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 Sun and Sea 09 A James Gang Story by Mike C

   Feedback is welcome - but please keep it constructive.  Address: mikec
(at) nspace.net

   = = = = =

   "Good morning..." I mumbled.

   "Good morning..." Answered Amanda back.  In the early morning light of
the room, she was leaning on my chest looking down at me.  "They've gone to
beg breakfast from Miriam."

   "And they left you in charge."

   "Of you," She smiled.  "I was just checking you out..."

   "Oh?  And...?"

   "You still look OK." She sighed.

   "Just OK?"

   "Marginally OK," She laughed.  She kissed her way to my lips, "But I'm
in love - so you could look a whole lot worse than that!"

   "But you still love me?"

   "Unfortunately," She sighed, "It scares me that anyone has that much
control over me!"

   "Why does it scare you?"

   "Cos I hate the idea of losing control--" She held me and kissed me,
"Even when it feels great!"

   "Then I'm glad I can provide you a service!"

   "How do you know I was thinking about sex?" She said indignantly.

   "How do you know I was talking about sex?"

   "You weren't?" She blushed, "Then what service were you referring to?"

   "I meant that I'm glad that I could give you a chance to relax, and not
needing to be in control!"

   "Yeah...  I'm just not used to this...  relaxation."

   "And...  of course there's the sex too!"

   "I knew it, you like to have me around for the sex!"

   "Don't you?"

   "Maybe..." She said, "See?  Around you, I don't even know what I think!"

   "Because the feeling's mutual..."

   "You mean we're both horny?"

   "No, not that, or not just that.  When we are with people we love, we
want to think like them.  To make sure we are doing things that the other
person want!"

   "So...  You're saying that the reason I'm all mixed up around you is
that you are such a disorganized thinker?"

   "Well, that's one way of looking at it, but I know that we come up with
really good ideas when we are together!"

   "That's because you need me to help you clarify your thoughts!"

   "And...?"

   "And vice versa, too, I suppose..." She allowed, then stopped and looked
down, "I guess you're gonna blame me for giving you an erection too?"

   "What do you think?" I grinned, "You can't expect to be rubbing your
boobs on me and have no effect!"

   "Heh," She grinned, "Nice to know the new boobs are getting noticed!"

   "Your boobs, and the rest of you have always been noticed, and
appreciated!"

   "Yeah - at least I know I won't be mistaken for a boy any more!"

   "I can guarantee I never did..."

   "That's because every time we're together, I end up naked," She reached
down and squirmed my tip in her, "Ahhh...  And we end up with your big ugly
thing in me..." She shook and moaned as she tried to wiggle herself further
down.

   "You feel good..." I whispered.

   "Mmmm...  Can we not talk for a while?" She sealed my lips with a kiss
and for the next while, no talk was needed.

   After cleaning up in the shower, we trudged up the hill to meet Brenda
and Sherri, and help with their cargo of food.

   "We really need to get our own groceries," Brenda said, as we carried in
armloads of breakfast.  "It's embarrassing to keep asking Miriam for 'More,
please!' "

   "She doesn't mind," I assured her, "She likes me."

   "But *I* mind!  I love you, but it's still embarrassing!"

   They had brought back milk, coffee, scrambled eggs with ham, sausages
and toast for a small army, plus a dozen boiled eggs.

   The eating and sitting area took up the entire front half of the house,
and offered views of the marina and the white sands of the beach, with a
path connecting to both.  The day had dawned sunny and clear, but we could
see heavy clouds far out over the Atlantic.

   "Sherri was telling me that you found other applications for Oddball..."
Brenda started.

   "Yeah - you fell asleep on me last night, but they can tell you," I
mumbled through my food.

   "We've been working on modifying the program to give us indicators for
squall and weather detection up to maybe a dozen miles.  Seems that the
echo signatures are identifiable, but we need you to look at the
programming for additional analysis stuff." Amanda pushed the laptop over
and they started discussing the changes while I finished my breakfast.

   "Bad news honey," Sherri said, "Brenda thinks there is something in the
return echo of the laser in 'destroy' mode, but your Treo doesn't have the
bandwidth to work on it."

