Preparing to depart Fantasy Island Resort

(As I preview what I have written tonight, as the page lays out today with my profile picture on the right - 2 years old, and this recent picture, I see that I have aged quite a bit.  Have a better tan.  Changed to an easier hair style.  And perhaps, regardless of what friend and former neighbor Betsy, wrote recently on Facebook, have lost some weight, or perhaps redistributed it!) 
Getting ready to depart Fantasy Island Resort, sadly.  I arrived here in late June of 2010, and Annah Foster has moved no more than 50 feet since my arrival, when I moved her to a better spot on the dock after friends in that spot departed.  It has been a wonderful 16 months and I have really enjoyed making this resort my home.When I arrived, you may recall, I was exhausted from my 18 days or so at sea, with 4 days of tropical storm thrown in at the last, and so I ate every meal in the restaurant here for about a month or so, sort of re-building myself after Cup o' Noodles, apples, bananas, sandwiches while the bread lasted, and cans of Bush beans at sea - oh, and yes, one fish eaten raw.  I was very tired, physically and mentally - more than I recognized at the time, and this place was a great place to begin this new adventure.
Fantasy Island was a safe place from which to venture slowly, to begin learning my way around since I speak no Spanish.  The first times, whenever I left the resort property, were very scary for me - a stranger in a really foreign country.  ( I vividly recall the first time I bravely walked out to the main road, to take my first collectivo taxi to save on the fare, after having taken taxis from either the resort front  door(very expensive) or later, from the guard shack across the bridge (still expensive, but not so much).  I sat on the curb and waited and waited - about 5 cigarettes, I think, and when no cars or taxis passed by, decided I might as well start walking - in flip flops, no less.  As I neared Bojangles, a taxi finally passed and blew his horn, but I was almost there and let it pass.  It turned out to be the National Holliday and the store, my destination, was closed - EVERYTHING was closed, and I paid full fare to ride back, empty handed.)  With no Spanish, when I arrived, to a little bit now, it has been a wonderful adventure for me here.
I recently told friends about a couple firsts I have had lately.  One is silly and the other just a bit exotic:  I had the occasion to help a friend's mother by stopping by, with my machete in hand and chopping down my first stock of bananas, as a favor for her.  I have never done that before and for some reason, it was kind of cool.  I have always gotten my bananas at the grocery store.  The other was seeing my first tarantula spider in the wild.  It was crossing the road in front of me as I pulled the car into Fantasy's entrance, and after reversing, I visited with it in the light of the car's headlamps.  I tried to take a pic with my phone's camera, but with no flash, it failed.  Unfortunately, I had thrown my Bic lighter down next to the spider for perspective, and had to figure a way to retrieve it.  Yup.  The spider jumped AT me when I tried to scare it away.  I screamed like a little girl!  Ha!

Taken from the wooden bridge to enter the resort island, these are a couple of pics of my dock and Annah Foster, in the center of the picture - third from the right.  Friend Skip has already departed or his boat would be on the right in that big empty space.

Of these boats, from left to right, the first 2 will depart as I do, going to different new homes, the 3rd probably, and there is my boat.  The boat with the nice blue cover to the right I don't know his plans - a really nice Mexican fellow who works for the Supreme Court of Mexico.  (I have emailed him about the rent increase, and my plans, as I have his cell phone in my boat, but have heard nothing from him as of yet.)  The last boat is owned by a Canadian named Martin, I know nothing about his plans.

This is Annah Foster from the land side, and if you look carefully, you will make out one of the iguanas I have been feeding for months on the dock in the foreground.  Occasionally, this one will become impatient with me, and climb into the cockpit ( I found 'evidence' of his visit on day on the floor the other day, and it looked like a big bird and a small dog had done their business together.  Thanks, buddy.

Having bought a new camera, finally, here are a couple of pics of the "Crap-mobile" - my 2000 Kia Sportage.  WHO would ever order a dark colored car for the tropics - are you kidding me?  It is so hot some days when I open the door.  I think I will paint the roof white soon.

