Fixing Alamar

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Jin-Ju is finally restored to all her glory! We worked sun up till sun down on her for three weeks straight. Stripped her down to her bones and built her stronger then she has ever been. We also painted the topside and some other cosmetic things. She looks beautiful! I've learned so many things this past month and now I know her inside and out. We were hauled out in a place called Little River, South Carolina. It's a small cool town outside of Myrtle Beach. We met a lot of cool down to earth people while we were on hard. We met a lady named Debbie Darling at Rickies Dockside. She took us guys in as her long lost sons. Cooked us dinner one night and kept the steam roller packed up for us. We had some great times with her. We also met a cool dude named Chad at a gas station in town were he was selling a amp on craigslist. He had recently moved back from st. Croix in the Virgin Islands. He told us all about his expierences while he was there. Told us about a famous bar down there made out of drift wood called the Bomba Shack. They're famous for there full moon party were practically the whole island every month takes mushroom tea together! He also drew us a pirate map to a local natural tidal hot tub on a remote part of the island. We hung out with him everyday those three weeks there sharing joints and telling stories. He told us that he would meet us up for a week when we got down there. We also met Nick the harbor master there. A hard working guy our age that helped us out beyond belief on the build out. He lent me proper tools for the job and a oxygen resperator that saved me from shortening my life significantly! My parents also came up one weekend and took us out to Myrtle Beach. They saw the boat for the first time and loved it. We even sat one evening on her up on stands with them laughing drinking wine and smoking cigars. I was happy to see them!

On april second we finished the repairs said our goodbyes and splashed her back in the water. I also bought a 9 ft zodiac tender that day and named it peligroo after a small wooden Pelican that came with Jin-ju. I am going to mount it on peligroo as a hood ordiment to give some character! We set out to Charelston the next day. Took us two days sailing down the intercoastal. It was so rewarding arriving in our first real destination! We met up Kayne's buddy Brendon there in town and his friends Dank and Peter. We raged at the bars for two days straight meeting people and dancing with the locals! We had a blast!

This morning we sailed out of Charelston Harbor under beautiful sunny skies with 15 mph winds from the north and headed South to Jacksonville Beach! Its been such a amazing day back out on the Atlantic. We were 40 miles out when we spotted a pod of dolphins in the middle of the ocean. Me and Kayne were so stoked to see the pod come right to the bow and start riding Jin-Ju and jumping out in front of her. It was such a great sign of energy for the voyage ahead. The sun just went down as I sit here writing this. When she rises again we should be in Florida. The sea is so amazing right now, the waves calmed as we sit under a sky full of stars letting the night wind carry us south to her homeport! Im so excited to get back to jax to see our friends and party with them till the end of April!

Being in such vastness of water makes your mind wander life on every spectrum. I've had so many people I've met tell me that we our living the dream! I wander what makes me different from them living theres! I believe now its the expectations and false goals of society as a whole that stop each and every person from living there dreams. There is no one out there telling us how to live! I see a lot of people afraid they're going down the wrong path and feel they are caught in stagnant motion. I have a message for them. “You are going to be fine! You are doing everything right! Don't worry just be yourself and life will always treat you right!” Lets all help each other find and live our dreams!!!!

I LOVE LIFE!!!!!

