The Sailing Journey Week 3

Week 3:

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.

The Sailing Journey Week 2

Week 2

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.

8 Years Later. The Sailing Journey. Week 1

The day before:

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.

Thailand and Singapore

Southeast Thailand In the Islands:

It’s been awhile since I last wrote. I have made it back down to Thailand to visit the islands in the south. I decided to get my open water license in scuba diving in Koh Tao. I figured when I visit Austrialia I will eventually see the great barrier reef and will need to scuba to see it. So being in Koh Tao, the worlds cheapest place to get a diver’s license, might as well. Diving was fun. You went through a lot of training and learning. Learning the diving tables and when decompression sickness starts, and also the techniques you need to know in case of emergencies. The fish in Koh Tao were pretty neat. I have to say though that there’s something far better when diving in Florida. I feel like Florida’s underwater life is more vibrant and energetic. Bigger fish to see at 60 feet than over here. The only good thing about over here though is once in a while you will see a whale shark. Never saw one though. The place where I got certified was called big blue diving school. The instructors where great and the school you stayed at was right on the water. Everyone that I dove with was in their 20’s just backpacking through Asia. After I got certified in open water scuba I stayed back for a little bit on the island to chill out, waiting to hear back about my visa. My visa is unfortunately still processing and has not yet been approved. Therefore, I plan on continuing my travels through Asia. Right now I am heading to Krabi to see a couple islands on the west side of southern Thailand and then I am heading down to Singapore. After few days in Singapore I will make it up to Malaysia, then fly to India. Hopefully by the time I make it to India my visa will be approved and then I’m off to Australia.

A series of unfortunate events has happened this last week. After 2 months of being abroad I finally came down with food poisoning and also a fever. I have now recovered but it has been hell this last week and a half. I had to get my diver’s license when this was happening and my god I was dying. Another unfortunate thing that happened was when I went to the full moon party in Koh Phang. I lady boy came out of nowhere and snatched my family crest right from my neck. This guy was real slick about it. He came out of the crowed grabbed my privates as hard as he can. I leaned down obviously to grab myself and screamed, “what the fuck!” showed him away and he disappeared. Pissed off at the guy I walked off and five minutes later realized my necklace was gone. If you go to that party stay away from the lady boys and do not bring any values. On top of all this my visa has not been approved which is also unfortunate.

I’m a positive person though. Shit happens. Sometimes when you on a string of badluck you just got to smile and push through. Things will eventually get better. I’m breathing and that’s all that matters and I could be stuck behind a desk hating life everyday so I really have nothing to complain about. Today however I feel fucking fanatastic. Sickness is gone, the sun is shining and I feel like dancing. The fact that I am officially wandering with no general plan has put me into a state a peace. I’m going to ride this mysterious wave and see which unknown lands it takes me.

Koh Phi Phi and Singapore

Koh Phi Phi is a pretty island. It’s located on the West side of southern Thailand and it is one of the places that made me choose to travel Thailand. There is this place called Mayan Bay which is this beach wrapped around by massive mountains in the middle of the ocean. It is truly paradise. This is the main reason I came to this island. All I did is arrive at the port, check in my baggage at this shit hostel that partied till 2am with loud music, and hike to see the sunset at a view point. Coming back from this I saw a fire show on the beach at night and drank a couple beers and then got ready for bed because the next day I had to be up at 6am to go to Mayan Bay. Why so early? Well if you go to Mayan Bay at lets say 11am, there is so many people on the beach you are practically touching shoulder to shoulder. So on that note I wanted the whole beach to myself. I woke up early the next day, took a private boat with some friends and landed on the beach. We had to pay a 400 baht national park fee but honestly I think it is not real. They guy kept yelling at us to pay or the police will come but when we gave him the money he just smiled and walked away. There was no police. So if you ever go there ask where to pay and just walked toward the boat he tells you to pay at and then when you are far enough away turn towards the beach and walk right in. Anyways the beach was beautiful. There was about 20 other people on the beach but that’s it. It’s definitely worth going to but like most pictures on the posters in Asia. Assume it’s not going to be as good as that, but it was good enough. I took a couple pictures on the island but the sun wasn’t fully up so most of the crystal-clear water was in the shade. I’m a Florida boy though and the water looked as clear as the keys so it was very nice.

