the dock, and that house on the right is Rocky's home. The yellow one is his grandmother's but she is in New York City, (yuck!) visiting Rocky's aunt and uncle, who live in Brooklyn.Rocky's little brother, who he says is very smart and in the 4th grade, but no English, yet. This is the beach in the other direction. Lots of bars in Punta Gorda, and 2 churches. I have always wondered why I see the kids here in Roatan leaving school so early in the day, thinking perhaps they go a half day for economic reasons, but found out from Rocky that they go at 630, and school starts at 7am. That way, they are in school for the cooler part of the day, and don't have to sit all afternoon in the tropical heat.

Further down this beach is a new building on stilts being built, financed by an American. It will be a trade school and the kids will be taught English, French, and Italian, so they can work in the tourism industry here. Cheers to THAT guy, for doing something really good for this community!

That kid in the water seemed to always have some joke going on, probably at this old fat Gringo's expense, but usually, Rocky wouldn't tell me what it was about. When we were first setting out, there were 2 little kids using an old refrigerator shell as a boat, and I wish I had had my camera then. They were having a ball, and were very comfortable playing in this rocking and rolling box, with no keel.

This guy is holding up the body of the conch, before they trim off what they don't eat.

The 3 heroes, relaxing. Because one guy had no fins, and the other had only one to wear, I volunteered to carry the net bag with the conch back in, and it was heavy, and a long swim back.

Star fish, lion fish, and my first moray eel. What a great day. Thanks buddy!

Daily Life

**UPDATE** - When I wrote this the other day, I had not posted anything for quite a while here, mostly because life has been pretty un-eventful. I rec'd an email from a Pittsburgh friend asking about me and reminding me of no posting lately. I had just written what you find below, but had saved it as a draft until I had time to edit a couple pictures. Since then, I attended Rocky's party, the previous post. Although not full of exotic adventure stories, my life is just fine and I am content. Contentment, more than happiness, is what I find my soul seeking daily, and achieving with great regularity. Happiness comes and goes, but contentment - with my current life as well as day to day living, with the choices I have made, with acceptance of my mistakes, with my plans or lack of them - I find living in my heart almost all the time now. Anyway, here is the updated post, saved to drafts the other day, awaiting the pics:

My daily routine has been pretty boring lately, but since I have not written anything here lately, it occurred to me to just post how my life goes lately.

One day, after they left their jobs to go home, several of the guys from the wait staff stopped by to see AF and have a beer with me. They are Garafuna - descended from original slaves who settled here, after bringing themselves from some eastern Carib island. They speak their own language, as well as Spanish and some English.

My cold has lingered now for weeks and weeks, and it is beginning to concern me a bit - no, not enough to visit a local physician or to consider trying to quit smoking again, but the fact that a simple cold has left behind, for such a long time now, congestion and coughing, and even some days, other 'cold symptoms' makes me wonder what is going on. Right after the first cold hit me, I installed the window air conditioner, so have turned it off - it is not necessary quite often now anyway - thinking that sleeping in the cool air might be affecting me.

Weather here is a real surprise to me. It is the rainy season, and yes, winter approaches; hence the cool days and nights. But the rains have really surprised me. Almost every day now for 2 weeks or so we have had grey skies, and then high winds preceeding powerful downpours of rain lasting for 5 minutes to 30 minutes. Inches and inches of rain. In a 2 day period, the dink filled full, and one day, after bailing it out almost dry in the morning, that evening I found it again, almost full. Not an accurate measurement, but after each major downpouring, I see a bucket on deck or the dock has 2-3 inches of water in it. We have had several days of straight heavy rain showers. Yesterday it was blue skies until about 11 last night. The first in several weeks or really nice weather.

Several times I have been startled by people just outside the boat on the dock, and one morning, clunky footsteps woke me. It seems that a lot of the tourists will walk over here and have chosen to have their pics taken in front of Annah Foster. Several have even come up on the boat, to stand at the mast for a pic or 2, and who knows what they do when I am not here! I have chastised several for coming aboard. They look at me like I am crazy and they are certainly entitled to come aboard. It is always funny to me, AFTER it is over. One morning 2 cute girls came over and were posing at the bow. One was really cute, friendly, and very flirty and outgoing, with excellent English. And I mean REALLY flirty and outgoing. AFTER this picture was taken, I found out she is 15. Oops! I encouraged her and her friend to move along pretty quickly.

