What and/or who is a “Boat Monkey”, and why did these people name their “sailing website” after it? Boat Monkey came to us as we were enjoying a ten day bare-boat cruise in the British Virgin Islands. We were getting to show all of our favorite spots to two great friends who had never been to the VI before. The four of us were perusing the gift shops in Leverick Bay on Virgin Gorda and provisioning for the crossing to Anegada where we intended to explore and relax for a couple of days. As I aimlessly walked the aisles looking at fridge magnets and tee-shirts, I came across a silly stuffed monkey who was wearing an eye patch and a pirate costume. To digress somewhat… if my wife or I should ever find the other spouse somehow lacking in enthusiasm about an impending activity for which the other is excited, we will often deploy a technique we refer to as the “Rally Monkey”. This generally involves some form of good-natured physical assault in the form of a crazed monkey complete with loud, obnoxious sound effects and jumping around bow legged and scratching armpits. Not to belabor the story, I threw said stuffed pirate monkey across the shop at her, making the noises associated with the “Rally Monkey”. We carried the monkey around the shop for a few minutes which inevitably lead to an impulse buy of the monkey for probably way more $$ than it was worth (we were not on a cruiser’s budget at the time!).
Naturally, we started calling him “Boat Monkey” and he went everywhere we did. He became the unofficial mascot of the remainder of our sailing trip, accompanying the four of us on all of our subsequent adventures through the beach bars, hiking trails, and snorkeling spots in the BVI. There he was, showing up for photo bombs at One Love and Foxy’s on Jost Van Dyke. There he was in pictures drinking rum on Loblolly Beach in Anegada or manning the winch on a beat to windward up the Sir Francis Drake Channel or swinging from the halyard at anchor off Salt Island. At the end of the trip Boat Monkey came back home with us to Key West and settled in as the resident mascot of S/V Eileen, our beloved Bill Crealock designed 34’ Pacific Seacraft sloop.