Their mission is to create new handbags and home decor for you, your home and your boat out of recycled sailcloth. Each one of their products involves sailcloth that has previously sailed somewhere in the world and possibly all the way around it. (If only sails could talk!!) They do their best to incorporate the unique features of each sail into the bags like the reefing lines, grommets and the Sailmakers signature.  All of their patterns and designs are original and unique and you will never see the exact same bag anywhere else in the world.

The sailcloth goes through an extensive cleaning process to achieve its brightest white while being mindful of the environment. Some bags have a small marking or blemish that is non-removable but almost unnoticeable which gives character to the bags they find. Their products are GUARANTEED FOR LIFE.

Recycle Your Sail!! If you have a used sail that you would like to get rid of, please consider trading the sail for a handbag. We will trade a large Land-Ho Handbag or a Bermuda Backpack for your clean sail.

Please call Loretta directly to discuss details or other options. (727) 938-8200 or visit http://www.Castawaysails.com

Follow Castawaysails on facebook

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Jimmy Buffett surprises the crowd with an impromptu concert on Duval Street

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With the Meeting of the Minds in Key West still rustling great memories in this seadog’s mind, it was fun to find another perspective on the weekend on the Island Art and Treasures blog, Four Days With the Parrot… (Heads), written by JVbytheSea.

So in case you didn’t get to read it the first time around, we thought we’d share it here:

Four Days With the Parrot… (Heads) - Sometimes travel discoveries can be like gifts of the coming holiday season, unexpected.  Shake a box, tear a ribbon, shed some discounted paper, and voila, lookey what I found!  A recent experience provided just such a welcome surprise to this road-weary soul.

This past summer we were contacted and invited to participate as a vendor in the Mini Mart at the 20th Annual Meeting of the Minds, Parrotheads in Paradise convention in Key West, Florida. The title alone had me seeking the refuge of a nearby hammock!  We thought “that seems like a great opportunity, and surely a fun week on the island”.  But what followed turned out to be so much more than we’d anticipated.

We found ourselves pulling into Key West at the conclusion of a 13-day, and 4-island tour around the northern Caribbean.  We were physically exhausted and hoping we could do this show while sleeping on our feet.  This was our first exposure to KW and the Parrothead Convention, so we really didn’t know what to expect.  Well, we’ve shed that paper and bow, popped the lid, and now we’re ready to Show and Tell the contents of that bountiful box!

First and Foremost, Parrotheads are a Hoot! These people love to have a good time!  Immediately upon arrival we discovered the crowd of faithful, adorned in some of the most colorful, tropical costumes and apparel that one could imagine.  Surely these were thrift store refugees, no one would actually pay good money for this stuff… right?  I suspect that most possess a more subdued wardrobe during their normal nine-to-five existence. Here however, they were decked out like a 64-count Crayola box.  While many appeared to be at or nearing their golden years, it was clear was they were not yet ready to retire from life.

The Parrotheads, as a group, are frequently engaged in many worthy philanthropic causes. And it’s commendable, that even this week centers around their charitable interests.  But make no mistake, Parrotheads Love Music! This week also centered around some of the best Trop Rock music assembled.  You can stop in at almost any resort, bar, or restaurant, at any time day or night, and you are sure to find some really great live music.  We met some great young artists, more about that in a future post, but almost from the time we arrived the rumors began to fly.  By the second day the crowd was in a “fins” feeding frenzy, when the biggest name in the Parrothead vocabulary, Jimmy Buffett, made a surprise appearance and performed a free concert at the Street Fair.  They really should widen Duval Street!

We also discovered quite simply that, Parrotheads are Awesome People! Everywhere we turned people were one sunburned grin from ear to ear.  This has to be one of the friendliest groups of people we had ever encountered.  One of the highlights of the week for us was the many new friends we made along the way. We had the good fortune of being situated adjacent to the Living Like A Pirate booth. Captain Dave and Cris were the consummate helpers for this newbie vendor, and provided a lot of laughs along the way. We also had the good fortune of meeting Tiki Doug, and the gang from Life’s A Beach.

Our final discovery was that Parrotheads Have Great Taste! The host hotel for the week of activities was the Casa Marina Resort and it could not have been better prepared and presented.

