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BAMA X 2
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Posted: Fri Jan 18th, 2008 03:27 am | 1st Post |
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We arrived in Rockland, Maine after an hour drive from Portland, Maine. Rockland ,a seaside harbor located on the down east coast would be the place we would board the floating resort that would be our home for the next four days. The schooner Issac Evans is not the usual kind of lazy relaxing cruise that you are on with thousands of other people and play shuffle board. It is a small schooner with about twenty other people. The rooms are about half the size of the cruise ships for twice the money. So why would you want to do this… For the adventure of a lifetime.
At the age of thirteen I was an amateur film director viewing the ship as a cinematographers wonderland. I stepped from the car camera in hand and was nailed with a sharp breath of salty air. It burned my throat but I loved it. I would board the ship with my dad, my cousin Brandon, my PopPop and my uncles Dave and Kevin who were automatically cast into my film.
I Stepped onto the boat for the first time and was unexpectedly hit with the rocking from side to side sensation. “Josh, do you want to come meet the captain”, my dad asked me. I was shocked to find the captain was a woman.
“Hi,” she said, “I’m captain Brenda.”
“Nice to meet you,” I spat out still in a stage of mild shock.
“Hopefully you’ll be a hardworking boy who we won,t have any trouble from.”
Now I was scared of the woman, “Uh Huh,” I whimpered and turned to walk away. My dad and I headed to our room and saw the absoloute microdimensions we were supposed to try and live in. Knowing we would not be able to, we took our mattresses from our room and on to the deck where we slept.
I awoke the next morning to the luring aroma of breakfast. We met the cook Eileen and first mate Todd. We learned to put sails up and keep the boat in order. Everyone went to sleep that night with a smile and sore arms. I woke the next morning with anticipation for the events that would follow. I started exploring the schooner. Then, I found the treasure I’d been hoping for, a kid’s box with all kinds of toys, that meant props. I also found a big container of bubbles with a green dish to float them out of. I went to the captain and asked “Captain Brenda, do you think I could fly bubbles off the side of the boat?”
“Sure, I do all the time. Just don’t drop anything.” If there was anything I was going to do on that ship, I wouldn’t drop those bubbles. I started letting bubbles fly. It was just wonderful. Then, as a sun sparkling bubble departed the ship so did the lime green dish full of bubble liquid. I was horrified… I had dropped the bubbles. Captain Brenda gave me a menacing stare and she had to turn the whole boat around. What was she going to do to me? Make me walk the plank? Sword fight her to the death? I shuddered and ran to my cabin.
Maine summers are warmer than the winters by a long stretch, but the water never gets warmer than about fifty to sixty degrees. I had promised myself that I would swim in the water but now that I was standing on the edge of the boat in my bathing suit, I was not so sure. I prepared myself for the jump. I closed my eyes, braced myself and fell face first into the blanket of blue. I hit the water and the breathe left my lungs and floated to the top of the dark nothingness I was engulfed in. I surfaced and hollered, “I did it.” Then it was like a chain reaction. Everyone started jumping in including an old man who decided to moon everybody once he was in the water. “Looks like a toothless whale”, my PopPop wheezed out.
I woke up a little disappointed. It would be our last full day on the Issac Evans. We pulled up the anchor to let the ship know we were waking it up. Then we sailed to an island where we would possibly have the most extravagant feast of all time. Maine is famous for one main food, lobster. We had about forty to fifty pounds of lobster on the ship. We would stop at the island and boil every one of them. I actually swam from the boat to the island. They dropped the lobsters into the boiling water and the high pitched scream they made caused a shiver to run down my spine. We all were overwhelmed with anticipation as we stood around the boiling crustaceans. I was up first. I got my lobster and was extremely annoyed at being reminded that you have to get all the meat from the tail first. Finally, I had the meat out. I took the white meat toward my mouth dripping warm butter and shoved it in my mouth so fast, I practically inhaled it. The juices exploded down my throat leaving me in a taste enveloped high. I swam back to the ship with a full belly and a tired body, then went to sleep dreading the next day.
