'Shooting Pool in the Caribbean'

A compilation of urban aquatic pics from Shooting Pool in the Caribbean.

Shooting Pool in the Caribbean from Agent M on Vimeo.

Final Approach St Barths / film

Final Approach: St. Barths The French West Indies from Agent M on Vimeo.

I haven't visited my Travel Agents HQ in a while , i have been making little movies one of which is about the final approach to St Barths Airport.

The Yellow Sea Plane

While ducking planes on final approach in St Barths i spied this little yellow sea plane.

HQ required further intel so i just had to get a closer look.

Final Approach Run Way St Barths

Ok I have been waiting to upload some of the videos i took of the approach to St Barths Airport. Heres a short clip of a plane on final approach. Pilots need a Finesse Upgrade to land here and you can see why.

Getting around in the French West Indies

Two ways to get to St Barths from St Martin's other than sailing your own boat: 

Ferry 1 hr 15m, or a 15 seater plane 10 mins. Pilots need a finesse upgrade to land and take off from the airport, you can see why. 

Waking up to St Maarten / St Martin

 

Finally after New Year's Eve celebrations on St Barths

i am catching up with this report.

After being released by Homeland Security in MIA for taking photos in the airport i arrived in Juliana Int Airport too late for a connection to St Barths. Travel intel sujested i camp on the Dutch side of the island, then catch the Rapide Ferry to St Barths first light. I dont't usually book hotel rooms ahead when i am traveling, even this close to NYE09 on the popular Caribbean Islands, i found the perfect cover for agents overnighting in Philipsburg.

At 0700hrs next day i am on the wharf looking for the Ferry which didn't arrive on account of the fact that it had ceased operations at that port.

Knowing that the are not many ferries each day I make a quick transit across the island to Marigot to catch the Voyager, The French Connection that runs a service to St Barths.

Waking up to this island in the eastern Caribbean was a magical experience. Soft light, dreamy island vistas, friendly natives and a transit mission complete.

St Martin's

in transit Dutch to French

St Maarten's 

Travel AgentM Intercepted; MIA

If you read that dispatch about a field agent you might think Agent M was captured behind enemy lines and is Missing In Action.

Well in transit to St Martin in Miami International Airport i was intercepted by an airport security officer, on account of me snapping this pic and a few others like it for a story. 

I was thinking of doing a piece on airport travel in these crazy days of hyper vigilance and then before i new it, i was hyper-vigululated myself , you might say for acting suspicious with a camera. 

The officer was only doing his job professionally , and i remarked upon his courtesy and efficiency. In the name of anti terrorism i suppose someone taking photos inside an airport, particularly in the US isn't going to go down too well with Homeland Security.

So now i guess i have to US government monitoring this blog, which i duely admitted to, along with name, rank and serial number.

Travels in Hyper Reality i think was a book title by Umberto Eco, bout describes our current experience of going from A to B. 

We live in interesting times.

The Confessions of a Beachcomber

There is a book i have been looking at on line The Confessions of a Beachcomber written by Edmund James Banfield way back in 1908.

I vaguely remember this book from my school days. It is a personal recollection of the early days, living solo, in Tropical North Queensland, on beautiful Dunk Island, the Barrier Reef. 

I have linked the E Book, worth looking if you want to connect with a little Henry David Thoreau on the beach, instead of on the pond.

Above the Clouds

I have added a new link to The Cloud Appreciation Society.These shots taken above the clouds coming back from Miami.

Who has not gotten lost in the wonder of 

gazing at clouds.

The Bullet Boat

About to break the sound barrier on Biscayne Bay in 'Cult' a 43 ft Sunburst Power Boat.My buddy, speed ace Capt Carsten takes her out. The wake 'Rooster Tail' kicks up a jet spray behind us. Riding in her pulling 'g's' is simply awesome.

A fly in the big blue yonder

Flying in the big blue yonder in these latitudes, on a perfect clear day, you can loose yourself in the violet- blue- green end of the light spectrum really quick.

I mean get seriously lost. With or without instruments even at just 3000 feet, you can become so absorbed in the shades of blue from the sky and from the water.In between the visual reference of an island, its easy to ask.

Which way is up?

Discounting the Bermuda Triangle, which isn't that far way from these parts, a disoriented pilot might get a final watery answer to that question. 

The liquid blues are simply stunning in their beauty. The flying is superb, in the hands of an experienced pilot you are in for an optical treat.  

This is a Blue Planet. You don't have to ride in the Space Shuttle to find out. Its also a big blue planet and in a little plane you are a tiny spec in that blue. 

Just a fly in the big blue yonder. 

Flying over Atlantis

Flying over Altantis & the Lighthouse on Paradise Island

This is Freedom

The Maule Amphibian M-7-260. 