My short travels to Koh Phi Phi were done like that. I took the pictures, saw the honey hole and went off to see Singapore next. I was in Singapore for three days and god I loved it. Everyone says Singapore is so clean and nice when I’ve been traveling around Asia and I just thought to myself, “yeah that’s because shit is dirty over here it’s probably like the states.” When I got there however they were right. The city was virtually spotless of trash and everything looked new and organized. The architecture and infrastructure was amazing and so beautiful. I was getting a little engineer hard on looking at it all. Transportation everywhere was easy and efficient and Singapore seemed like a big melting pot with people from all over the world working there. On the first night, the people I have been traveling with and I went out to the nicest place in town in our nicest clothes and shared a few drinks on the 57^th floor of this tower looking over all of the city. The view was stunning, the drinks were good and I burned a little hole in my wallet. All worth it to celebrate our travels together for two months. The next day we toured the city. We went to see the Gardens by The Bay landmark and other major sites. The whole time again during this day I just was appreciating the infrastructure. At night, we again went to Gardens by The Bay and after saw a water fountain light show. Gardens by The Bay was amazing. Whoever designed and made that place my hats off to you. It’s a must see when you go to Singapore.

I am off to Malaysia now for five days. I hear they have good food and drinks are cheap. After those five days, I make my way to India for a couple of weeks. I still feel fantastic. I’m at one hundred percent right now and have been really happy traveling every day. It just hit me after my sickness and just thinking to myself what you’ve been doing has truly been an amazing experience and the journey gets to continue for a little bit more. I’ll post some pictures below again like one of my previous blogs. Yeah I know most of my blogs are sloppy and the details are not very define but that just happens when you’ve seen so much man. It is really hard to write a less than two-thousand-word blog when you start adding details. I’m just a simple man that decided to travel a little bit and give my thoughts on the matter. Plus taking so pictures while I’m on my way.

Koh Tao:

Krabi:

Koh Phi Phi:

Singapore:

I Survived Vietnam Traffic

A few days ago I officially finished driving through the whole country of Vietnam, starting from Hanoi to Saigon. The total amount of kilometers we did in the end was a whopping 2400km through mostly the mountains of this beautiful country. The total time it took us to do it was 15 days. It was exciting, nerve wracking, and challenging on the body and mind. I will have to admit there were some days where I was like fuck this shit. But the other days when I couldn’t believe my eyes made it all worth while. I really wished I would of stopped and took pictures at the places that truly made my heart gasp. there were four full days throughout the trip where I was just an awe about the wild and beauty of this country. It reminded me of Jurassic Park or the movie Avatar. I think I said omg probably about a good solid two hours straight for each of these four days of going through amazing landscape. I will however always have these places in the back of my mind. Worlds of paradise and tranquility.

Driving through Vietnam is dangerous. In my group there were three accidents. Not severe, but definitely accidents. One of the accidents was a guy not looking both ways and getting hit by our fellow crew member at 40km/h, making him do a flip in the air from the force. Another was a girl that decided to tag along with us one day and try to go around this car and instead went right through it and destroyed the poor mans bumper and part of her motorcycle, luckily she came out alright. The last was a huge semi throwing another of our crew members off to the side of the road in a big pile of mud and manure. Now all of this was just in our crew but everyday we saw some kind of scooter accident on the road and also heard stories from fellow travelers about their accidents they were involved in. It happens all the time. My outlook however on this for someone that wants to do the same thing I did is don’t be an idiot, don’t be too cocky, and drive defensive. If you do this and act this way you should be A okay. People are going to cut you off and rub the back of your tires. You just have to be defensive and let the man or woman take the advantage (they know what they are doing). The biggest trucks are the fastest things on the road remarkably. They will pass other Semi’s on a upward mountain and don’t care whats on the other side of the hill. They will honk though and if you hear that you better move over. Never try to overtake these bad boys, they’ll always catch back up to you in the end. There is a system in Vietnam, a very chaotic system but nonetheless it works. Everyone drives defensively on a scooter and all of traffic will stop if you stop. They completely understand that were assholes that don’t know how to drive and for some reason they show respect for that, or they just don’t want to get hit or involved in an incident. I am not going to explain it further. You’ll figure it out the first day when you get on the bike. Just honk a lot when you pass someone and pass them on the right.

