It has been a month since I last wrote. I left Green Turtle Cay off to Nunjack Key. While I was sailing there, my engine overheated. I found that my belt had snapped off from the alternator and water pump, so I had to install a new belt, praying this one wouldn’t break as well. When I pulled up to Nunjack, my engine started having revving problems as it idled. I looked at it and thought, that can wait for later. Then my fresh water wasn’t working, so I couldn’t clean my dishes. Six hours later, I found out I was out of water and had to use my gallon jug to keep from getting dehydrated.
I met my mooring neighbors, Jim and Jean, at Nunjack, and they were concerned that I wasn’t going to make it to Marsh Harbor with this engine problem, so they joined along. I told them that I was going to take the cut but go to the shallows in Don’t Rock on the inside of the bay. We sailed for two hours to the north side of Treasure Key and then anchored in this really cool sandbar. There was a really nice resort that no one stayed at, and I used their outside shower with a heater in it—it was nice. That night, however, the waves came directly from the sea, and it was really rolly. I couldn’t see and maybe got five hours of sleep until it was time to go the next day.
We left early morning to time the tide right and went an hour through Don’t Rock. Everything went perfectly. We ended up in Marsh Harbor, where I would pick up my buddy Joe. Again, when I anchored the boat, the idle was stalling out, and it was a bit concerning. I already changed the air filter—maybe I have to change the fuel filters? I decided to wait until I was in Hope Town because I was going to stay a month over there. Joe flew in, and we hung out that night in Marsh and then went to Hope Town the next day.
When we got to Hope Town, I had no control over the engine. It would stall out and then rev up really quickly, but luckily, I had friends to tow me in with their dinghies. But it shattered my confidence in the boat and myself. For the next five days, Joe and I explored the island and celebrated my birthday week. Once he left, I spent that whole month trying to fix the boat. I checked all the fuel lines, replaced all the filters, and cleaned out the breather, but still, when I went on trial runs, coming back, the boat would stall just slightly. Also, I overheated pulling two dinghies on the side. I then cleaned out the heat exchanger and adjusted the throttle pin, and it appeared to be working fine, but I was still skeptical that it was really fixed.
In Hope Town, though, I had a blast. I was surfing and fishing and spearfishing. I met so many people to go out with and party or go to the beach or go diving—it was an amazing experience. It was really hard for me to leave because it was just so perfect there, but people were saying that I have to keep sailing and going with all the time I have, so I left a month later to Marsh Harbor, where I would meet a mechanic and find out the true problem with my engine.
My engine’s injector valve was worn, and therefore, there was not high pressure in the fuel injectors, causing weak and stalling flows at idle speed. I had the mechanic fix it the next day, and bam—problem solved. Now I am just waiting for my mechanical lift pump, which comes Monday, and I will install that and start heading south with new confidence. I am nervous about this 12-hour crossing to Eleuthera, but it must be done, and my fears conquered.
Thoughts Halfway In:
I have done a journey like this before, and I know how I behave and act. I always think a grand adventure might change who I am as a person, but it just doesn’t. I thought this trip would be an island-hopping oasis where I drank from the coconut trees, speared my food, read books about development, and started building my dreams in my line of work. It has not been that at all. It has been the same thing as my trip overseas.
I just meet new people all the time, and the Bahamas is centralized around drinking, and unfortunately, I love drinking—especially with people. I haven’t been sailing but just been parked in a mooring field like a van is parked in a mobile home park. I just have cheap rent at a nice island resort and spend thousands of dollars on food, drinks, and cigars that turn to piss, shit, and smoke. I wake up from a hangover and continue to have fun just like the night before with my friends—and repeat.
Little things in between I enjoy, like surfing and fishing, but it’s exactly what I do at home with my other friends. Just the scenery is different. This was supposed to be a sober trip, a trip where I traveled and didn’t feel like ass half the time. But no, I haven’t changed—I have way too much fun hanging out with people, and these people love to drink like I do. They don’t mind the hangovers or don’t get them. I don’t even drink that much—I have at max five beers of light beer and still feel down in the morning.
I’ll go for 3–5 days sober, finally feeling normal on day 3, and then day 5 comes—the weekend—where everyone is going out. You should have a beer—let me buy you the first couple rounds so you can join in and have fun. I always join in, and from there, the bender begins throughout the weekend to early week, and I repeat back to sober. This trend has happened this whole trip, and it still happened yesterday and the day before, with me now trying to be sober before my big crossing.
For the next three months, there do need to be goals so I am less bored on days when I have to hunker down because the wind is too strong to move or it’s storming. I need to start designing and planning to build my own home that is sustainable. I have three free months where I do not work, so I should make use of that. I know if I start getting the train going, I will be happy.
It’s amazing when you grow up and have traveled a lot already. You do appreciate the different cultures and scenery, but I know Florida is where my heart is. That is where I like it the most and will be for the rest of my life. A week to three weeks is great to travel, but I am no nomad. I am a man that likes to travel but longs for a nice home to go back to with a dog and one day a wife and family. Being solo is nice because it is supposed to give self-perspective, but I have already done this eight years ago and knew what it would mean to travel again.
I had to do this trip to make my 18-year-old self proud. My 18-year-old self, looking at all the sailboats, dreaming that one day when I’m 30, I’ll travel through the Bahamas with my own sailboat, being powered by the wind.
Yes, my younger self would be streaming with joy to know that I did this—I made it happen—and that is what has made this trip for me the most.
Well, my next goal is on my mind now, and it focuses on Florida and sustainable buildings. I have manifested this dream so much in the past few months that it is my new drive and new vision when I get back home and work again. I also want a dog and want to find a beautiful woman and partner that will share experiences with me and life and be my best friend and partner. I have sacrificed what could have been great relationships for my own selfishness and need to change that immediately when I get home and take a chance at love again.
The pushing away for this go of two years was not good for me, but everything happens for a reason, and I will let myself find love wherever it will be when I get back home. Those are my thoughts while I sit here, bored on a windy day, awaiting one of the last big winds of the season.
One week has turn to three weeks as I stay in green turtle cay. I have been on a morning ball for two weeks and then the actually dock for another week. The island is amazing. The people of friendly and welcoming and the mooring ball community is amazing as well. When I arrived here I instantly was told to come out to 4pm happy hour at the marina and meet everyone. I grab some beers from the local liquor. Pretty cheap I might add 3 for 10 dollar deal and relaxed in the beach sand hangout area.
Everyone was in their 50s and beyond. Retired, semi-retired but all had the same relaxed vibe and drink in their hand. People was impressed that I was by myself and also questioned if I was lonely. I was lonely but not now. Every day from that point I would have someone to talk to and someone to hangout with. The goals of the island I wanted to achieve was find someone willing to spearfish with me. Go surfing one day. Go to all the beaches. See the sea turles and the string rays. Catch some lobster. Catch a mutton snapper by fishing rod.
Weeks went by and I did the majority of this but only once or twice when the weather permitted. Since I have been here there has probably been 5 days total of good weather out of the 23 days. The winds would just be so strong blowing at 25 knots and no sun with a barely chilling temperature of 68 degrees with humidity. Just enough to not be able to do anything on the water. The days that were nice I would take advantage of and be fully in the water. One day I did get to spearfish with 2 gentlemen that were on sailboats as well.
We went on the outside reef with our dingys. Anchored them and then drifted over this beautiful corral head that was a bout 15 feet tall with huge caves teaming with life and a 30 foot shelf drop off on the outside sand bar. One of the crew caught a lobster and I speared a lesser amberjack. I bleed the amberjack and gave it to the guy to go back to the boat. Suprisedly a minute later I saw a shark swimming fast in the shallows chasing him down. Luckily he did not get hurt. There was other days when the wind was down and I would take my dingy around the whole island. I would stand on it looking into the shallows and see turtles, sharks, barracuda and bonefish. I would go visit no name island to check out the pigs and then see every beach.
Another day the surf was up in the one same bar section. Rainy it was that day but the water still clean at 2-3 feet breaking right. I remember I caught a wave and it was so clear and smooth that I could not tell my board was on the water. It looked like it was levating above the same and the pitch of the wave made it very confusing on how to angle my board and I almost feel several times in awe of view. I did fish a couple times and spear fish on the inside with no luck. I would see big snapper but they would not come for my bait, only grunts would and then the same thing for spear fishing. They would keep just enough distance where I wouldn’t be able to shoot them.
In and out of these good days where the windy, rainy and chilling days that took the majority of my time here. I was glad I was on a mooring ball or else it would have been an awful time. These days ended up consisting of drinking. There would constantly be people coming into the marina and wanting to check out the bars. My local favorite was pineapples. These people would be 50s and below and would always ask people at happy hour if they wanted to go. The 20 people would deny and I would look around feeling bad and say I’ll join. Always those nights I would think would just be a couple beers and chill and some how some way we would meet some locals and go bar hopping.
Cheap rum and cheap beer would put me a coma the next day and I unfortunately would do nothing but lay down and sleep on and off till 4 o clock when I felt better. I didn’t feel too bad about this as far as wasting the day because I always planned on if I go out and it better be an awful weather day the next day. This is the lifestyle though on the island about this time of the year. There is not much to do so come sunset people drink and party and repeat. I have gotten into this rhythm and as I come to move on from this island I will get out of this rhythm.
It has been fun though. The reason why I have stayed is because of the weather but also because of the people and the community. I have made friends with the locals and also the boaters. Boating life for a solo sailor is a little different. You meet these couples mostly that are awesome and you become friends as quickly as they leave. You meet awesome people for two days and then never see them again. The process repeats time and time again and you just get used to accepting people going and that’s it.