You cannot see the dents on the sides and hood, or the scratched bumper that fell off as I drove one day, scraping it along in the gravel in front of the tires until I stopped.  Or the cracked windshield (in 2 places)  or the many other problems it has, OR smell the mildew-y smell inside!  The local's who speak English have laughed at my dad's joke - calling it a Rolls Canardly - It rolls down one hill and can hardly make it up the next.  Love ya Dad!  Oh, yeah, you also cannot see that the tires are brand new, and one size smaller, to save money!

 Friend Paty, loves technical gadgets - I Pad, Blackberry, etc, and loves to take pics. (She is very artistic and loves playing with different apps on her IPad.)   Both of the pics of me here are recent gifts from her - the top here at Fantasy after I bought my new camera (Can I change the settings to make it better for you, Dennis?) and the one above, taken at Appleby's with her IPad yesterday - a cool, and rainy day - I think we had 8 inches in 2 days.  I joined her and resort director, Christina, for drinks and talk.


I have been reading a lot of books during these many months when I have written here so sparingly, and have marked many passages that I enjoyed, from O'Henry to le Carre, with the thought to post them here, and then I forget and put the book away.....

One was from one of Ian Fleming's James Bond series - now 50+ years old - at a point when Bond was believed to have died on a mission, his secretary wrote this epitaph for him - a new old favorite for me:  "I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them; I shall live my days....."  The other night I was re-reading John le Carre - the great British spy thriller novelist, and ran across this passage written from the viewpoint of a spy master, describing a somewhat broken down, alcoholic character about to sent into the Soviet Union to spy, and it reminded me of ME.  Perhaps this is fair description of me and why I undertook this last adventure.  I give you John le Carre:

"How convenient, I thought, for him and me.  If I could have pointed to some great crime that haunted him, some act of cowardice, or omission.  But Ned had shown me his entire life, secret annexes and all, medical history, money, women, wives, children.  And it was small stuff all the way.  No big bang, no big crime.  No big anything - which may have been the explanation of him.  Was it for want of a greater sea that he had repeatedly wrecked himself against life's rocks, challenging his Maker to come up with something bigger or stop bothering him?  Would he be so headlong when faced with greater odds?"

I HAVE enjoyed this challenge, more than I can ever describe here, and if I die tonight, will die a happy man.  Oh.  One more thing.  Tomorrow marks the anniversary of my mom's death.

Life is good.  Thank you, God, Mom, and Dad.

Just how good is my life? Well, let me tell you......

Sorry - no pictures as I still have no new camera, and have decided to just go out and buy one for whatever it costs, instead of 'shopping', but in the mean time, no pics.
So tonight, driving home in my 2000 Kia Sportage, and laughing to myself about my dad calling our old family car - a '49 Chrysler Windsor - a Rolls Canardly - OK - here it goes......It rolls down one hill and canardly make it up the next - I realized that today, perhaps, epitomizes the great life I am living.  (yes, there are problems and troubles and all that dreck, but usually, I choose not to write about it here)  OK - I know you don't have to believe it, but below is a picture after I ate lunch recently at the Casa Presidentia in Tegucigalpa - you are supposed to wonder who took the pic, and I am supposed to answer - el Presidente.  But, really, is true, I ate lunch there recently.

My day started with breakfast at a gringo restaurant where I had never eaten, with the "Grand Slam" and it was great, and damn, my buddy Justin,  a Canadian who owns a local hotel, who had asked me join him paid for it.   He and his gf had the eggs benedict and my other friend had "the American".  Everyone enjoyed the rather pricy food, though.   I returned to the boat to gather some stuff for my errands ( I have been away from the boat now, for what seems like 2 months, but is really about 4 or 5 weeks.  She is fine and happy, and yes, I need to clean her up quite a bit.) which are the first I have done in weeks and weeks, I think.  I successfully navigated the Spanish speaking bank lady, who renewed the registration for one more year for the car.  (It is still in the name of the seller, as the govt of Honduras is rather slow to process changes of title here - now, 3 months, I think.)  I stopped off at Paul's boat and we got to talk a bit, since I have been gone for so long and we caught up on our news, etc.  I stopped and picked up the laundry from the lavandaria owned by my buddy Steven, and stood for over an hour and talked with his brother, Michael, and heard a bit about his past life, successes and failures.  Not many folks understand that I would rather spend time talking to locals than most Gringos, although there are certainly a lot of exceptions to that, but I really enjoyed standing by my car and just gabbing away with him for over an hour.