    Right now I'm in Jacksonville Beach, Fl. I got here last night. If you told me yesterday I would be here today I would tell you that you were nuts. Alama'r almost sunk 50 miles south of cape fear, North Carolina last night. It was the most intense thing yet to happen. It started after we left Beaufort, NC 5 days ago. We broke out of Beaufort inlet like a bat out of hell against 15 ft breakers and headed south east despite the locals warnings. Alamar took them like a champ and progressively the sea got bigger and bigger until we were sailing over 30 ft monsters .The ship bell would ring over every giant. We had the biggest smile on our faces as the adrenaline pumped through our veins. Cheers went out over every bell ringer as we watched Alama'r conquer the ocean. We were here! This is what we all dreamed and waited so long to see! We were so small in the middle of the vast ocean. Those smiles were wiped off our faces as the sun went down out there. We tried to sail all night but I got nervous navigating over these giant waves in pitch black darkness. So I decided to throw anchor is steady 25 ft waves. Which was not the smartest decision. Alama'r got thrown into a fight with the ultimate heavyweight. She fought all night as we were thrown across the cabin and prayed for her to hold together till the sun rise. I new I had to get back in the inlet but I couldn't navigate the inlet until sunrise. At 3:30 am I decided we had enough so I kicked on the motor and started raising anchor in 30 ft seas unknown to me that I had a hairline fracture developing on my keel from battling the sea all night. I will never forget Kayne and Tyler on the bow kissing the water and then going 30 ft up in the air till they hit the moon and free falling again. After a hour the anchor was up and we turned around started surfing 30 footers back to the inlet for the next couple hours. As we neared the inlet we watched the most amazing sunset and all had the feeling that we were blessed to live another day. Once into port Kayne and Tyler went to sleep and I kept sailing south on the inter coastal. After two days we were on the southern side of Cape Fear so we decided to resupply and get back out there to make the 130 mile passage to Charleston, SC. We came out of the mouth of the Cape Fear River at 10 am to Big Blue again. It was a beautiful day with no clouds in the sky and only 1 to 2 meter waves to worry about for the next two days. We departed with joy and talking about the future on the sea in the islands. We watched the most breathtaking sunset on the water as Alama'r drove south.  It was about 9:30 when  I had Kayne check the bilge. He told me we were full so I pumped it out and 20 minutes later the bilge was full again! We were taking on water somewhere at a very large rate! I thought fast, downed the mainsail, changed direction for shore and went down below. I started ripping up the floor boards looking for the source. I was about to rip up my gas tank when I found it. I had a 3 ft crack in my haul with water gushing threw every wave we hit.  It was a terrible site to see. My life started flashing before me as I sat 50 miles off the coast of South Carolina. It was going to be a long night! My 9000 pound keel was shifting back and forth on every wave and I knew any 10 ft wave now could rip the keel right off opening up a 8 ft hole in my boat witch would doom us all. I started wedging 2 dollars of pocket change in the cracks to stabilized the keel. It worked! The keel stopped moving. I cut my hands open as I forced silicone in the jagged crack to slow the water coming in. I got the flow down to a trickle and went back to the helm. I found a inlet 50 miles away so we started our 6 hour limp back to shore. We pumped out the water every 30 minutes and checked the keel for movement. We all talked about life and how much we appreciated this right to live. When death faces you, know that it is peaceful and calming! I thought it would always be the opposite till then. We all vowed to live lives worth living, no pretending just the raw with no bullshit. Letting every thought known and following our hearts. At 3:00 am we neared the inlet with a pink moon on the horizon. It was beautiful! We were so thankful to the universe to giving us one more chance. I told Kayne and Tyler that we were going back to Jax beach  after we get her out of the water to see our friends, get a little R+R, and get our minds straight before we went to fixing Alama'r. I pulled her out of the water north of Myrtle Beach South Carolina were we met a guy named Jack who is advising us on the rebuild.He told us of a 56 ft Hatterous that went down that night with 5 on board all passed to the Ironman as he called it. It struck hard when he told us it could have been us!  He reassured us that we could get her into better condition then she was before the incident fixing the damage, strengthening her along with a new paint job before putting her back in the sea were she belongs.
 On the ride home with our buddies Thomas and Ryan who came to get us, I realized that we had gone against the renaming ritual of a boat and that it might have something to do with the bad luck. Apparently there has been a ritual going on for some 5000 years on what to if the name of a vessel is to be changed. Its a long lengthy process that involves a lot of champagne and friends, to call upon the gods of the sea and wind in order to change the ledger of Poseidon. Then toast the sea in order to grant safe passage of the new vessel  If you rename without the ceremony the boat will be cursed with problems that eventually could bring her down to the ocean floor. The whole time on the trip, on the vhf, to bridges, people we meet, and even in this blog we have been calling her Alama'r. So from here on out Tyler, Kayne, and I vowed to call her original name Jin-Ju and not say her new name till the renaming ceremony in her home port of Jax Beach. So while she dries out we are here in Jax getting all my tools together and supplies for the bottom job.
    Life takes you threw awesome experiences here on this planet. I am so happy to be alive and to make it through. Two days now in Jax. I was able to party with my friends and go to the beach but all I keep thinking about is getting back on her. I get the chance to build her with MY hands now and give her my touch! As a carpenter I've dreamed of the chance to do this. I'm about to learn so much with the month long task before me.
I LOVE MY LIFE!!!!!!