My new neighbor, Skip, is trying to find a way to live on $25 a day here and is failing. He knows the prices of things here pretty well, and quotes which cans of beans are cheap vs the expensive ones. But after some careful calculations, we laughingly decided that if he drinks 12 beers each day at the bar in the resort, which he does, at $2 each, he has spent his daily money limit. So, the trick for him now is to buy beer at the stores and drink on the boat! Simple adaptation to the situation. He is a musician - plays guitar and the saxaphone, and last night the local band who come to Fantasy to entertain weekly, let him come up and jam with them a bit. I was very impressed with his ability to play either solo or as back up. We are going to try to get together with my keyboard and his sax and see if I can loosen up enough to play together.

On the subject of money, I have a routine, more or less now, and this last month was able to fairly calculate my spending, which seems to be about $1400. Not low enough yet, and there have been an inordinate number of taxi rides which I did not use practicallyby bundling several errands into each trip, so that alone will bring it down some more. I am eating more canned goods for meals on the boat and less in the restaurant and actually decided to install the 12volt freezer system soon, so I can refridgerate again and live a more normal life. The power at the dock is not good enough to start my 120 volt system.

I entertained a really nice Canadian couple the other night. They are here for 2 weeks of diving and had asked our little group of cruisers if they could see one of our boats. Michelle and Michel are a really nice couple, and down to earth and lots of fun. They sneak us some of their free beers from the resort, and Michel and I enjoy tellling jokes back and forth, although I have forgotten a large portion of my repetoire, from lack of use. He is from Quebec City, Quebec and she is from Ottawa, where they live now. She works for the RCMP and he is a fireman. I included Skip and another cruiser who sits near the bar using the internet a lot and has become a 'drinking buddy' as well, Will. I am not much of an entertainer or host, but kept the glasses full. I had bought some popcorn the other day and popped a bag and then opened some salsa which we dipped with plain saltines, which I learned to like at friend Bart's in NC, for snacks. Michelle likes beer, on ice, so Skip brought a couple cans from his boat for her, while Michel helped finish my last Bombay Saphire while the rest of us drank rum and Cokes. Michelle and Michel got a taste of what one person's life is like living aboard a boat, and we had a really fun time. That is Skip in the straw hat, and Michelle and Michel, and below is Michel and fellow cruiser, Will.

Skip rode with me on Monday down to Coxen Hole to ask Immigracion for another 90 days here. Friend Edgar took us in his taxi, and probably saved me a lot of money. 2 other have told me they have paid $100 and $110 for the extension, but the man only charged me $60. Not sure what Edgar said, but surely he was the reason. I think they tack on something that is not a bribe so much as just taking some $$ for some local - either you pay a local to act as agent, or the taxi driver gets some of your $$. The harbor master extended my cruising permit also, but there is no charge for that. I did have to pay 2 Limpera (10 Cents) for a back and front copy of my cruising permit at the local office supply place. The result of the trip though, was clearance until January 4th, with assurance that another extension will not be a problem. I like it here.

During this rainy season, and before the cool weather dealing with this cold, I have been grateful for the air conditioner and the borrowed DVD's from Skip, and many days do nothing more that lay around and watch TV all day. Supplemented by reading some loaner books as well. Skip has an incredible collection of murder mystery books set in the Keys and south Florida. I am envious that I never started to collect something like that, and was not aware there were so many out there - Florida writers setting their stories in the places they know. Recently, I pulled a jigsaw puzzle from a games bin I loaded before I left and have ignored until know - up to now mostly playing hearts and spider solitaire on the laptop. But I have yet to take it out of the container. But TV watching is something I have not done for almost a year. When it rains, I can only leave my companionway open and the boat quickly becomes hot and stuffy. So the AC really helps a lot. I got my first electric bill from the marina - one month - $8.38, for a month of normal use plus almost full time AC. Not bad!

