Saying Hello to a Screeching Parrot in Salinas, Puerto Rico...

While casually strolling along a random boat dock some twenty years ago in Salinas, Puerto Rico, my daughter and I were unexpectedly greeted by a screeching parrot. And since it would have been most impolite to ignore that colorful bird's early morning greeting, we did the only sensible thing and that was but to pause a moment and say hello as well.

Well no sooner had we reciprocated that bird's greeting when a voice could be heard bellowing out from inside that boat's cabin while exclaiming, "I ought to charge a fee every time somebody stops by to talk to my bird" or words to that effect.

And with that unpleasant utterance, a hint was taken and we resumed our stroll.

Well fast forward some three years later or so and this very same screeching parrot can once again be heard but only this time from the comfort of my house in Las Croabas, Puerto Rico.

It turns out that this very same vessel along with the very same bird was now up on the hard in the boatyard located behind my house. Presumably the boat was getting its bottom repainted only that I didn't happen to see any work getting done not that it really mattered to me one way or the other.

In any event, the wife and I had some boater friends on over to the house one Saturday afternoon for some grilled burgers and a few cold ones when it occurred to me to extend an invitation to that fellow sailor with the parrot.

And later after knocking on the hull of that fellow's boat and after pointing out where my house was located, he eagerly accepted my invitation.

It later transpired that this same fellow had sailed in from Salinas where he had been tied off to a dock for an extended period of time. Unfortunately for him however, he had contracted Dengue Fever after arriving at the boatyard and had been ghastly ill the prior week having had very little to eat in the interim.

Well that fellow didn't have a lot to say while visiting yet was obviously content just taking in the scene while scarfing down a burger or two. And I also happen to recall that fellow emphatically declining any thought of imbibing a cold beer all of which tells me that he had indeed been quite ill.

Think about it... when is the last time you happened to come across a liveaboard sailor declining a cold beer?

Yet even more importantly it seemed to me, was that the poor fellow appeared to be most delighted to be back among the living. And I should know the feeling for I too was once stricken with Dengue Fever while residing in Puerto Rico.

That Dengue Fever experience was most gawd-awful and had me thinking at one point that I just might not last through the night to see another day. That was the night when a certain accepting calmness had overcome me while I shivered uncontrollably all through the night.

Incidentally I never did tell that fellow that I had previously "met" his acquaintance years earlier while strolling along a boat dock in the coastal town of Salinas.



View of the boatyard from my house with Isla de Vieques visible on the distant horizon.





Image of house prior to purchase.























Postcard image of Bahia de los Pescadores. A boat lift can be seen somewhere in there.

Sailing the Spanish Virgin Islands, No Motor, No Problem....

Fajardo, Puerto Rico (cir. 1993)

Sailing my AMF 21' back to the marina after yet another blissful day of sailing and with a view of Condominios Dos Marinas in sight...

Once in the cove, I'd turn the boat back into the prevailing offshore winds, bring down the jib, secure it with bungee cords and then bring the mainsail halfway down the mast.

I'd then rest the end of the boom on a cockpit seat cushion and while standing, I'd grab the sheet with one hand and pull on it just tight enough to catch the wind.

And with the boat having just enough forward momentum and steerage, I'd turn the tiller hard on over and gently glide the boat into the slip.

Once inside the slip I'd make a mad dash fore to drop the mainsail the rest of the way down and grab on to my dock lines to avoid crashing into the pier and any neighboring boats.

No motor, no problem...

And I've said it before and I'll say it again... the so-called Cruising Lifestyle may indeed be a tad overrated.

Day-sailing on the other hand can most certainly be a much more enjoyable experience for after you've had your fill of sailing for the day, you can later go home. Yep, dat be my perspective...

Well heck, what's not to like about sailing on a clear, bright beautiful day? And now that I think about it, sailing the east coast of Puerto Rico was indeed a memorable experience that I will always cherish.



Marina Puerto Chico, Fajardo Puerto Rico




Hotel El Conquistador, Fajardo Puerto Rico




View of Isla Palominos off in the distance.




Marina Puerto Chico, Fajardo Puerto Rico





Isla Vieques on the distant horizon...




Marina Puerto Del Rey, Bahia Demajagua, Puerto Rico




One of a number of small keys commonly referred to as "Las Islas Cucarachas", by local fishermen presumably for their resemblance to said critters when seen from a distance.



