Читать книгу Jewels On Tiger Island - Catherine Pickren - Страница 7

John was leaning against the piling nearest his boat on the dock wearing white shorts, a blue polo shirt, a white cap with a blue marlin on it, and white dockside shoes. Mary, Lucy, and Logan and Prince arrived together. The three friends were also dressed in shorts and beach attire and wore caps on their heads. Prince immediately ran to John to receive his obligatory pat on the head. Mary could only ogle at how handsome he looked. For a “dit-dot,” he looked like he fit right in among the native fisherman along the docks.

John also had a beautiful boat, or rather, yacht. It was the largest boat she had personally seen in her life! Before now, the largest boat she had ever gone out on was a nineteen-foot speed boat. John’s boat was luxurious. The upper deck’s bow contained a captain’s chamber with two white leather captain’s chairs, a teak steering wheel with a gold-plated anchor in the center, three different nautical compasses, all sorts of navigational controls to operate the yacht, and a “state-of-the art” GPS for which no fish would be undetectable. There was a kitchenette extending beyond the captain’s chamber on the right, facing the bow of the boat, which contained a miniature range and oven. Next to it was a four-foot refrigerator, with cabinets above containing dishes and glasses. On the other side of the kitchenette, extending from the captain’s chamber, there was a pantry and long granite bar with six barstools made of white leather. From the kitchenette, there was a thirty-foot open wooden deck which contained six more matching white leather chairs with three white circular side tables between them. The tables appeared to be designed to hold drinks or hors d’oeuvres. The chairs and tables were in horseshoe fashion facing out to the stern of the boat.

While John, Logan, and Lucy helped with shoving the yacht from the pier, Mary excused herself with the pretense of “the call-of-nature” to check out this expensive floating cruise-mobile. There were about ten wooden steps that led down to the lower deck. About four feet continuing forward from the steps, there was a door that when opened, displayed one of the most beautiful bedrooms Mary had ever seen. The king-sized bed covered in a gold and royal blue silk bedspread was flanked on either side by night stands of knotty pine furniture. The two porthole windows were also stylishly decorated with gold and royal blue silk window-treatments. On three walls there were impressionistic framed pictures, Mary surmised in the style of Van Gogh or someone similarly renowned. There was a bathroom to the right which contained a vanity with golden faucet handles, a commode with a golden flushing handle, and a tan tiled shower with sliding glass doors and golden hot and cold water turning handles. To the right was a walk-in closet already donning a few of John’s khaki slacks and multi-colored shirts. Going back out of the room and going behind the steps, Mary saw a trundle bed on either side with gold and royal blue striped silk bedding. On each side of the beds were four-drawer knotty pine chests with mirrors above them. Another large bathroom, with a whirlpool tub, vanity, commode, and a closet with towels and toiletry supplies, was at the end of the lower deck.

She gasped when John spoke softly behind her, “Do you like my boat?”

Startled, she said, “Oh! Yes! It is magnificent! I haven’t ever seen anything this extravagant on the water before!”

John smiled at her reaction. “I liked it the minute I saw it. The man I bought it from wanted to down-size. His two daughters are now in college so he and his wife wanted a smaller boat to keep docked in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Let’s go back upstairs and enjoy the scenic view and ride. I am beginning to understand why my uncle loved visiting this area.”

They walked up the steps in companionable silence and joined Logan and Lucy who were sipping on their drinks and laughing at Prince, who was barking at a fish that jumped high out of the water.

They enjoyed the scenic ride, the wind blowing gently on their faces, and took the route along the Intracoastal Waterway, and then going underneath the Shave Bridge. John took out an old map that belonged to his deceased uncle and saw that they were getting close to Tiger Island, which was north-northwest of the Fernandina Beach city dock. None of them had ever been on the small island, so they thought it would be a good place to stop and explore.

John put down the anchor and dropped down an inflatable dinghy with a small motor which seated all four of them, plus Prince, comfortably. They brought along a medium-sized red cooler iced down in order to keep the bottles of water, soft drinks, and sandwiches cool.

Once they reached land, Logan pretended he was “Blackbeard,” the notorious pirate who terrorized many vessels during the 1800’s for any valuables that he could keep for his own coffers. John, Mary, and Lucy played along as his first mate and wenches,

respectively. They decided they were the first people to have explored the island.

Actually, Tiger Island, and Amelia Island had been discovered by the French around the mid 1500s, and been hangouts for pirates since the early 1800s.

The old map belonging to John’s deceased uncle had been found inside a trunk in his uncle’s attic. He had inherited his uncle’s house in Boston, Massachusetts after his uncle had died at age fifty-six from lung cancer. Knowing how much his uncle loved to sail and travel down the eastern coastline had piqued John’s interest in the islands, especially Amelia Island, Florida. John did a lot of research regarding the weather, population, and things to see and visit on Amelia Island and decided he wanted to buy a home there. Looking again at the old map, John saw that Tiger Island had a small skull and crossbones symbol on the southeast side of the island, so he figured that might have been a place where pirates stayed.

John said, “Let’s go exploring where the skull and crossbones are. Who knows, we might fight some buried treasure left by the pirates.” They all laughed at this prospect, but decided it would be a fun experience. Prince led the way.