Chapter 4

I stayed up late talking to Lena, Leta, and Anita. I was surprised when Anita told us that she had saturated the 28' catamaran market to the point that they were only building 10 a month. Lena said "So build a bigger one". She had looked into several other sizes but her dealers did not want to stock any. They were willing to buy them if a customer wanted one but there was not going to be another huge run of boats from Taylor Marine. I asked about the rebuilds and repair and there was a lot of competition for the work available. I asked her what she was going to do and she seemed to think that the Taylor Marine name was worth more than the business. "There are a hell of a lot of 28' cats out there, and I think they are all still being used. Maris wants to retire, DJ told us he would sell his share for 4 cats and a $100K. He wants to fish for a few years and then retire, so we are in the process of doing that. Dad and Vera would have already retired if I would let them. Tina wants to go into a Beauty School business, in San Antonio, with her daughter and granddaughter, and I don't want to be the only one left. I have a real good offer from a boat company in Florida but, they want the apartments with the property or it's no deal. They plan to build high dollar yachts and use the Taylor name to sell them. They asked me if I would stay on as plant manager, but I think it was just to get me to sell it to them. I have the $500K that you left with me and everyone said that if you would sign over the apartments that we would give you Kathleen's share". "How did you get her share?"

"When she found out that the judge was not going to let her set home and draw a full share, while the other partners worked, she tried to sell it, but nobody wanted in on a 7 way partnership where they had to work as hourly help. That judge did you a bigger favor than you thought. Here's a check for the money you left with me. I can get the guys to build a shipping crate and send the stuff you have in the storage building, and I told Dad, that if you do it, he can have the storage building. He thinks he may want to repair a few small boats, and needs a place for the materials."

"Well I don't have a problem with signing over the apartments, but what are you going to do?"

"I don't know, I have enough money to last a lifetime. Are there any opportunities around here?" Leta said "How about you get a Captains license, and rent out the scrap cat for island tours? That would be an easy job and you could stay here with us. I know you want to and Lena and I are just not the jealous type."

"Let's talk about it tomorrow."

The next morning, before breakfast, Anita was looking at the scrap cat. "Hey let's eat, you can talk to Marko about the boat while we're eating." She did ask Marko a lot of questions, he told her to "Stop by later, and he would show her the brochures from the website he had printed out. He didn't want to open the stairways leading down to the hulls until he got through with the dirty work." We went to the diner and I rounded up the treasure team to see what they were working on. They wanted to start checking all the sandbars and small islands with the metal detector. I had no better ideas so we all got on one boat and Dani took us on a fast ride, through a cut in some mangroves, to a long sandbar. I had them teach Anita how to use the detector, and Clawdy had her start in the water at one end and work her way down the bar. All we came up with was a bit of rusty metal pieces that could have been anything. I noticed Greg taking all the junk to the boat so I started picking it up and helping him. The girls were telling Anita about all the treasure they had found. I yelled at Clawdy, and told her to "Show Anita the Clawdy Dance." She gave me the international hand sign for "I don't think so". The antennae had folded down, when we went through the mangroves. Dani was the smallest, so Greg and I lifted her up so she could move it back in place. She said "Can I get on top?"

"What for?"

"I want to see what is on the other side of these mangroves." We pushed her on up, and she stood on the edge of the canopy. "There is a huge sandbar over there, but I don't see a way in, let's go get a machete and cut through."

"It would take more than a machete to get through this tangle. How about after you search the other sandbars, it will take several days to cut through because you will have to drag all of the brush out as you cut it."

"Levy, next time you go to the city, find me a canoe, then we won't have to chop a very wide path."

"I'll put it on my list Dani, but you are still going to have a lot of chopping to do." We tried two more sandbars but all we found was a little junk. When we got back to the dock Anita went to talk to Marko, I told her we would be in the diner. We were having a discussion about why those damned ole pirates didn't leave us more treasure to find when Leta and Anita came in with a hand full of maps. Leta said "We need to figure out where Anita could take people on overnight, and 3 day cruises."

