Sunday, August 15, 2010

Gunshots, panicked cats and a great Med cruising resource

There is something to be said about a pair of panicked cats jumping through the forehatch over your head as you wake up to the sound of gunfire way too up-close-and-personal for comfort...

WTF!

Over the years I've been no stranger to the sound of gunfire and its resulting carnage as my job as a cameraman has taken me to all sorts of places where Kevlar had nothing to do with boatbuilding and the first local phrase committed to memory was always "Don't shoot me I'm a journalist".

St Croix, like the other USVI islands, is very big on guns and folks here (like their mainland fellow citizens) seem to feel the need to exercise their right to bear arms... Of course, it's not as bad as Arizona (is anyplace as screwed up as Arizona one has to wonder?) but when some yahoo on the beach less than a hundred yards away decides to empty his Glock, it does tend to focus one's mind on saner shores...

Which, in fact, brings us to Rod Heikell's new website... Rod, you may remember already has the most excellent Tell-Tales site and is author to many excellent cruising guides (and not the sort targeted to clueless bare-boaters) such as the "Mediterranean Cruising Handbook". His new site aptly entitled "Mediterraneo" looks to be exactly what one would expect from someone who knows the Med like the back of his hand and is well worth a visit!

Late breaking news department... The gunshots that woke us up were in the news this morning... Man swims to safety after being shot in argument!