Situated on a beautiful stretch of soft white sand, the resort features two spectacular pools, and stunning grounds that served well as the backdrop for the nearly non-stop concerts on the beach.  The staff was accommodating to a fault, and I’m not really sure how they did it, but even the weather was perfect the entire week.  What a great facility, for such a great event.

Unexpectedly, this box was packed full of goodies that we hadn’t anticipated.  And if that’s any indication of what the future holds, we can hardly wait to see what’s in our stockings!

Got any other stories from the great Meeting of the Minds weekend in November? Tell it to us in the comment section below, or share it on the Living Like a Pirate Facebook page!

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The Story of Planet Gumbo

Since 1990, Bill “Sauce Boss” Wharton has been making gumbo during his musical performances all over the US, in Canada, and in Europe. What started out as a clever idea has evolved into a total experience, breaking down the barriers and blurring the lines between artist and audience. It transforms audience into participants in community. Serving gumbo to his audience for free has become his message of sharing and brotherhood. People everywhere are listening more than ever to his message of us all being a big pot of gumbo. For this reason, Bill Wharton created:
Planet Gumbo–The Foundation.!

The goals of Planet Gumbo are
1. Feed the need–body and soul
2. Give hope and sustenance through music and the message of the gumbo
3. Raise community awareness of the problems and solutions to the problems of homelessness.
4. Provide a clearinghouse for information about programs that can benefit homeless
5. Assist local organizations in their efforts to help those in need

Planet Gumbo has brought the Sauce Boss Gumbo show to cities all over the USA
For a current list and to find out more about our other activities, see link to Planet Gumbo Programs above

Inspiration for Planet Gumbo came on November 13, 2002:
The Sauce Boss was invited to do a gumbo show at the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen in Orlando, FL.
He says “That performance was a watershed because so many things came together that gave us a template for what we do. On that day I took my old 1933 National Steel guitar and my gumbo pot down to play for the folks at the soup kitchen. I played and sang and spoke about the gumbo. The response was absolutely incredible. The workers at the center said they had never seen these people smiling, laughing, and talking like this. It was totally energizing for me as well. But here’s the kicker. Not only did we feed the people in need, but we also had a live feed via satellite to the local Fox News network beaming the whole mess all over Orlando for the morning news and that’s a large market. Lots of people saw the faces of a faceless problem.”

 In his performances, Bill Wharton says, “Why don’t we forget our differences for a moment, sit down to the dinner table, treat each other like neighbors, then maybe we can work some of this stuff out”. Planet Gumbo is a non-profit foundation that has received 501c3 tax exempt status. Bill Wharton and his band are volunteers, donating their performances to Planet Gumbo. Planet Gumbo IS a super cool place to live. Join us. 

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Joao Ricardo Moreira

One week since I left LA! After that, I crossed four states, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to be here where I am now: Louisiana.

My first stop was the Joshua Tree National Park. Beautiful place and amazing landscapes. The rock mountains, the wildlife and the cactus are some examples of what is… beautiful there.
After there, Phoenix was my destiny. A city that is really developing, new buildings and everything that a city which is growing up has. I met nice people there at the International Hostel. Arizona, the state of shame(because of that stupid racist law against immigrants) will give me good memories. Leaving Phoenix, going to El Paso. Before going to El Paso, people scared me about the mexican cartel and drug dealers. But, what I saw there was a hospitable city with a lot of mexican influence. People there told me that the media makes the situation there to look much more critical than really is. For sure there is violence there and something bad could happen with you: if you mess with the drug dealers or if you devour money for them. Like in everywhere. The people here should go to Rio de Janeiro to see what is really dangerous. Still in the land of cowboys, Texas, Dallas was my next stop. Big city. I went to the Old Downtown which is beautiful. I enjoyed Dallas’s nightlife at House of Blues and a local bar. (P.S.: I liked Texas’s girls). After Dallas, I took my way to Tyler, the city of roses. I visited the garden’s rose and some historical places. Nice people there, too. At night, I went to a club called Electric Cowboy. It was funny. It had the same atmosphere that has on the Kings of Leon videoclip, King of Rodeo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EosX5fqTDSk . And I discovered why the people says “Don’t mess with Texas!”…A big fight took over the place: broken bottles, chairs flying and big guys hurt. I felt myself like I were at a saloon on the Old West. That was my 1st week. It’s just the beginning. My only complaint is about the roads: too long, the same view and a straight line. Hard to be awake.