Oh, did I mention that as I type this, at midnight, Sept 21, that a white faced monkey is sitting on my shoulder, kinda purring, with his tail wrapped around my right bicep?  Not quite the way things are done in Pa or NC.

So, my other errand was to stop at the Roatan Yacht Club, to make a deposit to hold a slip for me, and walk down to the dock and choose which I wanted.  (more on that later, but yes, I have to depart Fantasy Island Resort and Marina).  After that, I walked over to the bar where only one other man was sitting, and I made my first friend from the Caymans.  We swapped stories and rums and vodkas, and yes - a shot or 2 of tequila - and I departed feeling......ah, how can I say this - .....In Espanol, the pallabra esta "bolo" - which means drunk.

I decided to stop back at Pineapple Villas where I had had breakfast, to the more reasonably priced sports bar and restaurant, for a quick dinner and then return home to AF.  As I stepped off the elevator, at the 1st table in front of me, sat one of the most influencial men on the island, Mr Bobby, who permits us cruisers to use his dock for our dinks, to go shopping, etc in the town of French Harbor. so we don't have to pay for a taxi from the resort to town.  After formalities are exchanged, he asked this Gringo to sit and join him and his party, and a waitress brought another glass for me to enjoy the last of the FIRST bottle of wine.  Across from me sat a guy, exactly my age, who now lives in New Orleans, and who also welcomed me to the table,  As it turned out, Mr Bobby had to depart early, and the rest of us left for the more expensive place on floor below for dinner where I had started my day with breakfast - NOT the dinner I had expected to enjoy, but which turned out to be a great steak - When I bump into folks like this, I always make sure the waitress puts my tab separate, as I choose not to free load or mooch, on these very wealthy men, whom I respect and admire, but will not mooch off.  This fellow Richard, whom I had never met before, told me about his childhood on the border of Honduras and Nicaragua, I think - how he came to Utila in a Cessna 180 at the age of 8, the next little island east of us - how he ended up in the US, and how he became an expert on boat transmissions and drives, and now bills about $18-20 million a year for the company he owns. He was just back from Brazil, and off again this weekend to - oh, some other exotic place -  I love to hear these stories, and always wish that I had found some similar success, but, I did not.  I have matured enough to know that now, friends are more important than money.  Anyway, when we were ready to leave, there was no bill for me, as he had insisted, behind my back, to add it to his.  I do not deserve such kindness, I think.

So, today, I enjoyed my wealth and fortune, again.  I am a wealthy man with good friends - both poor and rich - and I get to enjoy my fortune almost daily.

Now that should have been the ending to this, but I must update you a bit on my recent good fortunes.  Well, - yes - there are also some bad.  It all started with a dead rat.  Dead.  Stinking up the whole boat.  And I couldn't find it.  Phew!  I did find it finally - it died after eating the poison, instead of the food in the crappy rusty trap I bought a year ago - and after cleaning up the remains, and fluids, and - well, you get the idea - one hour later, it smelled again.  There must have been a 2nd dead rat, which I could not find.  So I took a vacation and checked into my friend Justin's little hotel for a few days, which turned into weeks, I think.  From that time, my life changed, again.......

