26 HOURS TO CAYMAN > FEB - MARCH 2019

26 HOURS TO CAYMAN ISLANDS  (FEB - MARCH 2019)

well, well, 2019 has started off with a bang!

January in Egypt and February in the Tropics! March back on a big shoot!
(To Cayman: 26 hours flying from Cape Town to Joburg, Joburg to Atlanta (16 hours), and The ATL to Cayman.) a long haul but well worth it!

my dear friends from Toronto (i've known for 30 years since my home in the Hollywood Hills) flew me to Grand Cayman Island (just below Cuba) for a week and it was divine...if you like lounging in and out of the sun and leisurely reading your Kindle with the occasional flop in the warm sea to cool off, as well as eating good food and drinking fine wine! (they flew me down 10 years).

their condo was on the famous 7-Mile beach and every place was packed! and the Caymans ain't cheap! tourists galore. but still serene and balmy and warming to the bones. altogether lovely and quite stunning. (see pics below.)
one of the highlights was a sundowner cruise we did on a 50' catamaran. now that was fun, right up my wheelhouse. we all enjoyed seeing each other. good people. 

after that was a quick stop in Alabama to visit the Chancey clan (friends from Nairobi days and then Stanford pillars before their visa was denied and they had to ship off.)  they are in Montgomery, so i flew from Cayman to visit them for 2 nights. so great to catch up! and to meet his brother Jon and his cool family (they put me up and put up with me for the 2 nights in their granny suite above their garage. a perfect landing pad!)

we drove to Birmingham to pick some of his kids from Comic-con and matt showed me the sights! plus we almost got dropped on by a tornado! the sky was so gnarly and the rains came and i was just waiting for hail to come down. (there were fatalities a week later from tornadoes throughout Alabama not far from where i was, and there were fatalities from a train smash at the train station in Cairo a week after i was there. apparently it isn't my time to check out yet!)

BTW - speaking of fatalities, i'm watching The Horn on Netflix about the Air Zermatt med-vac team on the Matterhorn. great series. really puts you in the Alps! stunning!

March brought a nice commercial gig for USA for a new blood thinning drug called Xeralto. i could be in a Time magazine inside cover foldout and quite a few media buys on USA TV. it also looks like Netflix is shooting 'The Kissing Booth' sequels #2 & #3, and being the headmaster of the high school will bring me back for 6 days of shooting in June. nice.

March also brought my Kenyan kin, Lorella and Dennis, down for a visit. a jam-packed 8 days! we had a great time, topped perhaps by our tour of Cape Town Studios and a story meeting for a romantic comedy. it was a good visit and we cracked out quite a few business ideas for her company FILMIC. poa sana!

February was the month i decided to sell the cottage so i can buy a boat and sail around the world. not sure how swift that plan is going. i still have a few sailing courses to take for the bigger ocean passages so selling the cottage ASAP isn't mission critical. there are lot of houses on the market, the upcoming election is slowing things down, and winter is coming. all signs are that it could take a while. in short, i doubt i'll be on my dream cat this year. who knows!

sidebar...for those into sailing, i found a new blog i'm following now by Kate Brand.   www.abrandnewlife.co.za         http://abrandnewlife.co.za 

the sailing idea to sell up and go while i am still somewhat fit and able to sail singlehanded. i also am lucky to have the opportunity to go do it with my pension, not everyone is so fortunate. i am lucky. and i also am hungry for an adventure, an expedition, to go exploring, to be engaged in something that requires more survival skills, new challenges. less social media > more Nature. i figure 3-5 years to circle the globe, and maybe that'll be enough but i have a feeling on a nice catamaran, i could live on board for life. 

i had a 27' Catalina sailboat while i was in law school in 1977-79 and sailed from Oceanside to Avalon. as i recall, i never had a bad day at sea. and even doing my Competent Crew course in February, a four day refresher, was brilliant. i felt alive being back on the water. so i think it could be a good fit for me, if everything comes together. 

but a few things need to happen...positive things as the boat i want i can't really afford at present and even if I get full asking price for the cottage, it's going to be tight. (and i don't want to go on the wrong boat.) plus the challenge of finding crew, although i recently met a certified crew potential named Jacob. so i guess it's all in the dream stage, and trying to make a strategy to get all my certificates and loose ends to come together. Day Skipper end of May and Coastal Skipper possibly August. 

