The DIOGENES

(Ben's second greatest love)

(from p. 39 of novel)

      I locked up my bike, unlocked my little dinghy and rowed out past the spoil islands to the "Price is Right Anchorage" where the Diogenes was faithfully riding on anchor. The Diogenes is the Cheoy Lee ketch I rescued five years ago. At $10,500 for thirty-six feet, my seagoing apartment compares favorably with a studio condominium apartment. The maintenance costs are lower.

The Jamcill
36-foot Cheoy Lee ketch
Copyrighted photo courtesy of
James & Cilla McGarvey
Cheoy Lee Association.

Picture is courtesy of the City of Miami.

Reflection on the DIOGENES

(from p. 40 of novel)

     How many nights had I spent gazing out over the stern, sailing on anchor just as now? At the northern extreme of the swing was Westley's Faire Isle condominium complex. On the southern extreme of the swing, glowed the halo of the tourist drag in the "Coconut Grove Business District". Between the two extremes, rose a peculiar office building with twenty-storeys of receding terraces, planted with shrubs and trees. It looked like the ruin of a Mayan temple.
     Between the Australian pine-inhabited spoil islands, I had a broken view of the cavernous Pan Am seaplane hangers, used now by the Merrill Stevens boat repair facility. Next door was the two-story art deco terminal building for the old amphibious Pan Am "Havana Clipper." The terminal now serves as the Miami City Hall. Yes, in this location I had it all: High rise luxury, hip counter-culture, tourist center, and remnants of a bygone era -- Eddie Rickenbacker, Howard Hughes. It brought to mind that corny old song, "I've flown around the world in a plane, ... but I can't get started with you."
     That's what the Old Man had been trying to tell me: I couldn't get started with my life.