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“Exactly one year ago, I was thinking if it was a good idea to leave
everything behind in Brazil and come to LA or just let my life rollin’
on slow motion. Now, here I am, but just for more 7 hours. I had to
choose between staying LA for more 2 months just doing nothing or doing
something exciting and challenger. I don…‘t like easy ways…Hard ways
makes me feel alive! So, I chose to cross and explore this country for
the next 2 months. Knowing people, knowing places and the most
important: knowing the life. I’m sure is not gonna be easy, but if I
wanted it to be easy, I would have stayed in Brazil. The world is too
big and enchanted to just stay still. And the life is too fast for just
be watched. Make your destiny…”

Living Like A Pirate is proud to help sponsor Joao’s Treasure hunt. We’ll follow him across the US, and keep you  updated with pictures and information. Visit his Facebook page for updates as well.

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We got to meet fellow cachers from all round Australia and we had overseas visitors from Switzerland, Canada and the United States.

Hello again from the Andrew and Deborah in South Australia.

As well as Jimmy Buffett fans we are avid Geocachers and our team name is SA_Parrothead. We use GPSr equipment to track down treasure boxes that other geocachers have hidden around the world.

We love a good treasure hunt and Geocaching has given us many fantastic adventures and introduced to so many wonderful people along the way. This Easter has seen Australia hold the it’s first ever Mega Geocaching event in the New South Wales town of Wagga Wagga and over 700 fellow cachers met up to attend this event.

This was the log put up by one of the committee members of the event

April 16 by the farmers 5 (1809 found)

There were lots of teams from my home state and we sure were proud and got together for a picture.

After all the good times of the Oz Mega have finished, many thanks must go out to many individuals and groups for their professional input into the 4 day mega event.
Firstly to the major sponsor in “ Riverina Campingworld “ for being involved 18 months ago when we had a venue and Committee and nothing else.

 
To Wagga Wagga City Council for all their advice and assistance through emails, fax’s and phone calls over 18 months within Tourism, Events Management , Parks and Gardens plus their gift packs and hamper donations and Corbie the Crow approval. Much appreciation goes to Camp Kurrajong and the scouts for their great facility ,well manicured grounds and acreage, many meetings of assistance and advice and much more ,where nothing was too much to complete when requested. Also the Wagga district rovers and scouts who volunteered for marshalling and other duties.
St John Ambulance for their 4 day onsite service with two rotating volunteers at all times within the bunk room set-up.

What a great looking shirt!!

Wagga Base Hospital Auxiliary for their 4 day on site dedication to keep geocachers fed with keenly priced meals 3 times a day and some great smiles to go with it.
To Wilsec Security for keeping the campers secure during the nights .

To all of our proud 28 Sponsors who put all their faith into some exciting and new with many going over and above any expectations. Much appreciation goes to the Eunomy fire brigade who stood besides the fireworks GZ spot with fire engines, watered down dusty areas and supplied the Tin Shed Rattlers with 70 hay bales for stage effects.

Special mentions to “ Partic “ for his online registration assistance and to “Southerncross Fireworks “ in Team Crackers and Fullonphil.Your Firework Spectactular was the highlight of the event and even out performed the Wagga Show.We are all still in awe of your incredible donation to Geocaching.

The two entertainment evenings put on shows to remember and we truly thank the

We certainly put together a nice camp and were easily able to help out the Team with No cheese and No wine.

 professionism of Don Hillam and the Tin Shed Rattlers. In tandem with this was Rick and Ben priest for a class act of sound and timing for all entertainment.We also thank whoever blessed us with 4 days of the most ideal weather conditions anyone could of asked for. To all our local and event volunteers ,we thank you for dedication towards something special.Plenty of accolades to the Riverina Media Group for a final day free gift to the teams with highlights of the event in the Daily Advertiser copy per team plus DA Dog approval.