Today is my last day at the marina. I am writing here this morning and by 10am I’ll be at the beach getting a tan and reading my book. It is an actual nice day again after 5 days of brutal rain and wind. The boat batteries can finally charge and I can start charging up my computer. I will leave tomorrow morning before 9am to go to Nunjack Cay. It is this beautiful island that is uninhabited and a national park. There I will enjoy the beaches and the wildlife and stay for a day or two and then off to Marsh Harbor where my buddy will be.
On the way to Marsh Harbor I will have to either go through Whale Cut Cay a passage of waves and terrible stories if you go the wrong day or take a risk at high tide through the shallows. Where people have gone but everyone is scared to get stuck on bottom because its 2.5- 3feet on low tide. I have yet to decide but I am excited that my good friend Joe is coming February 1st through the 5th for my birthday. I will be turning 32 and we will go to Hope Town where I can finally say I lived out my child who dream to come here by sailboat.
The journal will be a short one because island life is simple. You start to slow down and don’t realize the day of the week or time. You only look at where the sun is and where the winds are going. There is nothing planned for tomorrow so you only live day by day. Days go by fast and then all of a sudden, you’ve been in the same place that you though only week turns to 3 weeks. I am excited though and nervous to out there on anchor again and start to become a better sailor.
I stayed in West End till the 30th of December 2024. The weather was still blowing 20 plus knots from the east and I needed to the winds to shift to the south. Finally that day came and I was off during mid to high tide to try to do a 9 hour day to Great Sale Cay and then wake up early the next morning and make it to my second town called Fox Town for New Years Eve.
Coming out of West End there is a passage you can take the saves an hour of time. The thing about this passage is that on low tide it is 4.5 feet for 5 miles straight. So that being said I was a little nervous about leaving mid tide dropping down but I had to to get help off the docs at 9am when West End Marina opened and that’s the best I could do to beat the tides. Getting to the passage you have to go out to the Atlantic ocean again. The waves were rolling on my port side 3 feet tall and I did not prepare for that and everything started crashing down below for not being secure and my propane tank off my magma grill was clanking so hard like a snare drum. For thirty minutes it was like this and I was eyeing for the small 80 foot length passage to go into. Finally I saw it.
It a deep cut that walled up the water washing out and on each side there was 2 feet of water and waves. I gulped looking at it but pressed forward with confidence. I was it through and then it was a mission for the next hour to look at my garmin and make sure I stay within 50 feet of the center line of the passage so I would not run aground. I did this for an hour cruising about 5 knots. I needed atleast 5.5 knots to make that 10 hour window so once I got into deeper water I slowed down the engine to put up the sails. This was the first time I was out in open water to do it by myself but the water I was in was like a lake and then wind was only 10 knots so it was no problem.
Once the sails were up I was cruising about 6 knots with the motor on. I was so happy because this mean I would for sure get there on time. For hours I just sat and stared at the teal vastness with the island that I came from disappearing. I got comfortable enough to cook some velveta, constantly checking navionics to make sure my autopilot was working. About 5 hours into the trip the wind died and my sails were fluffing. I had to take down the main Jib but I could leave the main sail up because it barely had wind. This part of the trip was incredible. The water was so flat for miles and that’s all you saw for miles and nothing else. No land in site, in. the middle of nowhere 15 miles in all directions.
I sat up at the nose for 2 hours staring as the sand and small rocks drifted by. I couldn’t believe I couldn’t see on fish. Finally after these 2 hours I could see Great Sale Cay and an hour later I was anchored on the north side protected by south winds. It was dead quiet, 25 miles away from everything. It was so quiet I could here the dripping off my prop shaft into the boat which kept me up and made me think I should fix that once I’m in a safe spot. While I was up, I went up top to look at the stars and they were great. Thousands of them I could see and I felt like I jump into the vastness of the universe from the perspective it gave me. I went downstairs and back to bed to await the next big journey. From Great Sale Cay to fox town for New Years Eve.
I woke up the next morning had a coffee and some eggs. Quickly started the engining praying it would start because I was nowhere and thank god it did. Pulled up the anchor and off I went. I had 6 hours of sailing going about 30 or so miles. The winds were great blowing about 10-15knots. I was so nervous turning off my engine but I was tired of burning up diesel and paying money for something I can get for free with wind. I acted and turned off the engine and had the sails up.
It was an amazing experience. The boat was perfectly keeled over cutting through the waves like butter. Felt like I was in a car on a flat surface. I was flying 6 knots and the sails were humming all way for 5 hours in the end. I had some dolphin visitors along the way that I played with for an hour and then just relaxed and soaked it all in for the last 4, very proud of myself. I arrived at fox town to a little bit bigger waves, about 1 foot but not a big deal and anchored. The winds were slightly south still and the anchorage seemed all right for the night. I went into town and asked around if there is anything to do for New Year’s but unfornately there was not.
So I ended up being by myself on the boat. Told myself I deserved tequila on the rocks from my journey and had a nice drunken dance along myself night with some tabacoo. I woke up the next day with a hangover that was bad and to 2-3 foot waves. I was so mad at myself that I went too far and then I had to deal with the worst anchorage I have had as far as rolling of the boat. Huge waves would be crashing on the bow. I told myself I had to do something that day so it was a big struggle getting into the dingy and back out of it when the fishing didn’t go well. I was pretty much seasick by 4pm and was filled with so much anxiety seeing that the weather was only going to get worse with 20 knot winds from the NW. I manned up and pulled the anchor up and went a mile to the North side and reset my anchor. Much better but still 1 foot waves.
Even so I was very proud of myself and went to bed. The next day I felt recharged and ready to get the hell out of Fox Town. Nothing to do or nothing to see. The journey would be the start of the true abacos to Spanish Cay were things would turn around and feel more rewarding and comfortable.
I pulled up my anchor and once I was out an open water I again turned off the engine and brought out the sails. The sail trip was sporty. Two foot waves on the East side and the winds at 15 knots. I had full sail out humming the rudder and water a half foot under the rails. I sailed with no autopilot to feel the sport for two hours and then decided to have a little break and give the autopilot a go. The goal today was to sail all the way to Spanish Cay and then a mile out drop sails and motor in and I just did so.
When I pulled up the Spanish Cay I tried to furl the main jib and it just wasn’t budging. Back and forth I went and then finally the line came undone with I what I thought was rust shooting out from the bearings. A fix that will need to happen once no winds either from less line or something else. I came up on the Northwest side of the island, set anchor and off to shore I went to refuel up and get some lunch.
The island was private and you were only allowed to use it if you were staying in the expensive marina or in one of the villas. The island was owned by one man that had his yacht stationed on the outside slip. I went into the restaurant that felt a little bit Jimmy Buffet themed with no one insight. Finally a lady came out and I ordered some conch fritters. The people that worked on the island had said they had a big New Years party and now everyone was on their way to Green Turtle Cay. Darn I thought to myself. I keep missing the fun stuff.
I asked one of the managers how do I fish here and the guy was very polite and the said the only way to catch fish is with conch entrails if I am going for snapper or trigger fish. He gave me a free bait bag of conch entrails and pointed out the spots all around the island where the fish congregated the most. With in minutes I got my rod and set up and instantly started to catch fish. Eventually I caught my target species, the yellow tail snapper. I was so excited. I have never caught this fish and looked at it with awe. I have always just been an inshore fishing men and this was the first offshore fish I caught in a very long time.
I cooked up the fish that night and felt like finally the trip is starting to feel what I thought it would feel like. Catching my dinner, cooking it up on a nice sunset and hearing the gentle breaks of the waves on the outside reef. I didn’t want to leave this place. I had things to do. One was fish for bonefish in the morning on the flats. The other was to find lobster on this one rock overhanging by a house that was sharky. The last was to fish the reef on the ocean to catch even bigger fish. Evidently this was basically the best fishing I will have from Spanish Cay to Green Turtle Cay.
I woke up the next day and did all three things and the only luck I had was fishing on the outer reef catching a massive grey triggerfish. Dinner for the night. As I brought it done in the sailboat I checked the weather it showed 25 knot winds from the west later in the night. I thought oh no there is no way I will be protected in this island with winds in the direction. The manager of Spanish Cay helped me out. She called Donny’s Marina in Green Turtle Cay and asked if there were any mooring balls available. There was and the guy wanted me to stay for atleast 7 days and I was skeptible but the lady told me you might stay there a whole month cause that is where to most fun is in all of the Abacos. I agreed with her and paid the week amount.
I had to leave right away to Green Turtle to beat the low tide. This cove was only assessable at high tide or else you would get stuck. I motored the whole way for about 2.5 hours and finally arrived through the tight channel. Donny had a guy come out on a dingy to help me tie to the mooring ball. It was the first time doing this so I was nervous but there was no wind inside the marina which gave me confidence. I tied up and I was save and sound. The marina was nice. Had somehow grass everywhere with a little gazebo and a sand pit underneath it giving it beach vibes. All the people there were very nice and semi to fully retired enjoying the comfort of a bay and the mooring ball. It was awesome to finally socialize with people and I felt like finally this is where I need to be.
I slept fantastic on the mooring ball that night. No worrying of drifting away. The flatness of the water made it feel like I was on land and no clanking of halyards on masts. This is going to be a hard place to leave I am glad I bought a week. Better make it two weeks and enjoy my time here.
I left off meeting my uncle and grandma for brunch. Brunch was great and had a few drinks to unwind leaving the boat. I took the dingy and showed all them the boat and had a few more tequila drinks and took them back to shore. I thought to myself the day is not over and I would love to bar hop and get signature drinks at each place so I did. Bar hopped all the way up to publix on the west side and ended it at Bradleys were I used to hangout and listen to live music when I was 24. I could see my boat from that bar which was a surreal experience. I took my dingy back home and had one more drink before bed.