There were some fuck this shit days. Quite a few to be honest. I think there was four or five where it was 60 degrees fahrenheit and raining on top of you going 70 km/hr on a bike. That makes it cold as shit and miserable, thank god for my poncho. We drove 4 hours sometimes on days like this and at the end of it you felt like you definitely had hyperthermia. On top of that staying at crappy hotel in the middle of nowhere that didn’t have a heater did not help to warm you up. For three days I felt as though I couldn’t warm up my body properly because even the showers were cold. The scootering thing is definitely a challenge if you’re trying to bike in a 15 day period. You don’t have much time to spend in each city and again you have to constantly bike and not stop if you want to make it to the next town before dark. 5 days and 7 hours each day consistently, really puts a ding on you. I suggest if you do this make sure it’s for about three weeks. That way you can spend the extra time in cities to rest and relax before doing an epic journey. There are highs and lows in anything that you do. The highs in this trip though for sure beats the lows and is worth every penny and agony you spend.

So the last week or two of our trip it rained unfortunately since my last blog post. It is supposed to be dry season but for most of the days it was wet. The plan was to go down south Vietnam along the beaches but it was supposed to rain for weeks in the areas we wanted to go, so instead we headed west into the mountains. Through the mountains we found sun again, so ultimately it was the best decision. The three of us that started out on the trip and ended up joining other people making it seven of us throughout most of the trip. The more the merrier baby. Great group of people and we finally parted ways a couple days ago.

I did take some more pictures but I will just put it at the end of the blog. The last weeks of the bike trip was basically a repeat of getting up at 6:30am starting to drive at 8am and finish at 5pm with a meal, a beer, and a guitar (dude we were with was a hell of singer and player). A simple time but a fun time. In the major cities like Saigon we just relaxed. Went to a museum and went to nice cafes. We all needed a break from the end of our scooter journey. I ended up treating myself to a private room over looking Ho Chi Ming. A little present for my accomplishment.

Now I am sitting in a random hostel waiting for the night ferry to head to the island of Koh Tao. The ferry leaves at 10pm and I paid 1.50$ to store my bag here and have free wifi. Tomorrow I will start my open water course which is going to cost me 280$ for four days of learning how to dive. I am really excited but scared I will be exhausted from this night ferry and won’t be fully myself when learning how to dive. We shall see though tomorrow. Till next time.

I feel like I should at least describe where these pictures are since there are only so many. I don’t know if you have seen the show Top Gear, but on one of the finale episodes, they did exactly what I did and bought motor bikes and biked throughout the whole country. These two pictures are the iconic scene in this episodes below on the way to Hoi An from Hue.

These pictures below are from a Chinese Temple on top of a mountain in the city of Hoi An. A place where you can buy a three piece suit for 60 bucks.

These pictures of flowers below are in a botanical garden I found.

The pictures are deep in the south jungle of Vietnam in a national park about 130km away from Saigon. Coming out of this jungle we were all covered in leaches and bleeding everywhere from them. So pretty gnarly stuff.

Biking Through Vietnam

I just got a motor bike in Hanoi five days ago and it was worth it. After taking a little break from New Years me and couple of my friends all decided to rent bikes instead of buying it on January 4th, 2018 and here is why. First from what we have heard, all the bikes that people sell you have problems along the way. The always have a tendency to break down setting back you back a day or two, and we don’t have that kind of time. Second is selling the damn thing after you finish your journey, which is not always guaranteed. So you might loose in the end 500 dollars rather than 200 dollars when selling it for 300 dollars. The last thing is all the bikes are now fake. I was thinking about getting a Honda Wind I think its called? (might be wrong) but they are all knock offs made from China and cheap as hell! The last Wind ever made was in 2006 by Honda. All these decisions lead to renting a motor bike/scooter from this one place in Hanoi. Our scooters are all 2017s and badass so the chance of breaking down is minimal. Also if they do, everything gets completely paid for through the company. The total cost was 225 for renting the bike and then 1000 dollars for a security deposit, in case you fuck shit up. Drive the bikes from Hanoi to Ho Ming Chi City and return the bikes. That’s it. The total length of the trip is 2300km north to south and we have officially made it half way to the city of Hue 1150km into our trip in five days.

