Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Another bonus to the daily visits was the items that the tourists left behind. I quickly caught
on to the fact that clothing, towels, even sun glasses, and a variety of other stuff was left
behind. I would wait until the last boat had left the dock, and Murphy and I would walk
smartly down to the beach on a retrieval mission. When I first made this discovery, let it be
stated, I went the very next day to one of the Coon brothers with the towel or whatever it
was, and he laughed and said, “Hey man, those guys are long gone; you may as well keep
it; they never gonna miss that.” From that day on I always skipped down to the beach to see
what treasures I would find. Joe had invested in a metal detector and could be seen walking
methodically up and down the beach bent in concentration as he waved his detector back
and forth. I never knew if he found anything, but I'm sure that if he did he never told any-
one.
Another big plus associated with the charter boats was the inevitable crew of sexy girls that
worked on the boats and amongst the tourists. I became quite friendly with one lass who
worked on one of the boats, but that was as far as it went. I was destined to have a solitary
life here on Lanai, and it was just what I needed.
The year on Lanai to me was one of the richest personal experiences I have ever had in my
life. It was a time for inner discoveries and reflections. I learned a lot about myself, and I
was very content with the discovery of so simple a way of life. My day would always start
with a walk down to the beach with Murphy and an orange. I would slip on my Speedo
type swimsuit and sandals and, with a towel over my shoulder, stroll off at around six a.m.
before anyone was around. I would peel the orange and eat it on the way down with young
Murphy skipping along behind me. “Wait up there a little, dad. I'm just a little guy, and
I can't keep up with your long legs,” he would complain in catonese. “Oh come now, my
boy, you've got four to my two!” I would reply.
It was usually lovely at that time of the morning. The sun would be up but not hot, and the
air was fresh and cool. I would swim a couple of lengths along the beach and then have a
freshwater shower and sit on the sand until I was dry. I was amazed to discover on one of
my early swims that Murphy liked the ocean water. He would come down with me to the
water's edge most times and just stand there watching me. One day I looked back and he
was standing with his red and white legs submerged up to his knees. I had never seen a cat
do this before. “Murphy boy, do you like the water then?” I asked. He nodded quietly and
proudly. He would do this every day, just stand up to his knees in the water. One morning I
picked him up and attempted to take him in deeper, but he struggled and clawed me, and I
abandoned the idea lest I traumatize him in future.
I was always a bit worried about him falling off the boat into the water and drowning. One
day I threw him off the back of the boat to see what his reaction would be. I was ready to
jump in after him. I had tied a towel over the back of the transom, and as he surfaced and
