Chapter 78

One of the problems of the Pacific: It's a long fucking way from here to there ... no matter where here is, there is waaaay over there.

That single problem gives way to the second problem: Where do you find enough fresh food to keep the crew healthy?

In the case of the Galapagos, one goes to Saint Christopher. For the crew of the Pretty Penny, Saint Christopher presented a no brainer. They were, after all, the Nevis and St. Christopher Navy. To sail to Saint Christopher, the Intertropical Convergence Zone must be traversed. The Royal Navy referred to this area as the doldrums.

The Pretty Penny passed through tremendous and frequent thunder and lightning storms ... torrential ... can't see your hand in front of your face ... rain and 360 degree winds. Mapelo Island, about 350 miles off the coast of Columbia, had a new ... two year old ... Columbian Naval detachment sitting right on top of the island. The sailors were really bored. The Pretty Penny girls spent a lot of time on the radio learning Spanish from the Naval crew. Entertaining to be sure.

The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) meanders. Sometimes it's static ... sitting in one place and then changing suddenly. Royal Naval Logbooks are thick with reports of ships riding the enormous swell in the doldrums for two or more weeks. Pretty Penny motored through the doldrums ... but not the swells ... until the equator was reached. The southeast trade winds picked up ... the turbines shut down ... the tanning oil came out ... and the boys spent a lot of time sister watching.

You go with what you got.

The Weather people are very proud of their satellites. They've been making predictions about the weather using the satellites since the mid 70's. One has to remember ... weatherman is the only job where you can be dead wrong three days out of five and still keep the job. But they do try. Ocean sailing is truly safer than it was.

They kept clear of the coastal area near the Panama/Colombia border, as well as the pacific coast of Colombia in general. This was the period of time that boats sailed into the area and were discovered later off Los Angeles with no crew and abandoned after delivering drugs.

They kept a daily watch for fish nets and fishing boats. It only took once running through a set of nets and the use of Andreas bottomless purse to settle the complaints.

They did have a brush or two or three or six with Pirates. The first one was the Columbian Coast patrol.

A combination that has proved to be hard to resist is low wages and rich yachtsmen. They were fired upon ... and fired back. The Columbians called for backup. Pleasure craft aren't supposed to be armed.

When the helicopter backup showed up ... the Penny played back the Coast patrols threats broadcast over low wattage radios. The Columbians wanted the Penny to accompany them back to port ... anyway.

"We're a warship ... no!"

"You're a sailboat."

"True."

"Sailboats aren't warships."

"We are the Nevis and St. Kitts Navy ... we will defend ourselves."

"We will enforce Columbian Sovereignty."

"You're a little far out for that."

"We insist."

Just about then, two A-7E aircraft from Panama overflew the Columbian helicopter ... very closely.

The Penny didn't know what was said ... but the Columbian helicopter suddenly left. The Coast patrol fucked around a bit. There is NOTHING in the world like Spanish macho. The American aircraft wasted a few rounds of 20 millimeter between the patrol craft and the Penny. The Patrol boat left.

The radio made it's normal pre broadcast scratchiness, "Penny, Admiral Hall sends his regards. He wants you to know he appreciates you NOT sinking the patrol boat or shooting down the helicopter."

"A7 ... thanks for your assistance." Andrea was on the horn.

"Hey ... it was fun ... best training flight we've had in months. We won't even have to refuel."

"Glad to provide some free entertainment. I was running low on patience."

"Just to let you know ... we'll be watching."

"Thanks."

The A7E is the Navy replacement for the A4. Lots bigger, with better armament, not as much fun to fly.

Their other 'brushes' with Colombian pirates resulted in Penny having to use the reloading bench for the first time. Those incidents happened at night and nobody on the boat even bothered to log them. Well ... they did mention pirates.

Saint Christopher, Galapagos style:

The Penny was welcomed like any other private yacht ... until the Ecuadorians discovered that they weren't dealing with rich Americanos ... they were dealing with the armed crew of an armed warship of a country they had diplomatic dealings with. No regular passports ... no Visas ... nothing so simple.

The crew wanted off. They had a very long trip ahead and the men wanted to play before they took the almost five thousand mile voyage to Hawaii. And right now the time was ripe.