Here’s the set up:

Nothing too fancy just some railings to hold the bags in place and some bungie cords, and trust me that’s all you need. The first day setting off was pretty hectic. We got our bikes right out of the old quarters square in Hanoi and had to take off through the city. Hanoi has some of the worst traffic in the world and we we’re surrounded by thousands of motor bikes and huge semi’s, touching mirror to mirror. We had an hour of super intense driving and then it settled down after the city. We drove all day and all night until we stopped in the middle of nowhere to make camp. We did at least 9 hours of driving and it was brutal on our bodies from not being used to that position on the bike. There wasn’t anything too spectacular to see on the first day but oh well made it to the first stop. Now this blog is very general so certain cities we stopped at, I’m not going to mention because honestly I don’t know where the fuck we stopped. Most of them were small hick towns that are not on the map and have shitty hotels for you to sleep in. The humidity is registered at 150% and when you wake up you’re drenched with the dew from outside coming in. Anyways day two we were off again, bright and early around 8am in the morning. This part of the drive was spectacular. We went through a whole bunch of rice paddy fields that were endless to the eye. Then went through jungle mountains that were so high up we were literally in the clouds getting soaked to the brim. Then through some more mountains with steep over hanging cliffs and a bunch of palm trees covering that sucker. It was a hell of a day and a hell of a drive again lasting about 7 hours. Here’s a couple of pictures from that day:

During the day we can’t make so many stops because we are on a time frame so there’s only a limited amount of pictures per day.

Day three was just an average day. Nothing really special, just went through some real rural cities where people hardly see white people and scream with joy and say hello every time you past them. The amount of hellos that I have said in these five days are crazy. Day four was absolutely amazing. We took an old highway through some national parks and it is supposed to be the best part of the drive and I can now be a happy man the rest of this trip because that shit was amazing. here’s some pictures from that. The road was great and curved like a snake. So many waterfalls were passed and rivers. It was absolutely gorgeous.

And today we had to stop in Hue to get our oil changed. It is the half way point in our journey and we will be here just for the night and then our next stop is Hoi An. We’ll rest up for a bit and stay there for two days. The journey was shitty. Took the highway to get here as quick as possible. Took us about three hours total and it was 60 degrees and raining. Thank the lord for my poncho.

I also went to Ha Long Bay which is a must if you are up in Hanoi. It is a three hour bus ride from there and then you hop on a 90 dollar cruise that takes you to the magical place. Food and drink are all included in the package and you go to a cave during the first day and then a view point and that’s it. Then the second day they take you to a pearl factory farm in the bay and then you Kayak around. Is it worth it? The view for sure is worth it, but the activities are just average and boring to someone kind of adventurous as me. Here is some pictures from that trip:

Well that is it so far on the motor bike journey. I am really exhausted from these last five days driving for 7 plus hours and then getting to the city just in time for dinner and bed. It’s honestly so worth it though. Best decision I made on this trip so far. Yeah there is times where it is sketchy as shit, but as long as you have your wits about you, you should be fine. Honk a lot and drive defensively. Until next time, so long.

Reflection

I am now in Ha Noi, Vietnam and it is January 1st, 2018. I am almost half way through my journey, about to attempt to drive through the whole country of Vietnam by scooter. As I sit in my bed I start to reflect on the past few weeks of my life and the experiences I have gained throughout my travels. I am truly blessed to be able to do the things that most people aren’t able to do and have been honored to meet amazing people along the way. The world is beautiful, not only in the places that are known to you but the whole world itself. It amazes me the kindness and hospitality that people in the farthest reaches of earth have. So many times I have been drilled with the idea of the world being a bad place in countries that are undeveloped but that is far from the truth. I have seen more kindness and thoughtfulness in these three beautiful countries than I have seen in a long time. People will literally go out of their way and stop, in this fast moving world to make sure they fully help you which ever thing that acquire.