Justin said he had to visit the capital city of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, for business, and would I like to go along.  A few days later, he said the trip was postponed until after the fishing tournament, next week.  Within one hour of that, a friend of his sat down at our table, put down his phone, turned to me and asked if I wanted to go to Teguc for 2 or 3 days.  He has a house there and a car, and needed to shop for car parts for a car for his rental business.  Hell, yeah.  We left 2 days later, and were picked up but the 2nd most popular TV newsman in Honduras, a friend of his, and road to my friend's house - high on a hill, overlooking the bowl that Teguc lies in.  A 3 bedroom, 2 and 1/2 bath townhouse, with his Volvo sports sedan in the driveway.  We had dinner at El Patio, and I really enjoyed real Honduran food, as the city is filled - and I mean filled - with Gringo fast food restaurants, from Dunkin Donuts to TGI Fridays.  Is GRINGO LAND!!!!!  I had met a wonderful lady here at the resort who lives there, and contacted her to say I was visiting, and Paul, my host, put off parts shopping so that she and I could meet for a coffee.  Then Justin called to say that friend Douglas was wondering when we were coming to his house, and the next day, after driving around and around looking for his house, we finally found it - only 12 bedrooms, with elevator for 4 floors, swimming pool, steam room, overlooking the Cuban Embassy and several others - well - you have the picture - and geeze, why am I invited here?  Douglas asked if I would like to drive out and visit his ranch the next day, and Paul dropped me off, and we departed - an hour and half drive - geeze, I cannot describe some of it and wish I could - through beautiful Honduran mountains and little villlages - to his 2000 acre ranch and hacienda with pool, horses, shooting range, stocked fish ponds, the best tree house I have ever seen, for his grandkids, - geeze, I just cannot tell you how nice it was, and how great a host he is.  We returned that night, after grilling some of his fantastic Black Angus beef - aged 15 days - on his BBQ, and I stayed the night as his guest in his beautiful home.

During the drive, he mentioned that he was taking his 70'ish 67 foot Cheoy Lee ketch sailboat out for the fishing tournament the next week and that I was invited.  Geesh - another story, entirely.

After a night and day at Doug's house, Paul returned and we discoed with 2 beautiful young ladies he knows at the communications department for the president of Honduras.  The next day, we visited a friend of his there, and this humble, simple, Gringo, had lunch at the equivalent of Honduras' White House, sitting next to one of the govt's Ministers as if I had known him for years.  Geeze, I really do not deserve these honors - who the hell am I to eat at the President's House?

Instead of flying back to Roatan, Paul and I drove 6 hours to the coastal town of La Ceiba - another place I have wanted to visit - and returned on the ferry the next day - he also has a house in that city so again, we didnt have to pay for a hotel room.  So the 2-3 day trip turned into a great 6 day trip and a great break for me from Roatan, and Annah Foster.

Upon my return, I learned that the resort is raising our slip rentals to more than double what I spend now, and a group of us are departing for another marina - the Roatan Yacht Club, in French Harbor, which, I am sorry to say, is not so very nice, but is so much less money.  As a group, I am sure we will make it a better place, and one that others will want to visit, like Fantasy Island was last season.  Jerry, the dockmaster then, worked so hard to make this a place that cruisers wanted to visit, and stay.  So, at Thanksgiving, we had - what? - 40 or 50 cruiser folks for dinner, and Christmas, even more.  When Jerry took off for his European and African tour, a new dock master took over, and unfortunately, he has reversed every good thing that Jerry worked for, including the morning radio net.  He just wants to collect rents and boss people around, and look important.  He used to work in construction and had to boss those folks around, and now thinks he can talk to yacht owners the same way.  He is also an old man who has not worked for many years, and this new 'job' - perhaps his last -  has filled his already big ego to breaking point.  Up until now, we have laughed at him behind his back about his bossing us around, and telling us "the best way to do things", as if we don't know how to wipe our own - oh well, you get the idea ........   Why the owner here is raising the prices is subject to great speculation, but with a 120 room resort with 15 guests tonight, perhaps, he would like us all to go so he can just shut it down and re-group.  Who knows?  I feel that I have been one of the biggest promoters of this place, in every instance I could, from asking guests who had a good time to write about it on Trip Advisor, offering managers my advice, to giving free rides in my dink to kids from the mainland.  I have loved my home here, and I am sad to see it crumble before my eyes in the last 14 months I have made it my home - proudly and happily.

By the way  - the fishing tournament, which I thought was for 1 day - was 3 days long- filled with lots of rum, day old pizza, wings, great cooked beef, but not much sleep or fish - was a great experience and I thank Douglas for inviting me to come along.  It took me 4 days to recover, but was well worth it.  Each day we caught a small fish, but never anything worth mentioning here, unless you would like to hear about the big one that hit, but the hook did not set, and it got away.

I am blessed.  So rich with good friends - from my amigo who runs the local laundry to the rich and famous of the island and Honduras.    Thank you, God, for these rich blessings, and please, keep them coming.  I love this life.