Much personal thanks must go the Hinklenator ,Freeunicorn and my own farmers 5 team of seven kids and Karen ,who all kept the Coke Vans ticking over for 4 days.
A massive thank-you goes out to all the Riverina Geocaching Committee for 18 months, plus ,of hard work, committee meetings , incredible suggestions, new ideas, research, brilliant dynamics, and the highest standard of professionalism that will probably never be equalled .

Each location had a little display with a clue to the co-ordinates of the next location.

But finally we would like to thank the near 700 “Geocaching Family “ that attended Oz Mega Wagga Wagga .The mind boggling distances geocachers travelled from around Australia and overseas by any means possible astounded us . Your behaviour and cleanliness was first class within camp and around Wagga Wagga.It was a pleasure to be hosts for such a great group of friendly easy going people who seemed to enjoy the spectacle that Riverina Geocaching Committee produced. 

Further info http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=f2531f81-9a9e-4dd8-985b-60e91f8a75f1&log=y&decrypt=

 Local Newspaper article. http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/news/local/news/general/cache-hidenseek-attracts-hundreds/1794131.aspx

PS – in October we are off to Googs Track. A remote 4WD track in outback Australia. We love a good hunt.

Wagga Wagga was a great place to hold the event and the people sure made us feel at home even if we did seem a bit strange to them. Explaining that we use multi-million dollar satellites to find Tupperware in the bush sure got a chuckle from a lot of them and our antics around town certainly left an impression as the local paper did a spread on us.

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Andrew and Crew

A MOTORIZED Murray cod, a Trojan Horse, a bubbling liver and a birthday cake were among the weird and wonderful oversized objects which invaded city streets last night to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Adelaide Fringe. 

About 80,000 people were expected to line the parade route along Rundle Rd and East Tce, and later filled Rymill Park for a free concert. Among them was Andrew, and his beautiful wife Deborah. 

Andrew and Deborah made it to the opening of the Adelaide Fringe Parade. This is Austrailia’s version of the Edinburgh Festival. Artist from all around the world descend on Adelaide. It is an amazing time in the city. Andrew and Deborah lined up at 7 PM with about 1500 people in the parade to showcase the events that would be playing over the next few weeks. Their group was up near the front, three pirates and a couple of wenches, the Safari suit guy and the cat and a fairy. It was a fantastic experience with the people cheering them on and Andrew’s inner and outer pirate certainly went down a treat. His voice was very hoarse by the end. Parents would call him over, the kids squealed in delight. Several times he pulled people out of the crowd to carry the flag for a short distance. 

When it was all over he went back to the area where most of the people had gathered. There were thousands of them and lots of people had him pose with them for pictures. Two girls told him they were visiting Australia from oversees for the festival one was from the Netherlands and the other from France.

Andrew says, “It was a very fun night and I can’t even begin to image how many pictures of that flag there are around the world now.”

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            Living like a pirate for me is searching down places to get good tattoos.  My adventures to this point have not yet taken me far but I have a long way to go.  I have embarked on the Treasure Hunt to be inked in all 50 states, then I will move on to bigger projects like other countries.  However, for now there are only a few and I have attached them for all to see.  I would love to hear from anyone that has ideas for places I haven’t covered yet.

The one labeled CubbieTat is from Chicago.  This is part of an ongoing work to make a sleeve attributed to Jimmy Buffett

BoatTat is just a simple piece of ink that I wanted to get because it was my birthday, done in Baltimore, Maryland

LAtitudeTat is more of the ongoing sleeve to Jimmy done right here in Baltimore.

EarthTat is another simple flash art piece done in San Francisco in the Height Ashbury district

The one labeled P7060071 includes a piece done in San Antonio Texas

And last but not least RavenTat is one I got done in Seattle Washington.  It is a piece called Raven Steals the Sun or Raven Stealing the Sun

I couldn’t think of any other way of Living Like a Pirate then documenting my travels in a unique way.

James

a.k.a.

Revy

“Dance like nobody’s watching; love like you’ve never been hurt. Sing like nobody’s listening; live like it’s heaven on earth.”

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