I woke up at 2am to a thud noise. The boat would rock up and down because of the wind and the bottom would hit the bottom and come to immediate stop jolting the whole boat. I must have been in 4 feet of water because I draft 4.33 getting a lift and slam. I laid in bed with my eyes open feeling the jolts, hearing the deep thuds and the clanking of the anchor line along my port side. Man was I hungover and the hangiexty was through the roof. I just sat and stared at my Navionics seeing how far I was moving. It kept showing me in one place because I was a ground but then at 4am I finally lifted up and started heading towards an even more shallow section claimed at low tide. I had no options and had to reanchor.
In the dead of night I pulled up the anchor and shifted over to the south thinking the next spot would be better. I anchored down and then awaiting where I would shift over to. It was no good, I ended up in a spot that read 5 feet at low tide but it was mid tide going to high and my depth finder only read 5 feet. There was going to be a negative tide under a foot and I knew I would be stuck like chuck again. I had to wait till 7am and then pull my anchor up during high tide and head out the bridge to the north away from the tight anchorage chaos.
At 7am I got situated and started to turn on the engine and get going. I pulled up the anchor and off I was toward the bridge heading north. Unfortunately I had to wait for an hour in the middle of the channel because rush hour was happening. I waited paitentialy and finally the bridge open for me. I made my way down the larger portion of the intercoastal and found the spot I wanted to anchor 500 feet away from the closest boat. I dropped the anchor and sat and stared at the massive homes on Palm Beach until none where moving. I was holding good. I was so relieved that day. Nobody around me, the weather was calm and I was to myself. Finally after days I felt at peace. I relaxed all that day. Didn’t do a damn thing. I just saw and stared at the clear water. Took a nice shower and then watch sports the rest of the night. This is what I wanted some chill vibes.
In the early morning the winds shifted. A northern wind blew in at 15 mph and the boat began to rock and roll. Waves piled up to 2 feet almost throughout the day and the anchor was banging so loud on the nose of the boat. Creaking and wailing with a sudden bang of metal I was in hell again. The anchor line tot holding for dear life. Gust of 20 mph winds, the air was 60 degrees and rain. What the heck kind of chill vibes is this. I checked the wind apps and all the apps said it would be blowing from the north the next two days and then the NE the next three days after. All at 20 mph steady with the topping gust at 30 mph on Thursday and Sunday. Thursday came it was right waves got up to 2-3 feet and the anchor continually banged the nose of the boat. I got zero sleep because it was so loud and had to put in ear plugs. That night my buddy (1 of 3) was asking how everything was going excited to see what he had in store. I had to be completely honest with him and said it has been miserable pretty much the whole time and every now and then I get a 6-hour peaceful moment that doubles down on the worst chaos. He was optimistic and said everything will be better once the boys come to town.
The boys arrived on Friday night. I dingy’d a mile into town to go meet Jack first at 8:30pm. We had a couple beers and a small Thai restaurant and had some Thai tacos. Connor and Tyler would arrive at 10pm so I had to take Jack and his stuff to the boat fix since the intercoastal was still rough from the 20mph NE winds (not as bad as straight North). Jack got absolutely rinsed but luckily his stuff stayed relatively drive. On to get Connor and Tyler next. I picked them up at the dock and they were glemming with joy. The sawing me pulling up like a sailor and greeted me with an a hoy matey. I told told the sailors to pile in with all their gear and get ready for the splash mountain of a ride. The ride ended up being quite dry and we made it to the boat. Everyone was so excited and each person picked their spot to sleep. Connor would sleep on the side couch, Tyler on middle pull out bed and Jack in the stern queen bed. The boat felt tight but then again not really once we were all in bed. But bedtime was far from near.
The rest of the days were mixed into each other. That night of arrival we drank for the celebration of the start of the adventure. I was pouring shots for everyone and we stayed up till 4am in the morning. We had nothing but time to kill. The winds would not be right for the crossing till Wednesday of next week. Each day and night we did something fun. From going to the beach, to exploring the wealth of Palm Beach to bar hopping the restaurants local to West Palm. We were gracious with our money not worrying how much we would spend. We all knew deep down inside this was a once in lifetime moment and to live it up. Each day the hangover would linger and turn into a 12pm beer to a 3pm beers to a 6pm shot to a 9pm night beers. Nights mostly were short from the excess moving and grooving during the days. Laughs and jokes were told and guys just being dudes.
The weather window was coming up. It looked like Wednesday was now a ESE wind of 15-20mph and Thursday was a 5 mph S wind but then it would change to 10 N. North is always a big no no when it comes to crossing the gulf. The boys and I were anxtious to get a cross but we decided Wednesday was not a go because the sea state was still 5-7 feet going directly east. That lead to Thursday for crossing. Since we decided to cross Thursday, it was time to drink again with my Uncle Jonas and his girlfriend. Boy it was a fun time and those 8 percent Florida Mans and two espresso martinis tasted good. The plan was to be completely sober the next day and be serious about Thursday. That Wednesday we woke up to 15mph SE winds. The forecast should that it would settle down to 5-10 by 3pm and then 0mph in the middle of the night but then would pick back up again to almost 15 mph from the North on Thursday! We couldn’t believe it. One app said no wind on Thursday and the other said that. What was it? All we knew was today if we left at 5pm it would be the safest. So hungover with lack a sleep we decided to go for it.
We checked my oil and it was low so we filled it up and I will do an oil change once I get to the marina. We pulled again and then the anchor didn’t work and I frantically tried to figure out the problem. The breaker popped from all the torque and then switch the breaker and we were back in business. It felt like we were all nervous. An overnight sail hoping the engine would perform those 14 hours straight of motor boating. My hangiexty was through the roof. Today was not supposed to be the day and I was not ready. We made it out the channel with a little bit a of swell that came over the bow once but that’s it and heading at 110 degrees basically east. The sun set and it became completely night time. I was blinded by my instruments and Connor and Jack kept out a look out for ships. We were going to take shifts who would sleep but we were so Jacked up (except for Tyler he slept the most of the way) we couldn’t. For hours we would just sit and stare at the blank dark night. The swell would slightly roll us but not too bad. The Gulfstream ended up not being bad at all and we picked up some good wind speed. The last few hours we were going 7 knots (7.7mph). We made it to West End in a record 11 hours. Arriving at 4am in the morning.
Pulling into the the Marina was nerve racking. I couldn’t see through my windows because of all the salt water and my instruments were blinding me. All I saw is rocks about 10 feet from each side. I remember saying where can I park? And we just did not know. We took a gamble and parked in a random slip and my god all my senses were firing and so how I wedge into this small spot with no vision perfectly. I was toasted. We looked down at the water and saw the clearness of it. We were definitely here. I tried to turn off the engine and the stopper was not budging. I couldn’t believe it. How do I turn off this engine? I read the manual for five minutes and found where the stopper was on the engine. I pulled hard on the engine and boom it turned off. The stopper was no longer jammed. My god I said to myself. We all had two to three beers and went to bed at 5am. A few hours a sleep before checking into customs.
The next day I checked into customs and everything went well. I received my cruising permit but accidently put 3 months instead of a year because I was completely ignorant for how big the Bahamas was. The Customs officer said just redeclare in another port and I should be fine (I hope so). The boys got to go to dry land and got to take a nice warm shower. We all raced down to the tiki bar by the water and grabbed the local drink, the goombay smash. The taste was glorious. We did it! We made it, a thought that we thought would never happen. I cheers to the boys and said thank you so much for the help and I thought I would have to be stuck in West Palm for another month in that shitty anchorage. The next 3 days we were generates.
We drank when the sunrise’d till late at night. Being obnoxious and loud and free. Time to spend all our money still and live it up while we can. Each morning would be a hangover like West Palm Beach but with endless sea in our eyes and the locals pitching us with drinks and places to go. We all dipped crazy with our nicotine pouches of Zyns and drank and yelled and danced the days away. We would go to an island one day and then catch lobster the other day to eat up at night. We would watch the sharks circle the boat and then go into town for more beers and fast food. We had so many Zyns that we ran out hence why we went into town. Like degenerates we bought 30 black and milds like we were back in highschool again and smoke all 30 in one day. We endlessly drank on our last night together and then the boys had to go home the next day.
We all woke up hungover like always and went to the breakfast where we would have bloody marys and mimosas. Maybe even a straight shot of rum or beers because why not. The boys were leaving me though and we all said our goodbyes and off they went. I was alone again in a foreign place. Wrecked from the fun and my mind and body were not right. I need days of recovery till I gain the confidence on my next big sail which is 25 miles to Mangrove Cay ( a small 1 mile island in the middle of nowhere) and then 25 miles to Great Sale Cay and then the start of the Abacos, fox town where I will be for two months working my way down.
It is now the day after Christmas. I have not drank for a couple days and had a nice tobacco smoke while writing this entry. I have started to work out again and feel normal. When I am sober I have way more confidents. I have done an oil change to my little dingy motor and to my engine. I have filled up the coolant, restriped the anchor chain, refilled my fresh water tank with my reverse osmosis. Installed my filter to my fridge bilge pump and only have a few more items to get and do. I need to go back into town to get a couple more safety waters and food for the three day adventure where I will not see anyone and I will have to wait till the 29th for the correct weather window. The place is pretty expensive here. It will amount to 75 dollars a day if you include the Bahamas tax. A free gym, nice showers and peace of mind sleeping at a marina is great but I must get back out of my comfort zone and keep believing in myself and the boat. Live on the anchor and trust in myself and in Getting There.
Monday December 1st. The last day at the marina before the big journey. I have done all my essential activities prior to leaving. That day the sole focus was to organize the boat, put extra items like my ac unit in the storage and buy can supplies that will last me a few months with my meal.
