Not only did I manage to find this job, with all it direct benefits (ie pay, tax benefits, great island, etc), the, no THE best indirect benefit they didn't really discuss with me when the human resources people talked about my contract, just manifested itself. That benefit would be the 27ft, twin engine cabin cruiser that I am allowed to take out. There are two others on the island that can take it out too, one is over it, and the other wants to take it out for scuba diving but has no one to go with. So basically, I have a boat out here I can take out whenever I want, and take whomever I want to take.
I went wakeboarding today, off the back of a 27 ft cabin cruiser in the south pacific, just off this beautiful island called Carlson, with 6 really great people. My roommate Jim. Jim, who recently decided to be called "Jim" because there are too many "James"'s on the island. Jim is 6'4" tall and around 220lbs, and his heart is about 8ft tall and 500lbs. Then there was Julia, or Dr. Heinz or Heins, or, well I call her Julia. She's smaller, about 5'4" and a hundred pounds and close to my age. She's from Alaska, where she learned to surf, and is out here with her daughter, Zayla, who also surfs. I've heard she has this completely gorgeous house in Haines, on the side of some cliff or mountain or something with incredible windows and views. Jordan, who I don't really know too well, but he's done a good bit of travelling around the world. He's about 6ft, maybe 165lbs, dark haired, funny and very athletic, especially at Frisbee. Lisa is from Cleveland, or a suburb. She is Seans' girlfriend, and a great cook and dinner party hostess. She does a lot of house sitting out here, which just means she gets to live in a nice house, and invite many of us over for dinner parties and not have to stay in her BQ (Bachelor Quarters). She's early 40's, and retired from the air force. Sean has been one of the nicest guys out here to me. I met him surfing. He's included me in so much fun early on that I will be forever in his debt. He invited me out with his buddy Tim, on the B Boat when we went snorkeling and spearfishing and to those dinner parties where Lisa has pirated a house. Tim was the youngest out on the boat today, and the best surfer by far. He's low to mid thirties dark hair, around 5'9" and stocky. I'm really not sure what he does out here, except he's part of the crew on one of the larger boats that I have no idea what they do out here. He's pretty observant, sharp and a great guy to have out with you on the boat because he's just so aware of everything about boating.
So that's the crew I was with today. That's the people I invited on "my" little yacht out here in this beautiful place where I am so grateful to be.
We wakeboarded. It was choppy, but still fun for everyone including me, cause that boat puts out huge wake. After we got back, (I'll have to skip some cool stuff) and I did all that I needed to do to the boat, Jim and I were heading back to the Shire. The Yacht club is on the way, and they were out there with the small "Sunfish" sailboats playing in the lagoon. Apparently, Sunfish are pretty popular small sailboats. We stopped, because I was hopin to go out on the Hobie Cat catamaran they have. Instead, I got "signed off" on the "sunfish". You have to take it out and do a few "jibes" and "tacks" and then dump it, or capsize it and recover it to get the sign off. If you look at those silly little boats sailing around out there, they don't look like much fun. Its much better if you are in them. We had light winds tonight, but they were still fun to get up and cruising. I can imagine if the winds were higher...
So, yea, I'm pretty lucky.
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