How Am I Doing?

Sam"s Flamingo Pose

I’ve been talking to a lot of folks over the last few days via Satellite Phone.  Anyone who wants to call and catch up can reach me on the boat at 781-384-5006.  Phone is usually on between 7am and 10am and then at night from 4pm until we go to bed around 9pm.

Casper:  The Park Warden

Folks are asking how I am doing, so I thought I’d take a moment to give you some insight.  Here is an example.  I called the Bahamas National Trust Warden for Great Inagua and asked him if he would give us a tour or the national park.  He’s not too busy, so he met us at 9 am yesterday.  Great Inagua is the breeding ground for the Pink Flamingo and he is the warden trying to keep the locals from killing them.  I guess they taste like chicken.

Jim's Flamingo Pose???

As our tour got to lunchtime, we stopped at his aunt’s restaurant.  There was a big sign that says “Ice Coffee Available”.  We were all thirsty and an ice coffee sounded great.  I said, “We’ll have 4 ice coffees”.  The aunt said, “No ice coffee today”.  We all looked at each other and laughed as there was a coffee maker, coffee and an ice maker all sitting right on the counter behind her.

This story explains the last 6 weeks on the boat.  We are so used to running at 60 miles per hour, we expect great service, we produce great things, but our stress levels match the speedometer.  There is a reason we have the greatest economy on earth.

Flamingos Just Starting to Breed

Down here, if they don’t feel like doing something, it just doesn’t get done….period.  There are more houses in these islands that are half finished, none are insured, and there is no real estate value for houses on most of these islands.  Long Island, one of the more progressive islands in the Southern Bahamas, has not had a house sell for the last 28 months.  If you own land or a building, you may have got it from your family, but it has no liquid value.

So how have I made the adjustment to this culture?  Great question…

Salt Pond Has 50k Flamingos in 2 weeks

At first I felt like I was on vacation, so you didn’t think about it, but now I’m pulled in two directions.  Most Bahamians have nothing, but they don’t have any initiative to make something of their lives.  There are a few industrious ones.  They are the ones that own the fishing boats or have some sort of government appointment.  The rest seem to do nothing, have nothing, but are the happiest and nicest people I have ever met.  This experience has definitely shown me another side of the human race and it's not a bad one.

I don’t think I could make the transition at this point in my life, but those happy & giggling school kids, in their uniforms, that were in the aunt’s restaurant (she provided the school lunch) don’t really have it that bad…At least by their standards.