Me sipping on a glass of apple-pine juice and not a Rum & Coke as some wags would suggest... and that's my story and I'm sticking to it. **hick-up**







Bahia de los Pescadores, Las Croabas Puerto Rico

Missing Out on a Gold Coin and not from the Nuestra Senora de la Antocha...

To the uninitiated random tourist, Key West is comprised of little more than souvenir shops and bars. And though Duval Street might certainly want to make it seem that way, there is indeed more to Key West than just your usual bar scene.

In fact there are a number of attractions scattered throughout Key West. Included among these are the Hemmingway Home and Museum, the Southernmost Point in Continental USA, Mallory Square, Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory, the Truman White House and Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville to name but just a few.

Uh... scratch that last one for it's but just another bar along Duval and an overpriced one at that.

Nevertheless the one attraction here in Key West that might hold a bit of interest for me is the renowned shipwreck museum founded by and named after Mel Fisher.

The museum is described as containing an extensive collection of artifacts from 17th century shipwrecks which include the Henrietta Marie, the Santa Margarita and the Nuestra Señora de la Atocha.

Well the son of famed treasure hunter Mel Fisher and his salvage company are back in the news once again after recently laying claim to a cache of gems found off of Key West by another treasure hunting party.

The cache is said to be worth a reported half-billion dollars which is equivalent to 500 million dollars for those of you who might perhaps be somewhat number-challenged.

News accounts goes on to further explain that a claim has been filed in federal court contending that the undisclosed amount of emeralds, amethysts and quartz crystals found scattered on the sandy seafloor in January 2010 came from the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha which sank during a hurricane off of Key West back in 1622.

Also explained is that although none of the precious stones were listed on the manifests of the Atocha and of her sister ship the Santa Margarita, (the Spanish crown required only gold and silver to be listed) other Atocha inventories suggest that she was carrying a large number of Colombian gems.

But whether or not Mel Fisher's legal claim is ultimately successful is not something that I'll be losing any sleep over for I seriously doubt that I'll be gifted a token gem one way or the other once the dispute is finally settled.

Nevertheless there was an occasion back in the mid-nineties while residing in Puerto Rico that I might have been gifted a gold coin as a token of appreciation had circumstances been slightly different.

For you see I happened to be relaxing with the wife and kids at Marina Puerto del Rey one lazy weekend afternoon when I stepped inside the marina's restaurant/bar to place another order for two additional beverages.

And while waiting for my beverages to be delivered, a rather attractive blond female patron, whom I hadn't ever previously met, unexpectedly saddled up alongside of me only to then greet me in what seemed to be a somewhat forward and inviting manner.

Well after politely responding to her greeting and later perplexedly gathering up my drink order, I went back outside to be with the wife and kids.

Later that evening, a fellow bar acquaintance who had seen me come inside the bar earlier that day, asked whether I knew who the attractive blond was that I had briefly exchanged a few words with.

Upon responding that I didn't know who she was, he proceeded to inform me that she happened to be the heiress to a massive fortune and that she had only very recently arrived to the island aboard a luxurious yacht that could be seen tied off to the very end of the marina's main pier.

My fellow bar-fly acquaintance later went on to explain that she had been "hooking up" with a number of random fellows throughout the marina for a "poke & go" the past couple of days and that afterwards she would gift her new found lovers with a gold coin as a small token of her appreciation.

Well I didn't give my brief encounter with that blond another thought until a couple of months later when that particular heiress happened to make national news headlines.

It was reported that she had been apprehended and taken into custody by local authorities in one of the Lesser Antilles islands for the unprovoked murder of a local citizen.

She allegedly had shot and killed a local water-taxi captain after being delivered back to her boat that was anchored offshore late one evening. This was reportedly after a festive evening of heavy drinking and cocaine abuse at one of the local island establishments.

It was also reported by friends and acquaintances of hers alike that she would on occasion casually speculate what it would be like to take the life of another person.

Evidently it was a morbid thought that she had been contemplating for some time for a number of regular patrons who frequented the bar in Marina Puerto del Rey in Puerto Rico could distinctly recall the heiress casually speculating the same thought while seated at the bar.

There was no doubt in those bar patrons minds that the heiress had indeed casually murdered that local citizen and had done it just out of a sense of curiosity.

