After a long and ardous stay in San Pedro Sula airport, 26 hours until the check in desk opened I got to know that airport pretty well, comfy spots for sleeping, electrical points etc. The check in opened at 9.30pm on the Thursday night, when a fellow islander Alan turns up to check the procedure, I leave the airport to go run some errands with him and his friend and have a couple of beers, I was thinking the whole time ‘am I crazy?’ anyway we make it back and the que is still a 100 long. Luckily earlier that day I had spoken to a couple of young people working the check in desk. They usher me to the front of the que, which clearly angers many passengers so we decide not to turn around, ‘what you don’t see doesn’t affect you right?’ J I had made a small arrangement with them at their request, I had to attempt to talk to their supervisor, who could not speak English. So they check us in, I could not remain serious considering I was in a high mood, wearing a massive grin. We ate our sandwiches and smoked our last cigarettes before going through the gate, we go through the gate and board pretty much immediately. Me and Alan are both very tall and we are stuck next to the window at the back of the airplane so we spend an uncomfortable 2 hours wedged up against the seats in front, probably getting about 45minutes sleep. We land at 5.30am American time, very sleepy and very excited! We say our goodbyes and I get on a transit bus to the train station. I was trying to get to Titusville and everyone was fairly helpful, except I didn’t find out till later they didn’t know what they were saying. So I board a train in the rain after the bus driver had given me half his lunch box because I was hungry. I get off at Hollywood and I wait for the Amtrak ticket office to open, I end up falling asleep on a bench to be woken up by a police officer shaking the bench. The ticket office finally opens and they tell me its 80bucks! I don’t know what to do so I exit the line. They aren’t very helpful at all on alternative routes, so I end up trying to fit the ticket on my credit card. The train arrives and I find myself a seat and go straight to sleep. On awakening to some ticket inspectors calling me sleeping beauty I go on the hunt for food, there’s a canteen, a restaurant and sleeping cabins, everyone wants to talk with me, apparently light exudes me. I get a tour of the cabins and good conversations to follow. On arrival to Orlando I ask a minibus driver how to get to Titusville, he tells me it would cost 100bucks! But he would take me to the bus station for 10bucks. What a dilemma, so I get in the bus and he drops his other customer off first at a swanky hotel, I get to know the driver and his co-pilot who has just moved here, he calls the bus station to find out the last bus already left a couple of hours ago. The only option left is to hitch. The co-pilot is freaking out, it’s dangerous, he says he will have a panic attack if I do that and he cares for my safety already which surprises me. I am determined to get to my destination after such a long journey I just wanted to get here. So they drop me at the services on the 428 highway to Titusville with a promise I will call if I get stuck. I sit on the central reservation and wait for cars to pass by to stick my thumb out, almost everyone avoids eye contact. One guy asks where I’m going and he says sorry he is going in the opposite direction. About half an hour later having had no takers he returns driving on the wrong side of the road he hollers me to get onboard, he says he found out where Titusville is and offers to take me half way, he couldn’t let me be stranded at the side of the road, he says he has to pick up his pay check first so we head downtown to his work base where there are a lot black people drinking beer hanging around, he gets me a beer for the journey, he then tells me to get out and have a beer whilst I wait for his boss who is driving closer to Titusville. A few beers, smokes and jokes later we are leaving. Not before I had been informed on the way they bet playing poker, they don’t play for money, they play for ‘Big Daddys’ and ‘Push-ups’.
