I believe that my friend Mike Waters posted on this echo for awhile through 
the Greater Phoenix Mensa BBS (of which I'm Sysop). I got a call from him 
yesterday from St. Maartin, and chatted about half an hour. Thought I'd share 
some of that with all of you:
 
A couple of years ago, Mike, a former Motorola engineer and Patent Agent, 
quit his job, sold his house and his MacGregor 26 (he had given me my first 
Mac 26 experience in 1992, leading eventually to my recent acquisition). He 
bought a Columbia 45 in South Carolina, the "Ichi", and has been living 
aboard with his lady friend ever since. I know he was anchored in the Potomac 
River at one point, another time in Ft. Lauderdale, and may have ventured to 
Canada (he's Canadian, originally). For the past year, he's been cruising the 
Caribbean.
 
This winter, he'll probably head down to the Panama Canal to make his way up 
the West Coast. Says he's thinking about crossing the Pacific, or possibly 
even a circumnavigation some day. He's equipped with all the electronic 
goodies (he's also Ham operator AA4MW, accessible on 14.313 or 14.300 
periodically; there's apparently a net of similarly itinerant sailors. I'm 
K3JOY, and am considering transferring my HF SSB ham rig from the motor home, 
 where it presently resides, to my boat).
 
Mike talked about the ease of sailing in and out of various Caribbean 
countries; very little visa hassle, he says. Something about, it's fine if 
you pick up someone, or if you drop off someone, but they get suspicious if 
you do both at one port.
 
He complained that his cellular phone was virtually useless in U.S. coastal 
waters.
 
I'm going to have to take up his invitation one of these days to fly out to 
wherever he is and sail with him to his next port.
--- DB 1.58/004910
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