Mister Don't Touch The Banana

Early in my boating career I learned that bananas on a boat were bad luck.  Regular bananas, banana chips or banana baby food.  In whatever form bananas were to be left on the dock for fear of not catching fish or running over the last surviving manatee in front of an FWC officer.  I was told one potential source of the myth originated with early sailors discovering that bunches of bananas in their cargo holds typically held hidden tarantulas.  Having one of those nasty little buggers crawling across your face while asleep in your bunk would certainly make you think you're having a run of bad luck.   Of course I believed in this myth the way other people might say "Sure I believe in ghosts but I've never actually seen one".   However on one particular day out on the Rhum Brave I finally found some conclusive truth to the myth.

The whole family spent the day off Key Largo snorkeling along several reefs including the Christ of the Abyss.  On towards sunset we anchored up with some good friends at Rodriguez Key.  We tied up the boats side by side with plenty of fenders and two secure lines, one off the bow (front) and another off the stern (back).  We had been anchored up for about an hour and everyone was having a pretty good time.  At some point I decided to hop on our boat and look for a snack in the cooler.  I opened the cooler and there was a nice big yellow banana.  This is what went through my mind.  "A fricking banana! Well, it's been a long day snorkeling.  At this point nothing bad has happen (vicious barracuda attack,  running over flipper, lost at sea, etc.) so I'll just let it go."  I grabbed a drink, closed the cooler and immediately stepped to the back of the boat to talk to the other captain standing on his boat.  Within seconds we realized that our front line had slipped apart (for the record came loose off my bow cleat) and our boats were quickly separating (the winds and choppy conditions made things bad).  The problem was that our stern line was still tied together and the boats were beginning to scissor from the aft.  Any boater will tell you this is bad especially when you start to hear crunching and see gelcoat chips flying.  We were able to quickly untie the aft line holding the two transoms together but not after my friends swim ladder decided to take several bites and gashes out of my gelcoat.  After securing our boat again I walked over to the cooler, removed the cursed banana and toss it well overboard.  After my verbal tirade I think my wife and friends have now come to believe that bananas are strictly verboten on the Rhum Brave.  Pics of the damage to come later.  The repairs will commence shortly after I first complete some long overdue household repairs.