May in the lower Chesapeake Bay is …. Well May... it May Rain …it May
not...it May be hot …it may be chilly…it May be just about anything. This Last month we saw a little of it
all. The beginning saw some fluky
weather that caused some issue’s for those working on Maintenance. We we’re beginning to wonder if we would ever
see Orza back in here slip. (She arrived in June). Talisman, Fresh air, and
Seascape made it up to Poquoson for a weekend.
While Talisman and Shanty took a trip up to the East River in Mob Jack
Bay two weeks later to fly the Brotherhood Flags up there.
May brought us good times, as Brother El Calbucano-Tom
Smith- and Captive Eli sailed out of the fog to rejoin the Table. We welcome them back and look forward to
spending many good times together again.
Of course if we don’t get our e-mail list right we may have to replace
him with a nice woman named Theresa Smith.
El Calbucano is actually one of our founding Brothers. So once again,
ORZA Brother-Welcome home!
Speaking of welcome home, Rocket Boy and Sherry made it back
from cruising in the Bahamas. It is
really good to have them back, all tanned and rested.
May’s Tip A Few was hosted by Boats and Trish Davis at their
Tiki Bar. Hamburgers and Sausages
grilled by the ol’ grill master himself (that would be Boats). We had a good turnout of twenty, as some of
the Brothers had left for Chile to Pick up Pounce.
That brings us to Brothers at Sea
With the return of Blue Moon that leaves us with:
Pounce-Pilot, Country Boy,
Broad Reach- Somewhere of f the coast of Chile.
Hampshire Rose –Limey and
Holly –ICW in South Carolina
Casual Class- Blue Stash and
Diana- ICW North North Carolina
Pappy Jovial- Brise Galets
and Karen- Cherbourg France
This month we have a guest writer in Rocket Boy. He has written the following article on their
trip south.
Cruising and the BOC
Sherry and I recently returned
from our 6 ½ month cruise on Blue Moon down the ICW, to the Bahamas and
back. While I’ve always wanted to take
such a cruise I thought that we would have to miss the Brotherhood fellowship
that has become very important to us.
Well, we did miss our monthly
Tip-A-Few Zafs which we enjoy. However,
we were with Brothers much of the time we were away. On our first night after
getting underway we were visited by Brother “Upwind” and June at Great Bridge.
Then we met up with Brother
“Brise-Galets” and Karen on board Papy Jovial in Swansboro. We would travel south together for much of
our trip. Papy Jovial and Blue Moon both
docked at the Dockside Restaurant in Wrightsville Beach where I met Tom and
Barbara Zalewski. Tom had arranged
discounted dockage for us in front of the restaurant right on the ICW. Brise-Galets had met Tom on a previous trip
down the ICW and we both think he could be the focal point for the beginning of
a table in the Wilmington/Wrightsville Beach area.
We left Papy Jovial in Wrightsville
Beach and wouldn’t reconnect until we got to West Palm Beach, FL. However, we visited with Savannah Brother
“Swedish Navigator”, Gary Johnson, and Delores in Cocoa, FL. Gary took us shopping so we could provision
the boat in preparation for crossing to the Bahamas. While in Cocoa we were also able to get
together with Solomons Island Brother “Quartermaster”, John Simpson, and Monica
for dinner and drinks at their condo in Cocoa Beach.
Upon arrival in West Palm
Beach we were picked up at the marina by
Houston Brother “Fidget”, Steve Wolfson, and Lili who drove us to downtown West
Palm for lunch at Bradley’s Saloon where we met up with yet another Houston
Brother “Julio”, Bill Hallmark, and Mary where we celebrated Lili’s
birthday. Later that evening we picked
up Brise-Galets and Karen before going to Steve and Lili’s condo in Jupiter
Beach where we enjoyed dinner.
