Capt.
Craig's
World - The "Big" Yacht
1978 was also the year I got my big break in the tonnage department. I was hired to be Master of the Yacht "Traveler" which at the time was the largest American Flag Yacht. She was 210 feet, had a helicopter, an elevator, and a swimming pool. I sailed her to the Bahamas, weathered a horrible southwester storm in West End, Grand Bahama, and then sailed to Harbor Island, North Eleuthera. She is still the largest vessel to ever negotiate the intricate Devils Backbone Channel. When I worked for G&G Shipping I sailed there every week on a freighter and I kept hearing rumors of a larger yacht, but as yet it is unconfirmed. We also sailed the Caribbean from Cayman to Mexico and Honduras. My boss would fire me every morning, hire me every afternoon, and I would quit every night! Some jobs are like that. We ran the boat with only four in the entire crew; me as captain, a mate, engineer and cook! Fortunately, we seldom cruised and stayed at anchor most of the time. The boat was an on-going construction project because the boss owned a shipyard and just couldn't not be building something. We sometimes hired as many as twenty local workers at a time. She was a great handling boat, however, and as long as the bow thruster was working, we could squeeze into some pretty tight places.
Harbor Island is one of the
worst kept secrets of the Bahamas. The people are very friendly and gracious and
it has become a holiday Mecca for the rich and famous. With over 4 miles of
pink sand beach "Briland" is truly is one of the most beautiful of all the
Bahamian Islands. Valentine's Yacht Club was our host and Jim Valentine,
the owner, and I
became very close friends. He was a great diver and we shared many good
diving adventures. Sadly, he was lost when his plane failed to
reach North Eleuthera from Fort Lauderdale.
My favorite pastime was running the helicopter. We
had a Hughes 500C on board and I
had to start the turbine every week to keep the salt from damaging it. The
chopper was well tethered with strong cables, so I would try out the
controls. After discovering that I could swing the whole boat around the
anchor, I became well known on the island for my "helicopter rides".