I will keep you all posted on the re build with plenty of pictures,
Peace and much love,
Brian

On the Edge of Big Blue!

  
  I'm in Beaufort, right now riding the high of my life. We sailed into here two days ago. Life has been so eventful since Chesapeake, Va.  We have met so many people from amazing people riding the same energy plane as us and some in more negative realms. The old girl has held up better then we could have ever hoped taking anything thrown at her! Almost sunk her once and have had the most peaceful days in the sun sailing the inter-coastal. The first person we met on the sailboat was a old hippie named Dimebag. We invited him on our boat for dinner and he returned our offering with two boxes of wine. So we sat around passing a small joint drinking wine talking about what brought us to this point. Dimebag is on his way to Panama City, Fl in a 25 ft hunter with no compass, sea charts, or batteries for his VHF radio. Completely riding on faith, but I am sure I will see the old salty man pass us by in Jacksonville Beach. We met a young guy named ray that owned a small BBQ joint in town. After talking he asked us if he could bring three dozen chicken wings over and hang out on Alama'r after he closed down. We threw back a few beers and told him what we were doing. I felt we inspired him  to travel. He said  he would meet me up one day in the Caribbean. Last day in Chesapeake we were standing outside of the Farm Fresh store and a stranger walked out and turned to us and said " I hope everything is working out the way you planned it, its only going to get better." Then he walked off not even expecting a reply. We took it as a message from the universe! we sailed on, after we got our starter back. We were outrunning a crazy snow storm one day across the Alammara sound in between Virginia and North Carolina. We sailed full speed into the mouth of the alligator river were a giant swing bridge stood in the way. I called the bridge tender on the radio , when he responded he told us he wasn't allowed to open the bridge unless the winds were under 35 mph. So we turned on the motor and went full sail downwind in front of this massive storm on our tail. At a half mile still the bridge hadn't opened. The bridge tender got on the radio and said "we are not liable if the sails get caught on the bridge. Are you going through with them up?" I responded "Yes. I got the storm on my tail" he responded "go right ahead Cap". At a quarter mile the bridge started opening. At 1000 ft it was finally open and I had Alama'r lined up and clear to pass through. At 500 ft my steering all of a sudden locked up to port so I turned full speed starboard to avoid smashing into the bridge right into the massive storm. It hit us full force with waves crashing over the bow with sleet. Tyler and Kayne looked at me like what is going on and I replied "I have no steering down the sails". They worked quick as we drifted towards the bridge. I over steered into the wind and could not steer back. So I punched the throttle as we were parallel to the bridge and as soon as they downed the sails we dropped anchor and caught 200 ft from the bridge. I ran down below and found my steering cable was loose and slipped off my rudder post. So I repaired it and made sure it would not happen again. The bridge tender radioed us and told us of a marina a mile away because he said the bridge was closed till the winds died down. When we pulled into the marina Kayne realized we were right down the road from his cousin's house. So he called Dwain and he brought us his homemade moonshine and some homegrown. We caught a great buzz to let our nerves and adrenaline subside. It was a great feeling! After 6 days of sailing the North Carolina Swamp we ran out of food and water. We were down to our last liter when we spotted a town called Belhaven so we pulled into there town harbor and resupplied Alama'r and went out in the sleepy town of 1600 people. We made friends with Becky the owner of the local pool hall. The local Coast Guard was in there and bought us some beers when we told them what we were doing. The next morning we cast off lines to leave and realized that Alama'r was sitting high and dry. The town had not dredged there new harbor for some reason. We waited till high tide and still she sat 6inches dry so we were forced to play tug of war with Alama'r from across the harbor. After we pulled her off the dock we ran lines to my windlass for my anchor and winched her out of the harbor while the locals gawked at the spectacle. We set sail for Beaufort were we where greeted by a pod of dolphins that went straight to riding the bow. I brought out the drum and gave them some beats and they responded by jumping and surfing Alama'rs wake. We took it as a greeting from the Atlantic Ocean. Today we had to hitchhike twice back and fourth from the grocery store. When we were walking through we were stopped by Tyler's old buddy Matt from college. Matt saw us walking the street. We made arrangements to party tonight at the Backstreet Pub which claims to be the funkiest bar from Maine to Venezuela. I'm Stoked! I still have yet to introduce my crew Tyler and Kayne. They are the most carefree individuals I have ever met. They both are documentary filmmakers that quit there jobs in Jax Beach a year ago to search for a sailboat to start a adventure on. They also co-founded a charity called Never Say Never Pirate Camp which teaches amputee children how to sail and inspire them to fulfill there dreams. Tyler is a party animal like myself searching far and wide for a good time. He is a awesome cook and is super down to earth with a heart that goes out to anyone in need. He is set on making the best documentary possible and full-fill a dream of his to show the world to truly make there dreams reality! Kayne is more reserved but is on the same boat. He is down to party also but more of a lover in life. He speaks wisdom. He told me that he hears words from the universe and writes them down. I feel honored to be the first person to publicize one of them. This is one I really liked.