The islands were being mapped by several West Coast Universities ... there were young ... nearly naked teenagers galore. And it was a credit class. Besides all that ... there WERE rich Americanos with young nubile daughters that had been pulled from boring boarding schools to exciting classes in wonderful places. The girls were just gagging for romance. The Sanchez boys were willing to give it. If they could get off the boat.

Messages were radioed to Quito and Basseterre ... a few discrete messages about the dangers of 'fucking with the Pretty Penny' were returned. Crew names were listed ... Ooo ... nobody knew about Connie ... or Angela and Angel's favorite boy toy, Denny. Connie and Denny's parents seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth. Ah well ... that was a problem for the United States ... it was obvious both of them were marvelously happy where they were.

What speeded up the process of visiting was Connie's insistence of seeing the scissor tailed Gulls. The Galapagos were the only place on earth they existed and she was champing at the bit to find some.

Charlie and Chester were detailed to accompany her ... big chore ... NOT ... Andrea gave them handfuls of dollars and turned them loose on an unsuspecting populace...

The Nevis and St. Kitts CREW tee shirts came out ... James and John donned SP armbands and Brownings and the fun began.

"I thought you had to be in Honolulu in a month?" exclaimed David, as he was enjoying an island drink.

"I was hoping you wouldn't ask that," said Felix.

"Oh shit ... you're on duty."

"Yup."

"A government spy!"

"Something like that," he confessed.

"Well?"

"I'm to stay with you ... no matter where you go ... until my discharge date."

"When is that? I thought it as just a couple of months?"

"They extended me."

"For how long?"

"Until you sail into Pentwater harbor."

"No matter how long that takes?"

"Yup."

"Andrea!!!"

She stepped out of the pilot house ... nude ... not unusual at sea. "What?"

They were surrounded by big boats ... little boats ... cruise ships ... seaplanes ... visiting foreign national military ships of several nations. The applause was fairly loud.

"Oops..." she just walked over to David and sat on his lap. The hooting and hollering increased. "What?"

"We have a spy."

"Who?"

Felix stood and bowed.

"Put you on active duty, did they?" Andrea stood and kissed him. She bent over ... straight legged ... and helped David stand. Taking them both by the hand, she led the way into the chart room.

Much whistling and shouting.

She shut the door, put on a teeshirt dress ... with her full name and rank ... put on her Scrambled Eggs hat ... grabbed a telephoto camera ... stepped back out and started taking pictures of the men lining the rails of the Naval ships.

"Evidently, they don't have enough to do. David? Is the Avon or the Riva in the water?"

"No, but the Baby Bootlegger is still tucked away."

Chief Sanchez said, "No ... you don't ... really?"

David nodded

"But ... when? How? Where?"

"Chief ... you're going to take a little trip with me. Spy or no spy. I trust you to keep this secret ... Andrea ... yours or mine?"

"I'll do it ... Detroit? Gar Wood? Let me get some gold."

She reappeared dressed in flapper style.

"Oh ... I better change..." David said.

"I left your suit out on the bed."

David headed for the cabin.

"What about me?" asked the Chief.

She handed him a celluloid collar. "Just put this on over your regular uniform shirt collar. The navy didn't change much."

David appeared ... dapper in a double breasted charcoal grey pinstriped navy blue suit and narrow black shoes. The bulge from the Savage .32 auto was unnoticeable. Fedora in hand, he looked like a successful businessman ... in Detroit ... successful meant booze.

She set her watch ... Detroit, summer 1923 Gar Wood BoatBuilders, "Are we ready? Chief ... this is disorienting but you'll be ok. Take hands, folks." She pushed Go.

Chief Sanchez was flabbergasted. "This really looks like Detroit. We're really here?"

"Yeah ... you can keep your mouth shut?"

"Oh yeah ... I don't want to be locked up. After the shit we've pulled? They'd love to lock me away."

The Detroit waterfront in 1923 was still a dismal place. The alley next to the shop was dark. Gar Wood Boats was a small but growing concern. Although it was night, the lights were on and work was in progress. Andrea banged on the front door.