   "We'll need to double or triple the speed of the Risk processor in the
Treo to get the analysis done."

   "Just steal cycles from the next three or four 'pings'." I said, "That
works out to maybe a half-an-inch at a quarter mile, so there's plenty of
time to track another...  Lessee...  The ping is generated off the raw
clock interrupt, so you can either split the calcs into small chunks, or do
a branch-down algorithm and put a watchdog ping-counter to get you out of
analysis mode after a reasonable time."

   "Yeah, I can do that.  But did you notice how much stronger the return
echoes of the 'destroy' ping are?"

   "Probably because the IR detector has more sensitivity there..."

   "So I was thinking I can add some additional fringe detection..."

   "We've got less than an hour before we have to meet them," Amanda
interrupted, "I think we should at least change the sheets...  Especially
after what you two did on it last night!"

   "We didn't use the bed..." I said, "Did it right on the aft deck!"

   "Wow!" Sherri looked at Brenda, "I thought you were walking kinda
funny!" She laughed.  "Do you need me to kiss it better?"

   "Could you, babe?" Brenda pulled her close, "Feel back here...  It's
definitely bruised.  Ooooh!"

   "OK, Sherri, you can rub her ass on the way over, if we have to swab the
aft deck too, we're definitely running late!" Amanda laughed.

   "I'll stay and clean up," Brenda offered.  "I want to have a talk with
Nicole."

   "Do you need me to stay?" Sherri offered.

   "No, go show off our boat, I'm just going to let Nicole reassure the
Bentels about the situation."

   "OK, but don't get too involved - after all you're supposed to be on
vacation!" I warned.

   "Aye, aye, skipper," She smiled, and before I could ask, "And I'll give
Nicole all your love..."

   "Hurry up, they're already waiting for us!" Amanda told us, pointing the
small group of people making their way towards our boat.

   Colin greeted us as we joined them.  Hazel, Zack and Donnie had already
started loading soft drinks and snacks on board, "I've taken the liberty to
provide you some refreshments.  Donnie will show you some of the sights,
and I hope you can show Zack what the boat can do...  I'm quite impressed
by your designs but he is the person who can point out any potential
problems."

   "Thank you, Colin," I said, "Brenda is making arrangements with our
legal counsel to give you an update on the situation."

   "That would be good, but we would not want to intrude on your weekend."

   "It's not a problem, I think you would enjoy your weekend more if you
know that you have the law firmly on your side."

   Amanda had already started the engines and was huddled with the others
in the back as Colin took his leave.  "Look, Hazel brought us some wetsuits
to try on..."

   "I only brought half-body Diveskins, they're light and not as
constricting as the full body suits," She told us, "You need protection,
from the sun, but mostly from the coral and spiny, poisonous creatures when
you go swimming.  I also have shoes and gloves here for you: remember to
wear them unless you are 100% sure of the water conditions." She handed me
one of the jersey-like suits and I slipped it on.

   The girls went below to try out their new 'duds' as I steered out of the
anchorage.  Zack pointed at a tall spire in the middle of the channel,
"That's Heart Rock, where Donnie and Eva got married.  Aim for that until
you clear the breakwater on the right.  You'll have over ten feet all the
way." I showed him Sherri's navigation system, which also indicated a
similar path.

   "That is smart system!  Surely it help good sailors, but not if it make
them lazy!"

   "The system primarily offers warnings of potential danger zones; like
this underwater outcropping.  It will highlight it red if it poses a threat
to the boat, and can reverse the boat's course if there is imminent danger
of collision.  In an emergency, I would not want to be without it!"

   Zack nodded thoughtfully, "It may save boats, and lives..."

   I asked Zack to give me the warnings he gives to other boaters.

   "The first thing I say: respect the corals.  They be fragile but can
sink iron boats, but there be wonders where they are.  Then I tell them to
look for the devil-lairs - where the water goes round and round in circle -
there be rocks and strong currents under them.  Trouble come fast - drop
anchor quick, so boat not get bashed on rocks.  I see you have a large
anchor, which makes me think you know your way in the water." He smiled at
the modified plough-type anchor hanging off the bow windlass.

