American Bagger January, 12

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9th Annual High Seas Rally
Western Caribbean Cruise
Story and Photos by Dave Withrow
The crowd was a little
down; there were 1,400 pirates this
year. That could be due to the Alaskan Cruise this year or the excitement of the 10th Anniversary Western
Caribbean Cruise in 2012. What
wasn’t down was the fun factor and
the generosity of the participants.
The total raised for the H.O.H.S. Dialysis fund this cruise was $173,000.
On this year’s cruise, 16 dialysis patients were brought on board, along
with a caregiver, doctors, nurses
and all of the equipment needed to
provide for their care. The generosity
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of this year’s participants will allow
next year’s cruise to bring 18 dialysis
patients aboard the ship, offering
them a once-in-a-lifetime trip.
With warm weather and clear
skies, this year’s cruise was a perfect
ending to the riding season. After
last year’s detour to CocoCay in the
Bahamas, it was nice to get back
to Labadee in Hispaniola. Labadee
gets better every year with more
attractions and activities. This year,
Falmouth became the official stop
in Jamaica, replacing Ocho Rios.
About half of the High Seas Rally
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participants took a long bus ride
to Ocho Rios to party at Margaritaville, while the other half explored
Falmouth. I decided to explore the
still-under-construction Falmouth.
Inside the gated port were high-end
jewelry stores and tourist shops that
charged a 17.5% Jamaica tax. There
weren’t any great bars or restaurants to explore. You could leave the
safety of the port at your own risk.
We chose to do a tram tour of the
city with the highlight being a stop at
St. Peter’s Anglican Church. If Ocho
Rios was considered too depressed,
then Falmouth would be too sanitized. All of the great Jamaican
adventures are closer to Ocho Rios
and require a minimum 45 minute
bus ride each way. By next year, Falmouth will be more developed, but it
will still have that sanitized feeling. I
miss the gritty Ocho Rios.
Our next stop was George Town,
Grand Cayman. It was back to familiar
territory where we felt safe to explore
and there were a number of options.
Everyone was back together and
Margaritaville was the place to be.
Our last stop, Cozumel, Mexico, was
my favorite. We may not have bought
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out the island, but we did a great
job to help stimulate their economy.
Dueling HSR parties at Senor Frog’s
and Margaritaville kept the cruisers
occupied until boarding time and the
HSR staff was on hand to make sure
that nobody was left behind.
I can’t think of another cruise that
has the captain of the ship perform
a mini concert with his band. Only
on the High Seas Rally! A trike and a
customized Softail were given away,
as well as hundreds of thousands of
dollars from the national vendors on
board, including Performance Machine, Rivco, Scott Jacobs, WindVest, Condor, Von Braun Exhaust,
Medallion Gauges, Diamond Heads
and many more. Biker bingo, ’60s
– ’70s night, a world-class Hallow78 - january 2012 - americanBaggermag.com
een party, poker walk, cabin raffles,
and the belly-flop contest were just
a few of the HSR events, not to
mention what the ship had to offer:
a climbing wall, basketball court,
putting green, wave rider, casino,
shopping mall, Johnny Rockets, an
arcade and much more. The good
news for next year: 2,100 pirates
have already registered. The bad
news: the cruise is sold out. Your
only chance at being on next year’s
cruise is to check the HSR website
on the first Monday of every month
at 9 a.m. for cancellations. For information on future High Seas Rallies
and the H.O.H.S. Dialysis Fund, log
on to www.highseasrally.com. For
additional coverage of this event, log
on to www.americanbagger.com.
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