"Beats me, as far as I have ever been is to Belize City, better ask some of the local people."

"Clawdy and Greg might have some ideas too." Clawdy said "Ha, Greg might, the only places I have ever been is Spanish Lookout, Belize City and here."

"Spanish Lookout?"

"Yes, but I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh, OK we better get this stuff out of the way. This is end of cycle and they will be in, in a few minutes." Lena wanted to teach Anita to dive, and it was her cycle off. Raine wanted to go with them, so that was under control. I think Bethan wanted to teach her, but Rubi was watching things pretty close so she didn't say anything.

The next morning we got all the new cycle processed and on the boats faster than usual, and had just set down for a cup of coffee, when a small girl, carrying a suitcase, came in looking for Ireni. I just pointed to the dive store, and she headed that direction. Mercedes was talking to Leta about the larger than normal cycle starting in four days, and wanted to permanently borrow Rubi and Dani to help with the making of lunch, and the distribution of the sacks every morning. Greg said he would help and Clawdy also wanted to help so that problem solved its self. The small girl turned out to be Ireni's cousin and Ireni wanted her for a helper. Leta got the form and a pen and handed it to the girl. Ireni told her to set down and then she told us that "Joci has dyslexia and it is the reason she has not found a job on the mainland. She has no problems with verbal instruction, and other than reading, she is extremely smart."

"I said OK, and can she speak for herself?" The girl smiled and said that "Ireni had always been very protective of her, and wound up getting into a fight the last time she came to visit her in the city." Ireni said "It wasn't over the dyslexia, a girl had made fun of them singing a Karaoke song, so she punched her in the nose." Joci said "It might have been all the beer that made her do it, but it turned out well, and the other girl sang with them, and now they were all friends."

"So we need a Karaoke machine, a stage, and lights, for our new singing group "The L Teem Singers"?"

"Well yeah, you don't want us to just stand out in the middle of the dining room do you?" Leta said, "How many mic's do you want?"

"Really, we can do that?"

"Yep, right after you get all those new tanks filled, and ready. I'll get Buddy and Russ working on the stage. Are there any musicians on Caulker?" Leta took Joci and headed to her office. Joci knew somebody at a music store in the city that could get the equipment on the way. "Sounds like it will be fun and not spend a whole lot of money. If they are really good it will be good experience for them and if they are not, it will still be a lot of fun." It took almost 30 seconds to teach Joci how to fill tanks. I noticed Russ seemed to be really interested in the filling process today. He was shuttling the tanks back and forth to the dive shop. Buddy was measuring the area for the little stage, it was going to be about 4' by 8' We decided to leave it where it could be moved and put rubber tape on the bottom to keep it from sliding. It has hand holes in each end so two people can move it or lean it against the wall.

When Anita got back from diving, she was wound up and chattering away. I asked Lena and Raine how it went and they were both happy with her and said she would pass with no problems. When she ran down a bit I asked her if she still wanted to work here. Yep, she did, and she was trying to figure out how to get everything done, in as short a time as possible. I will have to get Marko to put a rush on the scrap cat, or she will drive me nuts when she gets back. She was telling Lena and Raine that she had been thinking of learning to fly and get her commercial license and knew it was going to take a long time so this was going to be a much better deal. She would be able to make money as soon as she booked some tours. I mentioned that "I had not thought about a License for a Charter Boat Captain." Raine said "Levy those people driving the water taxis, have a commercial license. Do you really think she will have a problem getting one?"

"No, I guess not, but if she goes beyond the reef, she may be in trouble."

"There is no reason to go beyond it, everything to be seen is within 75 miles of here, and inside the reef. If she makes a lot of stops along the way, at pretty places, and stops at night, out away from the mainland, they will think they went a million miles. As far out as she will need to go is Blue Hole, and that would just be a turn around, maybe a run up to Chetumal." Dani said "Yeah, and I know of a secret sandbar, that is surrounded by mangroves, where they could do a little skinny-dipping just as soon as Levy chops a few little bushes out of the way." Anita said, "I'm not going skinny-dipping with anybody."

