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Scott B. Williams

From the McComb Enterprise-Journal
by staff writer Ernest Herndon

'On Island Time’ tells story of amazing sea kayak journey
Posted: Monday, May 30, 2005 3:00 AM CDT

In 1988, a 25-year-old man from a small town in Mississippi embarked on what some would call an
impossible adventure: paddling a sea kayak solo across the Caribbean.

Despite daunting headwinds, fierce waves and shark attacks, Scott B. Williams made it some 2,000 miles
from Tampa, Fla., toa place known as the Bitter End in the British West Indies.

Now 42 and living in Jackson, Williams has written a book about this adventure, “On Island Time:
Kayaking the Caribbean, published this month by University Press of Mississippi (255 pages, soft-cover,
illustrated, $20).

Williams grew up in Prentiss and was pondering career choices when he fell prey to the lure of the sea.
Having canoed extensively on Southern rivers, he bought a sea kayak and, after considerable practice,
decided to paddle down the west coast of Florida and across the Caribbean Sea.

To fund the trip, he sold all his possessions, including his vehicle. The magnitude of the move struck him
as he was packing.

“Because I now had no possessions that were not with me in the kayak, I had no keys to any locks,”
Williams writes. “Not a car key, a house key, or an office key. I viewed keys as a sign of responsibility,
and a definite impediment to the freedom I was seeking. I could find this freedom only in a sea kayak.”
His sense of freedom was severely curtailed when he found a series of “no trespassing” signs along the
Florida coast.

When he entered the wilderness of the Everglades, he had todeal with clouds of mosquitoes and
daunting mud flats. After he made it to the Florida Keys, rough conditions forced him to hitch a ride with
a sailboat across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas.

There he found hints of the tropical paradise he was seeking: coconut palms, turquoise shallows,
uninhabited islands. He also encountered perils unlike any he’d seen yet.
In one incident, a strong current carried him toward some wave-tossed rocks between islands.

“I still wasn’t worried, until I was within a half mile of the rocks and found myself in a chaos of huge,
unpredictable waves,” Williams writes. “Each breaker spun the kayak around and buried me up to my
neck in whitewater froth until the buoyant hull popped back to the surface. A few minutes of this and I
went from complacent to terrified. All around me were jagged outcrops of coral rock that jutted out of the
water waiting to tear my boat apart if the monstrous waves swept me into them. I had never been in seas
so big.”

No sooner had he escaped into calm water than the next threat appeared.

“Suddenly, something hit the stern of the kayak with an overwhelming force, like being rear-ended in a
car by a truck. The boat shot forward and spun to one side, but I managed to stay upright. I turned in
time to see the shadowy outline of a large shark disappear into the depths.”

That wasn’t his last encounter with big seas and aggressive sharks. But such incidents weren’t nearly as
common as the peace and freedom Williams found in paddling and camping on remote beaches —
drinking from coconuts, spearing lobster, listening to the wind and waves.

“One thing was for certain — after what I’d seen so far, I had no desire to go back to the mainland
anytime soon,” he writes.
“All I wanted was to keep moving and to keep seeing new places. I wanted to continue living close to
nature, to wake up each day and watch the sun rising out of the sea, and to sleep and eat whenever I
was tired or hungry. I couldn’t imagine going back to the 9-to-5 existence I had known before. My watch
had long been packed away somewhere deep inside the kayak. Time didn’t mean much here. I was
living on island time now, and it was the happiest time I had ever known.”

By Puerto Rico he was out of cash, however. Leaving his kayak with a friend, he flew home to raise
money, arriving with $4 in his wallet. Williams grew watermelons on his father’s farm and sold them from
a pickup truck outside Jackson, reading books about adventure travel in his spare time.

Then he returned to the islands and continued his journey until he reached the Bitter End.
Back home Williams embarked on a career as a carpenter, boatwright and free-lance writer. He
undertook another expedition within a year, paddling 2,600 miles through Canadian waters and down
the Mississippi River to Vicksburg.

Williams now owns a sailboat as well as a pair of sea kayaks, writes for Sea Kayaker and other
magazines, and last year penned a guidebook, “Exploring Coastal Mississippi” (University Press of
Mississippi, 2004). He even has a Web site, scottbwilliams.com. Ernest Herndon accompanied Williams
on a short part of his trip and wrote the foreword to “On Island Time.”


Leather Britches: Kayak story appeared here first
Posted: Monday, May 30, 2005 3:00 AM CDT
Longtime readers of this page got to learn about Scott Williams’ sea kayak adventure as it was unfolding.

It started with the Oct. 9, 1988, Enterprise-Journal, when I reported accompanying Scott on a week-long
kayak trip down Black Creek to the Gulf of Mexico.

The idea was we'd part ways at Pascagoula, and Scott would continue east along the Gulf Coast en
route to the Caribbean.

We were going to spend our last night on Round Island, a few miles off the coast, but halfway there his
kayak began filling with water, and when I paddled over to help, a wave caught me broadside and I
capsized.

I managed to get back in and we made it to the island, but Scott discovered the bulkhead to his boat
leaked. No way would the vessel survive an extensive voyage.

