Fascinated by stories of pirates, rum and adventure? Then this is the story for you.

Part 2 of The Legend of the Cursed Rum starts here. Evil lurks within:

Tucker begins to smile as dreams of gold coins and mansions enter is thoughts. Alright you guys we need to make haste. Bob do you have enough fuel to take us out for a few days? Bob replied with a sheepish grin, is a baby’s bottom round? I always keep her filled up, just in case I have to take Nora out for a quick run.

Bob had nicknamed his sailboat Nora, after meeting a beautiful brown skinned girl on the island of Eleuthera when he was a young fun loving boater. But after returning there one summer to find out Nora had left to seek out the big city life in Nassau, he gave up on love and cursed its charms ever since.

Marco begins to close up the bar in a mad dash, like the devil himself was chasing him. Tucker shouts back as he jets out the door, “ I’ll meet you two scallywags at the dock, I have to dash home really quick”. Both Marco and Bob look at each other in bewilderment, knowing that Tucker doesn’t have more than 3 shirts and a pair of shorts in his name, wondering what could he have at home that would be worth retrieving in this storm.

Twenty minutes later as Marco and Bob begin to pull up anchor, Tucker comes trudging down the boardwalk struggling with a wooden crate as the rain continued to beat down. As he reaches the boat, he tosses the crate over the side of the boat and hops aboard.

Bob kicks the crate, and asks begrudgingly “what’s in it”? Tucker replies excitedly, “a few bottles of rum, I’ve been saving for a day like this.” As if the sky itself had opened up and sprinkled the men with treasures, each began to laugh uncontrollably, as the thought of continuing their drinking spree danced in their heads.

As Nora began to sail further into the arms of Erin, key west florida became nothing but a small speck in the distance. As each man began to take his first sip, knowingly stares were exchanged.
For each one knew this could possibly be their last trip in the waters, or if lady luck smiled upon them they could possibly return home as rich men. Having nothing to lose, it was a gamble each man was willing to take.

As Marco and Tucker began to fawn over the map in hopes of deciphering the exact location, both were oblivious to the fact that Bob was becoming more intoxicated by the minute. Marco suddenly had a Eureka moment and figured out that the dotted land mass on the map was Bimini and the Berry Islands.

Nora's Compass_flickr via JonnyL

As he spun around to tell Bob to set course, he was shocked to see Bob hunched over the wheel passed out. Both men dashed over and grabbed the wheel, trying to keep the boat upright, as Erin began to batter the boat with a torrential downpour and each rolling wave threatened to capsize not only the boat but their dreams as well.

Tucker realizing it was too dangerous to look over Bob and hold on for dear life; he dragged Bob below deck and laid him out. Just as he was about to turn and leave, Bob began to mutter. Bending over he could barely make out what Bob was saying, “the compass is upside”.

Getting closer and leaning in to hear Bob’s words , he once again heard the near indecipherable words, “The compass is up”. Standing there half drunk himself, he tried to decipher Bob’s message.

Repeating it slowly to himself, “the Compass is upside, the compass is upside”. With a startled expression now painting Tucker’s face he realized what BOB was trying to mutter.

The compass is upside down.

Tucker dashing to the deck, ploughed into Marco screaming, “we have to get the sails down. With the winds now in full gail, Marco sprang into action and began to struggle perilously to get the sails down before they were blown across the rocky banks that jutted out haphazardly along the outer skirts of the bahamas.

Bewildered as to what was going on, Tucker explained to Marco that the compass was broken and it was upside down. Without a captain to steer the boat, and without a proper compass, both men realized how helpless their plight now became.

Resigned to let fate have her way, both men sat down as Erin began to toss the boat around like a hapless ragdoll in the dead of the night. As both men took another swig from one of the Rum bottles Tucker brought onboard, they both began to nod away as the charms of the forty year old rum began to take effect.

As tucker slowly awoke with the taste of sandpaper in his mouth, he sat up and spat out a mouth full of sand. Dazed and confused he slowly scanned his surroundings, looking at the bits of the boat that now littered the beach.

Quickly realizing that he was short two companions, he stood up and began to scream in his raspy beach bum voice:

BOB, MARCO!

BOB, MARCO!

Hearing some rustling sounds, coming from a few fallen coconut palms nearby, tucker rushes over and begins to dig like a madman. Beneath the pile lies Marco, with a few scratches and a broken arm, but no worse for wear. The men exchange laughs and then an unsettling feeling sets in, as they remember they left BOB asleep below deck.

Nobody wanting to admit that BOB may have not made it, both men decide not to mention it. As the sun begins to rise higher, Tucker decides its best if they move inland to avoid the daytime heat. As they are about to move, Marco notices a faint glitter out at sea.

“Tucker”, Marco exclaims in an excited voice, whats that? As Tucker runs to the water to get a better look, hope returns.  As both men gaze on,  BOB paddles to shore clinging to a plank salvaged from his dear old NORA!

To find out what awaits these three hapless souls , click on Part 3 below!

RumShopRyan.com

Legend of the Cursed Rum: Part 1

Beachoutpost.com

Legend of the Cursed Rum: Part 3