Who would have ever thought an "under-achiever" from small town Barberton Ohio would ever accomplish the things I have done. I was extremely lucky to have been able to attend Photography School in Philadelphia and been able to capture many of my exploits on film. Some of the pictures here are very old and were scanned from 35mm slides and restored to the digital world.
I have sailed across the Atlantic on a 50 foot sailboat, delivered numerous boats throughout the Caribbean and up and down the East Cast of the United States. I have scuba dove the Blue Hole in Belize, many, many dives in Roatan Honduras and the Florida keys. I have been lucky enough to have fished all the coasts of Florida and most of the Bahamas and Central America and the past 8 years or so Alaska!
I have been told by many I should write a book of my exploits and it is in the works....but a story in pictures is what this post will be.
It involves a bunch about "ME" which I normally don't like to expose, but maybe it is time as age catches up with me to put things in writing and get my shit "in order" so to speak...
This will be a little difficult since pictures are not at this time in any particular order so I will post the pics with a brief description and establish a time period....so on with the pics!
The story, of probably my most memorable escapade, begins innocently with a short boat delivery which turned into a 4 year adventure. Got a call from Gulfstar Yachts in Tampa Bay asking me to deliver a brand new Gulfstar 50 from their plant in Clearwater to Miami. I did the trip and met the new owner who happened to be Swiss - the boat was named and outfitted in Miami. About two weeks later the owner who happened to own Amstel Brewery asked me to spend some time with him orientating him to his new boat and sailing it to the Virgin Islands never one to miss that kind of trip....off we went.
The boat spent two years in the Virgins and surrounding Islands with the owner. It arrived back in Fort Lauderdale by the owner in early 1980 - about March or so...the owner phoned and asked me to help get the boat ready to do a trans-Atlantic to take his boat home to the Mediterranean where he had a place in Majorca. So a friend and fellow Captain and I spent about three weeks going through the boat from stem to stern getting her ready for the long ocean voyage. The owner also asked me to bid on the trip...which I did. You will have to wait for the book for the whole fiasco when he decided to let a friend of his wife's who owned a sailing school in Switzerland take the boat with some of her students...long story short, that failed and at the last minute he turned the boat over to me....and in a span of three days I had moved what I thought I needed to the boat and along with another Captain and his wife we left for Bermuda and on across the pond. The entire trip was fairly un-eventful other than a water in fuel problem in Bermuda...which was finally solved. I actually contacted my Family from Bermuda and told my Mom and Dad that I was headed for Europe...caused a bit of drama on the home front!
Here we are departing Bermuda headed approx 1800 Nautical miles to the East to the Azores!
Here I am 800 miles out of Bermuda trying to figure out Where the hell we were, looking for the spot to make a right and turn and ride the Latitude to the Azores.
We arrived in Faial in the Azores after about 2 weeks at Sea!
This is probably my favorite picture from the whole trip. Paula decided it was time after 2 weeks at sea to find a quiet spot and reflect! I managed to capture it on film.
This is from the harbor in Faial.
We spent a week in the Azores then headed towards Gibralter - another 1000 miles away and this happened to be the most difficult part of the trip...with severe weather most of the way - 60 knot winds and easily 25 to 35 foot seas...it will be in the book...the most difficult sailing I have ever done. Here I am with eyes on the Rock of Gibralter knowing we had made it safely on a very long journey!
But we finally made it to Gibralter - not without the Spanish Navy firing on us though - another chapter for the book!
On top of Gibralter
A brief two day stay in Gibraltar then a short sail around the corner to Estepona Spain where we would turn the boat over to the owner and get paid.
Went to a bullfight in Estepona!
After getting off the boat in Estepona - Ed and Paula and I rented a villa nearby and spent a month traveling around Southern Spain. Here are a couple pictures from Cassares one of the "white cities" in Andalusia Spain
Another adventure in my life has been scuba diving all over the Caribbean - with my favorite location in Roatan, Honduras and Belize.
One particular trip involved me shooting a bunch of underwater shots for a company I worked for that made Scuba Gear - Sportsways! Here are a few shots from that trip.
This is actually a picture of me taking a picture by a friend on a deep dive in Roatan
The three below are from the catalog shoot!
Here I am just hanging out on the porch at Anthony's Key Resort in Roatan.
A more typical picture of me in Roatan! Nothing like Salva Vida Beer - potent stuff!!
All of the above was done in the 70's and 80's...now something more recent, which some of you may recall from the blog and Facebook.
Years ago I delivered a sailboat (One of many) from Miami to the Virgin Islands and made a weather stop in Acklins Island and while anchored in the "Bight" of Acklins experienced the most productive bone fishing I had ever encountered. I caught and released over 80 bonefish in about a half day wading the flats where I was anchored. I always vowed to return there!
Several years ago the return trip became a reality. I was supposed to go with Kevin Hack the owner of Yes Bay Lodge so he could experience catching a bonefish on fly...however,, he slipped on the ice stumbling out of a bar in Pennsylvania at a Sportsman Show promoting the Lodge and dislocated his shoulder and had to cancel...so a friend and I made the trip anyway. I really wanted Kevin to experience the thrill of a bonefish on light tackle...it is one of the best experiences a fisherman can have!
The spot!
Just one of many that day - smaller but still a great fight!
And a few lobster for dinner!!
Some of this recall, was brought up by my wonderful time yesterday with my old classmate from High School Sherry Hathaway...and of course the need to consolidate my photos to fit on the new hard drive and to start "gathering" for my next project - the "book!
I get asked so many times, why I live the way I do, traveling in my little RV and living the life of a gypsy...well it is for the experiences.
My Mother called me the "Wanderer", she often remarked that she never knew where I was or where I was headed next....well I am still going!
Thank you everyone for following along and allowing me to share my Adventures, there are still more to accomplish, so Stay Tuned!
Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"
Traveling and photographing the Southwest and Alaska!
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