How NOT to do a kayak trip in Virgin Islands

When I published my trip narrative, On Island Time back in 2005, in the back of my mind it occurred to me that some would-be adventurer with the same determination I had at age 25 might be inspired by the book to set out on some life-threatening adventure and go missing or worse. I wondered if I could be sued by the family, but then put such worries aside when I realized that most likely, the odds of such a thing happening were slim, considering the limited distribution the book would get, published by a small university press in Mississippi.

But out of the blue one day, I got an email from of all places, Kansas.  Scott Finazzo, a professional firefighter there, had received my book as a gift from his wife, and the wheels began turning.  Already infatuated with the Virgin Islands from a trip there as a tourist, Finazzo was now inspired to paddle there.  No, he wasn't planning to try and paddle to the islands from Kansas, but he did plan to island hop among them, getting far off the beaten path in both the U.S. and British Virgin Islands.  The thing is, he had zero seat time in sea kayaks, not even a day trip on a Midwestern lake or river.  He also quickly realized it would cost too much to ship hardshell touring kayaks there, no outfitters in the islands rented appropriate boats for his proposed trip, and buying an expensive folding kayak such as a Feathercraft was way out of the budget.  Not to be deterred by such minor inconveniences, he enlisted two of his firefighter buddies as co-conspirators in the adventure.  One of them suggested building the boats for the job, so under his guidance an after-hours boatbuilding project was began in a suburban garage in Kansas.

There were so many setbacks and delays that the glue binding the fabric on the skin-on-frame kayaks was literally drying on the plane ride down island.  The boats were completely untested until they were assembled on a Caribbean beach for first time.  These guys didn't even know how to get in a sea kayak before they began!  Finazzo describes one such entry in this typically hilarious passage in his book: 'While still nestled firmly in the sand of Brewer's Bay, Eric squeezed, jostled, and cussed himself into his kayak.  The boat rocked side-to-side as he kicked his linebacker legs into position.  Once in place, he quickly scooted his ass forward and backwards a few times like a dog on the living room carpet. He successfully lodged himself in and gave me a nod affirming he was ready to go.'

Finazzo describes this whole adventure in a way that is both entertaining and informative.  He later enlisted my advice on writing and recently completed his book about the trip: Why Do All The Locals Think We're Crazy?  Three Men, Three Kayaks, The Caribbean, and One Bad Idea.  The book is available now on Amazon in both paperback and ebook formats, and is a read I highly recommend.  Yours truly even wrote the forward!  Finazzo and I have long since become good friends since that first email out of the blue, coauthoring The Prepper's Workbook for Ulysses Press earlier this year and last year sailing together across the Gulf of Mexico to bring my Cape Dory 27 home to Biloxi.