Girls In My Life

Here is something to chew on, since I have been so bad at posting here lately.  Pictures of some of the women I have met here.  Not what you might be thinking - they are bar girls, friend's girlfriends, children hanging out in stores, and just good friends here in Roatan.  But since I am not in the mood to write but, for a change, sitting at the resort bar with pretty quick internet, I thought I would download these.

Bought a car a week ago, and will post a picture of it, when I buy a new camera (my bag was stolen from a friend's car one night several weeks ago, and I have yet to replace it with a new one.)  It is not much, but I don't need much.

Otherwise, life is good.....

Hotmail Account is active again.

After about a week of trying, I was able to convince Hotmail that I am the owner of the account, and have reset my security and a more difficult password.

To anyone who received a spam email from me, I apologize.  I have narrowed the source down to 1 of 3 and will be more careful in the future. 

I will also take this opportunity to say that 2 days ago, I was able to arrange a Honduran driver's license for both car and motorcycle, and picked up, at 6 this morning, the car I have bought.  More about that later, but life is fast getting back on track after a number of de-railings!

I am so happy here.

Hotmail Account Hacked - Temporary (I hope) Gmail address

All is good here in Roatan (the picture above was taken at the Shrimp Festival a few weeks back, and those 2 beauties are the "Salva Vita Beer Girls),  except that my Hotmail account has been taken over by someone or something and is sending out span.  Hotmail shut it down, and I have enrolled 3 times in their process to re-open the account.  They are very cautious and the process is very frustrating. 
They ask for info such as "the subject lines of a few recent emails I sent (I rarely fill out a subject line), the complete and exact names of 5 people in my address book

Until further notice, and gawd, I hope it comes soon, I can be reached at annahfoster@gmail.com.

New Post

OK. OK. OK. Here is a post, as a reply to all of those who have written to me over the past few months, since I have written nothing here. All is good here with me.

At first, I was just doing nothing special worth writing about. It was the same old, same old. Then after another month passed, I realized that I WAS doing some things that should be posted, but, ah, I was just having too much fun to do it.

Another month passed, as the complaints and emails started to become regular. From Europe, the US, even locally, culminating in the one that broke this camel's back. On Facebook the other day, my cousin wrote me. It seems that an old girlfriend had kept his unlisted phone number in her book all these years, and called him, worried about me. Geesh, although we have been friends for all these years still, I stopped dating her about 10 or 12 years ago. But she, and her sister were concerned and contacted Jonathan. I called her and told her I was OK. And decided to post something here.

I have a file of pictures to post, with accompanying comment, but now, because of my procrastination, the task is a bit overwhelming, and really - REALLY, I am having fun and happy, and just too busy doing a lot of nothing to do it.

But I shall.

So to all of you who follow along here, and have written, concerned, my apologies. But rest, assured, that I am well, and happy, and still here at Fantasy Island Resort, on the Bay Island of Roatan, Hond.

