Its been a while since my last post. But finally We are in the Bahamas. We had a long lay over in Mimai as we got alamar ready for the voyage. When we sailed into Miami we said hi to my parents and headed south to islandmorada for memorial day! My brother Chris and Michael met us down there. It was a awsome party on the sandbar. We sailed back to mimai a couple days later and docked Alamar in south miami. My dad built me a amazing teek box to hide my propane, a winerack, and a nice table for my cockpit. I helped him install it a few days later. I also designed and built my bimini top for the cockpit with tyler. Alamar also got some cushons for the cockpit installed and a new gps. It took about 5 weeks to get her ready to go! My parents also threw a birthday/ going away party for me. Ariel came ot visit me for a weekend and a bunch of my friends and family came! It was a great party were I got to see a bunch of people I hadn't seen in a while. Finally the day arived to leave with a good weather window to cross the gulfstream to bimini where we were supposed to meet up with our buddy woody from the U.K. We tossed the lines said my goodbyes to my folks and took off out of the channel. When we got to the last channel marker I herd a grinding sound
coming from down below. When I went to go check I soon realized it was coming from my transmission so we towed Alamar back in. The transmission needed to be rebuilt and I sure didn't have the money to throw at that so I was left with one option, rebuild it myself! So I took the transmission apart real carefully and ordered some new parts. While we waited for the parts tyler me and kayne headed to jackonville beach for july forth. We partied for the weekend with our friends and headed back. When we returned I managed to fix it for a quarter of the price. It was a amazing feeling when she cranked back up a week later and ran strong. Because of the delay our buddy woody flew to miami insted of nassau. So we stocked the boat up again. A hour before leaving my little brother Michael decided to come with us for a week and take a ferry back! So the five of us set off from biscayne bay one afternoon after smoking a cigar and drininking some champayne with my parents. We said our goodbyes again and crossed our fingers as we passed the final channel marker. The weather was not to good on the sail to bimini and we had a very strong head wind. It took about 15 hours to get there. Alot went threw my mind on that voyage as the lights of the United States faded into the horizon. It was sad and exciting at the same time. As much as I'm going to miss all my friends and family, I know I have so much before me to grasp and learn and that excites me. So many people to meet and help influence my growth. This is the only answer for me. I can't make a life in the U.S. I have such a pull to the wild and untamed side of the world. Even though I don't know what this will bring, I know this is the start to something great!
About 10 hours in we hooked up with a 30 pound dolphin and had him in the pan in 10 minutes. Some of the best mahi mahi I've ever had. When we woke in Bimini we were greeted by a pod of small dolphins in absolutely crystal clear water. We all instantly jumped in the water. One of the dolphins came right next to us in the water and just stopped a few feet in front of Tyler Me and Kayne. I tried to reach out and touch her and she backed up and did this little dance for us then took off! It was amazing! Then we hauled anchor and went into Bimini harbor. We docked at the Big Game Marina and cleared customs. Then headed north to a secluded amazing beach were we snorkeled around and chilled out in paradise. Later that night we went out in the village to a amazing bar called Island house were we could smoke joints out back and hang with the locals. We met some awesome people there and had a great time. The next day this old Bahamian man showed us how to clean conch and make conch fritters. While he cleaned it he took out a long clear tube out of the couch and said "try is Mannn, makes mann real strong". So i took it without question. They started laughing because I soon found out it was a sperm vein on the counch. After we went diving right off the beach in 30 ft of water and got two lobster and three counch. We cooked them up and enjoyed a great dinner from the sea. After dinner we went to the bars were we met steve and trissy. After we told them what we caught that day, and they started dieing laughing saying that's all you got!!! So we told them to guide us to some spots the next day. That night I had the craziest shot ever given to me - Salt, Tobasco sauce, and Jose quervo. Instant fire out of your mouth like nothing you've ever seen. I also met a Rastafarian Freediver named Robert that gave me some awsome pointers on diving deep.
The next day we took steve and trissy out. They guided the boat to a 200 ft tanker that hit a reef and went down. It was completely covered in brightly colored reef fish of all different species! We were all blown away. In twenty minutes we collected 60 counch. They were every were. Snorkeled with a nurse shark and winded up climbing the tanker 30 feet above the water and jumping off! We spent the afternoon cleaning counch and catching snapper with the scraps. Later that night we went out to the Square Grouper in South Bimini and caught a nice buzz singing with everyone kareoke. We made friends with some guys that came over on a 60 ft power cat. We played wasted poker on there boat till the sunrise laughing and drinking some nice tequila. They're captain challenged Woody in a arm wrestling match. Woody beat him resulting in the drunk boastful captain challenging woody to slap hands. We all sat there playing poker watching these guys there hands apart for two hours battling to see who was more man.
At sunrise we decided to leave to Freeport becuase of the nice weather. It took us about twelve hours to sail to freeport. Were we winded up sailing into the wrong port. We spent the night next to some giant tankers and prayed we were out of the way. The next morning we scaled a quarry wall to the street were we caught a small van bus into town. We winded up in port lucia were we ate lunch and caught up on some internet. We caught a van bus back to the boat were we had to make a pit stop because the van had a leaky tire. You know your on island time when the bus driver pulls over to get a tired changed at a store with everyone on board for 30 min! When we got to Alamar we pulled anchor and said goodbye to Michael. We dropped him off at the fairy so he could get a ride back to Miami. We then sailed to west end were we realized that the 25 horse on smoovie had broke down. My ignition coils blew. So we decided to stay in west end for a few days and try and fix it. We met some awesome people there. The first night we met Dave and Kathy who owned a giant 70 ft trawler that gave us a lot of tips and destinations to see. They even invited us for dinner. There nephew Justin was with them that we made friends with. We spent all night telling jokes and stories with Dave and Justin. The next day we rode beach cruisers into town were we ate breakfast in some lady's kitchen named Charolette that ran a togo restaurant out of her house. We chilled out the rest of the day and went out at night to a awesome festival in the village were the Bahamians were celebrating there independence. We danced in the streets marching along with them playing drums and horns. It was so much fun. We hitch hiked back were we ran into a group of four cougars that just spent the week diving all over the Abacos by themselves. I gave them mad respect for doing what most women wouldn't do. They were so funny. We also met Gary while we were hanging out there. He loved our story and wanted to help us out. He gave us this awesome chart of the Bahamas and a expensive fishing rig for deep dropping grouper. He also gave us some great herb witch we really appreciated. He was a amazing person just riding the karma flow! This morning we decided to hed to port lucia so I could get the parts much easier before we go out to the desolate Abaco islands. We said goodbye to Dave, Justin, and Kathy and set out east. Right now I'm writing this watching Kayne dose off at the helm in the calm seas. Its pretty relaxing right now I have to say! Who knows whats in store next. Right now I'm adapting to a whole new life stlye that I've never lived before! This life commands me to get in shape and completely live off the sea like so many others I'm meeting. Its beautiful to me living how man is supposed to live, self sufficient, self relieant, and training there body to take them further. Were in unspoiled and uncharted land for the most part now. Only wisdom to gain from here on!
p.s. while I ended writing this, woody just hooked up with a 32 inch lane snapper! peace i got to go clean her up for dinner!
Much love, Miss you all
Brian
