December 11, 2010.

So when was the last time you saw someone perform an incredibly romantic act and you inadvertently crushed the moment? Let me start from the beginning….

There’s at least 40 cruising boats in the immediate area waiting for this forecast cold front to pass through. The weather is once again warm so why not have a little fun while we’re waiting.

Monument Island is a couple of hundred yards away so a cocktail hour was planned for this afternoon for anyone who wanted to attend. Everyone is going a little stir crazy so at 1500 hours about 50 people and dozens of dinghies were crammed onto a very tiny wood lined beach.

I was standing near the tree line when I happened to see a man creeping towards us down a path. He was dressed like a limo driver and when he realized that we saw him he turned and trotted back up the trail. A jacket, slacks and polished shoes…..I’m thinkin’ that he’s way overdressed for cocktail hour. FBI? I dunno. He approached several more times during the next ten minutes. He was bug eyed and looked absolutely panic stricken and retreated every time someone attempted to engage him.

This is the same island where Christy and I had discovered a boatload of Cuban refugees several years ago. I’m thinkin that this guy might be the best dressed “rafter” ever.

Finally Christy and her friend Lynn cornered him and got him to talk. It turns out that he’s having his girlfriend brought here on a power yacht and delivered to the island by dinghy. We never noticed that he had created a trail of bougainvillea petals from the beach, up the trail, ending in a large heart shaped flower covered clearing. She’s enroute on the yacht, he’s been spreading flowers and awaiting her arrival and 50 cruisers with cocktails and snacks show up just before she’s due to arrive. He’s waiting to propose to her, he’s nervous as hell and we all show up. SURPRISE!!! Hey what’s that stuck to the bottom of my foot…..Oh, its romance.

We’re packed like sardines on this tiny ass beach but the women try to help the guy out. They offer to have us all stand aside as best we can while she’s landed and ignore her as she follows the flowery path. The dude is semi crushed but he adapts and calls the power boat and changes the plan. She’s inside the large power boat and while her attention is diverted the dinghy runs to shore, picks him up and whisks him back to the yacht without her being aware. Then they sneak him up to the flybridge where he waits until she lured topside on some pretense. We all watched from the beach while he dropped to one knee and asked for


her hand in marriage. The tension was palpable while we watched but could not hear. Finally he stood and she threw her arms around his neck, SUCCESS!!!

They went out on a harbor tour in the powerboat while we resumed the business of our cocktail hour. By chance the powerboat was coming slowly by as we all headed home from the beach. The newly betrothed couple were ear to ear grins as one dink after another sped by yelling out their congratulations. So inspite of our unintentional attempt to completely crush romance it seems that alls well that ends well.

Wait’ll we show up on the honeymoon….