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10 Good Friends, a 52 Foot Sailboat, Copious Amounts of Goodies, Hundreds of Glow-Sticks, and 10 Days to Explore the Caribbean and Do As We Pleased. Not a Bad Way to Ring in the New Millennium! |
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Millennium Cruise - Y2K Baby |
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Monkey Island - Just off the coast of Puerto Rico lies a tiny crescent shaped island inhabited by over 900 primates. No one that we talked to knew precisely why they are there. Since these animals are not indigenous to the Caribbean and because tourists are not allowed on the island, my guess is that it's a giant holding pen for soon-to-become medical research monkeys. While sitting safely on the boat, we went over our options. After a small debate and a fair amount of mushrooms, we decide to check it out.
As we approached in the dingy, we came across the only official information regarding the island. It was posted on signs everywhere:
'Danger, the Monkeys are Aggressive & Territorial and Will Bite Humans - Stay Away!
'Monkeys were everywhere - all shapes and sizes - scampering all over the ground, filling the trees. When we reached the shore, half the crew decided it would be wise to remain in the shallows. The rest of us decided to grab the biggest sticks we could find and head into the brush for a closer look.
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After hiking up to the top of the island (about 300 feet) we were confused - we had yet to see a single monkey??? Somewhere about this point, the shrooms start to take hold. I remembered Gaspero (my friend who lived in Indonesia) telling me a story about people in remote parts of Bali routinely being attacked by territorial monkeys. Creepy spooky thoughts filled my mind. To make myself feel better and to send a message to any potential attackers, I banged my stick on a nearby tree. The crappy piece of drift-wood shattered!
A few seconds later, this enormous alpha male (about the size of a 13 year old boy on steroids) climbed a nearby tree , began violently shaking the entire thing, and let out some sort of monkey scream. That was enough for us. Falling all over each other, we broke into an all out run for the dingy. Luckily, that's where the story ends - no viscous attack or bloody monkey battle ensued. |
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Bio Phosphorescent Bays - If you haven't heard of this stuff before, you've got to check it out - it's one of the most unreal things I've ever experienced. If a Caribbean journey or a trip to the South China Sea isn't in your near future, there is a bio phosphorescent scene in the movie 'The Beach'.
The phenomenon is produced by microscopic organisms that, when moved, light up the water. There are two bays in the Spanish Virgin Island of Veracruz that provide the perfect conditions for these things to thrive.
When we arrived at the island, we were bummed to find that we couldn't get to them. The bays were too shallow to navigate our sailboat into and the open water distance required to reach them by dingy was far to long and treacherous. |
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After a fat dinner on Veracruz, we decided to ask around. Through some unbelievable luck, our taxi-driver found a local boat owner who agreed to take us. As we approached Mosquito Bay, the bottom of the boat began to glow - almost exactly like those tricked out low riders with blue neon lights under them. Then our boat's wake started glowing and was outlined by hundreds of little streaks of light - it was the fish swimming away from the boat - as they moved through the water, they light it up (crazy but true).
Once fully inside the bay, we dropped anchor and all jumped in. Every move I made created blue light. When I raised my arm out of the water, each little droplet that fell off glowed in the dark - brightly! Absolutely, fucking unbelievable. |
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See All the Y2K Pics |
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