As I start to organize I check all my thru holes one more time and unfortunately I have found a leak turning on the thru hole to the sanitary out that was at a drip rate of 1 cup of water in 2 minutes. My trip, I thought is now delayed by a month. My mind starts to race on how do I fix this? Who can fix this? Do I have to take the boat out of the water. I call over my dock buddy Scott to access and he says go to the marine mechanic store next door named sadler point and ask for their advice.
I go over to sadler point and they say it needs be fixed. My heart sank. My dad was supposed to leave with me tomorrow. My friends bought their plane tickets and took a week off of work already for this. I have let everyone down. I voiced my thoughts in my head a little less sulky and luckily the owner of sadler said if you bring the boat over here in 30 minutes we will try to find the parts and fix your boat before 1pm tomorrow and you will still be able to leave. I couldn’t believe it.
I brought my boat over and they immediately started to work on it. I sat and watch them go in and out of my boat till about 5:30pm and the guy said not done yet and will most likely finish tomorrow.
I still had to get groceries and still had to go to Gainesville from Jacksonville to drop off my truck at my dads to stay there for six months. I went to Walmart, got my provisions, walked them all up a 12 foot latter and then off to Gainesville arriving at 11pm. Time for sleep and being up at 5am to get back over to Jacksonville at 8am.
Day 1:
We woke up at 5am and got over to the marina where they were fixing my boat at 8am. I took them a few hours to fix and they said you are good to go at 11am. We were off on the start of the adventure.
I was nervous getting through the railroad bridge and downtown Jacksonville because the current was going against us at 3knots and my boat only does 5.5knots. Luckily with a lot of steering and control we made it through that section and for 5 hours, motor boated against the current and until it changed 4 hours in to the spot we would rest. It was an absolutely cold day and night with a low of 34 degrees.
The spot we anchored was surrounded by shallow shoals and oyster heads. The deep spot was 18 feet but instantly rose up to 2.5 feet in 200 feet distance we had to drop the anchor in the perfect spot in order not to drift over the shallows. The current was ripping 3.5knots at one point and setting the anchor at sun down and checking the garmin gps was intense to see what would happen with our drift as the tide was going out.
While checking the gps and garmin, I was also checking my voltage and none of my batteries were charging. I started to worry my electric was not wired right from the work scott did and called him up. He said check the belt and make sure it is tighten and then see what happens.
It was pretty loose and tighten the conveyor belt and then watched the voltage readings with a little bead of sweat down my head even though in was 42 degrees at the time. After 45 seconds the batteries started to charge. I could breathe easy again, or so I thought.
The Garmin while I was fixing the charging problem, was saying we were drifting too far back and not holding. How does my 20lb anchor not hold!? The tide dropped and we were an officially on bottom stuck. I was in disbelief. Out of panic and action I quickly turned on the engine, flooring and rocking the boat left to right to wiggle our way out of the situation. After a minute the boat inched its way out to deeper water and my dad and I had to reevaulate where to anchor.
We decided it was best to anchor closer on the north side of the channel with the wind being from the north the hole night. It was now night time and it was cold. We set the anchor and started getting ready for bed.
I stared nervously at the garmin now not trusting the anchor. For an hour or two I stared as we kept drifting more and more from what was the max distance on rode line we left out. I couldn’t believe it, again we are drifting! I woke up my dad and 3:30am and told him we are drifting out to the channel and we had to get up and reset the anchor in 34 degree weather with the wind howling. We reset the anchor again and I stared at the garmin till 4:30am and then just said fuck everything I don’t care if we drift or not at this point I’m done.
Day 2:
The alarm sounds at 5:30am. On one hour of sleep, I wake up ready to pull the anchor and move on from this anxiety driven anchor spot. I turn on the engine and check the voltage and we are charging which was a great start to the day. We motored all the way the Palm Coast. 10 hours straight. We went through the beautiful nature scenes of Guana Park and Mantanzas. It was a very pleasant intercoastal ride but just freezing still at 45 degrees during the daytime with the wind.
Tons of eagles, ospreys, king fishers and pelicans. The live oaks would lean over the tannic water and the palmettos would stick out from the banks. Tall sabal plams and pine tries will be the back drop at the higher elevations.
When we made it the Sisn’t Augustine we had to wait 30 minutes for the next opening at the Lion Bridge but we didn’t care. We thought it was so cool to see downtown Sisn’t Augustine from the view including the Matanzas fort. The first settler building in the United States.
When the bridge opened we continued the intercoastal and my Dad started driving the boat. He wanted to be efficient and hit the edge of every channel marker with the shortest distance and angle to the other. We were having an intriguing conversation and through thought we were both distracted and all of sudden came to hard stop.
It took awhile for us to know what happened and then we realized we were stuck again on a near high tide! I told my dad to floor it and rock and then after a couple seconds we were in the channel. The amount of adrenalin I have had plus the lack of sleep I was feeling all kinds of ways. I told my dad to stop hugging the channel markers and just go straight down the middle which is did slightly.
There is nowhere to anchor in Palm Coast so we decided to stay at a marina. We had a side slip next to the diesel pump and hooked up the power there. We took warm showers after being freezing for a couple days with no heater in the boat and then filled up the water tank and filled up the diesel. We walked to the nearest restaurant in a little town center which in the end was very pleasant. We ate at a pizza joint which had amazing pies and then had two nice strong IPAs to calm down the nerves and then walked back home and went to bed.
Day 3:
I woke up feeling refreshed. I started up the boat and read the voltage making sure it was charging the batteries and it was. As we started getting going though the voltage was reading way too high at 14.6-14.65. This voltage is on the cusp of damaging all my batteries for over charged and I called up Scott who wired everything and he said that is the max voltage if there is any increase let him know and also let him know what the batteries are the next morning.
Nervously I motored the boat, hopping down stairs continuously monitoring. It kept holding 14.6 and then all of a sudden, no charging anymore because the belt loosened again. The belt is continued to my water pump and so I was constantly checking the exhaust out making sure water was spilling out so I would not over heat. I turned on my solar panels to charge just my house batteries and continued on. Slighlty all right that I wasn’t continuing to fry my batteries.
When we arrived into Mosquitoes Lagoon it was beautiful. Barely any wind and about 65 degrees with the sun out. The amount of birds we saw was insane. So much wildlife was out there and dolphins surfing along the boat, it was a moment we could enjoy. Our plan was to anchor out in this massive lake like lagoon just outside the ICW. A lot of comments said it is a horrible place to anchor because it is so exposed to the winds but we got lucky.
We anchored out for the night and decided to enjoy the rest of the two hours of daylight and try to do some fishing for reds. Fish were popping everywhere but we managed to only catch two ladyfish on artificial which was still awesome to see my dad catch a fish with my for the first time on my sailing adventure. The sky light up with all sorts of colors from blues to purples to oranges. It was a surreal evening that made the all-day journey worth it.
We motored back to the boat once it was night time, cooked some dinner and had our two shots of liquor and watched the gator’s basketball game. I again adjusted the the alternator belt with some jerry rigging and extra nuts and washes and thought that would do the trick. It was so quiet I could hear the drip of my shaft of my propellor and nothing else. I slept with ease knowing there was no current or no winds to budge my untrusted anchor.
Day 4:
We woke up to a beautiful sunrise and it was about 50 degrees. Another cold front was moving down and we could feel the cold wet wind in our clothes. I started the boat and again looked out my voltage meter. It was reading 14.6 and I was okay with that and started going. I kept checking my voltage and then It was reading way too high! 15.7 voltages at one point I started to panic and told my dad we need to fix the problem and then the voltage dropped because the belt slipped after 30 minutes.
The wind was howling on our backs for 7 hours and the ICW was choppy and hard to steer. Whenever I had enough open space, I would set on autopilot and then catch a breather until a boat would go by. The only cool thing about this day was Port Canaveral and the thousands of dock in the bay. I called up a marina in Melbourne once we got close to stay the night. There was a little channel to get through and as I was going through I hit a sandbar the boat instantly stopped in its tracks. I told my dad to rock the boat and floored my engine as hard as I can and pointed left and right. It took a minute the boat rocked its way out of the sand bar and back into deeper water. Holy cow it’s been I day I thought to myself.
Once we got there and docked I had a game plan. Go buy the proper bolts and nuts at Boathouse Discount and fix the slipping of the belt which I assumed why I was getting such high reading before the belt slipped. I paid an uber there and back for 40 dollars and fixed the parts where I knew the belt was holding way better. I cranked the engine and read the voltage and again it read 15.7 volts. My heart sank something was wrong other than the alternator belt and I don’t know how to fix it. I called out Scott and he said the only thing it could be is maybe the regulator and I need to figure out to reset it.
I needed a magnet to reset the regulator and I spent an hour trying to find my magnet and in the end it was lost. I had to hurry up and call another Uber to West Marine and pray they had a magnet, 30 minutes before closing. Luckily, they did and another 40 dollars later I was back on the boat with a mission. For an hour and half, I tried programming this thing I was not getting it at all. I told my dad we will try to figure out tomorrow but if not, we will have to stay here for the day. My dad was not happy with that because he had to be in West Palm by December 8th. I told him it is was it is but I am not hurting my batteries and at worse case I’ll drop him off at a closer town so he get take a rental back home and do the rest by myself.
Day 5:
I studied the programming guide an hour before bed and then an hour in morning while drinking my coffee. I was confident I need how to program it. It took me an hour to program the regulator but finally the right flashes indicating the setting were appearing and I thought I did. I turned on the engine and sat for 30 minutes staring at the voltage. It would not go over 14.10 volts. Success!
