As I travel I sometimes have the privilege of collecting other peoples stories, I want to share some of these great stories with you now. I have amassed so many interesting stories though this might become a long blog. Please forgive me, but this will be a fun read.
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Personal Lexi Story
So I walked Elena to the airport Tuesday, she is gone to India now. Things with her have been very complicated lately. Last I shared she was negotiating herself a crew position on (Vernon’s) an old mans boat. She stayed on his boat in the boat yard for about her last week here. She calmed down and returned to her center and I calmed down, we began to hang out a little bit the last 2 days before she left, and it has been good. She is lovely to be with when she is calm.
This has made things terribly harder for me. Good Elena came back before she left and I really like that girl, I have loved sailing with that girl, that girl good Elena is my best friend in the world. So as I stood in the field overlooking the airport runway watching her plane take off I was crying like a baby. Again this adventure does not go as I have planned it, again nothing works out as intended. Elena and I were supposed to be sailing together all the way back to Canada. I hate this ending to this chapter and I do not agree to it… but God does not much care if I agree or not.
I am omitting part of this story, deliberately to protect the privacy of another friend… but… remember my Texas friend Bryan… he had agreed to come out sailing with me before Elena left. On Jan 19th I was waiting for him at the airport as his plane was due to arrive… and he did not come. Let us suffice it to say that left me in a horrible dreadful position that upset me dearly. Again God lays waste to my plans because God has his own plans for me.
So in pure terror and complete dread I walked alone back to the dinghy dock in tears feeling completely alone and dejected, and you know… that whole one door closes and another door opens thing… Well at the dinghy dock I run into this young German backpacker who just arrived here crewing on a smaller american boat from Europe and he was looking for a crew position on another boat…!
So as Kolja and I sat there on the bench outside of the sails restaurant talking things began to suddenly look up for me. He is young adventurous and so far seems like a lovely human being. So I adopted him and invited him onto WildChild. As of right now we are not exactly sure how long he will stay, but for a little while anyway. He is willing to sail all the way back to Canada with me but… he is European… and we already know how hard it will be to get him into America. So maybe he can only help me as far north as the USVI’s… BUT… this does help me out for now and buy me time to find a better more long term solution…. maybe.
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Old Guy Vernon
So remember that old guy I have mentioned before Vernon. He is a 95 year old Canadian guy who is living alone on his boat in the boat yard here. As Elena and I began talking again she told me more about this interesting old man. It seems she has been his personal assistant for the previous week feeding him and cleaning up after him and helping him into the world. She is worried about him though when she leaves, and old Vernon is really alone, and really should not be alone, he does not seem to feed himself. He is pretty helpless in the kitchen and does not cook or seem to bother making himself a sandwich.
As I am also a Canadian and Canadians take care of each other out here in the world I agreed to check in on him and help him a bit. Vernon has hired a local yard worker named George to help him out as crew but Vernon is still looking for more crew. George is great for doing the work on the boat but by no means is nurturing enough to be Vernon’s personal care taker. Also Vernon has decided to sail down into the pirate waters around Trinidad to see the carnival in February and is looking to hire a captain to get his boat there.
When you meet Vernon, he is an interesting guy, but old as dirt so of course you have to speak very loudly and clearly with him almost yelling for him to hear, he mumbles often hard to understand in return. If you pay close attention though he is mentally pretty clear for his age. He is a smart guy and an engineer with many clever mechanical solutions on his boat installed over the years. He is however very old, his awareness of his surroundings is limited, and he gets a bit mixed up sometimes as his mind jumps from subject to unrelated subject.
It has been amusing to witness a few of his troublesome quarrels with the locals as he offends them to their core saying all kinds of crazy rude things. He is no longer welcome in the Sails Restaurant and not so welcome in the boat yard office.
Well I have been visiting with Vernon for the last few days checking in on him and helping get his boat ready to launch. His quarrels with the boat yard have him highly motivated to get out of the boat yard and back into the water again. Yesterday was finally Vernon’s launch day and my new crew Kolja and I agreed to help him with the launch. To say it was interesting is an understatement.
I walked Vernon up to the boat yard office to help him figure out his bill, settle up and get cleared to leave. It took the patience of an angel on my part and the office staff were very glad to have me there in the middle protecting them from Vernon’s wild random yelling. Eventually we get everything settled and the boat was scheduled to launch at 1pm. The boat yard staff were very punctual and did a great job with the launch.