Traveling you are always going to meet people that have similar interests as you. They all want to experience new things and take everything in. Being in a hostel is electric. Everyone is very open and welcoming. Whenever someone is going to explore you can always ask if you can come along and 99 percent of the time they will say yes. I always say the more the merrier when asked this question. There is nothing like sharing first time experiences with someone and the more people that you share it with, the better that experience will come. I have met some fantastic people. I started in Bangkok alone and now I have been traveling with the same four people ever since. One Kiwi and two people from Mexico. The journey traveled has made a tight bond and we will be friends for a long time. It amazes me that I have met these people only a few weeks back but it seems like I have known them for years. Each one of us feeds off of each others energy and good vibes. All of us are accepting to each of our differences and are accepting of other people joining the squad. We all have completely different backgrounds but we share the same values and show the same amount of respect. When I have been traveling that’s what I realize. No matter how foreign the world you travel in, you will always find that people are the same as everywhere else. Kind, good hearted, and giving people. Of course in every society there will be some bad people or ignorant people, but for the most part humans will be humans, loving and caring after one another. This is the beauty of us beings and it gives me great hope to our future.

In life we are all about direction. It makes us feel stable, comfortable, and a sense of balance. Direction is not a bad thing. It is good to have some sort of plan of what you want to do and who you want to be in this world. Certain direction however can be bad. The typical direction everyone thinks everyone should take is go to school, get a degree, get a job, and retire early. We are stuck in this one lane road that everyone takes and we see this finish line that will come eventually. The money is good, but the job is bad, everyday we are praying when the clock hits five, and then going to sleep worrying about the same job the next day. You only get two days to enjoy yourself on the weekend and a few holidays off. For the most part though this is not enough. This is how I felt about my old job, constantly dreading to wake up and go pop open some man holes as a civil engineer and not a laborer. My mind was always fixed on one thought and I never really enjoy living in that moment throughout my work week days. In this state of mind, time would fly by and days would turn into weeks, into months, and then into a year. I finally took a moment to think that I couldn’t keep this up and I would have to change, hence where I am now. Going through my journey I no longer have a solid asphalt road to the finish line that was set up for me. Like I said in my first post I have wandered into the forest next to it and I am lost. This lostness is not a bad thing. It has expanded my mind and my heart and thoughtfulness to the things that surround me. I feel alive and more connected to this world. The fear of instability is not there. I realize it is okay not to know but to live in the moment because that is the one true thing. Sometimes you have to be lost to be found and I am slowly starting to understand that and myself. It is okay not to know, just let things develop and become. Follow your heart and beauty will eventually sprout in this forest that you are lost in and time will start to slow down, making a day feel like day and not a couple of hours. I know I have been traveling for only three weeks but living in this state makes it feel more than that and I am blessed with this feeling.

You are your own person. Your own body and flesh. The only thing that can make you change is yourself. You just have to do it. Stop thinking about what if and just do. I pursued this dream and now I am living it, and you bet your ass it was the best decision I have made in a long time. This scooter trip that I am going on is going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity and my thoughts of what if I get injured or worse killed pop into my mind. The maturity of myself will always keep this in the back of my head and I will be as careful and aware as possible. But with risk there is reward, and I feel like this will be a journey that I will tell to my children and grandchildren. I am looking forward to start this amazing journey on January 4th and will share my experiences on this 15 day adventure. For now I am off to Ha long Bay on a cruise for two days and a night. I will write a simple blog about the cruise and what is was all about. Till then here are some pictures from Vang Vieng and Vientiane.

The Start Of A New

I’m just going to let my mind flow for this first post and see what happens:

I am a very simple guy. I grew up in Gainesville, Florida, went to Florida Gulf Coast University to get a degree in Civil Engineering and now I am living in West Palm Beach for a job in civil engineering. This is the average route that every parent wants their young son to take growing up and oh were they proud of me…

Throughout college they were skeptical though. I was in a fraternity and every time I came home during the semester’s end I would get hammered and they would link that to me not doing well in college. Little did they know I studied my ass off all the damn time and barely had time to party like most fraternity men. The only time to party and not worry about my Structural Analysis or Fluid Mechanics test, was during holiday and oh fuck ya did I party. Well in the end I graduated and got my degree. The fam was very proud for a little bit until I went to Europe to celebrate with my buddy Junebug and backpack the whole damn place. The beautiful thing about Europe is there is absolutely no hangovers what so ever. You can be shit faced and wake up just tired in the morning it was glorious for someone like myself that feels like he’s gonna die for two days after a hard binder in the states.

