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by D. B. Lawhon (Author)
The islands of the Caribbean have long been steeped in mystery and danger. From the 1650s through the 1730s, literally thousands of marauding pirates, like Blackbeard and Calico Jack Rackham, used the island chain as a safe haven as well as a place to raid the treasure-laden sailing ships of Spain and Great Britain. While the swashbuckling pirates of long ago and the sail bellowed masts of the great pirate ships like Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge and the speedy sloop of Calico Jack are now the romanticized tales of history, the act of piracy has survived the ensuing centuries in varying degrees and places to this day. The Caribbean of the 1980s was one such period when piracy and smuggling reared its ugly head again. All manner of smuggling, such as guns, drugs, high-value commodities, and even political espionage were the order of the day. In 1963, Cal and Donna Arnold bought a small marina on Ramrod Key in the Florida Keys renaming it the Salty Anchor. Over the next twenty years, they saw their family grow right along with the Salty Anchor, which grew from a simple bait shop and marina to include a dive and gift shop, boat and cottage rentals as well as a restaurant and bar. The highlight though of anyone's visit to the Salty Anchor was seeing the beautiful and stately two-masted schooner moored behind the restaurant in the clear serene waters of Florida Bay. Christened as the Donna Marie in 1970 after Cal had won her in a game of poker, a fact that became an immediate point of contention between him and Donna, due to her strong dislike of gambling. This was only resolved after Cal relented to her demand that he pay the former owner for the schooner. The subsequent years saw the Donna Marie become a much-loved fixture of the Salty Anchor. Her gorgeous teakwood decks saw numerous weddings and romantic moonlight cruises. By 1983, twenty years of owning and running the Salty Anchor had flown by for Cal and Donna. Their oldest son and daughter in-law now did the lion's share of managing the place. Cal, now in his late fifties, had notions of selling and retiring. These notions were compounded by a very lucrative offer to purchase the Salty Anchor by some northeast developers. Donna was lukewarm to the idea of selling what she saw as the center and the very anchor of their family life. The road to hell, as it's said, is paved with good intentions. Donna's well-intended plan to open Cal's eyes to see the Salty Anchor as she did, instead, thrusts them and their beloved Donna Marie right into the crosshairs of modern-day pirates. This sets them on a perilous collision course with those who know only one thing- take what it is you want!