"And I said, a few little bushes?" Dani said "You just have Raini tell the girls that work on the website to mention that it is available, on request, and see how many ask for it, and you wouldn't have to go, just tell them that the large boat can't get in, and I'll take them on one of the small cats." Anita said, "You would go skinny-dipping with them?" Dani said "Hell, before we came to work here, Rubi and I just took off our clothes and went for it. We didn't have money for a bikini. Rubi would probably go but she might have a little problem with Bethan, we will need to check on it." Leta said, "If it makes money, I don't have a problem with it, but we better check and see if we can lease that area, that way we can keep others from using what we will have to spend time and money on improving."

"I'll tell the government that we want to have a make believe Pirate Hideout. I wonder if the guy that installs docks can pull up mangroves with that thing that pulls pile posts out of the water?" I told her "I didn't know, but I was not interested in doing it myself. If they cut it wide enough for a dive boat, I think they can get that pile puller through it. Dani I'll need the GPS numbers to give to the government for location. Take Greg, Clawdy, and Rubi and figure out where you want the entrance cut, and tie some ribbons where they can see it." Dani went to talk to Bethan and Rubi.

The rest of Anita's stay went by in a blur. We had a lot of projects going on, and it seemed that I was needed for all of them. Before I was ready, I was taking Anita to the airport. On the way she asked me to explain what my job was. I had given a lot of thought to it since the boat building had not worked as I had thought it would. I told her that,"I had Leroy's job. Find good people, listen to them, and help them accomplish their dreams, and above all, give them credit for what they have done. That is why each of our employees got an equal share of the treasure. It would have never been found if not for all of them. I doubt that there is more out there but, if it is, Rubi and Dani will find it. As soon as the government finds out that Greg and Clawdy are not really working for them, they will be working for us. They each got a share in cash and have it hid somewhere, so when the government dumps them, they are already set up for whatever they want to do." Anita said, "Clawdy is a real surprise, you know, she is a Mennonite, and could not go along with all their ways. She can't go back home and she does not want to. She thinks the L teem hung the moon. She had never had a swimsuit before she came here but she jumped right in and you would never know it now. Keep in mind that she speaks German, Spanish, and English, and worked as a translator of documents."

"I think I may want her on my crew, if you can spare her."

"That will be up to her, she has a worst case of gold fever that ever was, and we were not kidding about the Clawdy Dance. She really did jump right out of her top."

They were getting the plane ready and Anita said, "You know I really did want to learn to fly." I told her, "Anita, I have known since I was in the fourth grade that all you had to do was spread your wings." The man was motioning for Anita to get in the plane, she told me that she loved me and that I needed a bigger bed because she had talked to Lena and Leta and planned to join the L teem. I was just standing there with tears in my eyes. "Hurry back Anita, we need you here." I watched until the plane was out of sight. Well I better get things moving, I need to get her boat ready and her routes finalized. Maybe the treasure team could be assigned to that project.

Leta got the lease on the mangrove island, and wanted an old boat to cut in half, and placed on the sandbar like it was a sunken boat. The pile boat was on its way with a crew, to cut an opening to Treasure Island. I put Dani in charge of the project, since it was her idea. If it did not work as a nude beach, it would still be useful to us. Leta had called Lupito to get his help in finding an old wood boat and it didn't take him five minutes to come up with one. The guy would help us load it to get it out of his way. Andy and I went to get it and it was just what we needed. I was able to get the cable out far enough to drag it closer to us and then lifted it up with the "A" frame lift. "Andy, we need a sand blaster, sand, and some water based gray paint that will make it look weathered."

"Hell Levy, it does look weathered."