Getting Vernon’s boat ready to launch was a test of patience for George and I as Vernon does not listen and has his own set ideas in his head and he is very stubborn and inflexible about them. Vernon does not trust other people as he is clearly the only person in the world who knows anything and the rest of us are just stupid and wrong. We would setup a dock line and Vernon would insist it was wrong and force it to be undone and redone his way. We spent hours in his rope locker digging thru for these old crappy worn out specific lines he insisted go in specific places in a specific way. Lines so old they will snap soon, so frayed they are disintegrating, often with slashes in them he “fixed” with some electrical tape.
Vernon insisted everything be done his way. He just focused on random things that made no sense. He had us put 8 old crappy dock lines, while refusing to let us use the good ropes he had or the actual dock lines he had, all around the boat when the boat yard said they only needed or wanted 4 lines on the 4 corners. We wasted all morning doing everything Vernon’s crazy way. He was stubborn argumentative and very uncooperative. I used to work in health care as a personal support worker for a while so I am well trained in the ethics of care and what are the old guys rights. It is true… it is his boat… and he CAN do what he wants… this is what freedom is. He has the freedom to do everything wrong and be crazy and stubborn.
So yesterday despite Vernon’s constant interference and making things harder we get his boat launched and we are getting it out into the bay to anchor it. Vernon is at the helm for the first bit but as I watch him steering his boat straight at a channel mark (Big steel pole driven deep into the bottom) I ask him if I may take the helm, Kolja is sitting on the side to help if asked, and George is doing all the deck work. Vernon is walking between the helm to tell me what to do and the bow to tell George what to do and interfering as much as possible. Perhaps we can say Vernon was alert and a bit excited to be in command again and enjoyed ordering all his servants around. It did not take the rest of long though to realize that Vernon as Captain is going to be a disaster. His stubborn single minded focus on the wrong things is reacting too slowly for the reality of the moment.
After much yelling and Vernon just getting so controlling and overbearing and showing his complete mistrust of anyone but himself we blow, screw up, 3 attempts to anchor as Vernon sabotages mine and George’s efforts. Both George and I try to talk Vernon down, get the old guy to just calm down and relax and trust us, it is clear… Vernon is not listening and will not listen. You cannot help someone who will not listen.
On the fourth attempt, George and I realize we just have to over rule Vernon and just get this done despite Vernon. We set up the boat a fourth time in the wind and I get the course and momentum set for the exact spot we need to drop the anchor (an old Danforth anchor…! Crappy anchor hard to set nobody uses anymore) and I just tell George to just drop it here… now.. and he has to push past Vernon and just does it. Anchor on the bottom with a big pile of old rusty chain dropped right on top of the anchor I begin getting the boats momentum moving gently backwards. Kolja is just shocked at this bizarre scene, he has never seen something like this before.
Captain Vernon now is incensed that he is not in control despite the fact that everything is going well with the boat. Vernon physically pushes me off the helm and yells at me I am stupid and I do not know anything.. “you don’t know what you are doing.. you know nothing stupid girl..” He grabs the throttle and hammers it in full reverse. The anchor is not set and Vernon is driving directly backwards into the boat behind him. He has 50 feet of chain out in 30 feet of water. He wanted the anchor directly behind, like 5 feet behind, another boat ahead and was so angry I dropped the hook safely in the opening between the 2 boats.
I back off and surrender… he is right… it is his boat and he can do what he wants… Even George on the bow is getting nervous, Kolja is ready to just get the hell off this crazy boat. Vernon can do as he pleases. I am glad he is anchored 100 meters away from my boat but I do feel bad for the boat behind him. Vernon’s anchor is not set, he is 30 feet off their bow, he is holding only on the weight of the chain now, when the wind picks up he will smash into this lovely boat behind him. It turns out this poor boat behind Vernon is the same American boat Kolja just arrived here on from an Atlantic crossing on. I feel bad for these nice people. Kolja and I just jumped into our dinghy and quickly abandoned Vernon’s boat yesterday and left him to it, it was too unsafe for us.
So I am infinitely curious about how this story will end. George told me he is rethinking his plan to crew for Vernon despite the good pay. Elena is coming back to crew for Vernon in February. Even if Vernon can hire a captain to go into the pirate waters around Trinidad he will not listen to the captain and will screw things up, it is very dangerous. Another Cruiser friend here Bryan told me Vernon told him (Bryan) he (Vernon) intends to die at sea sailing, no better way to go… but what about his crew… maybe they don’t want to die.
A short update… the next day Vernon refused to pay the local guy George for all the work he did in January getting the boat ready to launch. Vernon is currently being quite nasty with everybody and has dishonorably robbed George for his labor despite a written contract showing he agreed to pay $xxx usd.
Interesting story this is to say the least…. huh..?
