Pirates in Paradise 2007 - Key West, Fl
Chapter 8th - The ship's surgeon fails to get photos in the Pirate Soul Museum, succeeds in shaving (which won't mean much to ye, but means much to he). A cool photo shoot is also described which provides a lot of photos for this otherwise graphically-challenged Chapter 8th, and the surgeon just generally sort of wraps up various story lines. Also relating a true tale of piracy as told by a witness in the period-correct airport.
December 3rd, AM
Photo: Tony
Callahan
A bit of surgical stuff at Pirate Soul
Photo: Tony Callahan
A bit of sewing stuff at Pirate Soul
I showed up for the fourth day in my gear to tape the Pirate Soul
thing only to find that Amanjiria was passed out somewhere and no one
could revive him. (FB). Actually, we just couldn't get it organized, so that didn't happen.
So there is no film of the Pirate Soul Museum's surgical instruments with the Mercury's
surgeon playing Vanna White. Alas.
Tony Callahan was able to get in and took photos of the gear for me, so it wasn't a total loss. I know there is a lot more gear in there from my trip through the museum, but I can feel Tony's pain looking at these photos. It's so hard to get good shots in small places like this. You should see the display to really appreciate it.
 Photo: Tony Callahan |
 Photo: Tony Callahan |
Since the surgical tools photo shoot was off for me, I went back to the hotel and finally shaved after two weeks of growing an increasingly itchy beard. I decided to keep the mustache for awhile. We'll see how that goes. Back at the camp, the crews of the Mercury and Archangel repaired to the beach and took some really cool marooned pictures of Mary Diamond, M.A.d'Dogge, his brother Billy Bones, Captain Sterling and Anna on the rocks. (So did a bunch of tourists.) The captain slipped in full garb and fell backwards into the water. No harm was done, but it was something to see. Most of the photos in the series below were taken by William Red Wake's wonderful hand. He also created the splendid graphic effects. Enjoy!
 Photo: William Red Wake |
 Photo: William Red Wake |
 Photo: Mary Diamond's camera |
 Photo: Mary Diamond's camera |
As a footnote to the waitress story I mentioned previously, I ran into her again at Blue Heaven. Emboldened by Haunting Lily and being free from the group, I did find out her name was Stephanya, she moved to Key West from Poland 8 months ago and her sister married a guy in Las Vegas where she was headed for Christmas. We spent awhile chatting about the bonuses and perils of living in Key West.
With hats in tow, I went through the airport processing process. A guy spotted that hats. (They're not too tough to spot; the planter's hat is freaking huge!) and asked me about them. So I told him about the event and it turns out he used to be a sailor. His ship was once boarded by pirates in small boats in the sea off India somewhere I forget, which they turned away by using the ship's fire-hoses with the pressure ramped up. Of course, these were the sorts of pirates who wander around in ragged jeans with automatic weapons and rocket launchers, he noted. We discussed historical piracy and he turned out to be quite knowledgeable. A wonderful ending to a wonderful trip.