"You are a warrior of light
set upon this planet to learn, train, and develop
And all that exist, depends on your success
Be advised, there are few who exist
that hold themselves to such high ideals
they will settle
they will extinguish their flames
they will stop believing in themselves
and this is why you must believe
as there is no advice upon which to ask of others
not family, friends, nor loved ones alike
there is no one to help in such struggles
as it is u uniquely yours and yours alone
With that said, stay focused, remember often
You are the warrior of light, equipped at birth
with every element needed to be successful
Believe and Create!"
                                                          Kayne Mcphillips

That is one of my favorite she has shared with me. They both are have the same ideals as myself. We are on a mission. Don't know what it is yet but we all feel it!  We met on Jan 1st 2013 and the rest has been history. We are just taking it as it comes.

Until next time my friends- Much love!
Peace,
Brian

This is a video of Alama'r sailing the Chesapeake at the tail end of a 100 year storm a couple weeks ago.

Seeing Alama'r fly

    What a amazing site to see all of Alama'rs wings open up to the sky and see her sore across the water. She has grace, elegance, and speed. Everyone told us up here that were nuts to sail the Chesapeake. But as cold and frigged as it is out here nothing could break our spirits right now. Yesterday was by far the most awesomely intense sailing I have ever done. Full sail, 35 mph gust, 5-6 ft waves across the bay blowing white caps as far as the eye could see. But she handled it like it was a breeze. My women has got a brave heart!!! She is ready to take on any ocean! Behind the helm is the warmest place on her. Lay two hands on that old wooden wheel and your adrenaline starts to flow through your body as she wips threw the water. Everyday is so surreal right now, I have no recollection of yesterday. My life is blending in with my dreams in a state that I am just on the cusp of understanding. There is no time anymore, the days pass so fast and I just wake up and start another. I keep pinching myself to see if it is real. I have never done anything more exciting in my life. I am truly living Now!!! Living a life of fullness with adventure, passion, and excitement. I encourage anyone who reads this to find the adventurous life that we all have in our dreams. Life is to short to be stagnant. Learn new things everyday! Watch the sunrise and sunset! Be spontaneous! Live life for yourself! Don't doubt yourself! But most importantly follow your soul and it will take you to great places you never expected to be. We are what fills this world with excitement and happiness. In three days we will enter the mighty Atlantic ocean for our first blue water passage to Charleston . I can't wait to see what she has in store for us. What doesn't break us makes us stronger!