Changes

It is 2:27am and I have just returned from the local disco. How I found myself there, is a long story, but the impetus that drove me to blog at all is some music I heard tonight there. More about that later.
The week has been great, kinda topped off by a wonderful party for St Patty's Day on Thursday evening, at the new deck at the marina green. Again, I played my piano for an hour and half or so, to start the cocktail hour, and was joined by Chuck - a Hungarian on a boat here - who plays a very decent sax. Also David came up and sang a bit and added his mandolin to my music. He is an extremely talented guitarist and entertainer, and we have played together several times going back to Christmas. Perhaps 3 or 4 boats total, prepared Irish stew for the dinner and it turned out that for 110 Limperas - about $5 - we had a great meal, and cheap drinks. The night progressed eventually to loud dance music, and I had the pleasure of dancing with a new lady here, my friend Norma, and the woman who organized the party. I should write here, that for anyone interested, Fantasy Island Marina, Roatan, Honduras, on FaceBook, always has updated and good pictures - now thanks to Joyce becoming a semi-official photographer' for the cruisers' activities.
For much of the last few weeks, life has been very easy and good. I wake at 8am, and eventually make my 2 cups of coffee in Anne-Marie's old French press - her Bodem - since the nicer one I had finally was dropped and cracked. Either crunches and push-ups, or a short jog on the beach get me going, or rather help get my heart pumping. Most often, I take a book to the beach, and read, and either sip a half and half mix of pineapple and orange juice, or ask for rum to be added. I most often take a good swim, for the stretching and exercise, but the dip in the salt water is always refreshing, and also, on many days, is my 'shower'. Back to AF for some dinner, or off to a local restaurant. Back home to read, or back to the bar for a nightcap. Would be - and IS for some - an easy lifestyle to become addicted to the booze, and I often laugh to myself about a line from one of the Godfather movies - repeated several times on the Sopranos series, about trying to get out of the business, but being dragged back in. Is the same for drinking, as many days, I wouldn't drink alcohol, but someone stops or invites me to join them and the cycle continues. Well, so what! I do not live this life, and have not for several years, aiming at longevity.
I heard from a friend in Baltimore today, commenting that I had not posted anything lately, so I called him and caught him up on my - can I say boring?? - life. (Is not at all boring, but, living in paradise can become monotonous, but, as I hear so often here, 'somebody has to do it.') Wes and I talked for 30 minutes, and it was good to hear his voice, and he caught me up to date with his life, and the scene at my former home in Inner Harbor, MD.
Tonight was the cruisers' BBQ but I chose not to go with food, having eaten earlier, but had a few drinks. Talked to Sue, who works on boats - half of a Canadian couple but she was raised in New Yawk. She has become, for me, one of the guys, and has filled me in on places to visit, hotels to spend a night, and things in Honduras that are worth my time. Since she is one of the guys here, I feel free now to 'lift a leg' more near to her proximity than I would normally, in front of a lady, and we always laugh about it. I was surprised and pleased to see that my friend Paul came back today, after his surgery in Atlanta. He says he is walking better and the pain is less. (It was a bit of a shock, although I was prepared via Joyce's blog entries, to see how much his stenosis has crippled him in only 2 years since I crewed with them to SXM.) But was great to see him back again. He brought their new kitty along - a - oops, I will not spell this right - Maincoon. My first wife and I had one, as well as my friend Bart and his then-wife, and so I have an attachment to the breed.
So, after speaking to a couple cruisers, and then Sue, I visited my good friends Jim and Norma, and their dog, Rico, and had a couple more vodka and tonics. Another very nice couple came by, and I used their checking on pork chops on the grill to make my exit. Looks like I am taking care of Rico while they return to the US in June. He and I will get along fine, even if he is a white poodle!
Back to the resort bar, and ran into Marcio, who is the 'money man' here at the resort. If you look back to New Year's Eve, I think there is a picture of Patty, and Marcio, and I at the Deck Cafe. He had a friend with him, who is a doctor, and making his public service to the government of Honduras, with a year of practice at the hospital in Coxen Hole. After a couple more, I was offered to depart the resort with them and head for the the local disco, or the West End. (Geesh, I guess I will get into a car with anyone - I thought we were going to the West End, but stopped, instead, at the disco at the mall - a place I have visited before several times.)
I danced with the owner of the Rotisseria Alamen - German rotissery - and saw 2 girls, and their dates, who work here in the restaurant. Have known each GIRL since I arrived, about 8 or even 9 months ago. Their boyfriends/husbands asked us to join them, and after Marcio and Mario had had enough, I decided to stay, and continue dancing, with the assurance that I would get 'home' safely.
So, as I said at the beginning, what drew me to write, besides what Wes wrote about my not having made a post for a while, was the music. Yes, is very loud, and the disco is just like any found back home, but with a Latin flavor, for sure. But one of the favorite 'mixes' here, starts with a World War II song that Mom and Dad would have danced to. It amazed me to watch these kids either trying to jitter-bug or, if the skills weren't there, dance some Latin salsa-ey steps to this music. The mix jumps to 50's music and then on into more modern and more Latin, but the start always seems to get the dance floor moving, and happy. (There is a group of private high school seniors here just now, and I saw the same reaction 2 nights ago to this mix of music as I saw tonight.)
Everything changes, and nothing changes.
Home safe, after turning down a ride with a fellow who works in the dive shop, and came up to me to speak at the disco, to 2 after hour places, 'where the girls are' but ready for bed instead. I will do the after hour thing one Saturday night, I am sure, having heard of it now for several months.
So, that is a taste of my life today.
Changes.....
Life is good.