She later was reportedly confined to a tiny jail cell for precisely a year and a day subsisting on a starvation diet of little more than bread and water. It was said that she was completely emaciated and near death herself while incarcerated.

I don't recall the case ever going to trial but it was speculated among those who had met her that there must have been a massive payoff by her family for her subsequent release from jail.

In hindsight, I suppose it was a good thing that circumstances were such that I wasn't ever gifted a gold coin.





Marina Puerto del Rey, Bahia Demajagua, Puerto Rico

Living Aboard and Bored Out of My Mind...

Me thinks that the "Cruising Lifestyle" may perhaps be a tad overrated... Days of doing little more than piddling around the boat will turn into weeks and before you know it weeks of not having done much more than idling about will then turn into months and soon enough you've burned a year doing little more than contemplating an exit strategy off the boat.

Day-Sailing on the other hand is fun! What's not to like about taking the boat out for a day sail while sipping on cold beer and returning to the docks later in the day to tie the boat off, shower down, and head on home for some A/C, cooked food and a few ballgames on the TV.

And it's certainly not unusual for single live-aboard cruisers to start losing their mind after awhile. The mind starts to play tricks on you and you find yourself sticking out your tongue for no apparent reason. I'm hoping that this doesn't ever happen to me.













Me sailing my AMF 21 back in the day... East coast of Puerto Rico.

S/V AMF 21, A Magical Moment from Days Gone By, Marina Puerto Chico, Fajardo Puerto Rico

There was a time when the prospect of going sailing was a cause of uncontained joy... yet somehow I've yet to rediscover that feeling aboard my current boat.

I can well remember the feeling of quiet elation while marveling at the beauty and serenity of daybreak.

Marina Puerto Chico
Fajardo, Puerto Rico, 1995.

A little bit of Puertorrican humor from back in the day...

I've become somewhat of a night owl here on the boat and often find myself surfing the web while reflecting back to the time when I most recently lived in Puerto Rico some fifteen or so years ago.

For whatever reason I'm thinking back to the time when myself and two fellow co-workers went to visit another co-worker at his house who happened to now be on the mend after under going a surgical procedure.

Well we're all glad to see that he is now on the mend but before leaving my fellow co-worker starts sharing a recent "experience" of his in a nearby town.

He proceeds to explain how he had gotten turned around while driving and found himself being pulled over by a female police officer after driving the wrong way on a one-way street.

As the officer was writing out the traffic citation, my co-worker goes on to explain that at that very moment another driver could be seen careening though the streets at an exceedenly high speed.

With that the officer is said to have placed her traffic citation notebook as well as her nightstick on the hood of his car. He then explains that the officer then gave chase to that speeding vehicle all the while blowing her whistle but not before instructing my co-worker to not go anywhere and that she'd be back in but a moment.

My co-worker further goes on to explain that he eventually did drive off after endlessly waiting for the officer to return and finish issuing the citation as well as collect her belongings which of course included her nightstick.

By now the whole story is somehow starting to seem a bit fishy to me. I certainly hadn't heard this story before but since it had been told in Spanish, I hesitated to inquire what had become of the nightstick fearing that I perhaps hadn't fully comprehended the full extent of the events.

Well at that moment, our co-worker who was on the mend now suddenly chimes up and in a most agitated manner inquires, "Y la macana? Donde esta!" (And the nightstick? Where is it!) whereupon my co-worker who had been relating the story proceeded to immediately reach down and grab himself on the inner thigh and deadpan, "La macana?, A mira... aqui la traigo!"

With that we all break out laughing our as*es off while the co-worker who had just blurted out the question suddenly realizes that he's been sucked up into a joke and is now jovially cursing all of us out. "Me cag* en la madre... Que hijuele de la gran-put* son to' ustedes" and on and on and on...

With that my co-workers and I hurriedly head off for our respective cars leaving our co-worker shaking his head and muttering crap out in his driveway.

I'm now driving off and still laughing my as* off and relieved that it wasn't me who had asked about what had become of "la macana"... especially since I myself had been on the verge of popping that very same question.

I'm suspecting that all that laughter might have caused that poor fellow to inadvertently break a stitch a two. The guys at the pharmaceutical plant never did let our fellow co-worker live that one down.

So there you have it folks... a little bit of Puertorrican humor.