I am fast approaching my first anniversary of my departure from the US. And for some reason have set a weird milestone in my mind - one year of sleeping on the boat and not in a bed on land. I cannot figure out why it is important to me, but have pondered a couple trips away from AF and Fantasy Island, but want to wait until that year has passed. Thought about flying over to Belize, or Teguchagulpa, the capital of Honduras, but will wait. For some reason, it has become important to me to have spent every night on the boat for a year. Kinda a queer - perhaps odd is a better adjective - goal, but fast approaching anyway. Not sure of my departure date and will have to go back and look it up. Perhaps a party will be in order.

Yesterday, Skip came by with a message from Jerry, the dock master, that another solo cruiser, Lou, a retired surgeon from the States, whom I had met at the bar the other night, had trouble with either his propane system or his fridge - never did get that story straight - and so had meat going bad. We were all invited to an impromptu cruisers' pot luck. Skinned chicken breasts and hamburgers with all the fixin's and a great pasta from Jamie the dive guy, 'coon ass' dirty rice from Skip - he was an oil rig supply ship captain for many years out of Lousiana - and I took the rest of the jar of salsa from the night before, extended it with a can of black beans, and with my trusty saltine crackers, my contribution was dip and crackers. The rice and pasta were great, as was the grilled meats, but my dip was kinda the poor cousin on the food table. We still had fun and everyone got along real well.

Michelle and Michel introduced me to a really nice guy here diving as well - George is a cardiologist, and one of the most down to earth physicians I have ever met - he asked me if I was interested in taking out a group for a sail on Friday. Would be glad to do it but getting AF ready would have been a hassle, and I declined. I did profit though last night when I asked him if the discoloration on my lower legs was evidence of a circulation trouble and, after a careful look in the lobby by the bar, George told me that it was nothing to worry about. Yes, is circulatory, but veinous and not arterial, so not to worry one bit. Truth is, I wouldn't anyway, but was nice to hear.

Every day I check on my octopus friend, but some days, due to the run off from the heavy rains, the water is so silty that I cannot even see the rocks she lives under, even in the 18 inches of water. But, the pile of rocks and shells she pulls in front of her cave's entrance for protection seems to change daily, and I guess she is OK. I found her one night with a flashlight, and not needing to camoflage herself, she was in her natural glory - an incredible lapis lazuli blue, and yellow that shimmered like gold - she looked like a piece of large exotic jewelry, or perhaps a melted Faberge egg. She did not like my flashlight on her and walked away into the dock's shadow pretty quickly. Unfortunately, this pic below is just a plain daylight photo.

So, that is about all for now. Pretty plain living, but in a great place surrounded by some nice people and occasionally, exception people. Making new friends. Bush beans, Campbell's Tomato Soup, rice, corned beef hash, canned corn and never any really good bread. There are a couple things that I miss - pizza from the place we used to order from where I worked in Pgh - Oreo's and ice cold milk - cheddar cheese - jumbo shrimp. The list is not long, and most could be satisfied here, if I look hard enough. Life is good.

Birthday Party in Punta Gorda

About 10 days ago, my buddy Rocky (Roque) who works in the restaurant here at Fantasy Island, invited me to his home for his 23rd birthday party. This is the 2nd time in 3 months that I have been invited into a local home and I consider it such an honor. There were some communication problems over the last week, and this morning, I was certain that I would not attend, since Rocky had failed in his email to give me DIRECTIONS to his home, and did not reply to my answer that I needed them. He basically said that I was invited at 8pm, Saturday and bring rum. Just no address, which might be a little bit sophisticated here anyway, or directions which also, since the roads don't seem to be marked, would have been difficult. So tonight at dinner, I asked some of the other guys working in the restaurant if they were going and they hooked me up with Rocky via cell phone and he sent a taxi for me, and another waiter - a really nice kid, always smiling and giving me a thumbs up, but he has no English, and well, you know, I have 3 words of Espanol. The taxi ride there, fast and all over the road with the radio blasting away Latina music, was otherwise very quiet with NO conversation between us.