"Yeah, but it has bits of paint still on it, and they will have to be removed to make it look right." We were able to buy a blaster and the sand. The hopper on the blaster was not very big, but it would probably work for one project. We had to pick up a load of cola, beer, and canned goods. The taxis really stuck it to us for bringing it to Caulker. We finally got loaded and headed home. We had plenty of help to unload and move the supplies. Leta was having a hard time visualizing the pirate boat but I promised her it would work just fine. The treasure crew had brought in the pile boat crew for lunch. Dani asked if they had to make the entrance straight. She wanted it curved so you could not see in from outside. I told her, and the boss of the pile crew, that it was her project and she could have it anyway she wanted it. The pile boss said "It was going to take several days to clean the bottom of the path." I told him "It did not matter how long it took, as long as it really took it, and he was not just extending the job. Whatever she wants, she gets. This is her project and it is our job to help her get it done."

"OK, I understand now, and we will get it cleaned up good so it looks nice for the customers." Dani thanked me and said "She had a little trouble getting him to do it the way she wanted." I told her "If she had any more problems, to call Leta, and we would be right out." It turned out that the mangroves around the sandbars were not that old and tangled. There were people on Cay Caulker that could remember when there were no mangroves there, and Marko said he thinks there are three sandbars there. I wondered about what kind of insects and other undesirable creatures we would find. Marko said "The mangroves have not been there long enough to have snakes, or anything other than fish and birds." He thought "We might have to spray for mosquitoes, and keep trimming the new growth to keep it looking good." It took almost two weeks to get it right, but when they finished we had an egg shaped ring of mangroves about 20 feet thick surrounding the sandbars. I would guess it to be about 50 yards wide and 90 to 100 yards long. You went through the cut at an angle so you could not see in from the outside. The water was clear and you could see where they had pulled roots out of the bottom. They had done a good job and well worth the $5K they charged us. Dani had a lot of pictures of the work being done, and Raine became interested in the project, so she traded off with Rubi and went out with Dani, Greg and Clawdy to get some measurements of the sandbars. They drew it all out and got two of the girls from the high school to make computerized drawings of how they wanted it. They had the boat at an angle sticking out of the back sandbar so now we could cut it and finish it out for them. Marko borrowed a chain saw, from someone, and it only took a few minutes to cut it. We sandblasted it and watered down the gray paint and brushed on several coats to get it the right color. Dani had hired half the high school to help. They got the boat in place and she had them rake the bottom of her pirate lagoon until it looked good. The water was only waist deep in most places and it had a nice taper up to the sandbars. She had one girl searching for flowers that would grow in the mangroves. Clawdy suggested floating flower boxes to place in the mangroves and climb them like morning glories. I don't know what kind of flowers they came up with, but the whole shop built floating boxes for two days. They also needed a wood cross for their pirate captains' grave. Marko fixed them up and we painted it the same gray as the boat. We had to go to the city for planting soil to fill the boxes. It was about 3 miles to Treasure Island, and they about wore a path in the water hauling their latest idea. Everybody had fun with it and I told them that "When they finished it, they would all have to go out and do a Clawdy Dance, on the island, to make it right with the pirate or he would seek revenge." It took the flowers about two weeks to start covering the mangroves, damn it looked like a movie set. One of the girls decided it would be a perfect place for weddings if only there were parking places. We did get pictures up on both websites, the dive website and the tour website. They also put up a video on You Tube of the building of Treasure Island. I think we had about 2 hours of video on the girl dive instructors and the different teams. Leta said "Some reporters from a magazine were on their way to look us over." The equipment for the Karaoke came in, and the store sent two guys out to install it. The screen with the words to the songs was mounted to the ceiling, above the singers, so they could read the words to the song they were singing. They mounted some lights with a small control on the same board that ran the music. They mounted the speakers, on the wall, on each side of the stage, and it had two overhead monitors attached to the screen, for the singers to hear. Ireni and Jocie were both busy with learning to operate it so Buddy and Russ did the air tanks.

