Roque felt like a spiritual place. The Great Beach on the south side of this island is a mile long, and it’s in a place where there is absolutely no business of being a beach, even a small one. The coast is not only rocky, but mostly cliffs. The bedrock has not even eroded enough to form pocket beaches. And once you land on the beach, hit the white Caribbean sand and realize you can walk longer than many can run you feel like you’ve discovered a wonder of nature.
On the way into Roque Harbor, and the Great Beach, I passed through the Thoroughfare, which is a narrow channel accessing Roque Harbor from the west. Before entering the thoroughfare, there is an inlet described in the Cruising Guide as ‘almost landlocked’ that goes south until it joins the bay several hundred yards down. Bunker Cove is aptly named after a Revolutionary war hero, who legend has it, according to the Cruising Guide, he stashed a British provision ship after feeding the residents of Somes Sound with the bounty and a great chase from a British warship. The cove was the perfect hiding spot, like the deep hole in Hunt for Red October.
I loved the cove. I cooked sausages for lunch and went for a swim. Naked. I almost never skinny dip, mainly because I’m always swimming with other people or in a very public place. But the combination of the venue and more importantly, not having a wet bathing suit to dry made me decided it was a good idea. And I’m glad I did. There is something freeing about swimming naked. The water was warm since it was a shallow and mud at low tide, but not quite as warm as an estuary since the water mostly flowed through. The Cove got 4 stars in the Cruising Guide and didn’t disappoint. I wanted to travel through to the southern entrance, but the cart indicated 2 feet of water and several rocks in the channels, but I think I could’ve done it. I didn’t, which is what usually ends up happening, which is likely why I still have a boat.
After lunch, I motored through to Roque Harbor, and went to check out Halifax which is one of the MITA Downeast campsites. The island has a large head on the south side with sweeping views of Roque Harbor and the Great Beach to the West and the open ocean to the East. I didn’t spend much time there because the Crusing Guide mentioned something that sounded like a Venus Flytrap, and since I didn’t know what it was, I decided to stay away. The reality is the anchorage wasn’t very good, the swells were large, and the risk/reward was not there to spend any meaningful amount of time on the island. That was them of the Downeast MITA options.
I anchored off the Great Beach, and walked south towards the cove on the other end. I said hello to a couple who were there, the only ones there, and asked if they were on the other boat anchored off the beach. The guy replied that they were not, but that they had a house on the island. He seemed like a nice guy, and I immediately was thinking about how I could get invited to see the houses, but kept walking after thanking him for giving the public access to what they did. I kept thinking about how to bring up the fact that my ex-girlfriend Brooke had been out there with one of his relatives from New York City, and how I was one of them and that I belonged in the house having the lobster dinner. I wish I’d wore my douche Nantucket reds I pack for exactly these occasions, the ones I hadn’t worn since my trip to the Samoset when attempting the get as much free access as possible before they realized I was just a guy the picked up one of their free moorings.
I say all of that half jokingly, but there is a level of truth in what I say about wealthy people. They like other wealthy people, and many times wealth and possessions can be as important a factor in both whether you like someone and how much time you are willing to spend with them, even if they are a soul-draining wet blanket. It’s not always true, but I can think of many cases where it is, and I’ve consciously tried to stay away from that.
The reason I say this is, I had another experience at the other end of the beach. A couple and their friend were walking behind me, and since I’d mistimed the tide going out and the length of the walk, I was killing some time on the beach. They came up and we started talking, and they couldn’t have been friendlier. They were from Tennessee, and were on the trawler anchored in front of the Emilie. They were older and immediately struck me as tourists who didn’t know much about cruising, an RV couple who had chartered a big trawler. I politely told them I had to get moving, and they invited me for dinner and to check out their boat. I showed interest, but was pretty non-committal. I was wanted to go, but was thinking only a few minutes pre-dinner right up until I got on their boat.
Boy was I wrong about these people, and boy could I learn a lot about boats, cruising, and what I want to do with my life. Far more than I would’ve learned eating lobster and drinking rose with the Roque heir and his hot new girlfriend he was trying to impress. I’m trying to listen more, judge less, and take in the universe and it’s messages however they are delivered. These people had a very important message for me.
Luis and Kim had been married 30 years, and Luis asked Kim if she would sail around the world with him on their first date. It didn’t happen for 10 years, seven being married, and neither of them really knew much about sailing even when they left. They bought a boat and sailed from Houston to Florida, and then followed the rough track through the Carribbean, where they ended up spending 10 years. They had so many amazing stories, including the one about Janie, who was on their boat and eating with us. They had met her after stepping over her on a dock in Nicaragua to get to their dinghy. These are the kind of places, stories and people I want to have in my life.
Luis was a master cruiser, and reminded me of Nigel Chase a bit. He had figured out how to make money along the way, and live a very frugal life. They bought their boat for $30K, and took $10K in cash and left. After 10 years, they came back, started a business based on their lives crusing for the past 10, and now live in Tennesee most of the year, and are out on the trawler 4-5 months a year. They sold their business last year and are in semi-retirement. They were huge proponents of the ‘do what you love and the money will follow’ but they truly believed it an acted on it. And they were right! There are a lot of ways to look at the world, and I like they way they looked at it. Although I didn’t know their financial background, based on the story they told, and the people they were, they didn’t seem like trustafarians. They truly lived it with no safety net, no bank account or family money they could always count on.
I din’t ask if they had kids. That would have been an interesting question, but for some reason I found it awkward.
I stayed for dinner and we had a salad and amazing quiche Janie cooked up. They took turns cooking and it was her turn and she didn’t disappoint. There were more stories, tips and advice at dinner, and all I can say is I left that trawler realizing that I want a boat. A 35-40 foot boat that I can sail in Maine in the summer, and take down south in the winter, and I’ll figure out how to make money along the way. Done.