I woke the next morning wanting to go back to sleep. I wasn’t ready to leave. I loved the boat, when I stepped off the boat I would just get on a plane and head back to Alabama. But we had only paid for four days and I had to leave. I got packed and was ready to leave when Captain Brenda stopped me. “Josh,” she started, “I had a good time, I will miss you and your camera. Make sure you send me a copy of your video. I just want to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Captain,” and I turned and walked off the boat. I wanted to say goodbye to a boat. I felt so stupid. Then I kept walking to the car, got in and never saw the ship again. We drove to Portland and said goodbye to the relatives. Then headed to the airport and boarded our plane…Thousands of feet above the ground, I looked through the window and saw Maine’s ocean. I put my forehead against the glass, gazing at the endless blue.
“Goodbye, Issac Evans,” I whispered.
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cruisingfromMN
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Posted: Fri Jan 18th, 2008 04:18 pm | 2nd Post |
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| WOW, I sure enjoyed reading this. Your style is fantastic. You made me feel as if I were there. Thanks for sharing this wonderful adventure with us.
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GREGandamy
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Posted: Fri Jan 18th, 2008 04:28 pm | 3rd Post |
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| Excellent piece. You've got a budding writer there. Thanks for sharing it.
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BAMA X 2
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Posted: Fri Jan 18th, 2008 06:35 pm | 4th Post |
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He is in honors English. He said his teacher asked 4 times if he wrote it himself? He did I watched him do it!
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AD Peterson
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Posted: Fri Jan 18th, 2008 11:39 pm | 5th Post |
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 ...very nice! How old is your son?
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BAMA X 2
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Posted: Fri Jan 18th, 2008 11:45 pm | 6th Post |
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15, last week.
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debinnh
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Posted: Sat Jan 19th, 2008 12:47 am | 7th Post |
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I was just looking at the summer schedule for the IE. A weekend in June, maybe.
Did you tell your son you are not an old man?
Last edited on Sat Jan 19th, 2008 12:55 am by debinnh
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hstrybuf
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Posted: Sat Jan 19th, 2008 01:13 am | 8th Post |
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BAMA X 2 wrote: He is in honors English. He said his teacher asked 4 times if he wrote it himself? He did I watched him do it!
It shows. Very well done!
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nhrich
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Posted: Sat Jan 19th, 2008 02:44 am | 9th Post |
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That's a great review, Bama. You should be proud of him.
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BAMA X 2
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Posted: Sat Jan 19th, 2008 04:21 am | 10th Post |
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debinnh wrote:
Did you tell your son you are not an old man?
It would be a lie! I am old!
The mooner mentioned was even older and did resemble a toothless whale!
Last edited on Sat Jan 19th, 2008 04:31 am by BAMA X 2
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BAMA X 2
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Posted: Sat Jan 19th, 2008 04:25 am | 11th Post |
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nhrich wrote: That's a great review, Bama. You should be proud of him.
He did a great job! His songs are even better-music and lyrics! Might hear them on the radio one day!
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nhrich
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Posted: Sat Jan 19th, 2008 12:29 pm | 12th Post |
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BAMA X 2 wrote: nhrich wrote: That's a great review, Bama. You should be proud of him.
He did a great job! His songs are even better-music and lyrics! Might hear them on the radio one day!
Maybe because he's actually sober when he sings? 
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hstrybuf
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Posted: Sat Jan 19th, 2008 02:38 pm | 13th Post |
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nhrich wrote: BAMA X 2 wrote: nhrich wrote: That's a great review, Bama. You should be proud of him.
He did a great job! His songs are even better-music and lyrics! Might hear them on the radio one day!
Maybe because he's actually sober when he sings?
Bama is a little confused by all the snow. See the response he posted to you on the Friday Night Losers thread. 
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