I got a package from Anita, it was the graphics for her boat. It's a good thing she has experience at sticking them on because there is a pile of them. Flowers, flowers, and more flowers. What a hell of a thing to put on a boat. There is also several computer drawings of her boat with the paint colors the way she wants them. I'm sure we can do the paint the way she wants it, but I have my doubts about her getting all the graphics on it.

Leta needs another boat, this one has to have porta potties and a shelter in case it rains while somebody is on the island. It will have to make a run to the city to be pumped out and cleaned. I think I'll just make it a barge and tow it. Oh Hell the girls have a design that they want it made to. Leta told me to "Just pick up the fiberglass tank and toilet assemblies, and build the house to the design."

"Yep, simple, now go get it done, because I have been getting a lot of information requests for the island."

"Really?"

"Yeah really, I think it will make some serious money. I need to have some solar panels and lighting installed, oh and make me a barge cat with a kitchen and dining room, with refrigerator and ice maker, and another one that will sleep up to four couples."

"Are you shitting me? You want a floating motel?"

"Yep, and I need it in two weeks." I said," Leta, Anita is going to be pissed if her boat is not finished when she gets here. Levy I have talked to Anita, and she is going to be at least another month finishing up the sale of Taylors', and getting back down here. We have time to get it all done and I can get more help if we need it. Now get your ass to the city, and get the materials for the barges."

By the time we got back from the city, Leta and the girls had drawings of how they wanted the barges to look. They would be side by side at the end of the long sandbar, tied to a dock that did not exist, and powered by a solar system that did not exist. When I pointed that out to Leta she told me "They will exist after tomorrow." The drawing showed a carport type thing with a net covering over the boats to shade them. She said "They had sent an e-mail, with the drawings, to the dock man, and he was building the carport today. Looks like I am still the one holding up her plans, I better get my ass in a higher gear, or she is going to be all over me. Buddy and Russ had 3 cats started and I told him to make it 4. One will have to have a water tank on it and supplies for whoever gets stuck with maintaining that damned island. The dock man finished up in two days complete with dock and net cover. The girls had Marko build planter boxes for their flowers and got them planted. By the time I got the boats in place the flowers should be blooming. The solar panels were on top of the carport and could not be seen from below. The batteries were in a wood dock box. We got our barges done and in place, the electrical hook up was a plug in type making the removal of the bathroom barge simple. We had a 50 gallon black tank for solar hot water and it got hot enough to burn the hell out of you. When the supply boat pulled in all the person had to do was connect the hose and turn on the pump until water came out the overflow tube. The cold water tank was shaded but it still got warmer than you would want to drink. All in all it looked good and was as simple in operation as it could be made. The girls spent a lot of time out there, getting it ready. The high school girls, and some of our girls had a party out there, and stayed overnight. The next morning they came in, and handed Leta a list of wants and changes. It now has TV and a Radio/CD player. They have mostly island music on the CDs. It was decided to not rent it for over two nights to keep the people from getting bored and bad mouthing it. The first group came in from somewhere up in the New England area. Four couples, for two nights. I guess they had a hell of a time. Leta pointed out that two of the women had switched partners. "Really?"

"Yep that girl with the long blonde straight hair was with the red headed guy when they came in. Well I hope they didn't screw the place up." Lena said, "I think that is exactly what they did. Oh well money is money and we've got it rolling in." Leta asked Kate, the girl she had hired to clean the place, if they tore it up."No but they did use a lot of towels and sheets. It's ready to rent again, what do I do with the drinks and food they left?"

"Did you bring it back?"

"Yes, I didn't want it to spoil in the refrigerator."

"We'll keep the drinks, and you can have the food, or throw it away, or give it to someone, whichever you think is best."

"Leta how are you deciding what food to put out there?"

"I don't they order and pay for it when they reserve the island. I just have Mercedes order it with hers. I furnish the little packages of mustard, ketchup, salt, pepper, and sugar. They buy the rest of it and I want allow any glass containers on the island, Mercedes found some plastic ware for pickles and stuff like that."

