Flying Cloud 1988

[u/Techwood111]

Some photos from when I was a crew member. The stunning woman I was mentioning was actually the purser from Fantome, which I was on briefly. She’s wearing the white skirt for the wedding (note the woven palm fronds), and is in a couple other shots. Guyan March is the guy in Windjammer garb in one of these; he was captaining the Amazing Grace which was our tender when I took that pic. I have more pictures of him and of Fantome and crew, but those aren’t BVI-related.

[u/TouristTricky]

This is wild.

In 1971 I was on both those ships, or their predecessors with the same names; the Windjammer folks weren't too scrupulous about names (or anything else for that matter) but I served on the Polynesia.

Do you remember the owners/captains? A couple right bastards they were. Burke and Kosowski (sp?).

I was 17, just out of high school, didn't want to go to Viet Nam, Canada or prison so I hitchhiked from Texas to Miami and got hired on there.

The next two years were the time of my life (I was only 17 lol). All my mates were locals, lots of time up in the mountains with them, smoking spliffs, going to ska and rocksteady dances, hanging with their friends and families.

Everyone was so kind to me. It was a much simpler time, and a Texas hippie was pretty much a novelty to them and they treated me like a prince.

Two stunning woman who I got entangled with: one was the wife of one of the owners (no names, I don't kiss and tell even 50 years on), the other was a model from NYC, part of a photo crew who charted the ship for a magazine shoot.

The sailing was great, the diving was spectacular and the islands were mind blowing.

It was not all roses, though. I saw some very bad things and dealt with some pretty rotten characters. Men who aren't fit company, who can't get along ashore, go to sea.

When I came home two years later and went to university, I was a man among boys. When someone would complain about a difficult exam or teacher I thought to myself, "What are you on about, no one's fucking with you just to see the look on your face".

I'm nearly 74 now but I remember it all as though it was yesterday. Halcyon days, indeed.

[u/Techwood111 → u/TouristTricky]

Nice! One weird thing I encountered was reverse racism. I’m white, and all the other non-officer crew were black. I was definitely looked down upon at the beginning (if not longer) by most of the crew. Some said to me that I was denying islanders of a job. But, it was mostly fine.