   "We always keep two anchors on all our boats - besides the 50-pounder,
there's a standard thirty-pound one at the stern as well..."

   "It's good - the bottom here is loose sand over coral rocks, you need
more anchor to hold fast." Zack nodded in approval then continued, "Next I
warn them do'an sail far out the ocean side--" he pointed back to the open
Atlantic, "Bad weather come fast, and no quick way to get back into
harbor." He nodded at his companion, "Donnie know many secret ways through
rocks, but most boats too fat and deep to use them..."

   "And big waves with wind will turn boats into the rocks." Donnie added,
looking out at the string of menacing reefs half-hidden in the spray.  "Not
for beginners, sometimes, not even for good sailors.  And Spring tides are
the worse, about two feet higher than other times..."

   We paused as the girls came back and we gave them their ten minutes of
adulation.  Although sporting crew collars and long sleeves, the lycra
material of the Diveskins was light and almost translucent.  There was no
doubt the girls had nothing but Bikini bottoms on underneath.

   "Well, gentlemen, and lady," grinned Sherri, "Do you approve?"

   "Shee-it!" Zack exclaimed, "You sure look mighty fine...  for a coupla
Conky-Janes!" He grinned at us, "A few months of sun, and few more pounds
of meat on you...  you'll really be beautiful!"

   "You two are gorgeous already!  Zack just wants all women to look like
his mother." Hazel explained, puffing up her cheeks and holding her arms in
a wide circle.

   "I see you've put sunblock on," Hazel continued, "That's very good. 
Even though it's not full summer, the sun can get pretty strong...  Make
sure you do all exposed areas...  have you done your feet, your toes?  Your
necks?  And the tips of your ears!"

   "We're using the sprayer, so it should be head-to-toe protection,"
explained Amanda.

   "Also remember that the suits are only equivalent to about spf 70, so
you could still burn - but of course its protection won't wash off in
water."

   I had steered the boat away from the open ocean and around the wider bay
where we had hunted flounders the night before, and the ePilot system
glowed with sunken obstacles in the water.  Directly to port was the ribs
of a 80-foot schooner rotting on the rocks.  "What happened here?" I asked
Zack.

   "This was the good harbor, until Hurricane Noel.  Fifteen days of rain,
floods, then the winds just pull two boats from their moorings and smack
them into the pier, and left the sailboat breached and broken.  The two
boats are on the bottom and none worth the salvage...  And each time the
winds and waves come, they shift on the bottom till no' safe for boats to
use." Zack sighed and shook his head.

   "They can be cleared, right?" Sherri asked.

   "Yes, but we wait for better weather, later this month, maybe... 
Beside," Zack grinned, "The fish love it!" He pointed to the huge schools
containing thousands of fingerlings beneath us.

   "They also attract larger fish," Donnie noted, "Although they're
probably hiding for now..." He pointed to a small cluster of rocks just
ahead and on the left of the ePilot screen.  "Slow down and drift over
there..."

   I throttled back and allowed the ocean current to carry us over the
outcropping, about 10 feet below us.

   "See?  'Cudas..." Donnie pointed overboard, I could also see the faint
outlines of stingrays in the white sand.  "Ahh, and there's Lulu!" He
gestured to a small shark about two feet long weaving between the rocks.

   "The shark has a name?" We asked.

   "It's a baby Lemon shark that drifted in last month.  And Eva started
calling it 'Lulu'."

   "Why?"

   He shrugged, "She says it's a Canadian thing...  Best to ask her."

   As we cleared the channel, the water lost its deeper azure shade and
took on a more jade-like color, and, away from sand churned up by the
current, became crystal clear, and we could make out colorful brown and red
starfish living on the white sand 20 or more feet below us.  Closer to the
rocks are giant sea-urchins we had been warned about, some stretched more
than a foot from poisonous tip to poisonous tip.  Urchins are the
protectors of the reefs - they clean them of the algae which would
otherwise smother the coral.

