If you want to be a sailboat captain, go to the islands. That's the advice I got before I packed my seabag, threw caution to the wind and booked a one-way ticket to an unfamiliar land. I left my other life behind and went all in, abandoning the familiar and welcoming the strange.That new life was more intriguing, funnier, scarier and more spectacular than I could have imagined. The sea magnified everything. As the bright Caribbean days unfolded, I experienced beauty, fear, lust and longing in ways I never had before. I spent those seasons with a cast of characters: crazy old salts, young smugglers, A-list movie stars, wealthy guests, black sheep boat bums and beguiling islanders. I wrangled boats through wind, weather and breakdowns. Through it all, I saw the world with a blazing intensity: It was genuine and unforgiving, stunning, powerful, treacherous and quite often ridiculous. Boats demanded their price for the freedom they delivered. I've never had another job that was so close to the bone. Boats took their bites out of me, literally and figuratively. I was beaten, burned and otherwise humbled by the raw physical nature of the work. And I loved it.Along the way, I learned about the right way to poop on a boat, how to keep from being seasick and how to keep the boat in one piece and off the reefs. But more than all that, I learned a new way to be in the world. My time as a Caribbean boat captain changed me profoundly, and I want you to understand why. This story is sometimes dark, sometimes silly and ultimately hopeful. It's part travelogue, part philosophy, part primer on the world of working in yachting for others who would follow in my footsteps. It's for anyone who has ever jumped headlong into something new or fantasized of doing so. This book is for dreamers and doers, for those who love the thrill of foreign shores and sensations, either in real life or the imagination. And for anyone who's ever taken on a challenge and succeeded.Here it is, the secret life of a boat captain in all its adventure, wonder and sometimes misery.I went to the islands to prove myself, and I did. I wanted to squeeze absolutely everything I could out of life, to take the biggest bite imaginable and see how it all turned out. I wanted to see, know and feel, and those islands did not disappoint me.Thank you for hopping aboard. It's an honor to take you along for the ride. -Capt. David Kilmer