We took off from a lake in New Providence; landed & took off from a run way on Ethuthera, landed on the ocean by a private island, then flew back to the lake and parked it in a hangar. This is freedom. Travel is either in a boat or on a plane in the Bahamas, and this is the ideal plane for living here. Its creator B.D.Maule pioneered the light aviation industry in the 1930s. Maules are occasionally featured in the movies and have made cameo appearances in Cannonball Run, Gone Fishin & Speed 2. 

The Big Turquoise/Green/Blue.....

Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle report that the waters in the Bahamas are the clearest in the Caribbean. From 3000 ft i can confirm that.

Island Hopping @ 24 15N 76 00 W

There are 700 Islands and 2,500 cays in the Bahamas.In 1492 Columbus landed on one of them, San Salvador, looking for a westerly route to spices of India. These days these islands are a popular destination for Cruise Ships, but they have got a rich & colorful history of Pirating, Rum Running and Drug Dealing.

Yesterday I did a little island hoping from Nassau on New Providence Island to Eleuthera to Exuma cays, in a Seaplane with a pilot friend of mine who had a couple of special locations to show me.

Enough of the Travel Philosophy:Kick the Tires & Light the Fires

The Art of Travel 7-9

-7-

CULTIVATE AN APPETITE FOR TRAVEL

By reading authentic 

travel writers, especially the poets, and by watching movies 

set in exotic locations, your appetite for travel will grow.

Knowledge of a place you will experience when you arrive,

but an appetite for travel, like any appetite must be constantly

nourished.

Poets convey more of the subjective experience of a place than do

geography books.Poets seduce you into slipping over the fence at 

midnight to take a look.

Films from the ouvre of visual bold directors can serve as

optic appetizers, then we are easily transported to foreign 

countries and strange planets without the need of a

passport.

Commentary: You have to keep the flame of wanderlust alight.That means staying interested in other cultures and countries. Writers are your window to these other worlds, not just travel writers i might add, the world of fiction has some great descriptions of places you haven't been to. I am always interested in film locations because if you see some place in a movie that you like, it just might become a future destination. Of course now we have the internet so you can be anywhere, at least in your head.

-8-

INSIDE YOUR HEART IS A RESTLESS PILGRIM

We think God waits for us at sacred sites around the world, in temples, in mosques,in synagogues and in churches, but God resides

in the heart, and therefore where ever you happen to be.

Commentary: Echoing a quote from Rumi as i recall, i am saying don't seek the sacred in edifice how ever magnificent, feel sacred inside yourself in your heart. Find God there.

There is however a powerful pull that many of us feel to go on a pilgrimage of some kind, its what draws us to sacred sites around the world, i know for me it has been the starting point of many a journey. A pilgrimage is as much about the journey as the final destination, which depending on where you are treking to can often be a dissapointing pile of old stones. The energy of many of these holy sites has dissapeared years ago. However there are still some sacred places that can give you a 'hit' of shakti if you are receptive.

-9-

TRAVEL IS A PARADOXICAL WAY TO LEARN ABOUT OURSELVES

We go out into the world to know what is already inside

of us.As above so below.What is outside is inside.

The perception of an outside objective world, is

a reflection of our inner awareness.

You see what you are.

Commentary:The last line 'You see what you are' is all about projection, its corollary - you can only perceive what you are aware of, is a comment about the nature of our nervous system. Bats, snakes and humans all see the world from a very different point of view, from a different slice of the electromagnetic spectrum.The sonic world of the bat is different from the thermal world of the snake and different to the mainly visual world of humans. The world is going to show you how you are wired. The trick is to perceive it AS IT IS, sans projection. When travel shows you that you will reconfigure who you think you are.

 

The Art of Travel 4-6

-4-

WHERE EVER YOU GO;YOU ARE

It follows then that you cannot escape from yourself by traveling.

The idea that there is a place on earth that you can be free

of yourself, of your worries, your fears, is an illusion.You carry your state of mind with you. The only way to escape from yourself

as philosopher & Beat hipster Alan Watts put it,is to 

"Get out of your Own Way!"

Commentary: I think i was onto something here. That the idea of travel is a 'Getting away from IT all' is a myth, a delusion of the mind. The IT you are getting away from is YOU. And you are the one who is traveling. To get out of your own way as Watts put it can be done anywhere. Which I think he means dropping your self consciousness, which amounts to Fedexing your ego. Tricky.

-5- 

IN MANY WAYS YOU HAVE ALREADY TRAVELED FAR.

IN YOUR IMAGINATION.

In your dreams, on the wings of desire you have made many

voyages.When ever you feel a sense of apprehension about a 

forth coming journey, be it finding yourself along way from home,

or the from the pain of separation,know that you have already

roamed the universe many times in your mind. Remember the occasions 

you day dreamed of enjoying something wonderful with your lover in a far off exotic place, and you were there.

Commentary: I think what i am getting at here is the degree to which we already travel in out heads. So don't be concerned about a real trip, your mind has already taken you to far of places and shown you some scary stuff and places of much wonder. You always got back right? right ?

-6-

TO TRAVEL IN THE PHYSICAL DIMENSION,

BEGIN IN YOUR MIND.