A couple days later Blue Moon
and Papy Jovial crossed the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. While in the Abacos the crews of Blue moon and
Papy Jovial enjoyed dinner with Bahamian Brothers Ted and Barbara Dowty and
David Culpeper at Patricia Farrell’s home in Man O’ War Cay. Following our visit to Man O’ War we returned
to Marsh Harbor where we picked up New York Brother “Big Hopper”, Robert Coles,
who joined Papy Jovial as crew.
We then started working our
way south until arriving at Governor’s Harbor, Eleuthera where we spent a
couple days with Brother “Limey” who was onboard Hampshire Rose waiting for
Holly to return from doctors visits.
Limey treated us all to a great conch and rum punch dinner on board
Hampshire Rose one evening.
We left Limey in Eleuthera
and headed to Georgetown where Papy Jovial took on a fourth crew member,
Brother “Piper”. Blue Moon and Papy
Jovial continued south ultimately arriving in Rum Cay where we spent several
days snorkeling, fishing and having potluck dinners. This is where Papy Jovial’s and Blue Moon’s
path diverged. Papy Jovial continued
south ultimately headed to France and Blue Moon started slowly working its way
northward. We would reconnect with
Hampshire Rose in Georgetown for a few days before heading to Emerald Bay
Marina on Great Exuma.
Imagine our surprise when we
were contacted by John Simpson on Stargazer who was returning from Puerto Rico
with Gary Johnson on board. They joined
us at Emerald Bay where we had a great time catching up before both boats
headed to Black Point, Exuma where we all had a great Bahamian dinner at
Lorraine’s Café. Stargazer left the
following morning headed to Nassau and Blue Moon continued our exploration of
the Exumas.
On our way north we ended up
stopping again in Cocoa to visit Gary Johnson and enjoyed the hospitality of
the Savannah Table seeing Brothers “Peregrine”, Tony Perry and “Joczka”,Joe
Horvath with their Captives at the beautiful home of Brother “Dogwaes”, Albert
Seidel, and Alise.
As you can see my concern for
missing out on Brotherhood activities while cruising was unfounded. We just saw members of our Brotherhood in
different fun places!
Rocket Boy
Thanks Brother
Last Month I asked the Question-
Is the Octalog really an important document or just a
nice idea, and why?
What was your answer?
This was mine.
The importance of the Octalog is not just in what it says
but what it implies. What it stands for.
We tell others that we are an organization without rules, and then we
point to the Octalog and say this is what we believe. According to The Greatest Dictionary: The
title- The Octalog, means, literally: the Eight Commandments. Commandment is a heavy word. Whether it is political, religious, or
ethical, it is a word of “command”, not a request. I believe that our founding Brothers were aware
of this and chose this very idea for a purpose.
The Commandments in the Octalog are not to tell us what to believe but
how to- ACT! When we are brought into the Brotherhood we
swear we will uphold these commandments.
No papers are signed, no signature are recorded, just the word of the
inductee, witnessed by the Brothers. Pretty
meaningful in today’s world. So in an
organization without rules(or very few) that crosses political, religious, and
cultural bonders, we hold these eight commandments close to our hearts.
In my mind this makes the
Octalog a very important document!
This month’s thought:
Execute with respect the
orders of the Captain as they were those of your spiritual father or older
Brother.
Let me hear from you
With rain and thunderstorms scheduled for Tuesday afternoon and some problems with Fresh Air's dingy motor, we decided to head up two creeks to Ingram Bay Marina in Towles Creek. A good marina with good prices. Wednesday was grey and windy. We played our "slug day" card and stayed in the marina. [Half price Wednesday helped that decision along.]
Things calmed down by mid afternoon so we hopped in the dingys and headed out to explore those places the deep draft boats cannot get into. That eventually led us to Cockrell Creek, home of the Omega Fish Plant at Reedville. Conditions were calm so we decided dinner at the Crazy Crab was warranted. We ate, we drank and enjoyed the setting sun with other boating couples...there for all the same reasons.