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The German boat
Short story here. So there is this older boat with torn up sails tied up to the Grenada Coast guard dock that has apparently been there for a few years. My new cruiser friend Bryan knows a little bit of the story he shared with me yesterday.
It seems there was this solo sailor on board, an old German man who was out here sailing by himself. He died on the boat at sea, and the boat being alone out there, had been drifting around for a few months with his corpse on board. Had been out there a while… the sails got shredded by a storm.
The Grenada coast guard got a call about it out there and towed it into port and removed the dead body. They are waiting for either the family to come claim the boat or the German government to come claim the boat.
There but by the grace of God go I huh… but mind you… I am not crazy enough to sail alone. Maybe Vernon’s boat will get found out there soon with all aboard dead soon…. terrifying thought.
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The Montreal Guy
I had heard that there was a little sailboat here in the bay with this eccentric French Canadian guy on it that the local good hearted cruisers give food to. He is probably about 40-50 years old, extremely skinny, like starving anorexic type skinny. Tuesday just after I met Kolja and was waiting for him to gather his bags and come down to my dinghy I noticed this super skinny guy loading some bags into his modified kayak. I could not resist but to go and introduce myself and meet him.
I do deeply apologize to you, he did give me his name but, as it was not a name I had ever heard before, I do not remember it. I found him to be alert and clear in his mind and able to carry on a pleasant conversation with me. He is sort of very shy and a nervous type guy, you get the feeling he just doesn’t want you to hurt him. As I am an expert level kayaker, or used to be anyway, I engaged him in a conversation about all the interesting modifications he has made to his kayak. He was happy to talk about his creations to someone interested enough to listen.
From what I know of him, between the words of others and what he himself told me, I can tell you this vague story….
It seems when he was born his mother put him in a garbage bag and threw him in the garbage. His childhood was rough unwanted and unloved to say the least. At some point in the 1980’s he worked as a fisherman on a boat on Canada’s East coast. At some point in the 1990’s he bought this 20 foot sailboat somewhere’s on the American East coast. He tells me he has been out here on the sea since 1987 and he loves it.
You can see his boat is tiny and looks like a floating junk yard. The growth on the bottom is pretty thick. At the end on the left is his kayak. That white floating thing in between is the home made boat he is building out of garbage to cross the Atlantic in someday he tells me. He has been here in Prickley bay for 3 years, told me he was in Luperon for 3 years as well. He tells me that he does not sail often, but when he does he makes a big journey to find a new place he likes and he stays there for a while.
I am not sure exactly how mentally correct he is but he is functioning and living his life. He was pleasant to talk to. I am fascinated by him personally.
To each there own huh..?
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Ohama Dismasted
If you remember from before I told you I made cruiser friends here with a dog who kind of adopted me during my low period when Elena left me. Their names are Tim and Candy from Alabama and there boat is a very nice CAT that was moored behind me named OHAMA.
Well they tell me… It seems just before hurricane season last summer they were trying to get Ohama safely down here to Grenada for hurricane season. The boat was in excellent condition and they had another couple, friends, on board to help them with the 400 mile sail. Tim is a cautious and very smart guy, he had his rigging (the wires that support the mast to stay up strong) inspected by 2 different riggers before they left who both said his rigging was in great shape, no worries. It was the original rigging but their boat is fairly new from the late 1990’s and well cared for.
Well it seems they had just left Cullebra in Puerto Rico and were sailing along in good conditions, reefed sails for good measure and a gentle 10-15 knots of wind, gentle small waves, all good. Candy who is a big chicken was tucked happily into a corner of the cockpit and the other three were enjoying the sailing and talking when they began shouting in disbelief.
They watched in horror as the Starboard side shroud just gently and slowly slipped out of the fitting at the mast head and the cable fell into the water beside them. The whole mast, boom sails and all, slowly just tilted over to the port side and fell into the water. In horror their boat suddenly just fell apart miles offshore. The men got busy trying to cut it all away and get the boat clear. The collapse of the mast did almost no damage to the boat itself. Once it was cut away they were fine and just motored back to Puerto Rico where it took them months to get repaired. It cost the insurance company like $120,000 usd to repair this damage.
It seems as they were finally on their way sailing down to Grenada it was September by that time and hurricane Dorian was coming. They had to race down here as the hurricane was headed towards them. We all know now that the hurricane turned north and never actually hit the Caribbean but at that time, they had no way of knowing what it would do.
Us sailors are all terrified of this story.
There but by the grace of God go I ….
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Moses of Dominica
Tim and Candy took me up to this place called options which is like an outdoor food court in shacks for the university students. It is a great local place to eat a decent meal without the tourist prices. I have actually found it to be the best place in the island to eat really.