Connect with where ever you want to be in the stillness of your mind.In the Tao te Ching, the sage Lao Tzu tells us

"The master travels all day, without leaving home.

However splendid the views, she stays serenely within herself"

This is what we might call Remote Viewing. To perceive and experience distant places while not moving.To practice bilocation, let go of extraneous thoughts of where you are, then gently hold your attention on a distant place.Be open to your impressions.

Commentary: I used to be fascinated by Bilocation, the idea of being in two places at the one time. Remote viewing of distant locations is possible and quite accurate in the sense of getting a composite impression of the place before you actually go there. If you get good at it you better hang onto your passport. 

The Art of Travel 1-3

THE ART OF TRAVEL

-1-

YOU WHERE BORN TO TRAVEL

Whether we like it or not we are on the move.We journey through

time and space.Through thoughts & emotions into the many

experiences of life.

This very planet is traveling around the sun, which in turn

is moving through an outer arm of a spiral galaxy, which in turn is traveling through our Milky Way.

Matter has been traveling for 15 billion years across countless

light years in space.

Leaving where ever you are now,is the most natural thing in the Universe.

Commentary: Yes i still think as incarnated beings we are destined

to travel, to move this fleshy vehicle about, and some of us quite a lot. There is a heck of a lot of space in this universe to roam around in once we are done here, but you'll find this planet ain't so small once you clock up a few frequent flyer points. Cosmologists tell us that everything is moving. Even galaxies. The Andromeda Galaxy 2.5 million light years away, will actually crash into our Milky Way in around 6 billion years from now.By then i guess we will have worked out how to travel down cosmic worm holes.

-2-

THERE ARE NO DESTINATIONS:YOU ARE ALREADY HERE

When you are fully present to the now & here, you are in effect

now-here, and being no-where you are everywhere.If you are everywhere 

you can't really go any where can you?

Mindful of this apparent anomaly learn to connect with everything

that appears to be OUT THERE.

Commentary: I swear i wasn't smoking anything, i was doing a bit of semantically traveling. But this wordplay explanation does provide an insight for that ALL ONE experience we can have simply by being fully present where ever we are.

-3-

TRAVELING IS A TRANSITION OF AWARENESS.

YOU LEAVE TO ARRIVE.

We travel in circles.Each place is like a bead on a necklace.Connected by a thread they form a loop.

'I been travelin around' means just that.

Commentary: Some people have long necklaces.Here i go contradicting myself from -2- , but if you see everywhere as the necklace you are wearing, each bead (place)always remains on that ONE necklace.You don't really go anywhere cept round and round. Eh?

(The pic of the expresso cup is from Tassa del Oro cafe in Roma. Figure you might need a short sharp shot of caffine to deal with these existential travel musings.)

The Journey is the Destination

About 10 years ago i was engaged in a lot more world traveling than i am doing these days.I embarked on many of what i would call 'Side Trips' at the end of a work mission. I also read a lot of travel books and magazine articles in those days, and was sufficiently enthused by those kindred nomadic scribes, to write something about the art of wanderlust myself. 

And so after a decade of slumber i am about to wake this little book up and publish it on this blog. Heres the intro:

The Art of Travel

for all travelers everywhere,

getting lost is the only way to find

yourself

"Keep Moving"

Hunter S. Thompson

"What am i doing here?"

Bruce Chatwin

"Many nights on the road

and not yet dead-

the end of Autumn"

Haiku by Basho

In Feburary of 1999 after a decade of travel i found myself living by lake Peten Itza in the northern highlands of Guatamala.I had been exploring the ancient Maya of Mexico, and had flown across the border from Merida to the see the pyramids of Tikal. Each day by the lake i became more aware of the timeless rythyms of nature around me.The daily whoosh of fly bys by large flocks of black birds early in the morning and their noisy return to roost in the evening.The way the gentle lagoona seemed to breath the vast mountain sky in and out.The comings and goings of the villagers traversing the lake on majestic long colorful boats. The rising and setting of Venus, caught in the evening in the arms of an interloping Jupiter.

(the close proximity of these planets happened again recently, and when i saw it here in the Bahamas one night i recalled this particular trip quite vividly)

As days drifted by i descended (or perhaps ascended) into a profound part of my being, like a pebble dropped into the deep water of the lake. In moments of liquid stillness i wrote the original versions of The Art of Travel in a sutra form.They are an attempt to thread together the many diffuse aspects of travel.

I am reminded by anthropological research that 90% of our time as a human species on earth has been spent as hunter gatherers, is it any wonder then that with our modern mobility we are still entranced by wanderlust.

All that has changed is that there are a lot more of use out there.

Tread lightly.

Your humble scribe 

Summer Solstice 1999

I will begin to publish all 81 chapters/sutras in future postings with a new commentary.

10 years on, let's see if i had any insight back then about that road less traveled, or whether i have any even now?

 

New Missions

I've got a couple of missions coming up next week. Will report.