He wasted no time finding a more seaworthy vessel made of Kevlar and departed before the year was
out, this time starting in Tampa, Fla., where his brother lived.
We stayed in touch as best we could. Now and then he'd call me from some remote location, and I sent
letters to general delivery at post offices along the way.

Scott also mailed me pages from his journal, excerpts of which I ran on this page.

"Kayaker finds Keys, eyes Bahamas," read the Jan.1, 1989, headline.
Jan. 8: "Kayaker encounters storm, deserted islands."

Feb. 26: "Shark attacks, violent breakers welcome sea kayaker to Bahamas."

Scott returned home that summer to raise money for the second leg of the trip and spoke to the
McComb Rotary Club, as described in the Aug. 17 edition of that year. He resumed his trip in December.

Then, on Feb. 25, 1990, came the article, "Kayaker completes 2,000-mile Caribbean trip."

Scott penned articles for Sea Kayaker magazine on the journey and toyed with the idea of writing a
book. But he didn't get around to completing "On Island Time: Kayaking the Caribbean" until last year,
after writing the guidebook "Exploring Coastal Mississippi."

Scott says the Caribbean adventure was a "once-in-a-lifetime" trip. However, he's been considering
writing a book on the Gulf of Mexico — a project that would require him to put both kayaking and sailing
skills to hard use.  I'll have to take some seasickness pills, but I may go with him on a short jaunt or two.
If so, you'll read about it here first.



Written by Jon at FL Sail

Friday, 04 May 2007 09:46  

I have been sailing and kayaking for about 10 years now. I have lost count of the number of times I have
thought to myself, or overheard a friend on the boat say, "I would really like to just keep going in this
direction until I hit a perfect tropical island." Scott Williams did just that, except he started out in
Mississippi in a sea kayak and stopped in the Virgin Islands.
"On Island Time" was written based on that adventure. Williams relates, in no uncertain terms, what it
took physically and mentally to accomplish his adventure. It is an engrossing read, and gives insight into
what drives a person to brave hardships that many of us soft surburban would-be-captains can not even
fathom.

If you kayak, sail or dream of just getting away from it all, I highly recommend this book. It inspired me to
follow my dreams of my own ultimate adventure at the same time tempering those dreams with a halthy
does of reality. I took from the book a better understanding of the fact that while I may prepare myself to
face nature's challenges in a remote expedition you can not completely escape human civilization. Scott
Williams book about his journey wonderfully illustrates the struggles he faced with both mother nature
and civilization.


Mark Westman on Random Enlightenment

March 15, 2008

Book Review: On Island Time - Kayaking the Caribbean (Scott B. Williams)

Scott B. Williams is not the best author, nor does he have the greatest story. What he does have is an
authentic kayaking voyage to share and that is what this book is about. On Island Time chronicles his
somewhat foolhardy attempt to paddle by kayak from Florida south through the West Caribbean islands.
Early on Williams writes "a mere vacation would not be enough . . . I wanted to savor the experience, to
absorb the places I longed to visit at the average speed of three miles an hour. Why not paddle for a
year . . . two years?" Williams saves up for and plans his great journey. Along the way he almost drowns,
is attacked by sharks, meets highly unusual people, and discovers tropical paradise like he has never
dreamed of.

What I really liked about this book is the author's focus on the places he goes to and his honest way of
chronicling his own thoughts and feelings about his trip. He never hides the fact that he makes some
foolish choices and often doesn't really know what he is doing. If you are like me, you will salivate over
the descriptions of some of the beautiful places he visit and be filled with more then a little jealousy.
Williams ability to drop everything for his trip, to focus so completely on the present of his journey - this
is remarkable ability. Best of all his authenticity convinces you that you too could embark on such a trip.
He makes it sound possible . . . for anyone. What I really wished for in this book though was maps. It was
difficult to really understand where he was a lot of the time and maps would have helped alot. Some sort
of map is pretty standard in this genre but sadly they weren't there.

Kayaking the Caribbean is a great book for any paddler who dreams of paddling through solitary islands
in paradise. For those who aren't paddlers, it's an OK read but you may find yourself finding it difficult to
engage. I rate this book 3.1 ninja stars out of 5.


From Amazon.com:

Takes you right there., January 9, 2007
By  Robert Herndon "Sometime Canoeist" - See all my reviews

Reading Williams' On Island Time, you can almost feel the waves lapping over the bow of the kayak and
feel the shark bumping you from below. If you can't afford to take off for months to the Carribean, this
book is the next best thing.

Good read, January 5, 2007
By  Roger Grant (Maple Hts., Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

At no point did I become board with the adventure or find it un interesting.


Great Adventure, August 4, 2006
By  Bodine "Jeff" (U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

A wonderfully informative, yet intense adventure read. Scott's travels around the Caribbean will make
you want to go exploring. His simple, yet very seaworthy means of travel allows him to explore places
that boaters in larger craft can only steam by while seeking the nearest marina. Well written. I highly
recommend this book!

I couldn't put it down!, April 15, 2006
By  marie (mississippi) - See all my reviews

This is the best adventure book I have ever read. I didn't want this trip to end. I am looking forward to
reading more from this author.
Reviews of On Island Time: Kayaking the Caribbean: