Hilton Head Island: a sonnet; a straw; tourism; memory; plans

I came upon Shakespeare’s 73rd sonnet in a fine novel, STONER, by John Williams, which I am rereading.

I do not recall much liking Shakespeare’s sonnets when I read them in college.  Perhaps I was too young.

In Tim Robinson’s STONES OF ARAN:  LABYRINTH, I read this morning of a determined drunk.  The wife of a Doctor Stoney “was a drunkard.  He used to lock her in the bedroom to keep her away from the public house, and still he would find her roaring drunk when he returned home, for the old crone from the shebeen would come round with a sup of poitin (moonshine) for her, which Mrs. Stoney would suck up with a straw through the keyhole.”

Since our recent trip I have been thinking about tourism, which has caused protests in many parts of the world this year.  Venice, Madeira, Amsterdam, Greek Islands, Barcelona and the Balearic Islands, Japan.  Tourism brings in money and jobs, but it also brings in crowds and raises prices to the point that many residents find themselves priced out of living in the places of their birth.

Hilton Head Island’s economy is based on tourism and the retired and those who service the two groups. Hilton Head has about 39,000 mostly affluent permanent residents and is visited by more than 2.5 million outsiders every year.  The island has been intelligently developed so that the two groups are able to exist mostly separately. 

Tim Robinson complained about tourism in the Aran Islands twenty years ago, though the islanders have almost no way to support themselves other than subsistent farming on rocky islands and fishing.  I assumed the trend has only accelerated since then and googled.  The ratio is astounding.  The Aran Islands have only about 1,300 permanent residents and receive between 250,000 to 400,000 tourists each year, almost all during the summer.

I have no conclusion.  I merely report what are given as facts.

For unimportant reasons I found myself thinking about the Virgin Islands, which is not unrelated to tourism.

When I first sailed to them forty years ago in RESURGAM from Portugal, their beautiful waters were already over run with chartered bareboats.  I have sailed there three times since then, again in RESURGAM from Portugal, in THE HAWKE OF TUONELA from Brazil, and in GANNET from South Africa via St. Helena.  Each time there were more charter boats, what had been lovely anchorages were increasingly filled with rental mooring buoys, and there were more regulations.  A version of paradise lost no matter what the charter companies try to sell you.

I found that I could not remember why I sailed to the U.S. Virgin islands during my fifth circumnavigation.  I did remember Carol flying down to join me while THE HAWKE OF TUONELA was anchored in Antigua, but no idea why I sailed to the Virgins from there instead of directly to Panama.  This journal proved its worth, though that of course has been proven now for eighteen years.  I went back and found the relevant entries from April 2009.  I had a skin cancer that needed to be removed.  A strand was broken on the mast’s baby stay.  And I needed to have an order of more than a hundred freeze dry meals shipped to me.  Back then I ordered from CampMor who would only ship to U.S. addresses.  The U.S. Virgins have a zip code and are included.

I got all three problems taken care of, raised anchor, and sailed for Panama.

I accept that those waters belong to the charter boats and do not intend ever to go back.

The marsh has been unexpectedly pleasant for August ever since we returned from The Azores.  Highs in the low 80sF/28/C.  Lows in the low 70sF/22C.  Often overcast and moderately windy.  The dangerous heat on the island usually starts in June and ends sometime in September, so this interval has been most welcomed.  Carol and I biked this morning nine miles round trip to a supermarket.  Serious heat is forecast to return again.

That summer is almost over causes me to consider the rest of this year and what I might do during the winter.

As is normal I have a new skin cancer to be removed.  My first appointment is tomorrow.  These things do not go as efficiently here as they did with the beautiful skin cancer doctor in Chicago.

I have made inquires about having GANNET antifouled.  There is a boat yard toward the other end of the island that will do this for a considerable fee.  I have not decided whether I will give it to them or continue to pay a diver to clean the bottom every other month or so.  I have noted before that getting work done on a boat is more difficult here than any other place in the world I have based a boat, and more expensive.

I would like to sail to Charleston.  I’ve sailed past, but never in.  From what I read it is possible to anchor in the harbor and of course there are marinas.

And I may make videos of my speaking my twenty-five remaining poems.

There was probably a Chinese poet whose name is translated into English in different ways, including Hanshan.  He was also known as Cold Mountain after the place where he lived.  Little is known of him, including whether he even existed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanshan_(poet)

However part of the legend is that he wrote his poems on trees and rocks and walls of houses and they were later copied and saved by others.

There are already recordings of two of my poems, ‘Ithaca, Illinois’ and ‘Departure’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcKvHCTCU3M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYTwmVzCJh4

Recording the others would be like Hanshan writing his poems on trees and rocks.

You are, by the way, welcome to copy and share anything of mine you think worth sharing.