   "Look, is that a snapper?  Must be over five pounds!  And there, a
turtle!" Amanda was going wild with the variety of sea life below us.

   The Bahamas are formed by 'layers' of islands.  The ones closest to the
mainland, like Bimini and Nassau, take up the first and second rings, and
accounts for 90% of the tourists.  The Greater Bahama, Abaco and Eleuthera
Islands, which form the largest land masses of the sea nation, are the
third layer.  Far out in the Atlantic are the barrier islands like Turtle
Cay, which are shielded from all but the most hardy, and persistent of
visitors.

   "Zack," I called him over, and pointed to the flashing icon in ePilot's
display, "watch this." With a 'beep', the engines turned on briefly and
reversed us out from the rocks.  "ePilot has determined that we were
drifting too close for safety and moved us out of harm's way.  It's
programmed to do this over and over, but each time, it will move us further
back in a reverse course unless we override it."

   I reengaged the engines and steered around the leeward side of Turtle
Cay, toward the top of the large "G" shaped bay we had leased.  I had to
skirt around as the bottom was barely four feet deep and mangrove trees
have started to take root in them.

   "What does it take to make this a usable marina?" I asked.

   "A lot of work," Zack mused, "Sand come in from the ocean and pile up
here - you need to clear it every three, four years...  Unless hurricane
come, then you do it even sooner."

   "What about that far side?  The water there looks fairly deep."

   "That side OK, but entry blocked here..." He pointed to a rock in the
center of the mouth of the bay, whose tip is barely visible above the
water. "Steer to the white buoy there." He pointed.

   "That's the Mother and Child Rock," Donnie elaborated, "Actually she has
four 'grown' children, all underwater, but within a foot of the surface at
low-tide.  The white marker is put there by Reef Relief as a hazard
warning, and to give boats a mooring point, because it is a great diving
spot."

   "Lots of fish there?" Asked Amanda.

   "Oh yes, you will see thousands!  And a Moray eel called Tobie."

   "Tobie...?  I know, I know, I'll ask Eva!" Laughed Amanda.

   "See the water go 'round and 'round here?" Zack noted, "That is a
'Devil's Lair', it shows big badness under."

   The composite underwater image showed a series of rocks flanking the
'Mother' rock, rising from a thick fringe of sea weeds growing on an
extensive bulbous coral colony.  The image was ghosted with the untold
numbers of fish swimming in and out of the underwater structure.

   "Wow, this is far-fucking-fantastic!" Amanda said in awe.

   "If you are impressed now," Hazel said with a smile, "Wait till we take
you diving here!"

   "Oh, would you?" Amanda said, "We've only done some snorkeling - we live
on a lake, so even that is quite limited."

   "There'll be plenty to do just skin-diving.  The water is less than 20
feet in most place, so most people are more than happy just floating on the
surface with a face mask.  You can get your open-sea scuba license if you
have two or three free afternoons." At Amanda's yelp of excitement, Hazel
looked at Donnie, "Maybe we can coordinate it with some conch and lobster
hunting as well!"

   "Sure, no problem!" He said, as Amanda pumped her fist in the air.

   "Sherri?  Are you interested?" We asked.  Sherri had been busy with the
'Jester's built-in data recorder, and the laptop.

   "Oh, sure, of course!" She smiled, "Just give me some time with ePilot -
I've been away so long, I've forgotten half of the code!  And I want to see
if we can tighten the integration, and maybe include Oddball in the
long-range equation too."

   "Hey remember YOU'RE supposed to be on holiday too!" I growled at her,
and waved an imaginary hairbrush at her butt.

   "Aye aye, skipper." She repeated, laughing, and waved her tush back at
me.  "But you know for the last three months, my MIND's been on holiday. 
It really bothers me I've forgotten so much of what I've done!"

   "You know there's a law against doing serious work when you're virtually
naked?"

   "So, you're saying that what we did to test out the cubby bed was
against the law?" Sherri glinted.

   "It wasn't very serious stuff, what we did..."

   "Oh yeah?" Amanda chimed in, "Three, four times a day, for a whole week?
That's plenty serious in my books!"

