First Day in the Bimini

November 13
Went to bed last night at like 7:00. Woke up at midnight, refreshed. Ready to take on the world, some ocean, or a marlin. Read 5 chapters of The Sun Also Rises, apropos of the marina we are at, home of the “Hemingway Tournament.” Big Hemingway place. Wish he were here, so I could kick his ass, so he could buy me a drink after. Then we’d ride bulls across the deck to haul in a whale or two. Ruth and I got up. Hung EVERYTHING out to dry. Got a huge red snapper for dinner off a fisherman. How to gut a fish? I’ll check into it. Had an amazing lunch with James. Went down the main road of Bimini. About 9 feet wide. Enough for 1 ½ golf carts if neither driver had been drinking. Right. Met a dude named “Checkitout.” Not his Christian name. Actually, “Paul.” (is a Christian name.) Sells ganja. Nice guy. Listened to the Bahamanian obituaries on the radio, which are on at least 15 frequencies. No kidding. Met another cat who told us he was building a transformer. I looked at it.
I looked at it again.
It was a tunafish can, with holes punched in it, duct taped to a beer can, with a 16 penny nail punched in it, with pipe clamps around it. There were also pieces of ground wire tied in knots at various places around it. It didn’t look particularly effective, except at transforming garbage into differently shaped garbage.
Besides being an inventor, or technician of sorts, he was also:
285 years old
a former member of the New England Patriots
held in the dungeons at NASA
been shot through the hand (apparently just glazed him)
had “Air Force” written in Sharpie on his hat

I’m here to tell you, there’s no way this dude was in the air force. He was squinting, and I happen to know it takes extraordinary vision to be a so called “Top Gun.”

Had Bimini bread, of the sweet potato variety. Best bread I have ever had, except my mother’s. Basically, sweet potato mash, oil, and some sugar. No idea if it rose at all, but it made me STRONG.

Got a Guiness in the bottle, sans nitrogen capsule. This reference will be lost on most, but suffice to say, you haven’t been able to purchase this, my favorite of favorite beers in the states since about 2000. They stopped making it, I thought. No idea how long this one was around. I didn’t ask. I drank that sucker, still cold. Aw yeah.

Everybody here says "good afternoon," but the most common is "All right." That's the first thing they say. Kinda like "what's up." Period.

The radio is fried from the inexplicable indoor salt splash. The radio has resumed salsa. My salsa jar is empty of whisky. Ruth is making hamburger with onions, green peps, and some noodle concoction and it smells magnificent. (Did I mention that she is my religion? Her and my mom. BELIEVE THAT.)

Why am I here typing?...

Love you guys. All
.
GOTTA GO!!!!!