Dann Lewis

Eleuthera, Bahamas: The Current Club was nearly full to capacity on warm Spring day, thanks to eight rather tough looking men who arrived the previous day on a DeHavilland Dove all the way from Canada. “Andy”, the owner of the aircraft and obvious leader of the group was a friend of Captain Joe “Bonfire” Edwards who had been day sailing his ‘48 schooner from our dock for several months. Joe had asked me if a group of men would be welcome at the Club, since our normal clientele tended to be couples. I welcomed the extra business, and didn’t think much of Joe’s offhanded comment “that’s great, some places won’t take Andy and his men….”

The group had been a bit overdressed for an Out Island Resort, sporting dark suits and black shiny shoes at dinner after their arrival, but were well-behaved and turned in early.

The next morning one of the men came into the office and asked where they could find a good swimming beach…I gave them directions to a beautiful stretch of beach with a gradual slope into the turquoise waters on the opposite side of the island from the Club. Some 45 minutes later a swarthy member of the group came into the office and said, “Andy would like you to please come over to the beach.” I took one of our golf carts and the two of us set out for the beach party. As I pulled to a stop, Andy approached me and rather sheepishly said “most of the boys can’t swim so good, and we’d appreciate it if you could watch when they go in the water in case there’s a problem. You can swim good, can’t you?” he asked anxiously. I assured him that I could, and would be glad to act as lifeguard while they enjoyed the water. I thought to myself that hauling one of these guys out of the water would be some feat, because the smallest one appeared to outweigh me by at least 100 pounds…

Fortunately, I was not called upon to rescue anyone; my mere presence seemed to be sufficient for the men to relax and splash around for nearly an hour. When they had enough, I was thanked profusely and gratefully escaped back to some mundane paperwork at the Club.

For a multitude of reasons, the Carnival in the Caribbean never stops. Stand by for “Andy” Part Two.

By Dann Lewis - May 23, 2008

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