Much love my friends
Peace,
Brian

p.s.-  i tried to load video but its not seeming to work I will post them in the next couple days.

Finding Alamar

    I am here finally! I have fallen in love. She is 40 feet long and 13 feet wide. Curvy with her sexy wide hips. She was dead when I first saw her, her wood and ribs were cold to the touch but two days living on her we have breathed life back into her! There is so much warm free flowing energy through her. She is all business topside with winches and heavy ropes crisscrossing her just begging to be taken out to the ocean. Inside her is the most comfortable place I have ever been. Her wheel is what brings her all together when I found her yesterday tucked away safely, I just grabbed her knowing that she is the one who is going to take me anywhere I want to go! I vowed yesterday to treat her right, tend to her needs and never let her go down. I know now why a captain goes down with his ship. He is in love.
    I ended up finding her up in a military base in Maryland instead of the hot sunny keys like I thought. It is freezing cold, sleet and snow coming down with Ice covering the water all around her. She is definitely the warmest boat in here though, melted all the ice around her by morning. I plan to set sail on her Thursday after this northeaster blows out to sea and I get my window to head south to jacksonville beach!!! It should take 7-10 days depending on the wind. I cannot wait to see the jacksonville on the horizon and get her into some warmer water. I'm going to dock her there for a week party with all my friends and then head south to Miami to outfit her with solar panels, wind turbines, and a RO filter for seawater. Then its off to the Bahamas and beyond!!!
    Life is a truly amazing it takes us in any direction you in-vision yourself but it can be taken for granted and used against oneself. That"s the beauty of it. I feel so blessed to be here living in my dream. Don't ever doubt your dreams. Doubt will never take you anywhere true because it has no relation to love. Love is the only real truth in this universe. Love of life, Love for women, Love of Family, and Love for every soul in the world. That is truth, it is the only reason we are still here breathing and haven't doomed our planet. There is hope here! Just need to show the love! Don't listen to the main stream, they want hate, separation, and darkness but that will take us no where. Be the light in the darkness and live it. WE'RE HERE NOW......

Much Love until next time in Jax Beach
Peace,
Brian
   

   

I shall be realesed!

My name is Brian Fernandez. People call me Caveman. I guess because the way I live my life.Hence "A Caveman Journal". This is a blog about my travels, experiences, and the people I share them along the way in this beautiful life. And if you are reading this you are one of those people. By writing this my only hope is to inspire you all to get out of this stressful routine life and go live your dreams and find yourself. I feel everyone is on a personal quest to find the truth in life and live in complete peaceful bliss day by day. 

Right now I am preparing to start a whole new life I know nothing about. Find the feeling of "not knowing what to expect the next day". It is a amazing feeling. I am about to embark on a 2 year journey to Ecuador. I plan on leaving out of Miami to the Bahamas southeast through Turks and Caicos south to the D.R. then east Peurto Rico to B.V.I. and st. Thomas down through the Lee-Ward islands to Trinidad and Tobago to Venezuela then northwest to Jamaica to Cuba west to Mexico and south through Honduras. Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and through the Panama Canal south to Ecuador. I hope to purchase and live on a 41 ft Piver Victress from the 80's. Her name will be "ALAMAR" witch translates into "On the Sea".  Surfing, sailing, spearfishing, jamming, diving, partying, and immersing myself in every culture I come in contact is my passions. 

My dream is to one day find a piece of land along my journeys to set up a organic farm where I can create my own personal "Garden of Eden" I find it beautiful that only man has the power to create life and make a Desert into a Oasis with there own two hands. A human to me is a artist and the earth is his or her canvas. Plants have tot me a lot about this earth and I encourage everyone to see the beauty and start a garden.

My next blog will be on my boat. Where I will hopefully be in the keys preparing for the trip to the Bimini, Bahamas. My friend Logan is going to join me for the first leg through the bahamas. So I look forward to meeting up with him. 

Until next time, 
Peace, 
Brian