"Well at $500 per night, per couple, I guess we can wash a few extra sheets and towels."

I got back on Anita's boat and was pushing everyone pretty hard to finish up before she showed up and kicked my ass. All the fiberglass and sanding was done, and Marko had started on the wood panels, there just was not much we could do to help him. We had installed wire per the diagrams that we got from the factory. We went with all LED lighting, on everything we installed. If we have time we may change out some of the fixtures in the rooms below. I would have never thought it would look this good again.

I went with Kate to tow the bathroom barge to the city. When we pulled up to their dock they had it pumped and cleaned in 15 minutes. I made arrangements for Kate to just sign for everything and send the bill to Leta. Kate got it parked and hooked up to the electrical and water supply with no problems. She had worked for one of the water taxi's for a year or so but just did not like getting hit on by all the tourists. She was a nice looking woman, probably mid 30's I asked her "What she thought of the island?" She liked it and said "She was sure tempted, to show up early to see what went on."

"Yeah, that might be interesting, but I think it would be best if you didn't."

"Yep you can't tell what you don't know." When we got back to the dock, Leta showed us the new pictures of the island, on both the websites. Someone had taken inside pictures of the barges. The place really is pretty and with all the privacy it is easy to understand the appeal.

Greg turned out to be a pretty good singer and he had been working with Ireni and Joci on some songs, they were going to try them out tonight. They had put a tip bucket on a wire hung from the ceiling and were making some surprising amounts of money. They had a captive audience with the divers not having anywhere to go. They would sing for about an hour a night and the bullshit sessions got pretty late most nights. All the girls must realize that they are the magic to the dive school. Belize does have some of the best diving in the world but the number of customers we pulled in was almost unbelievable. The magazine reporters were here, one of them was the photographer. He also did a lot of video. He was quite amazed by Ireni and Joci, and filmed their whole show. We had put them in a room, and were feeding them, as well as taking them diving every day. The treasure crew took them to the island, and a few other spots of interest. They gave us a hell of a write up, They said, "We were the best equipped, best staffed, and most complete scuba dive school in the world." I made sure Leta read it twice, and then pointed out that she didn't need any more boats or instructors. She said," I know, but, I do need two more golf carts."

"Well call the man and order them."

"I did, you need to go pick them up at Lupito's, He has the yellow tops on them."

"OK, anything else?" Yep, load up all the supplies, in our new building, and bring them back."

"What new building?"

"The one with the tall dock next to Lupito's."

"You bought the building?"

"Yes, and all of our supplies will be delivered there, and we have to pick them up. The only thing that will be coming by taxi is fresh vegetables."

"I see, how much did we pay for the building?"

"$50K, and $5K to Lupito, because he got it for us, and he takes delivery of all our supplies."

"That's a pretty big building for groceries."

"Well, Lupito uses part of it to store his supplies."

"I see, anything else that you haven't told me about?"

"Probably, but I can't think of anything at the moment."

"OK, I'm taking Russ and Buddy with me."

I pulled up to the dock, at our new building, and Lupito was giving me a bad time, because I didn't bring the girls. He showed Buddy the ramp and how to keep it from sliding. I told him "To park a cart on each side, and load the supplies close to the cabin, in the middle." Russ had one of the carts ready to load. We went in the building and looked it over, it was about 40 X 60. Lupito had moved his sewing machine and all his canvas work and supply shelves into one side of it. He was using his old shop for metal fabrication. It looked good to me, "Hey Lupito, what about the building on the other side of you."

"Oh shit, Levy, you don't want it. It's about to fall down, the guy would probably sell it but, it ain't worth much."

"Let's go look at it." The old couple that owned the building were digging through a junk pile looking for something when we went in. It was a corrugated metal building and you could see daylight coming through the walls almost anywhere you looked, the top was even worse. Lupito said, "Hey Riley, what you up to?" The old man explained that they were looking for something to sell so they could buy groceries. "You want to sell the building?"