Rocky and his mom cut the cake.

Below is Rocky all decked out for the party.

I was hesitant to go, as that end of the island has had some drug murders recently, and even the taxi drivers have someone ride 'shotgun' with them, never driving alone. I carried very little money and questioned myself as to whether to even take my camera, but was glad that I did and that I went.

That's Rocky with Jandra on the left and I don't know who, on the right. Jandra later asked me to join her group when she saw that I was sitting alone.

Oscar, one of the bartenders here, and his girlfriend-

Rocky's mom in the kitchen. Note the lack of ceiling - a very cool construction -

This is a shot looking up from the living room, showing the open attic area, hand made trusses, and there are no soffits on the house at all.
Punta Gorda is a wonderful small community on the north east end of the island, and I had only ridden past that area with a Gringo ex-pat that I met here who was kind enough to give me a tour one day. The residents are all Garafuna, who were originally slaves who came here after being dropped off at some island in the Eastern Carib, and settled here. They speak their own language, but most also speak decent to very good English as well as Spanish.

Old, fat but happy Gringo -

I had a good time, and most everyone treated me with welcome smiles, especially Rocky's family. The party was in full swing when I arrived and found Oscar there with his girlfriend and he hooked me up with a pineapple, coconut, apple and rum drink. Soon Rocky's mom, Rosaria, was sending him and his sister out in the crowd with plates of birthday cake and later, fried conch treats, plantain chips, and some unidentified red meat - presumably beef. I tried everything and enjoyed watching all these kids dancing and singing and really having a good time. Rocky, or someone else always seemed to be at my side so I was not alone, but eventually was sitting alone for a bit and a very nice girl invited me to join her group's conversation.

I am ashamed that I cannot tell you this guy's name, as we shared a ride to the party and he has been smiling at me and giving me a thumbs up for 3 months now, but we just cannot TALK to each other.

Later, Rocky and his girlfriend for the night - a cute, tiny little 19 year old and I took a walk down to a bar and dance club and then walked the other way up the road to his aunt's bar. The music was way too loud for me, so I sat on a bench outside and watched all the dancing. His aunt makes the local's drink called geffity, which is peanuts and roots from the jungle soaked for a month in rum. Is like rocket fuel, but has medicinal qualities they claim. He had brought me a pint of it a few weeks back, and everyone here has advised me to take a small amount for this ongoing chest cold.

And, I must add that just before I departed again, Rocky leaned over to me and said that his gf had asked him to ask me if I wanted her to be my girlfriend. Not bad, for a 57 year old guy, huh? I am invited back on Wednesday, weather permitting, for lunch and a swim.

You just never know where the day will take you....

When I awoke this morning, I could not have imagined how this day would turn out, particularly after suffering through this miserable cold for the last 6 or 8 weeks with the accompanying bad attitude.
First of all, I was up much of the night, riding out the Tropical Storm Mathew, which, fortunately for us here on Roatan, took a more southernly route, hitting the mainland hard with rains and flooding, but sparing us here. Gusts to 50 knots were reported but at the dock where I have AF tied up, I heard nothing so severe, mostly because I am shielded by trees and we lay just behind a crook in the island where the waves do not reach. Still, it was a rough and rocky night and about 3am, I went out and tied an extra bow line on AF to the dock, as she was tugging and pulling at the bow, and I have little faith in this old dock, to hold us fast. I walked about half of the perimeter of Fantasy Island, looking for damage and trying to look out in the dark to the reef to see how big the waves were. It was hard to see in the dark, but there certainly was a very large white froth out there, and the wind tried to knock me down a couple of times, and the main beach at the resort was decaying, due to the waves passing over the protective reef and continuing into the normally passive little cove or bay in front of the resort.

Each time I experience a bad storm, it takes me back to a few days after my November '09 departure from Norfolk, when the remnants of Hurricane Ida broke my steering, 135 miles from Bermuda, leaving me helpless for 36 hours, as I tossed, pitched, and rolled in that angry sea. It was a very scary time for me. During the worst of it, when I really expected to die, I would look up at a picture of my Dad's smiling face and say "Well, Pop. What do you think of this mess I got myself into?" And he would look back at me from that picture, with that wonderful laughing smile, and make ME smile. We would share one more laugh together and afterwards, I felt that whatever happened, it would be OK. I would make the best of it.