So a ‘Big Daddy’ is where at any point at any given time, the person owed a ‘Big Daddy’ can say something like e.g. ‘hey bob, when you go home tonight, who’s dick you gonna be thinking about’ and he would have to reply ‘ yours big daddy’, and such like. So a tune came on and I was certain it was by the Fugees because I used to listen to those words many years ago I knew that, but he was like no its by the ‘BLAH BLAH’ so we bet a big daddy and sure enough he used it on me when everyone was earshot. Ha ha. J
Anyway we leave the house and set off down the highway. I am in high spirits again and laughing and joking with the boss and his son. When the driver turns to say he is dropping me at the next junction. The sudden realization that I still have a while to go is less than amazing but I happily truddle off in the direction of traffic, my bags are heavy and weighing me down, I have to keep stopping to regain strength, no one is even considering picking me up. I make it to a shop and wait outside, a man appears to tell me I still have a very long way to go, about 30 miles and maybe his boss could take me when the shop closes, there is another man in a car lingering around so eventually consider my options and go over to talk with him, he says he will pick me up across the road. Strange. So we start driving and he says he doesn’t know where Titusville is, I knew where it was so I tell him and he is unsure of how far so says we should stop and look at a map, whilst we stop he asks me if I want to come back to his house to ‘party’ with him and his wife, if I knew what he meant. I politely decline and wonder about the choice of this ride. The map doesn’t reveal much to him so he suggests we go back to his house to ask his wife. I say no thank you ‘ can you maybe take me to the next services’ so we drive along and then he turns off the highway by ‘accident’ and then has to turn around, ending up dropping at a services before the one he picked me up at. It starts to get dark and I am starting to worry so I decide to sit outside the services door and just ask people as they go in, I immediately meet someone who lives in Titusville but is going in the opposite direction, then a young of young people turn in and they say yes we will take me, the driver is German American and very sympathetic to my cause, the guy behind me sounds like an army zombie and the young girl is very nice. They take me all the way into my mariner, with offers of dinner and phone numbers in case I ever get stuck, I thank them kindly and send them on my way. The people on the dock are surprised I had turned up in the middle of the night, bare foot and asking a boat which wasn’t there, I was looking for a boat called ‘wandering star’, there was a boat heading to England but it was called ‘Legacy 2’ I go aboard and look for familiar items which could connect the boat to my friends, none. I don’t feel comfortable going aboard for the night, they make some calls and they tell me it is the boat so I go aboard for my well deserved sleep after a greatly appreciated shower. I lift back the duvet and find… a backgammon board! Home J
The captain and crew don’t arrive for another week or 10 days so I make myself at home at the mariner. Everyone is happy to have me there, particulary Cindy who says im just what she needed. I am given her bike to use, fed daily with delicious foods, and more than adequately watered. We all go on a beach excursion which is fueled by fried chicken and beers. Who am I to judge J. I am a little bored as theres not much to do around there, and it’s a weird atmosphere at the mariner because half the people are working and some people are generally working on their boats very slowly and enjoying life I guess. A lot of weed is smoked around here which I try to avoid. One day Brian turns up, my captain, at last! Whoop whoop. He says we should go to KFC, which I don’t really want but he says we should go and chat there. I walk in to see a well nourished African looking girl in the corner I double take, fuck me its Grace! I cry with happiness for the next 15minutes, and as I write this tears comes to my eyes again, I had been longing to see a friendly familiar face for monthes and it had just come packaged in a KFC store. AmaZING J. That night the dock crew had arranged for the viewing of ‘captain ron’ a film they said I had to watch before sailing anywhere. I give Grace my bunk to sleep in cause theres one more bed I hadn’t tried out yet. That was a bad move because she loved it as much as I did and there we faught over it for the next few days. Chris and Read turn up a few days later, we do the final preparations for the boat.
One day Brian returns and I notice more than a lot of crates of fizzy pop on the dock, hmm interesting. We do the provisions and I start to worry about the food situation on the boat. Meanwhile I have gotten to know another boat owner who is trying to convince me to jump ship and sail to New York, which is tempting but sailing the Atlantic is my goal. Home across the pond.
Titusville is an a industrial town with the main industry being the NASA space station across the water on the island there, Monday the 18th of May is the date when the ‘last’ shuttle will be launched to the space station, we decide this being a day to stay for and to leave the day after. In the bar one night we get an offer for me and Grace to go on a boat out to get front row seats which we greatly accept. So 7am and with stonking hangovers we get up after having not much sleep to go aboard this boat with Nef, a dentist who’s b irthday it was,his wife Sandra and Leaf. What a good feeling it was, we had the radio on with the count down on, and good company. Good company really makes the experience. We get back to dock about 9am, if my memory serves correct, and this is when birthday drinks are suggested. The sun rises high and it starts to get very hot, by lunch time I am wasted, by 5pm I have passed out with the hopes of rising for dinner later that day. No chance. I was sick, sick as a dog. The next day we are still not ready to leave which is music to my ears as I hadn’t finalized everything at the mariner. Wednesday morning we set sail.
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