Deep breath...
OK. I have decided to start writing my book again. For those who don't know, it is a book about what I consider to be the funny and/or interesting criminal things that I experienced from age 17 to 20 living on St. Thomas. Just FYI, I moved to STT on March of 1981 and lived there until early January of 1990.
I would appreciate any comments, criticisms, or compliments.
I plan to self publish offering the full copy for free online where it is now, or $3.00 for an E-book, or somewhere around $8 for a paperback, or somewhere around $12 for a hardcover.
Islander, I understand if you decide to delete this thread.
Hey no One, how about a "teaser"? Tell us a little about some of the comedic criminal episodes we can expect to read in the book. Did you happen to read Rebecca Hale's "Afoot in St. Croix"? It's a quirky mystery full of unlikely twists and turns. A fun read.
Hey no One, how about a "teaser"?
Ok, Here is one about Virgin Gorda:
Virgin Gorda
One Easter weekend I asked my father to loan us his yacht to go to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. My father says, "No" to me and then proceeds to tell Pauli, "You can borrow the boat."
We decide that we need to get supplies for the trip, so we steal some liquor and beer from various bars. We head out in my Whaler to steal some boats for fun, and enough gasoline for my Whaler to last us five days.
First we steal an 18' Sea Ray with an 185hp OMC Johnson engine, that has a bunch of water-skiing equipment in it, and we steal a 14' race style V-hull boat with a 65hp pull-start OMC Evinrude on it. We end up cutting the Sea Ray loose after looting it.
We decide to split up, Pauli, Richard and Khyeel take the Whaler and Chris and I take the 14'. Chris and I decide to go to Yacht Haven (it was completely torn down and rebuilt in 2006) to steal gas and whatever else we can find.
We pull up to a 40' or so yacht that is docked, proceed to take two of the three coolers off the deck, when the people who are on board notice us, and try to stop us.
We make a quick getaway, heading for the shallows between Frenchman's Reef and the cruise ship dock to meet with Pauli, Richard and Khyeel. After meeting up, we open the coolers and find that they are filled with champagne!
We each grab a bottle and celebrate, while examining our plunder.
We then head to Antilles Boat Yard at the Mangrove Lagoon to load up my Dad's yacht with the gasoline, coolers and other stuff we stole. After we are finished, Pauli ties the steering wheel of the 14'. He then gets into my Whaler, punches the throttle of the 14' to full, and lets it go.
We all pass out in my Dad's yacht, ready to leave later on that day.
That morning I wake up to my father calling out for me from the dock, and he sounds angry! I come out and say, "Hi Dad!" He asks, "Where did you get all these gas tanks from?" I say, "Um, I borrowed them from friends." He asks, "Where did you get the money for all this gas?" but before I can answer he throw up his hands, says, "I don't wanna know" and walks away. We stole at least 100 gallons of mixed gas, probably more like 150.
Unfortunately Khyeel decides that he is going to stay on St. Thomas, rather than go to Virgin Gorda with us. Well, not really unfortunate. He snores like a jet airplane. It is a constant noise.
We start power sailing for Virgin Gorda, a good six-hour trip at about seven knots. It is an uneventful trip, except for a commercial boat taking pictures of us, near Dead Man’s Chest, and we arrive safely in Spanish Town.
It is Carnival on Virgin Gorda at this time of year, so the next three days we "eat, drink and be merry."
We spent a lot of time at what I consider to be the most beautiful place on Earth, The Baths. The Baths is a group of huge, some the size of a large buildings, granite boulders that have paths and grottoes throughout the bath temperature water that is between the boulders. This is a unique place on Earth, thought to be formed from the expulsion of material from an ancient volcano.
One day in The Baths, Richard and I are wrestling in the water, when this guy with a camera held above his head wades in. Richard charges me and I execute a perfect throw, flipping him into the air.
When Richard lands in the water, there is a big splash, and the guy with the camera starts bitching at us! Great, another idiot who is stupid enough to bring an expensive camera into the water. Richard and I just look at the guy and he decides that it is better to leave than to face us.
The third day we run out of money and food - Pauli loses our last $20 playing Three Card Monty with a local. The guy is cheating, using black disks with a chalk mark on one and erasing it, so you can never pick the right one.
We all jump on Pauli to keep him from killing the guy, while the guy folds his table up and then disappears quickly. We start selling empty gas tanks, ski equipment, coolers and whatever else we can spare - except for the liquor.
One night, after drinking heavily, we go to get into the Whaler to go to my Dad's yacht that is anchored in Spanish Town’s harbor. I am the only one who makes it into the Whaler - as the others pass out on the dock, I pass out with my head against the steering wheel of the Whaler.
The next morning there are people staring at us like we are vagrants.
The fifth day comes and we have to leave. We head down wind with the gennaker up - a gennaker is a spinnaker that is off to the side rather than directly out front; they are both usually multi-colored sails.
All of us are starving for food at this point.
When we get close to Cruz Bay in St. John, I take the Whaler and I head for one of my father's businesses, a pub that serves hot dogs, grinders, etc. I pick up a case of cold Heineken and a few grinders for us to eat.
As I am going back to meet the guys I see Pauli is having some fun with my Dad's yacht, pulling the tiller so hard that he is putting the mast in the water.
Good choice Dad, loan the boat to a certified maniac!
We didn't quite make it home as we blew the super-dependable Volvo diesel motor blew right before we got into the Mangrove Lagoon, so we left the yacht anchored in Christmas Cove at Great St. James.
A few days later Richard and I dragged it into port with the Whaler...
Three Card Monty... one of the biggest card game/trick scam for suckers.
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