On Island Time: Kayaking the Caribbean
Page 28
More by Scott B. Williams
The following links will take you to the Amazon Kindle versions of my most popular books that are available now. New books are coming all the time so stay up to date by signing up for my book alerts via my New Release Updates
Feral Nation Series (New for 2017)
Feral Nation - Infiltration (Book 1)
Feral Nation - Insurrection (Book 2)
Feral Nation - Tribulation (Book 3)
The Pulse Series:
The Pulse: A Novel of Surviving the Collapse of the Grid
Refuge After the Collapse (Book II of The Pulse Series)
Voyage After the Collapse (Book III of The Pulse Series)
Landfall: Islands in the Aftermath (Book IV)
Horizons Beyond the Darkness (Book V)
The Darkness After Series:
Enter the Darkness (A Prequel to The Darkness After Series)
The Darkness After (Book I of The Darkness After Series)
Into the River Lands (Book II of The Darkness After Series)
The Forge of Darkness (Book III)
The Savage Darkness (Book IV)
Other Fiction:
Sailing the Apocalypse: A Misadventure at Sea
Nonfiction:
On Island Time: Kayaking the Caribbean
Bug Out: The Complete Plan for Escaping a Catastrophic Disaster Before It’s Too Late
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Craig Gill, Editor-in-Chief of the University Press of Mississippi for support and suggestions regarding the preparation of the manuscript, and also outdoor author and fellow adventurer Johnny Molloy for advice that helped improve the narrative. This book would likely not exist if not for Michelle Calvert, to whom it is dedicated, who insisted that I should submit the manuscript for publication, despite the time that has passed since I returned from the journey described in these pages. I must also thank Christopher Cunningham, editor of Sea Kayaker magazine who was the first to publish a short description of the journey. That article and others I wrote for this excellent magazine led to writing of this and other books.
Once again I must thank Ernest Herndon, my longtime canoeing partner and faithful friend, who was one of the few who did not doubt me or try to discourage me when I announced my intentions to attempt this trip. Ernest’s adventures in the wilds of New Guinea and elsewhere were an inspiration to a young man who grew up in a place where such travel was unheard of. Ernest also encouraged me to keep a daily journal, and his regular newspaper stories kept friends and family informed of my whereabouts and inspired me to begin writing myself.
The journey would not have been possible without the support of my father, Frank Williams Jr., who has always been there for me, even though he might have questioned the logic of some of my undertakings over the years. My mother, Barbara Burgin Williams, has since passed on, but always inspired me to travel, explore, and learn, and even in her long and difficult illness set an example to all by smiling in the face of pain and adversity.
I am indebted to many other family members and close friends who in various ways helped make this trip possible, either at the beginning or end, or by sending letters or accepting my collect phone calls: My brothers; Frank and Jeff, and my sister Jenny and sister-in-law, Cathy; and Jeff Hudson, Martha Daley, Charlie Mayes, Dr. Steve Ross, Donna Rowland, Sara Szot, Rick Venturini, John Herman, Dennis Lawson, Robert Whiteside, Christopher Carter, Dek Terrell, Jenny Geraci, Elaine and Zeida Solis, Brianne Krupshaw, Gary Delancy,
Those who helped with the equipment needed for the trip include: Patrick Milton, of Olde Sarge’s Outdoor Center in Pensacola, FL, The Gulf Coast Outdoor Club, World-renowned sea kayaking author John Dowd, Mike Neckar, of Necky Kayaks, Bill Wildprett of Johnson Camping/Eureka Tents, Bill Masters, of Aquaterra/Perception and Mary Skinner of Recovery Engineering, Inc.
And I would especially like to thank all those wonderful people I met along the way, who befriended and assisted me and enriched my solo journey far beyond what I ever envisioned when I set out: Ben, Sylvia, Sky and Grant Olsen, of Whisper, Pete Hill and Marty Zinn, Mike Williams, Lisa Roell, Frank Holzmacher and Josephine Adams, of Celebration, Laura and Lawrence Pitcairn, of Heron I, Lis Basballe and Mark, of Elske, Dennis and Dee Catanzaro, and Charlie Leach, of Destiny, Fred Long and Mary Eldergill, of Estrelita, Charlotte Sirutus, Christine Thompson, of Foxglove, George Bouillon and Millie, of Winning Edge John and Mary Gookin, Geoff Gordan, Bill and Maryanne, of Stay Up, Jack and Veronica, of English Jack Viola Paulopski, Fred and Katy Ballou, of Cat Ballou, Roy and Jane, of Magic, and countless others whose names I either don’t recall or never learned….
And finally, I want to thank Jimmy Buffett, a fellow Mississippi native who wrote the songs about the islands that made me have to go….
About the Author
Scott B. Williams has been writing about his adventures for more than twenty-five years. His published work includes dozens of magazine articles and twenty-two books, with more projects currently underway. His interest in backpacking, sea kayaking and sailing small boats to remote places led him to pursue the wilderness survival skills that he has written about in his popular survival nonfiction books such as Bug Out: The Complete Plan for Escaping a Catastrophic Disaster Before It’s Too Late. He has also authored travel narratives such as On Island Time: Kayaking the Caribbean, an account of his two-year solo kayaking journey through the islands. With the release of The Pulse in 2012, Scott moved into writing fiction and has written several more novels with many more in the works. To learn more about his upcoming books or to contact Scott, visit his website: www.scottbwilliams.com
Dedication
For Michelle, who every day makes me glad I found my way back to Mississippi….