The story of Captain Foo as told by almost Captain Bob....I made my decision to follow my passion of the ocean and diving and leave Corporate America.  This entailed building a dive boat in Maine.  It was completed and trucked over land.  Brainstorm 1 was launched in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl.  Since I was a novice on navigation I had to hire a Captain to get us to the Caribbean.  Us consisted of BC Davis (a PADI instructor),  my Partner's wife and myself.

I met Captain Foo at the airport. He was wearing his Panama shirt & hat which remained his standard clothing the entire 2 weeks!  The first thing Captain Foo requested was 'how much money I had'.  I responded that I had some cash, a credit card and the remainder in American Express Traveler's Checks.  He said "We need cash".  I said "Come on, haven't you seen the commercial with the guy that has the big nose?  You can use them anywhere".  He said "Where we're going they only accept cash" and turned and walked away.  Okay, here I was in the counterfeit capital of the world, without local ID and without a local account...it took me 2 weeks to cash in those checks.

Next Captain Foo had been checking out the equipment and stated we needed a 2nd compass up on the fly bridge.  I said great and ran out to the local auto store and purchased a stick on compass with the little rubber suction cup.  I came back to the boat, Captain Foo looked at me and said "I'm not leaving dock without a 'real compass' up there"  Once again he just turned and walked away.  I went out and then purchased an expensive Richie compass which then we had to swing the compass to set it.

Okay, I thought we were ready to go.  We couldn't leave dock without a rifle for protection.  Next he told me "Anything you don't want to get wet, bag it and bag it again".  I was young and arrogant and responded "Look, I built this boat and it's solid and won't leak".  He just said "Bag it and bag it again" and of course walked off (do you see a pattern here?).  I grumbled and bagged everything as he suggested but I absolutely refused to pick up my decorative hammock of fruit.  He said "suit yourself" and you know what he did next.

We finally left dock and being during the month of January the December Winds started blowing.  Here I was breaking in a new engine traveling at 5 knots and in 25 foot swells.  I looked back at the Miami skyline which appeared to be about 2 inches tall and questioned my life decision "I must be crazy, what am I doing?".

Our first stop was Bimini.  Remember the fruit on the cute hammock?  Well, it looked as if someone had placed it in a blender and slung it across the salon & galley.  Even though I double bagged things...everything I didn't want to get wet, was wet.  My arrogance had gone down a notch by now!  We used my Texaco gas card and the station attendant stated it was the last place I would be able to use credit during my adventure.

Next we headed off to Chub Cay, the winds were still blowing but the ocean was calmer.  We stopped and replaced our 'blended fruit' and re-provisioned other fresh items as well.  Captain Foo made it clear we needed to start conserving water. I told him he was crazy because I had tanks carrying 200 gallons.  He said to get wet, turn off the water, lather up and then rinse off quickly.  This would end up being my regular way of life in the Caribbean due to the scarcity of fresh water over the next 10 years.

The next stop was some little island.  Captain Foo got off the boat to clear customs and told us to remain behind.  We waited half a day and then me still being just a tad arrogant got off the boat in search of Captain Foo's whereabouts. The guy on the dock advised us that we really needed to stay on the boat.  Of course I kept going, this ended up being a big mistake.  My partner's wife & I found a taxi and offered him $20 to take us to Customs which was at the airport.  We got to a dirt runway and metal shack which I guess served as a terminal!  The building we drove up to didn't have a name on it.  We asked asked the driver to wait while we went inside.   To our surprise, the guys inside were in fatigues, packing automatic weapons and playing backgammon.  This ended being an expensive financial lesson. I never did find out if they were really customs or just Gorillas!  We got back to the boat where Captain Foo had been waiting for us.  You can imagine what he did after he told us "I thought I told you to stay on the boat".