I was introduced to the Swedish cruiser family that owns the sushi place. Lola and her Husband Carlos and they have 2 teen age children. Lola is such a loving and wonderful human being with a very adventurous spirit who is actually the driving force behind their sailing adventure. Carlos is a viking looking guy with a scruffy blond beard and strong piercing eyes, he used to be a cage fighter, tough dude, intense.
Carlos has an incredible Charisma and charm about him and easily makes friends anywhere. As Tim Candy and I were sitting outside eating Carlos was regaling us with some of their sailing stories. Although their personal story is in itself enough to fill a book, it was a story he told me about someone else that set my imagination on fire.
North of us in the Caribbean island chain is an independent island called Dominica. It is between the two french islands of Guadaloup to the north and Martinique to the south. I had chosen to skip this island as it is rather poor and the reviews on it are iffy at best. As I was inquiring with Carlos about his experience of the island Carlos just came to life. His family had stopped in there a few years ago when they sailed down here. Carlos says the island is actually lovely and the people are quite wonderful. There is really only one bay to anchor in as the rest is very steep and deep around it.
Carlos begins to tell the story of how he and his family got practically adopted by this Rasta man named Moses who lives there in the jungle.
Moses has trouble walking and walks with the aid of a stick. It seems he has actually published a bunch of books on jungle herbal medicine. He is quite famous it seems. Moses was so kind to my new friends and it seems just loves sailors and helps all of us cruisers who come by.
I am retelling this to you third hand so although it is a true story I cannot vouch for the accuracy of my details….
It seems that in the 1980’s Dominica was run as a dictatorship. Moses was a younger man who was quite at one with the nature around him that he lived in. Vaguely this is what Rasta lifestyle is about. Think like jungle hippies smoking marijuana joints so big they are rolled in newspaper as they live at one with the land and grow their own food. Hippie commune sort of thing. The one common identifying characteristic of these people used to be that they grew their hair long and kept it in dreadlocks.
So it seems that the Dictator at that time had decided that the Rasta’s were a nuisance that should be exterminated. It was only proper that people cut their hair and stay nicely groomed. So a law was passed that made dreadlocks illegal and anybody with dread locks could be shot on site. It was not a crime to hunt and kill Rasta people, men women and children, and the police did. Moses says these were the dark times.
Moses was told to cut off his dreadlocks but he refused. He was proud of his lifestyle living peacefully at one with nature and stubbornly refused to cave in. One day he had sneaked into town to bring vegetables to his mother and the police were about hunting for Rastas. He was down a road when a police yelled at him to stop. Moses knew the danger so he ran and the police man shot him twice in the legs. Moses kept running as the police chased after him shooting. He had two other Rastas running for their lives with him.
Moses tells Carlos that he knew he was in trouble and he ran into the river and hid under a bridge. The police chief, a man Moses knew, ran up and found him and shot him up with a machine gun… bam bam bam up the body and left him for dead. The other Rastas brought his body away and found Moses was still alive. They hid him.
It seems at this same time someone had kidnapped the presidents son a few weeks earlier and the one witness had said he saw a Rasta man with Dreadlocks do the kidnapping. So it seems the president told the police what are you going to do about it..? Thus the hunt and slaughter of the Rastas was really at its peak when Moses got hunted down.
The presidents son was recovered that same day and it seems the hunt against the Rastas was called off that day or the next day. Moses was brought to the hospital and survived.
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Many years later Moses had become a well known medicine man of the jungle mountains. Some international attention has been paid to his jungle medicine skills. He was well known for healing people of things modern medicine fails to help with using his roots herbs and jungle plants.
It seems the police chief who had shot Moses all those years earlier had developed cancer and the doctors said they could do nothing more to help him, that he was going to die. The doctors in the hospital however knew of Moses in the hills and told the police chief that it could do no harm to try and see if maybe Moses could help.
And so it happened that the police chief was brought out into the hills to ask Moses for his help. Moses told Carlos that he recognized the man who had shot him and left him for dead all those years ago, and the police chief recognized Moses as the man he had shot. They stared at each other. The police chief asked Moses if he would help him or not. Moses said yes. Moses mixed up something and offered the potion to the police chief. The police chief asked Moses if it was poison, Moses told Carlos he could have easily poisoned the man if he wanted to. The police chief told Moses to drink the potion and he did, then the police chief drank it. Moses had warned him that there was guarantee this would save him but it was the best medicine he could offer.
Would you try to save the life of the man who had shot you and tried to kill you years ago…? I am not sure I would.
I hope you have enjoyed your time reading the stories today.
Cheers Sailors..
Captain Lexi….
. ………….the lost again