Captain Nemo - My Idol

As my first post for 2012 I am resurrecting an older post.  Many of us on this day are looking forward to what the future may hold.  The next Presidential election is this year, the economy is in the trash, we have some of our countries most promising people deployed in harms way thousands of miles away.

I seems we have not learned much from the past when it comes to not repeating the same mistakes we have made before.  Perhaps what the past holds are memories and what gave us experience we utilize today.

I thought I would look back on some of my own past on this day.  A past that has, in some ways join the present as thanks to social media I have reconnected with some of the people who have shared my life when I lived at sea.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea has been my favorite book since I was a child.  The boat I lived on for over three years was named after Captain Nemo.  Below are some of the pieces of my life in the past. 

Some of my friends know this three year story.  Most of you do not.  One of the log entries is below.

These are some excerpts from my sailing log books that were converted from hand written text to electronic format about a half a dozen years ago.

Anybody that came aboard Spirit of Nemo could write in the Ships Log.  They could write whatever they wished.  Nothing was off limits.  In some of the log entries you will see the writing of others at times.

Another time, other places, another life.

I had been an employee of Data General Corporation for almost seven years when I went through a divorce.  I wanted to take a 90 day leave of absence to gather my thoughts.  I stocked up my boat and ran off.  90 days turned into years.

My time aboard Spirit of Nemo started in 1979.  This log entry is from a later period in my journey.  This piece is at the point where I met Wendy.  This seemed like a good place to start for those that do not know the story.  I will try to paint an initial picture with a little background history.

I met Wendy on a Tuesday, April 7th, 1981 in Puerto Vallarta Mexico.  

She was from Lansing Michigan.   She was a law student that had taken a bit time off from school.   She wanted a break.  She had flown to California to take a week cruise to Mexico with her boyfriend Mark. 

I met her on the cruise ship docks.  She was sitting all alone on a bench overlooking the cruise ship dock area and the sea.  She looked upset and unhappy.

I started a conversation with her.  I learned that she and her boyfriend had a fight.   I learned he was also the sort of fellow that would hit her on a regular basis.  

I offered my talents to “blind side him” in an alley.   All she needed to do was take a walk with him to a secluded spot.   She and I could pick somewhere down by the docks.  

She declined my offer of expertise and my methods of problem solving.  I learned that the two of them had been together for about almost a year.  

She wanted to leave him but she had no way to get home.   She did not have much reserve cash.   She did have a credit card but her return flight was already included in her cruise.  She wanted to explore other less costly ways of returning home.   She wanted to try to come up with a plan to change her return flight if possible without incurring additional expense.

Wendy asked if I could help her get her things off the ship.  She did not want to cross paths with her boyfriend.   She just wanted to get her things and get away. 

I told her how to go about this by going back to the ship and explaining things to the purser staff.  She asked if I would go with her to help. 

I went to the ship with her and had one of the crew at the gangway contact a purser.  I worked with the purser to have somebody see if her boyfriend was in the cabin.   He was not.   The purser then escorted Wendy to her cabin where she packed her things and left a note for Mark.  I never did learn what she wrote in the note.  

She was packed and off the ship in less than 25 minutes.

Wendy said she needed time to think.   She did not know what to do next.  She was worried that Mark would call her parents.   Her parents would become very worried when they learned she had run off all alone in Mexico.   The prospect of a daughter jumping ship alone in Mexico is not something I’d take easily if I had a daughter.  I told her that she really had to call her parents.   I told her I would help her get a flight back home before I left Puerto Vallarta.  Wendy called home.   Her mother was very upset.  

By Tuesday evening Wendy and I had talked a lot.   She asked if she could stay with me for a day or two before going back home.  She just needed to calm down a bit and gather her thoughts.  Wendy moved aboard Nemo.  Wendy moved into my cabin and I relocated my things to the forward cabin.  

The logs entries which I am uploading into some blog posts start at about this point in time where I met Wendy in April of 1981.  The entire log set starts in 1979.
 

4/09/1981 Puerto Vallarta Mexico

1645 – Even though summer is a few months off there have been a few thunderstorms rolling in and a bit of rain on and off. Wendy has been aboard two days and I find her story very interesting.

I had Wendy move into my cabin and I moved into the forward cabin. I always loved the V berth as long as I am in port.  The shots below are after the first update to the front stateroom which was in late 1980.

Today we took the bus to El Jorullo. We walked around the town and had a fun lunch that was pretty darn good at a cost of about $1.85 for the two of us. I bought her a silver bracelet that she saw in a shop that she fell in love with.

We got back to PV in the mid afternoon and sat on the docks at Guadalupe Victoria and just talked and talked and talked.

1815 – Wendy is still down at times. I suggested we dress up and go out for a nice dinner.

2120 – We had dinner at La Palapa. We shared a number of things that were all great. The crab strudel appetizer was almost enough for our entire dinner. We split a roasted stuffed chicken breast and some of the daily fresh fish. Paulo gave us one of the romantic tables right on the sand and gave Wendy some flowers. I think this made her day.

We stopped at Café Magaña to listen to some music but they had some sort of soccer TV thing on so we left. They are known for their BBQ ribs with about 15 different sauces but I think we were both too full to eat.

2300 – We walked on the beach after dinner and back to Nemo for the night. I do not know what Wendy is planning for the next few days and I have no idea what I am doing myself! Am I getting in trouble again? She is a sweetheart and I know Eric will read me the riot act if he ever found out that I was sentimental or taken in by her or if give Wendy a lump of cash to help her get back home. Maybe I will not tell him anything.

The photos taken below are just a few of thousands.  They were taken with cameras that ranged from 110 format to 120/620 format and 35mm.  Most of the grainy shots were from my 110 format waterproof/underwater Minolta camera that could fit in my pocket and was usually handy.

There is not any explanation on the shots in these slide shows.  There is information and explanations on many of them on flickr or on facebook.  On facebook there are many shots in the album called "Places I ended up thanks to Spirit of Nemo, Spitfire and Echo"







-the end for the moment-