   "And don't forget when you had all FOUR of us in there with you!"

   "Just being thorough, my dears," I smiled, "Never know when a few
friends will want to frolic on the cubby bed!"

   "I don't think the dictionaries have quite the same definition of
'frolic' as you," Sherri laughed and hugged me, "but I'll frolic with you
any time, sweetie!"

   We sailed by a small village with thirty or so houses, all painted in
bright colors, with pink the predominant choice.

   "That's South Turtle, we have 500 people, many live here after they
retire.  We have three stores, a cinema and a doctor!" Zack stated proudly,
"He retired here ten years ago."

   "No cars?"

   "Oh no, roads too small.  Many use bicycles, or electric carts."

   "Do all the houses face away from the ocean?"

   "Yes, hurricanes come from Atlantic.  Lee-side is rocky, but give
shelter from wind."

   "So, the stormy side has the nice beaches and sun, but people have to
live on the rocky, but safer side."

   "Yes, that is the way in all the islands."

   "Do we need to come here if we want to get groceries?"

   "Only if you need more than what Hazel sells."

   "Come down to the Dive Shop later," Hazel added, "We can pick out your
diving gear and you can get your food.  What I don't have, I can get from
the village, or from Treasure Cay on the Big Island for you - that's Abaco
Island." She amended.

   With Zack pointing out the way, we detoured around a series of
barely-seen underwater obstacles and larger formations, some big enough to
bear names.  With each hazard ePilot pointed out on the display, Zack
became more impressed.

   "This ePilot here, she a smart girl!"

   "How can you tell it's a she?"

   "Because she is calm and careful, and never tell you do something - she
suggest, and you follow!"

   "Wise and profound..." Sherri nudged me, "I hope you'll keep that in
mind!"

   "James," Donnie said, "Keep this heading, but turn off the engines after
those rocks, we need to be very quiet for the next little while."

   I did as he suggested while we drifted along a shallow mile-long bay of
sparkling white sand that stretched from the rocks south of Turtle Cay all
the way to the barrier reefs.

   "There...  Look for the wake," Donnie pointed, whispering, "Straight
ahead...  Fifty...  now sixty feet...  They're turning to the left, coming
back on our port side...  forty feet...  turning again..."

   "I see some shadows..."

   "That's it, about fifteen 'bones, passing us...." He tracked them with
his pointed finger, "There..." From 20 feet away I could barely make out a
school of foot-long, torpedo-shaped fish zooming by.  Within seconds their
pale silver bodies had disappeared into the glare of sandy whiteness.

   "Bonefish are the most ferocious fighters for their size.  They young
ones like these live on the sand flats, and even when you can see them
clearly, only one in five that are hooked will be landed.  They are always
released, since it is illegal to kill them, and they can grow to double
this length, or about 20 pounds."

   "How are they caught?" Amanda asked eagerly.

   "Plain tackle - they are very nervous swimmers, so use the simplest
gear. Most guides will suggest a medium spinning reel, 10- or 15-pound
shade-neutral line with a medium hook and dressed shrimp for bait.  This is
the start of the bonefish season, later this month, you will see as many as
ten boats fishing here every day.  That is why from Sandy Cay to the ocean
is called Bonefish Flats."

   "So if we want the best fish, we have to get started right away, right?"
Amanda stated.

   "Yes, it's best when the sun is overhead - they are hungrier and tire
quicker.  But still very hard to land..." Donnie warned, "You will need a
small boat, best is a skiff, but I can take you in my boat tomorrow..."

   "Is the portable still on board?" Amanda asked me, and, at my nod,
continued to Donnie, "We have a 10-foot folding boat, we can use that."

   "Good enough," Donnie said, "when we get back, I will get you some
shrimps and you can try your luck with them 'bones!"

   "James..." Amanda blinked her big blues at me, "We should head back to
the resort now - I'm sure there's a big yummy meal laid out just waiting
for you!  And I can show Zack some high speed stuff on the way!"



   = = = = =



   (C) Copyright 2001-2008.  MikeC. All Rights Reserved. All Reproduction
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