We gassed up the boat yet again and let around 10am for our 8 hour day. Luckily we had current and wind on our side. We flew down to Fort Pierce in under 7 hours and found an anchorage at the inlet. As we made our way down there were really cool islands along the way where people would camp and beautiful mangroves in the area of Vero.
The Fort Pierce inlet was so crowded with boat I could not find a spot to park without hitting other boats. The tide was ripping and movement was hard. After 30 minutes I finally found a spot and anchored. Everything looked okay I am just praying my anchor holds in this ripping current. There were neighbors next to us that were odd. The yelled and introduced their selves but the cadence the way the spoke and pauses I didn’t like. After 10 minutes I walked down stairs and let my dad deal with them. My dad walked down stairs and said they said we can come over if we want to hangout. I said no freaking way. I have bad vibes with them.
I again sat the Garmin before bed. Staring at the glowing screen watching the distance we were swaying with the anchor. The tide was going out and we were staying in a good spot. The tide wouldn’t change again till 1:30am so I was comfortable going to sleep. I woke up to the weird neighbors yelling the Titanic song to us. The whole freaking song at 1:30am! I was like wtf is going on? The song the whole song and then ended with your drifting away, good luck and good bye neighbors and started laughing and then silence. I pulled the garmin out for an hour and stared. We definitely moved but only because the tide was coming in. The anchor was holding for that hour and I shook my head and went to sleep thinking fuck everything I don’t care what happens.
Day 6:
The final day, we are almost there. We decided to go offshore for this last leg of the trip and motor sail. It was help us by pass all the bridges you have to open which was like seven. We will out the inlet at 2.5knots current with an eastern breeze. The waves were massive at 4-5 slightly capping and coming over the boat. I was wigging trying to control the boat for 30 minutes until finally we were out at sea. The adrenaline and lack of sleep was getting to me. My head space was all fucked up.
We motored sailed for 7 hours going about 6-7 knots consistently. Good when and seas were semi rough 2-4 feet. Felt like 6 feet to me but my dad said no way. It was fun and sporty actually once I got used to the crazy rocking and leaning of the boat. We sailed like this all the way to West Palm.
The last hurdle making it to West Palm was going through an outgoing inlet. Big waves again were shifting the bow left and right and I was going 3 knots max. Terrified I would hit the jetties I locked in and focused so hard to keep the boat straight and dead center. Once we passed the jetties and into the intercoastal it was a huge relief. The last step was to find an anchorage.
Again there were no anchorages I kept trying to park by people at the start of nighttime and they would all come out saying do not park there you are going to hit my boat. I got denied by 3 people and then finally to a gamble an decided to anchor in 5 feet of water (boat drafts at 4.33) that swings to 4 feet at 150 feet away. This is all just based on Navionics and can be completely different. This was the only option and this is what I did. I don’t care if I go a ground during low tide. I am just tired and want to chill.
So that is what I have been doing for the past two days after anchoring. My dad left that night and the day after I literally just sat in the boat all day and did basically nothing. The only thing I did is install my grill, reorganize the boat, put the canvas back up on the boat, reorganize the lines, and set up starlink. I little bit of non brain work and nothing. Now today I hangout with my grandma and uncle, leaving the boat for the first time unattended at shallow anchor. It does feel like I hit bottom at peak low tide but every other time it is fine and feels like it is holding. Only time will tell and I am sure that there will still be stories. Hopefully mostly good and some bad.
I have traveled far and for a while in search of something that makes me understand my place in the world. I have experienced new places, new things, and new people. After 8 months of traveling and being out of my comfort zone I have only learned a few things about myself. One, is that I am a survivor. Put me in any country in the world and a guarantee I’ll probably do just fine. Two is that I need to find a job that makes me happy. I’m debating whether to go into construction as a project manager for a marine construction company or become an environmental engineer. The sea is my home and any project that works on improving beach erosion and restoring estuaries sign me up. If not construction, environmental engineering sounds nice and I know I will make a little less money but will have more of an interest in the subject matter. That brings me to the third thing that I have learned. Money isn’t everything. Why be rich but be miserable for 8-10 hours for five days and then pray for the weekend. Yeah early retirement sounds nice but fuck that.
It blows my mind asking people what do you want to do when you retire and most people will say travel the world. But fucking do it man to see if you actually like it. See what the hypes about. I guarantee you’ll like but you’ll just get used to it like everything else. The high for seeing something new will settle and you’ll start to get the high only time to time on something that is a true magnificent experience. Imagine when that shit hits you when you 60 years old and you’re like damn this is what I really worked for? It could make or break you. And why wait till your old when you travel with ignorance molded deep inside already. Wouldn’t you want to travel when your young like me and meet certain people and certain cultures that change you view on the world itself? Have these experiences shape you into a better person and a wiser human being? Wouldn’t you want that experience for later wisdom in life if you do ever go traveling again? Then you already know what’s up? Even when you do get to travel when your older you don’t even get that culture experience because your rich old ass is staying at the nicest place going to the most touristic areas and doing it all wrong. Go young and go deep. Fucking get in that forest and experience the true culture of each country. Stay at a hostel and meet people with the same motives for experiencing the new and I guarantee you’ll gain something. Place yourself in dodgy situations like I did in Jaipur, India going to the worst slum in the city and hanging out with some real gyspy’s that live on a 15ftx15ft slab with 12 people under one blanket. That’ll open your eyes a little bit. Again, it blows my mind. I think everyone should travel when they are young like the Germans, the French, and the English do. Just see the world and get something from it. Try to find out more about yourself like the three things I found out about myself. Yes they may not be revelations and epiphanies that will forever change me into a new man and all of a sudden I’m Steve Jobs coming back from India. These simple ideas however were something that was always sitting in front of my face and traveling made me realize true happiness isn’t going to be from trips across the earth but something that was sitting right in front of me back home.
I want to work a job that doesn’t want to make me take shots at the club on Friday night and be hungover on Saturday and then dreading Sunday because you work the next day. I want a job where I am like fuck yeah works on Monday. I want a weekend where I’m enjoying life and being out fishing or hunting or picking up a new hobby. Something that betters myself as a person and makes me become closer to becoming what I define successful. Again, all this traveling shit I have been doing and drinking and clubbing I look around and just think there’s more to than this shit man. All I’m doing is pissing out money and hurting my body and losing life. I can’t settle on a job coming back. I have to find the right one. The biggest fear in my life is settling. I have one fucking life and I need to take risks in order to have rewards.
Anyways there’s all my preaching and wisdom I have the capacity to write down and it’s getting pretty late. Unfortunately, there will be no pictures again for this blog. If the people that just enjoy the pictures I take I’m sorry but I’ll take some tomorrow for ya’ll. My writing skills funny enough are still pretty poor after writing so many blogs but whatever man it feels good to get this shit out and reflect on it looking back. Currently now I am in Medillan, Columbia the town Pablo Escobar used to live in. Tomorrow I will tour is mansion and his prison and a few other places. Should be quite the experience. I have 19 more days till I come home. 7 days will be here in Medillan and then 11 days I will be tanning on the beach and relaxing reflecting on my adventures and the experiences I gained from them. Until then so long.
The final day has come. I’m officially moving on from Australia onward to Columbia. I will pass through Hawaii on the way and sleep there for the night and then have another long journey through California, then Texas, to finally Bogota, Columbia. I was first planning on working for a few more weeks to save up enough cash for two months to visit Columbia and then Costa Rica, but the type of work offered to me ran out unfortunately and there was no way I was going to do another shitty backpacker job in Australia. Plus on top of that, my road worthy inspection for my vehicle ended up being horrible and the car need about 3000$ of fixing plus 800$ for registration and then another 400$ for insurance. I bought the car for 2750$ and the thing ran sketchy and overheated so I was like fuck it I’m not driving it until I have to sell it. I was lucky enough to have this job in the middle of nowhere for a month and free accommodation at the place I was working so no need of driving anywhere.
I literally lived where I worked. The guy I worked for was a bipolar dick (just my luck). He was some millionaire that made is fortune in Papa New Guinea off gold mines and the people that I had to hang around with constantly told me the stories of the horrible things he would make these Papa New Guineas do in order to make him extra cash and save. For instance, instead of buying sand from a supplier he would have each worker swim across a crocodile infested river in order to retrieve a bag full a sand and would have to somehow swim and carry this full bag of sand back over without being eaten. Other things they told me on the day of the arrival was that he treats backpackers like shit and the guy that has worked for him for a long time accounts days where he would literally fired people and take all their bags and things and leave them outside to hitchhike. Hearing all this shit I was like okay what the fuck. Why is my fucking luck so shit most of the times and fuck this guy who I’m about to work for. On top of that it was a carpentry/builders job with people that have experience, and the only experience I had was helping the dude nailing shit in by holding shit up. The first couple weeks were great. This madman guy that I was working for was super chill and founded alright if I didn’t know what to do as long as I somewhat got the concept and then figure it out by myself. Then after a two week mark, the man snapped on me one time for not handed him cord for the TV fast enough. I just stared at the man and all these stories flushed into my mind about the guy everyone called a madman tyrant. These episodes with the crew happened about once a day for the next three weeks and the only thing holding me back from snapping on was one, the money I needed bad and two, I had free accommodation and couldn’t drive my car anywhere. The saddest part to all this is the man knew this was both me and this German situation and knew we couldn’t even speak back or else we be thrown out of the job site like the last few backpackers. Within this month I worked there, his loyal right hand man and a good man couldn’t take his shit anymore and just let. Like literally took all his tools from the site on a Sunday and left on Monday with his camper. The next day Mike my bosses name is, just asked me where did he go? since I was the only one working and I just shook my head and played dumb and said I don’t know Mike. The good man never answered any of Mike’s calls that day or week and never heard from him again. Mike eventually found two highly skilled builders with 20-50s experience and the week they were hired was amazing and disappointing at the same time. They were amazing Australian people with wonderful stories and wisdom. The guy that had 50 years experience taught me a lot about building just in a couple days of work and opened my mind on different ways to approach certain things to build. I truly did like what I was doing this last month even know I have never done any of things he asked me to do. I was learning what exactly I wanted to learn though. How to basically build a house from roofing to flooring to timber, electrical, pluming, irrigation, cold rooms, cabinets, and etc. The only bad thing was the dick boss, but I could handle that for sure because everyday I was mind blown on how you actually built this and that. Well the week when the guys got hired was the week where there was no more work for me. The type of work that was being done was required by one individual and really two working on the project would be a waste of money so I saw that side on that. During that week Mike did try to keep me busy and gain me money till the end of the week but Friday after I built my last cooler room for the beer storage Mike unfortunately told me that he has skilled workers now and wished he could keep me but there are no projects in the near weeks that could make him profit and keep me busy. Was Mike a bad guy in the end though. I still think yes. Maybe he had a bit of bipolarness to him and when these ticks came the would go just as fast and he would be smiling again. It was very bizarre to say the least. The man once bought me a smoothie for building a concrete slab for him all by myself in under three hours which was brutal and would say very good to a lot of my shit because it was very good (I had to prove myself to this guy). One thing that made me believe that he’s just a dark man was this. When he said there was no more work for me I was just like Mike I completely understand but can I stay in the hotel till Sunday to figure out what to do with my car and my options. His reply was of course you can but just after tonight you have to pay 70$ a night for this room. The room by the way was a dorm room with four beds in it with mice and cockroaches all in it. Bad guy for sure.