At the end of the trip my tolerance for alcohol was insane. I could have 10 tall boys and feel slightly buzzed. We traveled everywhere. Started in Denmark and took a big ole loop around the continent. We went to Prague, Copenhagen, Budapest, Berlin, Osnabruck, Hamburg, Milan, Florence, Vienna, Bolzano, and honestly a lot of other places I don’t remember but you get it. Hell of a time. The ending of my trip though I had to make it back up to Sweden for my Farfar’s (grandpa) 80th birthday in Bastad. I was so excited to see the family. When I got up there I was reunited with everyone, I’m talking about sister’s, father, grandparents, aunts, uncles, my god it was great. The festivities began and this was the best way to end my trip. During these festivities however, rumors started to spread saying, ” I think Devin has a problem with drinking” and the stereotypical response, “oh yeah he’s in a frat.” Fuck that noise. Mind you I was basically sober to all these parties downing eight 12oz beers at 5%. This lead to my family looking down on me and me having to be sober at my grandfather’s birthday party. It would make sense if I was being a retard in Sweden but I wasn’t. I found this crazy because this was my celebration to my one accomplishment I made so far in my life and people were raining on my parade. To put a cherry on top one of my family members called me out and said I would never get a job and no one would want to hire me. Solid ending to the trip.

The point is people have never really believed in me. The evidence was clear throughout college and at the end of Europe. Everyone was scared that I was going down the wrong path even know I just graduated in a pretty hard major that would challenge anybody. But the thing is I always believed in myself and I know I am destined for great fucking things. I am a nice guy, fun, jolly, entertaining, hardworking, loving, and fascinated about the world we live in. I’m a god damn social butterfly that opens up to any body and I’m honest about everything. I love nature and that’s what keeps high when I’m feeling low. I love animals and want to protect and preserve what the upper man has created that we have destroyed. That’s why I chose engineering so I can be the man that could make a little impact in the world to change shit.

Well the family member was wrong. My poor self showed up back in the United States with 100 dollars in my name (because I had to pay for everything in Sweden and I did not account that in traveling expenses) and quickly started to work for an old contractor’s company I worked for as a freshman. I made a quick 500 bones in a week and went off to West Palm Beach to find a job. I love the beach so West Palm seemed dope and that’s honestly the only reason I moved here. Within 5 days of being down here I landed a job at this water resourcing company and my job title would be field inspector/project engineer. I told the company I would love to be out in the field the first few years of my engineering life because I wanted to see how the process through construction works. And I wanted to maybe lean towards construction and see the feel of it. They said hell yes that’s exactly what we are looking for and got hired the next day. Well the company was great the first few months I was out in Belle Glade, Florida looking over projects and working with the foreman and superintendents. I was doing satisfying work installing water main for the people of Belle Glade and giving them clean water from their corroded cast iron pipes that weren’t even an inch thick in diameter for some of their 50 year water mains. Then things went down hill. They pulled me into the office and I had to stare at a screen for 8 hours plus a day, doing AutoCAD work. Imagine looking at fucking screen with no windows and doing repetitious and tedious redline work the senior engineers give you for four fucking months. My god! I was going insane. I chose engineering also because I wanted to be outside on site half the time and see the actual world. Not be stuck in a office every fucking day staring at a screen like most jobs. I complained to the company and the false expectations they gave me when I was hired and they said well see what we can do. So the next week they sat me down and said, “we have a very important job for you to do” and had me on project 16-1107. The fucking manhole assessment project. A project for no engineer, no man or woman for a degree in college, a hard labor job for someone that’s trying to make it back at life starting all the way at the bottom. These fucks. They said it would only last two months and it lasted for seven, and they paired me with my roommate which me and him had to see each other every day for 8 hours and back home. My god we were like a goddamn married couple but worse. This job was horrible, we started in April and ended in October. The hottest time of the year in Florida and had to pop open manholes everyday and inspect them and measure. Two thousand manholes we had to inspect. We would pop these suckers open, see shit flowing down the channel every day and also condoms and tampons and rats. If you can only imagine what you saw if you opened up a manhole where shit goes, it’s what you would imagine. It was unbearable, hot, and smelly. The worst part is I wasn’t learning anything as an engineer or anything that could help my career. I told myself if I don’t get what I want after this torture for seven months I’m fucking leaving. Sure enough they had me back in the office doing the redlines all over and I quit two weeks later. I never thought in my life sitting in those hard classes in school thinking I would be staring at shit all day with my major in the hot brutal sun of Florida.