We then went to Georgetown to re-provision and we all enjoyed the Island.  Things were looking up until I heard the newscast warning all US flagged vessels to stay away from Port Au Prince Haiti due to an up-rising.  Of this was our next destination.  We ended up changing our course to the South Caicos Islands.

We pulled into the fuel dock to re-fuel for our long passage to San Juan Puerto Rico.  While we were at the fuel dock, a carload of well dressed characters in a nice Caddy drove down the dock and were staring at my boat.  I asked Captain Foo what they were doing and he stated they were scoping it out to see if they wanted to steal it to be able to run drugs with it.  I had to walk down a long dirt road into a deserted ghost town to pay for my fuel.  I entered a little locked building which was dimly lit.  A little old man was sitting at a small table with a little cash box.  He collected my money but by now my arrogance dropped another notch or two.  Since it was getting late we decided to drop a hook and wait until morning to continue our travels.  Captain Foo advised us to stand watch.  I took the 2nd shift with my Partner's wife.  We were talking and enjoying the evening when we suddenly heard the constant humming of an approaching dinghy motor.  I threw on the fly bridge flood lights, scanned the water and saw a dinghy packed with pirates packing guns!  I called out to BC and he came on deck and fired a warning shot with our rifle.  We then pulled up our anchor and once again altered some plans...we got out of there in the middle of the night.

It took about two days to reach the treacherous Mona Passage where the Caribbean & Atlantic Oceans merge.  It was intense to say the least.  We passed by San Juan Puerto Rico around 1am in the morning and ran out of fuel.  I had to transfer diesel from a 55 gallon drum to our fuel tank.  Unfortunately, in the process I swallowed some fuel.  As I looked out over the aft deck I saw the lights of San Juan over 12 foot swells , I experienced my one and only bout with sea sickness.  Now we were on the final leg of our journey to St Thomas.  When we got to the dock we said our goodbyes to Captain Foo who just turned and walked away.  I never saw him him again but I'm sure he is somewhere in the Caribbean.

This officially became the beginning of my new life and my journey to become Captain Bob.

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Sailing Charters | Sunset Sailing Cruises | Houston, Kemah, Clear Lake and Galveston Bay, Texas | Windsong Sails the British and U.S. Virgin Islands | Windsong Sunset Sailing Charters | Sailboat and Wedding Charters | Sailing School Charters | Ash Scattering Sailing Charters | Boat Trip Charters | Kemah Boardwalk Attraction Charters | Bed and Breakfast Charters | Wedding Sailboat Charters | Corporate Events Sailing Charters | Team Building Dinner Charters

Windsong Sunset Sailing Charters of Galveston Bay, Texas and the Virgin Islands. Offering half and full day sailing charters, sailing lessons, sunset cruises, wedding packages and ash scatterings charters. Only 30 minutes South of Houston, we are the only charter boat of its kind. We do BBQs, dolphin sightings and more. Come sail with us from Clear Lake through Kemah to Galveston Bay or the Virgin Islands.

Windsong Sunset Sailing Charters Sails on Clear Lake through Kemah to Galveston Bay and is your opportunity to venture back in time aboard a classic sunset sailing ship.  Windsong Day Sailing Charters is a 57' ketch equipped with the latest creature comforts for a fabulous dinner cruise.  Captain Bob will create a very "one on one" sunset or dinner sailing charter experience as you sail across Galveston Bay.  Let our staff create the best in a sunset, lunch or Clear Lake dinner cruise aboard Windsong Sailing Charters while you sail to Galveston Bay.  Each sunset sailing charter is based on your enjoyment as you sail from Kemah to Clear Lake then on to Galveston Bay.  Windsong Sailing Charters provides only the best in Sailing Charters | Sunset Cruises | Windsong Sailing Charters | Sailboat and Weddings Charters | League City Sailing School Charters | NASA Charter Boat Trips | Kemah Texas Charters | Houston Texas | Seabrook Charters Texas | Sailing from Clear Lake Texas to Galveston Bay, Texas.