Anyways I’m always looking on the bright side of things and the bright side is the man gave me work and a place to stay for a month and let me work for him even though I didn’t have any skill in the profession. I’m a damn Engineer man not a builder I’ll admit that. Unfortunately Karma’s coming for the middle-aged greedy man because both builders that came in experienced the Wrath of Mike that week and when he walked away they both decided that this job isn’t worth it and won’t be showing up at work on Monday. Even the German I worked with didn’t tell Mike he was leaving on Tuesday which is today back to Germany. I can only imagine how this week is going for him. Don’t yell a people like their worthless ya cunt. With some money saved up I have decided to go to Columbia. While I’m up with cash get out of Australia and go enjoy yourself for your last hoorah of my 8 month journey. The day after I left my old job I posted my camper van online for 700$ and headed back to Cairns to sell. I told myself I would give myself till Monday to sell it or she’s going to the dump. Lucky me, that day I put it on I got 10 messages from people and one guy in particular was in the small town Mareeba that I stopped at for some McDonalds. I told the guy all the problems that wrong with it and etc and he tried to talk me down to 400$. I said to the man my bro I got 10 other people calling and I’m a nice dude practically giving away this car at 700 and the price will not go up or down. The man made a deal and said if he buys the car for 650$ and take me to Cairns a 1.5hr drive would we have a deal. I said deal. So boom now I have an extra bit of cash for this trip and stay in Cairns till today and now I’m at the airport.
For Columbia I don’t know what to expect I hear it’s a beautiful country with beautiful people and a lively culture. My plan is just to meet people in Bogota and then head to Medellin for a week and then for the rest of my trip chill in a bungalow by the beach with a pine colada in my hand reflecting on my travels. A true vacation after a long vacation. Three weeks no more no less and then back to the greatest country in the world and unarguably one of the best states, Florida.
Here some pictures though Australia was amazing with nature and stuff:
Hello good people of the world it has been awhile. I have been in Australia for almost two months now and I have been grinding for the past month. When I got over here I needed a job asap. I found a job just outside of Sydney for a company that seemed promising and I bought a campervan to live in while working. Well the company was shit in the end and bit me in the ass, and I worked one day for that company and quit. The reason? Well they lied about day shifts on the interview and put me on a night shift. The night shift was from 5pm at night to 7am in the morning with no dinner break. Straight 14 hours of work and it was all bullshit. No one knew what to do. They tried to get me to drive an 18 wheeler that was manual and I was like I can’t do that shit I have never driven an 18 wheeler and just started to learn stick. Everyone was just standing around and a 6 hour day turned into a 14 hour day. So when that happened and I quit, I freaked out. I was down money and had this damn campervan. Luckily enough I landed a job with this other construction company out in Parramatta, a 30 minute drive from Sydney.
The company was small and focused on structural construction of condos. When I heard about this I was like perfect. I am an engineer that wants to learn about the construction side of things and be hands on with the process. They said I would be helping the foreman in anything he needs, and the job site that I will be on has just started last month. I said to myself finally a job that I can do for a couple months and learn what I need to learn. Well so I thought. I worked for this company for a little over three weeks, six days a week. I did hardcore labor, and I mean hardcore. I was lifting 200 lbs of steel every day for hours on end, and digging massive trenches to expose the capping beam. Digging these trenches was extra hard because the soil in Australia is all clay. Every day for three weeks my arms and legs would bleed from rubbing rebar and my back would be sore from moving massive amounts of dirt. I cleaned everyone’s trash on site and was basically the bitch. I learned nothing about building and that was a problem. All I saw was how things were being built like as I saw when I was an engineer. The only difference is I was doing bitch work while watching and being an engineer you just watch. I had to leave this joint but was forced to stay because of money issues so hints the three weeks of work. I have made no friends for these past few weeks because I have been working constantly and I have no time since I can only shower at the gym because I live in a camper van. Good news though is that I have saved a couple grand and plan on traveling up the east coast of Australia from Sydney to the Gold Coast. Sydney is just not the place for me. Too much like New York and not laid back at all. No hospitality and the beaches are just alright. I want the true Australian experience and I think Gold Coast is that place.
My campervan is a little bitch. She was running pretty the first week I bought her and started growling at me after. Me learning stick shift didn’t help and her having 340000km on her didn’t help either. The van is a 1998 toyota townace. I picked it up from a surfer bro in Sydney leaving for Germany. I told him my situation and asked to please not fuck me on this deal and tell me she drives good and she won’t break down. He said she drives good and you should have no worries. Well for a week she did and then I had to change the oil and fix the clutch. That set me back about 800 dollars and now the battery light is on the day before I head on my adventure up north. The engine also overheats a lot and the coolant runs out quick. The mechanic tells me it’s just because it’s old. What the fuck kind of mechanic answer is that. Anyways hopefully she makes it up there tomorrow I might buy a new battery in the next town.
So now I am currently at a hostel. I have finally found power to charge my Mac and type this shit out. You’d be surprised what you don’t have when you live in a campervan. The biggest thing is a toilet. Every morning I wake up at 6am at some soccer field park and the restroom facilities are locked till 8am. So I have to hold in my shit and piss till work at 7am. You have no idea how hard that can be some days and some nights. The second thing is electricity. For some reason there are no outlets anywhere in parks in Sydney. I don’t know why. When I get home from work there is literally no place to charge my shit other than my car. Well you might say, why don’t you just go to the library or go to some fast food place to charge your shit for an hour or so. I’ll tell you why. It is because I work 8-10 hours a day doing hardcore lifting. Then I have to drive 10 km to my gym to shower and workout, if I have enough strength. Then I have to go to the grocery store every two days to restock up on ice and food and then cook the food and then finally its 9pm at night I have to be asleep by 10pm to get 8 hours rest for work. Time is the bitch in this case and I cannot go a day without showering because I’m filthy after work. To solve this electricity problem I have bought a marine battery and a solar power set up system costing me 350 dollars. Unfortunately solar sucks ass and it takes 72 hours to charge the battery I have so on 4 hours of direct sunlight I get 30 percent battery charge out of my phone from this battery. Sydney is clouded as fuck too and parking under direct sunlight is near impossible with all the trees. 350 dollars I think is wasted with that. The last thing with a campervan is uncontrolled temperatures. It gets down to 50 degrees at night now and I am freezing my butt off. I have to get some extra blankets or something else to control the temperature.
Nature I have not seen that much and hopefully I will see some more on my journey up to the Gold Coast. I have been to the beaches here in Sydney and they are not as good as Florida beaches. Everything I have taken advantage of in Florida I have started to realize coming here to Australia. Everything that you hear about a country I am starting to understand is over exaggerated. I will tell you one thing though. The views at the national parks I have been to are stunning.
The Big Drive:
I have made my way up to Coff’s Harbor from Sydney. My engine sounded fucked the next day after I left the hostel plus I had a massive hangover on top of that for the first stretch. Can you blame me for the hangover though? I made first contact with people my age and like me traveling, and they were all drinking! Plus, I was trying to find a candidate that would travel with me on this voyage but no luck with that. Anyways, the first day was rough. My google maps was not working properly and took me on a scary route into the heart of Sydney. I was driving stick on a messed up high revving engine in the middle of skyscrapers and taxis on a hangover. I was freaking out! Plus, I had to look down at my phone every five seconds to see the blue lined route of roads I had to turn on because google maps couldn’t find me for some reason in the world. Luckily after 30 minutes I escaped the city and was onto this place called Cave Beach. It was a small town that looked like a good resting point for me. In agony for two hours on this drive from my headache I finally made it, but when I started to slow my speed down off the Pacific Highway my engine was screaming with high revs like I was flooring it. It did this all the way to Cave Beach parking lot and then I turned it off and the thing kept rumbling and going, trying to get all the gas out. I middle age man came up concerned and tried to check to see what the problem was. I told him it could be my battery causing it because the same day I took it into the auto store seeing why my battery light was on and they said it was all good, just needs a recharge (meaning your alternator isn’t working right). The dude said no it’s probably your timing belt and took a look at it and said I don’t know take it in to a mechanic and see what they say tomorrow. So with all this bad news I decided to relax on the beach all night and wait for the morning, bring out the ukulele and chill my mind.