I do not know what the reader thinks of this but I’m sure everyone goes through some kind of struggle that can relate. My outlet through these rough times was going out in nature and finding moments in time where something magical happens. If you sit still out in nature long enough, you’ll see something. If you don’t hunt I’m sorry, but the best part of the hunt is just sitting invisible to the true world and seeing marvelous things in the four hours of sitting, it’s truly therapeutic. I feel so connected to nature and the woods, everything just makes sense. Out in the woods I always saw really cool shit and I would say damn I wish I would of captured that moment. A light bulb popped in my head and said buy a camera and start taking pictures of these moments. You have an eye (I think) and certain way you look at the world and share it with people. So I started doing this and it has become quite a hobby and a passion. I usually just go out on a nature trail and enjoy myself. Whenever I think is a moment of happeness, I like to call it, I get out the camera and start taking pictures. I do other things to keep my mind at ease like working out and socializing with people over a beer. I also have an obsession with free diving and would swim a quarter mile out off shore with some fins and just stare at all the sea life Palm Beach has to offer on the corals. It’s a whole other world down there and it keeps my mind wandering with amazement.

This blog is a cluster fuck of ideas that I just need to play with and make this slowly develop. The idea of making this blog was to give you guys a story of a simple guy like myself facing the world at age 24. One year out of college, just quit his job and now has some money to finally do wanted he wanted to do. Go traveling and experience new things. Find myself and find the true meaning of why I am here and take pictures of my adventure. Show the reader the beauty of the world and a little of my own outlook on it. After I left my job I started to plan. The plan is as of right now to go to Thailand for two months and then Australia to land a job. I leave for Thailand December 5th and land in Bangkok. I plan on backpacking the whole thing alone and showing you guys a day by day (or maybe every few days) of the journey. Pictures will definitely be included. Speaking about pictures, let me show you so of my nature pictures that I take from time to time.

Here’s a picture of a little blue heron out in wetlands of West Palm Beach mid way in chomping down a fish in a puddle.

woodpeck

Pileated Woodpecker on slash pine.

deer

Curious doe

westpalmsky

Fire Sky out in West Palm Beach intercoastal

plant

Plant in the light

These are just a couple and I have a lot more that I’ll post from time to time. The paragraphs before were just a scramble of my life in the past year. No real detail or precise story, just frames of memory in my head typed in this blog. A certain look into my recent life a somewhat of a feel of what I’ve been going through, so I’m sorry if it is sloppy.

The world is a beautiful place and too many times you have influences like your family and expectations that they want to see in you. They want you to take a path that has already been paved an easy route to a destination that you already know. They get concerned when you start walking a wobbly line. Veering side to side to slowly getting off that paved road. Pestering you to stay on track or else you’ll get lost. Sometimes though in life you need to get lost to be found and find something that you would have never known unless you strayed from the road. Go into the woods and explore a world that you only saw from the window of your car. There is fear and there is uncomfortableness in these woods, but with this lies opportunity and life lessons you will need in order to be successful. A new route that will be formed and a beaten path that people might respect and dare to take. Be yourself and follow your heart. Let know one tell you what to do. Listen to people and hear what they have to say, but in the end the world is yours and go find your destiny. Come with me on my journey and let me show you the world through my eyes. Starting now sitting in my apartment in West Palm Beach typing this, to going to Thailand to with an open mind. I have been a bird trapped in a cage with restraints and now I am free and will start to learn how to fly.