This morning, when I awoke, I walked the resort again, this time circling the whole 21 acre island and sure enough, there is a tremendous amount of beach missing.

2 days ago, while checking on my friend, the octopus, I was in wonder when I saw a seahorse swimming by in the same shallows, but did not have my camera at hand to film it. I want to try to translate to you how amazed and grateful I am that I seem to be living a life that others view on Discovery Channel or National Geographic. Wow. I am regularly amazed at what I find in my new back yard, and the seahorse, and of course the octopus, really have brought that message home to my heart lately.
(Similarly, I remember my 3 months on Key Biscayne and noted that 'road kill', unlike Pennsylvania with its possums, squirrels, and ground hogs, there, is iguanas.)

So this morning, I pocketed my camera as I departed, expecting to post some pictures of damage, but it really was not that bad, and since you don't know what the beach used to look like, it would not make a great visual statement to show you the damage. But let me say this: A few posts back I referenced sitting on a lounge chair with a palm frond blocking my view, and this morning that lounge chair would be in 6 or 8 inches of sea water.

Also, when I awoke this morning, my heart was low, as today, back in Pennsylvania, the family of a departed friend is receiving visitors and I will not be there. Wally was an incredible man - US Marine - naval aviator, entrepeneur, successful businessman, and was half of a pair that I have described for many years as looking like 2 new $100 bills. As a couple, Wally and Lucy always looked so - what should I say here? - rich? happy? handsome? beautiful? successful? I don't know how to describe them but maybe that is not important. They are beautiful in their hearts, and an exceptional couple, and just scream out a joy of living. Wally and Lucy are part of my childhood - I will never forget that Chrysler Imperial sitting on King's Highway - green, right? and adulthood; mother and father to 2 classmates - one older and one younger - from kindergarten through, I think junior high, when our local school system sort of took a dive, and they were sent to private schools. (They had a wonderful dog that I think was the first really cleverly named pet that I remember - Danny Murtaugh.)
Annie and Nancy were 2 that I shall always hold dear to my heart. Annie, because she matured into a beautiful woman with, apparently, an incredible heart, and Nancy, who seemed to inherit every good gene possible from 2 beautiful parents, and I have had a crush on since about 6th grade. (She probably has a beautiful heart too, but, give me a break here - I remember the crush first.) Will never forget seeing Annie in '76 at the 4th and her telling me that finally, FINALLY, her hair fit the style of that day, as it had always been 'frizzy' or something like that - I don't know what - it was a girl thing. But, confiding in an old friend took a certain amount of self confidence, and I loved her for it - inviting me into her heart a bit. Nancy will never know how her smiles when we were singing - I think the Battle Hymn of The Republic in parts, not unison, in, for me probably 6th grade, made my heart flutter - a first love, or rather some fledgling version of it. In the family are also older sister Martha and young brother Robbie, but my memories center on Annie and Nancy. And Danny, too.
The other half of this pair - Lucy - probably will not remember this, but it was a BIG day in my childhood - My cousin Earl - an incredibly athletic kid - and I were playing on his front porch, and he showed me how he could go over the railing to the outside of the porch and inch across it until over the garage door, and then climb back over it to the safety of the porch. Me? I had to accept the challenge, and just like our friend Dick being able to climb up through his laundry chute, Earl could do it and I failed. I found myself hanging by my hands after my feet slipped off the little concrete ledge, and I was hanging for dear life with feet and legs waving around, looking for a toe hold. Earl must have been trying to hold on to me and pull me up, but I surely outweighed him by a considerable percentage, and my fate was certainly to drop to the driveway below, probably ending up with a broken ankle or leg. But up the hill - Alden Road - came Lucy in her Earl Sheib turquoise blue, bullet nose Ford, and hearing the commotion, stopped, jumped out of the car, and ran up Uncle Sam's driveway. Standing under me, she tried to get my feet onto her shoulders and lower me safely down, but, being the chubby, un-coordinated kid I was, I remember just lettting go, falling on her which blocked most of the fall and only having a hole in my scalp from a rock in the rock garden instead of what today, I sure would have been something broken besides skin. Crying like a 'little girl' I made it home to have my mom patch me up, and I am not sure to this day if Lucy got the credit for trying to save me.

