This book is the ultimate guide to adventure travel in the Caribbean. It details how to travel to the West Indies few people have experienced. The book guides the reader to the Guesthouses and small Inns of the Caribbean, places they will likely never visit by arranging a trip with a travel agent or boarding a cruise ship in Miami.
I always pictured someone else writing my biography. I checked my website and the back of my most recent guidebook and didn't think either one were adaptable for a biographical sketch, so here goes with a brief dissertation on my life.
Believe it or not I was born in Hollywood, California in 1946. Grew up in the greater Los Angeles area until my parents moved to Santa Barbara, California in 1959. I graduated from San Marcos High School in 1964 and attended Santa Barbara City College for two years, un-successfully majoring in draft evasion, prior to being drafted into the Army in 1967. In high school my abilities as a golfer far exceeded my scholastic accomplishments and I ended up in Army Special Services running a golf course in Germany. I played tournament golf in England, Europe and South Africa before returning to America where I served as an assistant golf professional in upstate New York. I married and had two wonderful children while working in Syracuse and returned to Santa Barbara in 1974. To that point in my life writing and islands had not appeared on the horizon, it was a period of hard work for me, having taken over my father's Ceramic Tile Contracting business. I was a workaholic, type "A" to the bone, having little time for my family, seeking my father's accolades and acceptance, fulfilling none of my needs.
Then I went to my first Jimmy Buffett concert. A light went off in my head and a new persona emerged. Papa Mike was born and frozen concoctions and swaying palm trees replaced tile countertops in my dreams. I started listening to my inner thoughts and realized that I wanted to travel and write. Why not combine the two and become a travel writer? The trouble with inner thoughts, is that they are not totally rational and the frozen concoctions only succeed in further blurring reality. Why not? Well for one you don't know how to write. So there was a troubling period in my life while I managed to get divorced (twice), piss off my business partners and generally run amok, while I learned the basics of writing. Eventually I learned to balance the two careers, made friends with both ex-wives and retained some understanding friends and business partners.
Perseverance and a lot of luck have led to the three island guidebooks I have published. They are not perfect, but I do not apologize for the books. They are factual and help people discover the magic that exists on the tiny places that are tropical islands. My contracting company has completed the tile and marble in a dozen stores for Nordstrom, but it is a far greater thrill that I feel, when a reader compliments me on one of my books. I think I have found that balance in my life. Thanks Jimmy and hope to see you all down island.
Mike Hollywood
Islamorada, Florida Keys
June 25, 2007
UPDATE November 2009
My fourth guidebook was published in November 2008, The second edition of Papa Mike's Cook Islands Handbook is available worldwide through Amazon and other Internet bookstores. I am still summering in Montana and wintering in the islands, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it.
Papa Mike
Emigrant, Montana
October 6, 2009