July i'll be in Sardinia for a week charter on a Bali 41' catamaran with a family i know, sailing to Corsica. and i'm excited to see my composer friend Paulo, who also wants to sail the seven seas and is certified. it will be magic to be on the Bali 41' and Reinhardt is an excellent skipper so i'll be watching and learning.

April seems calm, nothing on the books, a clean slate. let's see what develops.

last week i shot 2 scenes (from Jack Ryan series on Amazon Prime) with my acting students, trying to help them find agents and a career!  
https://youtu.be/K8ZyQ39G9ZU


now let's get to the pics!

Explorer's Club flag (think thor heyerdahl)

headmaster on The Kissing Booth, unbelievably the most watched movie on Netflix last year!

slowly getting all my "tickets"

cottage for sale!

might take a while!

inflight magazine ad!

16 hours to Atlanta.

rain in The ATL.

ah...Cayman. first evening.

our rigorous morning routine.

chilling in the tropics

our condo abode.

local eatery.

Old West Bay

friendly locals

marilyn models the coolest t-shirts at this one dive shop. they hooked me up.

wow, mega cruise ships and lots of them!

good rules for anywhere.

Blow Hole stop.

action photo.

the other side of the island.

carter is such a cool guy. was fun to connect again with them both!

marilyn is a rock star.

such colours.

the tropics...ahhh.

impossible not to unwind. i even did some reading! amazing! usually too guilty!

perfect weather too

7 mile beach.

that Caribbean blue.

lunch here is fab!

paradise.

love these blues!

our sundowner cruise.

custom made cat.

nice to be on the water with my terrific hosts.

friendly staff...good 3 rum punch!

lazy jack sail catch

another perfect day.

good time by all.

catching up on all the Cayman news.

i don't hate it! a great trip!

Calypso daytime cruise.

maybe next year we do it again!

here's the Bali 41' i'll charter in Sardinia with some friends.

Montgomery has such history. wow. here's the Capitol.

matt is an excellent guide.

martin luther king jr's church

1885.

photo op.

Elvis ate here. no jokes. really famous.

vintage diner...so was the hot dog.

felt like Rome for a second.

A very cool coffee shop.

A gentleman and a scholar. Mr. Chancey, old chap.

And some soul food in Birmingham.

"order up"

it's all in the signage. and it ain't cheap.

lots of craft beer.

cool eateries, like Avondale Brewery, as 'The Ham' is making a comeback.

then finer dining saturday night back in Montgomery. italian.

i miss this fellow in stanford village and ZA!

eye masks rule. sleep anytime. anywhere.

gangway.

overhang.

Amsterdam, where else?

one more long flight to go!

back home at Eastern Food Bazaar.

A long way from home.

Selfie couple #1.

birthday lunch with Vlokkie.

Yonkerskloof.

the winter rain is coming.

some argue Deluxe is the best.

a million coffee bars in cape town.

the sign said 'you have to have one in your lifetime." tick.

pete's boat. a Voyage 45.

early morning cup of joe. brrr.

crafty has some swag.

VIP Cape Town Studios tour...on a golf cart with ALix.

a plywood sub...just add night, wind, rain machine.

Black Sails ship!

Motley crew.

Capt. Longshanks.

thanks ALix...Doh...I'm Joe Biden!

with Nico, founder of the studio.

honeymoon couple pose in hermanus.

meanwhile back on set...

it never gets old.

with laura, my pretend wife.

Day Two. Battery park. 

"and backgroud action and action"!

Arri mini-alexa. 

our DP with the e-z-rig.

Laura shooting more stills for Time, etc etc etc.

wardrobe and hair, love our crew!

confusing signage.

we took the place for the whole day.

glorified extras, us all!

street life, off Long Street.

fuax exterior cinema marquis. thanks art dept.

and my DOP crew!

yoda wondering her future.

with Ulanova and Dylan.