Annie sent me a message the other day on Facebook, telling me that Lucy had asked her specifically to send me the bad news of Wally's passing, so that "I didn't hear it from someone else several months from now." I was so touched and really don't know why I merited such an honor, as well as wondering HOW she even thought of me at such an incredibly numbing moment in her life. But, it seems that Wally enjoyed following along with my travels and new life on this blog, and also was proud of me for the care I gave my parents. Those are two really cool things to hear, particularly from someone I admire so much.

So, this morning, knowing that 'el huricano' had missed us and that I was missing an important day back home, I set off to view the damage. (I want to say at this point, there really is something that is going to tie all of this together.)

One of the things I have wanted to do since arriving here, is to walk up onto the hill which is the center of Fantasy Island's 21 acres - a plateau or bluff. It is not part of the tourist's packet, but I had heard that there was a boa constrictor up there big enough to have eaten a fawn of these tiny deer here so I strayed to see just what was up there. The first thing I saw when reaching the plateau was a 30 yard long line of leaf cutting ants. An incredible sight. I almost stepped on them before I realized what I was looking at and then, that this was something I had only seen on TV. Below are 2 videos of them.
After walking a bit, sitting down for a break and cigarette, I realized that I was just in the middle of several bucks and a doe in their daytime beds, and disturbed their rest enough to make them get up and walk around. Also had several of these local critters - similar to capabari's or large hamsters - and got a video of one of them walking very close to me. Each seem to have little fear of me.

OK. This really is going somewhere, just abide with me another paragraph or 2. As I returned to AF, I stopped again to check on the octopus, and there in the water was a small fish nosing around for something to eat after the storm. It was a cow fish. Like the octopus and seahorse, I have never seen one of these in the wild. My video is pretty bad, but if you look carefully you will see it. Why is this related to Wally and Lucy?

My dad kept an incredible variety of 'stuff' in his top drawer, and as a kid, I thought it was a great treat when he took it down and put it on the bed to let me look through all those neat things - from an incredible collection of odd cigarette lighters magic tricks and old fountain pens and straight razors to a shot glass that, when held up to the light, had a slide of a naked woman. You just never knew what odd piece of junk Dad had brought home. It was so important to me that I took a box with some of them to Dad's memorial service, beginning the it by repeating this story, and pulling out some to show the folks who had come to pay respect. One of those things was a dried cow fish. Another was a dried seahorse. (Also included were an opium pipe and a miniature statue of the little boy peeing, the story of which Dad liked but that has nothing to do with this story.) It's the seahorse and cow fish. Stuff I had brought to demonstrate one little bit of what my father meant to me. And now in the last 2 days, I had seen both again, alive, in my 'back yard' and couldn't help but think of Dad.

Well, I can never forget Wally and Lucy that morning at the service, who had driven half way across the state for the memorial, as they were sitting directly in front of me as I stood at the pulpit - Lucy and Wally alternately laughing and then crying as I poured my heart out, trying to make a memorial suitable for my father. No public speaker, I had to hold the sides of the pulpit to steady my hands from shaking, I was so afraid. The top of my notes was for myself - "SMILE. TAKE A BREATH and SLOW DOWN". I cannot forget watching Lucy dabbing at her reddened eyes with a tissue as tears roll down her cheeks as we all sang Dad's favorite hymn - Jesus Loves Me - all the verses in the hymnal - and to this day, do NOT recall how I made it through them, or for that matter IF I made it through them. But I remember glancing up from the hymnal at Lucy at that moment, and the recollection comforts me for some reason.

So, to tie this together - The storm. The sea horse. The cow fish. Dad. Wally. Lucy. Maybe it doesn't really tie together, but is just a couple snapshots of how my thoughts progressed as the day went by.