In the morning, I decided to clear my mind on top of the night before, and woke up for the sunset and did some yoga on the beach. That shit helped a lot and I was like alright fantastic let’s go to the mechanic. I called one mechanic that said he would check it out and went there and we looked and I told him everything that was going wrong and in the end he told me I had a blown gasket! My heart sunk and I thought my journey was over but I told the mechanic there’s no way I checked the oil and it looks good and check the gaskets yesterday and looked for stuff in the coolant. Everything was clean. The guy even did a chemical test on the radiator to make sure and the blue stuff didn’t change color meaning no blown gasket. I decided to take a chance and try to make it up to Port Macquarie, a two hour drive up north. I thought well if it’s fucked it’s fucked and I can’t fix nor sell her so what the hell. The whole time driving the engine was revving and I pulled over once to cool the engine down, fill her back up, and keep on going. I then stopped for gas on a quarter tank left and started to get going again and the engine didn’t turn on. Like the auto store guy said, the alternator isn’t charging the battery. I was literally in the middle of nowhere and fucked with no jumper cables. I saw this dude next to me pumping and I said, “hey man you mind rolling me down that little hill so I can jump start it in second?” The good man said yes and boom she was back running again. I made a decision that I had to get the alternator fixed that day or at least recharge my battery so I stopped in this boon dock town by a river and took it to an electrician mechanic. Guy took out my battery and charged it and then took out my alternator to see that the brushes were completely wore down. The mate gave me new brushes in the alternator and tada I was driving again and my engine finally sounded normal like she did the first day I got her.
I have made it now to Coffs Harbor and slept by the beaches on my way up. Each time the beaches have been getting better and today the beach I went to was aweing. This was what I was looking for in Australia and hope has been restored. Money is a little down more than I like obviously with these fixes but I am determined to make it up to Gold Coast and surf the waves and wakeboard the rivers and meet some awesome people. There I will find something sweet and true. I know it. More pictures will be added to the next blog and it will be more soon I promise. Again this blog is just a reflection of my travels in the most general ways and sorry this shit’s 2100 words. Till next time.
Much Further Down The Road:
Holy shit, I have jumped on my computer reading this old shit that I have typed out and never posted on WordPress. I am deeply sorry for the readers of this blog but shit man this journey has been no other than a fucking journey. Alright let me tell you the rest of my story till the point of now. I went up the east coast all right, all the way up to Byron Bay. I was worn down from my journey from Sydney and thought I’d found home. I landed at a hostel named The Arts Factory Lounge. It was a hippie oasis for the stoners and the wanderlust minds of individuals to live in the present and not live in the future. I could dig it but I couldn’t do it. This place was unique with hundreds of tents and individuals my age, older and younger just living life day by day and slowing it down. The average individual at this camp I would rather call it, would wake up and bake. Sit for hours on end and maybe, just maybe head out of the hostel to the beach and relax. Come back to the hostel, cook some dinner, smoke some more or do shrooms and await the same day. This life style wasn’t me. Especially every day. I want to do something with my time and some days, yes, some days I will do absolutely nothing like this but not every day. The hostel was booked full every night with nowhere to park. I was that sketchy guy that walked in like he lived in the place well in fact just parked down the road behind a dumpster and slept in my van. Hey it beat 20 dollars a night for just parking, and in Byron Bay you get a ticket sleeping in your van on the side of the road, but not this guy. I stayed in Byron Bay for two weeks and heard the words of the stoners that Gold Coast was no good and a waste of time to live. I couldn’t find a job in Byron Bay though nor did I like the lifestyle living there knowing it would only affect me badly, so I decided to drive again 2 hours north to the Gold Coast.
Gold Coast was indeed crap. I am sorry whoever lives there and probably could argue there are some sweet spots that only the locals know but again I am a Florida boy. I put my ad on gumtree on about how I was an engineer and I have worked in construction and etc. and then I thought to myself what the fuck am I doing. This whole time I have been surviving and struggling in Australia and I am settling down in a crappy town trying again to find a crappy job. Scared as fuck about my shitty van I sat quietly in a park mid-day on my bed, weighing out my options. I was seriously scared shitless about heading up north to Cairns and the 24 hour journey ahead of me because I’m only going 80km/hr in this van and the consequences I will suffer if I break down. It took two hours for me to decide and I said fuck and decided to go the route, go big or go home. I went fucking big. I drove those 24 hours and the van purred the whole way up. I drove 6 hours a day for four days straight and finally made it up to Cairns with 2000 of aus dollars that I still had in the bank. Filled with euphoria and goodwill I set on a journey to find a job within a week or else my time is done in this country and I have done the best I could making my time in Australia. I luckily landed a job in a small town named Dimbulah 100 plus kilometers west from Cairns in the start of the Outback. City population of 500 people. The town is small and relaxed and I am working on a job as a carpenter renovating an old hotel into a hostel for a millionaire. My boss acts like a tyrant making his riches from Papa New Guinea on gold mines run by aboriginals. He still acts like he did back when he ran a gold mine and treats people as peasants and only is there for his own self gain. It is very fascinating for me to watch this man and hear some of the words that come out of his mouth when the project isn’t running smoothly. The way he treats people is off putting and he himself has raised questionable words with me but retreats most of his anguish knowing I am more than a weary traveler eager for pay. The work however is pleasing to me because I am learning and relearning the ways of building a house. Something I’ve always dreamed of knowing how to build and what goes into it. Also, I am staying in one of the rooms of the hotel and using the kitchen anytime that I please which is a big step up from what I was doing.
Living out here has been relaxing and nice. The people out here live simple lives and enjoy good company. I have heard great stories from the locals at the bar and feel like I’m living amongst true Aussies. I will continue doing this work for a month or two, and then head to Columbia in South America. Australia has not been what I hoped for. I pictured myself with a great paying job and cool aussie friends hanging out after 7 hour work day on the beach with a beer after a nice surf sesh. Instead I have gotten 10 hour work days with very few friends and 100 km from the beach. In life you have to try things to see the true meaning behind it or else you never know. I am glad I have came here and I have tried, but Australia is no place for me and in a couple months from now I will try my luck elsewhere. What I have learned from this experience? that I am great at surviving and believe in myself in the worst times. I know that I am a great person, that is nice and kind and tries to be the best person that I can be no matter the influence. You are who you are and can be what you want to be because you are everything that you think, control, act, know, and want to become. I have faith in myself because I know myself and I know no matter what happens I will always find a way. Take the road unknown from that of a highway you might find something you never known and might find more that you have known about yourself. Till next time.
Hello good people of the world it has been awhile. I have been in Australia for almost two months now and I have been grinding for the past month. When I got over here I needed a job asap. I found a job just outside of Sydney for a company that seemed promising and I bought a campervan to live in while working. Well the company was shit in the end and bit me in the ass, and I worked one day for that company and quit. The reason? Well they lied about day shifts on the interview and put me on a night shift. The night shift was from 5pm at night to 7am in the morning with no dinner break. Straight 14 hours of work and it was all bullshit. No one knew what to do. They tried to get me to drive an 18 wheeler that was manual and I was like I can’t do that shit I have never driven an 18 wheeler and just started to learn stick. Everyone was just standing around and a 6 hour day turned into a 14 hour day. So when that happened and I quit, I freaked out. I was down money and had this damn campervan. Luckily enough I landed a job with this other construction company out in Parramatta, a 30 minute drive from Sydney.
The company was small and focused on structural construction of condos. When I heard about this I was like perfect. I am an engineer that wants to learn about the construction side of things and be hands on with the process. They said I would be helping the foreman in anything he needs, and the job site that I will be on has just started last month. I said to myself finally a job that I can do for a couple months and learn what I need to learn. Well so I thought. I worked for this company for a little over three weeks, six days a week. I did hardcore labor, and I mean hardcore. I was lifting 200 lbs of steel every day for hours on end, and digging massive trenches to expose the capping beam. Digging these trenches were extra hard because the soil in Australia is all clay. Every day for three weeks my arms and legs would bleed from rubbing rebar and my back would be sore from moving massive amounts of dirt. I cleaned everyone’s trash on site and was basically the bitch. I learned nothing about building and that was a problem. All I saw was how things were being built like as I saw when I was an engineer. The only difference is I was doing bitch work while watching and being an engineer you just watch. I had to leave this joint but was forced to stay because of money issues so hints the three weeks of work. I have made no friends for these past few weeks because I have been working constantly and I have no time since I can only shower at the gym because I live in a camper van. Good news though is that I have saved a couple grand and plan on traveling up the east coast of Australia from Sydney to the Gold Coast. Sydney is just not the place for me. Too much like New York and not laid back at all. No hospitality and the beaches are just alright. I want the true Australian experience and I think Gold Coast is that place.
My campervan is a little bitch. She was running pretty the first week I bought her and started growling at me after. Me learning stick shift didn’t help and her having 340000km on her didn’t help either. The van is a 1998 toyota townace. I picked it up from a surfer bro in Sydney leaving for Germany. I told him my situation and asked to please not fuck me on this deal and tell me she drives good and she won’t break down. He said she drives good and you should have no worries. Well for a week she did and then I had to change the oil and fix the clutch. That set me back about 800 dollars and now the battery light is on the day before I head on my adventure up north. The engine also overheats a lot and the coolant runs out quick. The mechanic tells me it’s just because it’s old. What the fuck kind of mechanic answer is that. Anyways hopefully she makes it up there tomorrow I might buy a new battery in the next town.
