...That's What She Said

Everyone knows the standard horror movie formula and being a fan of the genre, I recognized it immediately. I'll start by doing the math: One group of 11 young adults, one rickety little boat dock, one weird old guy, one rented pontoon boat, several coolers full of alcohol, a couple of tents, an axe, a shovel and an uninhabited island several miles out in the middle of the ocean. You've got some couples and three extra guys thrown in for good measure. Not all of them know each other well, some of the newly acquainted friends are meeting for the first time. You've got the classic geeky guy with sharp wit and a guitar, the jokester who makes everyone laugh and a girl with big boobs. So far, the only element missing is your token black person who usually dies right after the busty girl who meets her end during a frantic run through the woods (which includes falling down at least once). Also present is one character that seems to have inside knowledge about what's going on and how to stop it... and let's not forget the disbeliever who constantly doubts that anything weird is going on until he's killed ... directly after the token black person.

Now that you've met the cast, picture them pulling into the shabby little marina to rent their "party boat" in a vintage VW van. As they're loading up their overnight supplies onto the rather sad looking boat, they are issued many warnings by the aforementioned weird old guy, the owner of the boat dock. He stresses the importance of how to use the walkie talkie to call for help (there is no CB radio attached to the boat) and demonstrates how to drop anchor properly (on the dock) so that the boat won't drift off in the middle of the night. After the snickering, jovial bunch slowly pull out of port, there is mention of a frightening creature rumoured to inhabit the island that they are headed for. Though the Chupacabra is said to dine on the blood of goats and the occasional dog, the possibility exists that there are exceptions when a hungry Chupacabra is involved. Nevertheless, our adventurous group continue onward, toward the mostly deserted island to set up camp on its beaches. The camera zooms in on the ax and shovel stowed away near the sleeping bags... .

Sound like another box office bomb in the making? Though it may, this is actually a fairly accurate description of my camping trip this past weekend to Anclote key. I took a few artistic liberties... for instance, there were more cars then just the VW van and technically at least half the group were geeks, myself included... but it was all true. Despite the constant desire to search for a hidden camera and the uneasy feeling that something was going to jump out of the woods and devour any of us brave enough to go in the woods alone for a potty break, I had an amazing time. Meeting nine new people and spending the night with all of them, camped out under the stars, was phenomenal. It's great how much people of the same age group can have in common even when they've never known each other. It had been such a long time since I'd been camping and never on a beach. I thoroughly enjoyed the campfire conversation, the acoustic renditions of every Weezer song ever recorded accompanied by enthusiastic group singing and quirky catch phrases like "Cheesecake: Say it like you're pissed!". Other highlights include a velcro like beard (it was quite fantastical, you'd have to see it to appreciate it), a pirate flag, a perfect starry sky, missing raccoons, a make shift tent, sandy steaks, medical terminology, a wrestling match and 10 dollar sleeping bags... oh, and these pictures: