Ahoy Mateys

Visitors to the Caribbean know that the islands are speckled with interesting characters, and St. John, USVI is certainly home to its fair share (maybe more than its fair share). Seated on my right a few nights ago at Skinny Legs bar in Coral Bay was a gentleman named Pirate Bill, whom I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to speak with, because of the two other gentlemen, both named Jim, who held my attention the entire time. Last night I ventured to another nearby watering hole, Island Blues, in part to see if Bill was there; luckily for me, he was. He introduced himself as Pirate Bill, and said "You were the one playing on that little box all night," to me. Guilty as charged: I just got my first BlackBerry, and have become a sad addict.

Barefoot, with a shirt that seemed fashioned out of a sail, a necklace made of Pieces of Eight, a beard down to his chest and long white hair hidden partially by a bandanna that I swear had a treasure map imprinted on it, Bill certainly looked the part of pirate. Bill's the kind of guy who's been in the right place at the right time for years: He was in Vegas in the 1950s, when The Strip ended in a gravel road, and knew the Rat Pack guys, "They did their thing, I did mine," which in this case was outfitting every bar in town with pool tables. Oh, and Paul Newman's room when he came to Vegas for his movie The Hustler. Then he was off to British Columbia in the 1960s, where he wanted me to know they weren't doing anything, um, illegal, before he got there, but by the time he left, there were clouds of, um, incense, everywhere. Running from the law, he ended up in Key West during the 1970s, where he was part of the diving team that discovered the wreck of the Spanish ship the Atocha, sunk on December 6, 1622, and loaded to the brim with silver, rubies, emeralds and coins — four of which you can see displayed in his necklace. Bill chatted with me about diving in those days, about treasure hunting, about his kids and about St. John, where he's been for the last 30 years, for a few hours before hitting the road. He's undoubtedly one of the coolest characters I've ever met on my travels, but that's the beauty of the Caribbean — characters like Bill are everywhere.

Ahoy Mateys