With all the love in my heart, I dedicate this incredible day - no hurricane (thank God) and things happening that prompted me to return to a day 4 years ago when I showed those people Dad's silly dried seahorse and dried cow fish - this amazing day that reminds me what a great life I am living - I dedicate it to the memory of Wally, and wish I had been there to hug Lucy - share a laugh or tear - to see that beautiful face - those sparkling eyes. To stand with Annie, or Nancy or Martha or Robbie, as they said some last goodbye's to their dad, as I have mine. I cannot speak to feelings at the loss of a spouse, but if my life is any fair example, then the kids may rest assured that their dad will live on with them, silently guiding them, comforting them when down, smiling at their triumphs and laughing at the good times, as my dad does for me each and every day.

My First Hurricane?

Well, after sailing through 2 Tropical Storms, it looks like I might see my first hurricane. The rains and winds have picked up since last night. Invest 95 (a designation of NOAA or the NWS for watched, numbered low-pressure systems) was upgraded and named Tropical Storm Mathew today. The tracking map above, from Weather Underground, an online weather site I use, is estimating now that Mathew will upgrade to a Cat 1 hurricane sometime Saturday night or Sunday morning just a 100 miles or so ENE of my location. The last green dot before turning to yellow, on the map above, is about where Roatan is located.
Today I saw that a few, or perhaps all of the boats on the front side of the marina have moved and tied up to trees on the very back side between Fantasy Island and Roatan Island proper. The front side is much less sheltered and it is a wise thing to do, but I am not sure what to do here, other than doubling up lines, perhaps to trees instead of the dock. The local weather forecast never shows really high winds - between 30 and 35 knots. I have been on anchor in worse winds than that.
(As an aside - I looked up the history of Hurricane Ida today, online, because I never really understood what exactly struck me last November. The internet shows the track onto the US coast but stops as, I think, it quickly degraded. But the weather system that continued north east looked like a huge thunderstorm, covering many states, and killing 4 in the US as it passed back offshore into the Atlantic. I heard from friends in Norfolk that the surge put the water almost to the top of the floating dock pilings, where I stayed prior to departure. But I have always imagined that Ida remained an organized storm and strengthen again after moving back offshore. From the historical weather maps, it just appeared as a huge rain storm. Now I know.)
So, for now, I will remove all I can from the deck and see what tomorrow looks like.

Movie Night on AF

I have been buying some DVD's from a guy who hangs out in front of Bojangle's. He sells them out of a suitcase, and although there are lots of guys on the street corners selling them, this one is a friend of a friend, and I felt that I could take one back if it didn't work, or had some problem with it. So I took a gamble and bought some. So far, one was in Spanish only (All 4 Rocky movies on one DVD) and one did not play at all, and this fellow exchanged them for me.

So, some nights, when tired of reading, I have had the chance to catch up on some of the movies that I have missed back home. They are not stolen, but definitely bootlegged. In addition to the Spanish subtitles, frequently characters that I think are Chinese have come on screen, so assume that is the origin of the bootleggers.

I took one back for exchange today since it did not play at all, and was hammered again with "New movies! New movies!", so I took up a pile and started sorting through. I watched one tonight.

We all remember the Seinfeld episode where Kramer has a chance to make some money by smuggling a video camera into a theater? Well, I just watched "The American" with Geo. Clooney, released in the US theaters last week, I think! It has traveled all the way to Central America, complete with Spanish subtitles, although this one had some Cyrillic characters pop up on the screen a couple of times. With bad sound, coughing in the background from people in the audience, the movie was dark and it was hard to understand what Clooney was saying, and I couldn't read the whole name on the credits because the thief was too close to get the whole screen into his shot. Oh, and the movie was just OK, in my opinion.

But what do you expect for 3 DVD's for 200 Limperas!

First Day of Kindergarten for Anna

I was thrilled this morning to receive an email from my neice with attached pics of her daughter, Anna on her first day of kindergarten. Seems like just a year ago or so that she was born. Amazing. I guess I am really getting old. And this is whole family, with proud Mom and Dad. Little brother seems to be taking it all in stride.