So now I am currently at a hostel. I have finally found power to charge my Mac and type this shit out. You’d be surprised what you don’t have when you live in a campervan. The biggest thing is a toilet. Every morning I wake up at 6am at some soccer field park and the restroom facilities are locked till 8am. So I have to hold in my shit and piss till work at 7am. You have no idea how hard that can be some days and some nights. The second thing is electricity. For some reason there are no outlets anywhere in parks in Sydney. I don’t know why. When I get home from work there is literally no place to charge my shit other than my car. Well you might say, why don’t you just go to the library or go to some fast food place to charge your shit for an hour or so. I’ll tell you why. It is because I work 8-10 hours a day doing hardcore lifting. Then I have to drive 10 km to my gym to shower and workout, if I have enough strength. Then I have to go to the grocery store every two days to restock up on ice and food and then cook the food and then finally its 9pm at night I have to be asleep by 10pm to get 8 hours rest for work. Time is the bitch in this case and I cannot go a day without showering because I’m filthy after work. To solve this electricity problem I have bought a marine battery and a solar power set up system costing me 350 dollars. Unfortunately solar sucks ass and it takes 72 hours to charge the battery I have so on 4 hours of direct sunlight I get 30 percent battery charge out of my phone from this battery. Sydney is clouded as fuck too and parking under direct sunlight is near impossible with all the trees. 350 dollars I think is wasted with that. The last thing with a campervan is controlled temperatures. It gets down to 50 degrees at night now and I am freezing my butt off. I have to get some extra blankets or something else to control the tempature.
Nature I have not seen that much and hopefully I will see some more on my journey up to the Gold Coast. I have been to the beaches here in Sydney and they are not as good as Florida beaches. Everything I have taken advantage of in Florida I have started to realize coming here to Australia. Everything that you hear about a country I am starting to understand is over exaggerated. I will tell you one thing though. The views at the national parks I have been to are stunning.
The Big Drive:
I have made my way up to Coff’s Harbor from Sydney. My engine sounded fucked the next day after I left the hostel plus I had a massive hangover on top of that for the first stretch. Can you blame me for the hangover though? I made first contact with people my age and like me traveling, and they were all drinking! Plus, I was trying to find a candidate that would travel with me on this voyage but no luck with that. Anyways, the first day was rough. My google maps was not working properly and took me on a scary route into the heart of Sydney. I was driving stick on a messed up, high revving engine in the middle of skyscrapers and taxis on a hangover. I was freaking out! Plus, I had to look down at my phone every five seconds to see the blue lined route of roads I had to turn on because google maps couldn’t find me for some reason in the world. Luckily after 30 minutes I escaped the city and was onto this place called Cave Beach. It was a small town that looked like a good resting point for me. In agony for two hours on this drive from my headache I finally made it, but when I started to slow my speed down off the Pacific Highway my engine was screaming with high revs like I was flooring it. It did this all the way to Cave Beach parking lot and then I turned it off and the thing kept rumbling and going, trying to get all the gas out. I middle age man came up concerned and tried to check to see what the problem was. I told him it could be my battery causing it because the same day I took it into the auto store seeing why my battery light was on and they said it was all good, just needs a recharge (meaning your alternator isn’t working right). The dude said no it’s probably your timing belt and took a look at it and said I don’t know take it in to a mechanic and see what they say tomorrow. So with all this bad news I decided to relax on the beach all night and wait for the morning, bring out the ukulele and chill my mind.
In the morning, I decided to clear my mind on top of the night before, and woke up for the sunset and did some yoga on the beach. That shit helped a lot and I was like alright fantastic let’s go to the mechanic. I called one mechanic that said he would check it out and went there and we looked and I told him everything that was going wrong and in the end he told me I had a blown gasket! My heart sunk and I thought my journey was over but I told the mechanic there’s no way I checked the oil and it looks good and check the gaskets yesterday and looked for stuff in the coolant. Everything was clean. The guy even did a chemical test on the radiator to make sure and the blue stuff didn’t change color meaning no blown gasket. I decided to take a chance and try to make it up to Port Macquarie, a two hour drive up north. I thought well if it’s fucked it’s fucked and I can’t fix nor sell her so what the hell. The whole time driving the engine was revving and I pulled over once to cool the engine down, fill her back up, and keep on going. I then stopped for gas on a quarter tank left and started to get going again and the engine didn’t turn on. Like the auto store guy said, the alternator isn’t charging the battery. I was literally in the middle of nowhere and fucked with no jumper cables. I saw this dude next to me pumping and I said, “hey man you mind rolling me down that little hill so I can jump start it in second?” The good man said yes and boom she was back running again. I made a decision that I had to get the alternator fixed that day or at least recharge my battery so I stopped in this boon dock town by a river and took it to an electrician mechanic. Guy took out my battery and charged it and then took out my alternator to see that the brushes were completely wore down. The mate gave me new brushes in the alternator and tada I was driving again and my engine finally sounded normal like she did the first day I got her.
I have made it now to Coffs Harbor and slept by the beaches on my way up. Each time the beaches have been getting better and today the beach I went to was aweing. This was what I was looking for in Australia and hope has been restored. Money is a little down more than I like obviously with these fixes but I am determined to make it up to Gold Coast and surf the waves and wakeboard the rivers and meet some awesome people. There I will find something sweet and true. I know it. More pictures will be added to the next blog and it will be more soon I promise. Again this blog is just a reflection of my travels in the most general ways and sorry this shit’s 2100 words. Till next time.
Good afternoon people that read this blog. It has been a while since I last posted an update on my journeys across the Atlantic Ocean from the lovely United States. Truthfully I have been busy and also tired. India worn me out with it’s freakish ways. I had to go back on my last post to see where I even left off and looks like just the start of the journey through India in the city of Jaipur. Well a lot of shit happened and to write it all would be a bear but I will sum it up for you.
The experience I had in India was an experience. India is a country that is very poor as we all know, but to actually be submerse in their life style can change how you think about the world that you came from and how lucky you are. When I was India everyday I had homeless children come up to me and beg over an over for money. Mucus seeming from their nose and t-shirts that seemed to be formed from handkerchiefs. Dirt cover their arms and legs and their hair was knotted up like spanish moss. They were just trying to survive and get what they can by hustling. Crowds of people were everywhere yelling and laughing and talking, it was like overload for the mind walking into the city. Traffic seemed to have no rules and no hospitality. People were screaming and beeping to get out of the way and what not. You would see cows shitting in the middle of the road and monkeys hoping from the overhead buildings and wires. Hecklers would grab you and draw your attention to the stuff you couldn’t care less about and you constantly had to say no no no. Your nose would fill up with countless amount of smells from the spices on the corners of the road to static piss that’s been heated from the sun and brewed. Very tiring this all was when you experienced it everyday for three weeks. But with all this traumatic events going on at light speed, there is a certain energy and flow that makes India unique and I can see how that draws people to it.
The Route I took in India was from Jaipur to Udaipur to Jodhpur to Jaislamer to Agra and then to Delhi. My favorite place that I went to was Udaipur. It was very laid back on the water looking over a fancy castle/hotel built in the middle of this lake. The only problem that I had was the prayer call was loud as fuck and started at 5am in the morning everyday. There was also the blue city of Jodhpur that ironically is turning less blue every year. There was Jaislamer which was on the border of Pakistan where I went to ride camels and spend the night on the sand out in the desert. Agra of course to see the Taj Mahal, other than that wonder there is not much to do there. Last was Delhi for Holliday and that was pretty fun in itself. So with all that my experience in each city was the same. I saw cool shit and I saw weird shit. I met trippy people in the hostels that seem like again they were trying to find themselves and open up their third eye and India seemed like the place to do that. I met regulars like me that would just look at stuff and say thats odd or neat. Food was excellent but the same everywhere. It was just really excellent curry with some bread that looked kind of like tortillas but fucking amazing tasting. That was my diet for three weeks, that’s pretty much all I ate. There was other stuff like fried spice balls and potato based foods. India is the place to be for vegans, 80 percent of population is probably a vegetarian. One thing I miss deeply about India was waking up to 65 degree weather with a nice glass of chai tea. My god this stuff was good. It was like I was drinking ginger spice milk tea that tasted like it had a hint of the best fruity pebbles ever. That’s the best way I can describe the taste. The region that I went to was all desert so it would be pretty cold in the morning and then by 12 o clock it would be 90 degrees outside.
I’ve been to a lot of places for the past three months and seen countless of different cultures. I’ve learned a long time ago (okay two years ago) that no matter where you go people are people. Meaning everyone is like everyone from back home. Mostly nice and willing to help people with warm hearts that love. People that stay in one spot are so sheltered and have misperceptions of the outside world and believe everyone is hostel and out to get you. I’ll tell you what that is not the case at all. I recommend anyone to travel because then it not only opens up your mind but opens up your heart as well. It will make you cast away from prejudice and look inside of people that are from a completely different world than you. Because in the end were not different, we are all human beings with a passion to love, to care, and to be kind. I honestly don’t know what else to say about India. Just if you go there it’s an experience that you probably will enjoy.
I am now in Australia. After Holliday, which is where they spray colors everywhere in the streets in India, I was just dead. I laid in bed for two days basically and just binged Netflix. I flew to Thailand and then again Binged Netflix for a day. I flew to Australia and then for a day again Binged Netflix. I was pooped and didn’t want to think about anything. I just wanted to relax and watch Lost all day. In Australia I am trying to get a job and go exploring at the same time. For the past two weeks I have been trying to get a job in Laboring but so far I haven’t got any offers. I will most likely buy a camper van when I do get a job and live a life on the edge of the woods sleeping in my car for a few months. Saving up money for the next big trip. South America.
Here’s some pictures of the rest of my journey, enjoy:
Simple Guy Goes For A Journey 