I’ve been here 23 days now. The Presidential election was yesterday and I really have no desire to go back to my native country of the good ol’ USA. I like the pace of life here, the good people I’ve met and now consider friends, the fact that no one here sees black or white. They only see Bahamians…….Junior, the owner of the ( ” kajook(sp) / The local term for a hole in the wall!) ,a longtime local who owns the local joint Willie’s put it into a very blunt perspective for me one evening. ” We don’t have time for that nonsense here in the islands!” Makes you think doesn’t it?
The sunrises and sunsets here are truly breathtaking……. no wonder there’s no hate here…… all you gotta do is look up at da sky…….
I wonder what kind of Divided, I mean United States I’m going to return to when my work here is done. I’m hearing rumors of more impending riots, looming civil war and possibly re-shutting down the country because of the recent spike in infections. Christ, I read Wal Mart pulled all it’s guns and ammo off the shelves? Holy sh*t WTF is going on back home! And whomever wins……Trump OR Biden, I think there’s gonna be mayhem either way…….A scary, scary thought and it troubles me that my home country is so screwed up right now…… Never in my lifetime did I think our country would sink so low to destroy ourselves from within our own borders….. What happened to “one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all? Our fore fathers are fu*king puking it’s so sick what’s going on right now!
Over the last month here living with a generator and cold running water only I’ve learned to appreciate the simple things in life……. Ice, a clean towel, and light! In that order……All I really need to survive is food, a cold beverage and tobacco!
On our first “real” day off we hired Justin and “The Local Boy,”which is his boat to take us on a deep sea fishing trip! We left the dock early and motored out into deep water through Tiloo Cut, which can get kind of sketchy at times depending on the surf and tide. We headed out to the very edge of the continental shelf to fish for Mahi , Dolphin ( the fish not Flipper) and Wahoo. What a great day it was! The boat caught two pretty large Wahoo and hooked a third but the man in grey (a shark) helped himself to our fish before we got it on the boat! Thieves of the sea!
Justin’s charter business has suffered greatly due to the hurricane and now Covid, His boat was one of only three that survived the storm! You’d think he would be slammed with charter trips but he said we were his 6th this year. In November! Holy sh*t! There’s been NO tourists here since the storm and then covid. Good for me since I get to be here without the massive tourist influx but definitely bad for the islanders who depend on them for their livelihood….. The classic Catch 22…..A step back to simpler times but a crushing blow to the economy here. Normally he runs 200 or so trips a year! What a cool, great guy! Definitely a dude I have could hang out with! Plus he’s a fu*king fish whisperer ! He’d clap his hands, Yell “yo Charlie ” in a thick Bahamian accent and I swear to God within five minutes he’d hook one for one of us to fight, fight, reel in, and take home to feast like kings on!
As I mentioned in my last post the surf here is pretty good, but one morning I awoke to a world class day……. Four to five foot perfect A frame corduroy sets were rolling through. Lefts and right peeling with offshore winds and big gaping barrels. AND I HAD TO WORK! I almost quit, went surfing and then would have come back and put my work boots back on, but I didn’t……Sometimes you have to be “responsible!”All I could do was carry on about my work day and SALIVATE! The only bad thing I can think of living and woking in a beachfront home is an epic surf day, not being able to paddle out, and have to watch it all day! By the time I got off the wind had switched to onshore and it looked like a freakin’ washing machine!
Work is steadily progressing on the house and we are making headway. Most of the windows are installed and we have started repairing all the damaged exterior siding on the hurricane ravaged house. “My crew” consists of three men and me……. I’ve got the rasta crew. My boys Clover, My good boy Watson and Jeff David. The man with two first names! We go about our days hanging the lap siding that was torn from the house and listening to horrible (in my opinion , not theirs) Haitian Hip Hop. They seem to know all the words so I assume they enjoy it! All I could think to myself is “this is Irie Mon!”
Tourists NEVER get to experience this! Living,working and eating with the local Rastas! I am truly blessed!
I won’t admit to “takin’ da chalice” wid dem because that it’s illegal here in the islands, but maybe I did, maybe I didn’t……
The camaraderie with my co workers is pretty amazing . Funny how people tend to band together when thrown into adverse environments ! We’ve done battle with rats, fierce wind, a hurricane ravaged disaster of a house, and so much more……..
There’s rats in da kitchen” mon!
Ya mon…..One World! One Love! Something all of us should be giving thought to seeing the current situation of things…..A little love and light goes A LONG WAY! I always try to leave my post with something to digest. A little food for thought……
livin' before dyin' 