by Nick Cooke. Photos by Tomas Stargardter, originally published in Nica News 16 (September 1998)

Chris Berry at the helm, steering a course heading straight for pleasure. Most of his passengers over the years have been foreign residents in Nicaragua and tourists from many lands. Chris wants to convince more Nicaraguans to partake in the joys of a voyage along their immensely beautiful coastline. "I'll keep trying to convince them till I die," he says. I'm your captain There's more to Chris Berry than meets the eye. The Captain of the 41-foot sloop "Pelican Eyes" and co-developer of the hotel project "Piedras y Olas" is a multi-faceted person with an interesting history. Born in San Bernardino, California in 1954, he moved to Hollywood in 1970 to study ballet under one of the remaining masters of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Tanya Riabouchinska, widow of the famous choreographer David Lachine. Through her studio he found jobs dancing in the movie "Mame" and in the musical productions of "No No Nanette" and "Woman of the Year." After receiving a scholarship to the School of American Ballet (the New York City Ballet's affiliated school) in 1971, he worked with the New York City Ballet. The following year he returned to San Bernardino to finish high school and edit the school yearbook. Not bound for glory Returning to New York, he danced as corps-soloist for three more years. Despite his intense love for dancing, Chris realized, "I was no choreographer, was not going to be a career soloist and was not bound for glory." He began undergraduate studies in English at Fordham University and was teaching dance at the university's dance school. He found he could not take the pace, so he gave up dancing. From dance to law After graduating from Fordham, he began work as a waiter, legal secretary and paralegal, and he pioneered Professional Paralegals in San Francisco. All this before attending Stanford University School of Law where his studies led him more towards labor law than general practice. For Chris, the most challenging, rewarding, and draining part of his career -physically and emotionally- was his commitment to working with BALIF (Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom), the Shanti Foundation, Lambda, and other Bay Area organizations Bay Area instrumental in the fight against AIDS before and after he passed the Bar. The rigors of a busy practice and the highly competitive nature of the legal profession caused him to reflect upon his life, and he decided it was time for a change. Call of the sea Chris has been sailing since he was old enough to remember and has circumnavigated the globe twice with his father. He has always been drawn to the sea and acquired his captain's license at 16 -a special exception since 18 is the legal minimum age requirement. He dropped anchor in the fishing port of San Juan del Sur nine years ago and began the Pelican Eyes charter operation. Apart from that, he has also dedicated a good deal of time to giving informal legal advice to people in town and other foreigners interested in settling down in this fishing port. He was a pioneer foreign investor in tourism in San Juan del Sur at a time when Nicaragua was not exactly the first place someone would think of for a vacation. Some said he was crazy, that anywhere else would be better, but Chris and others like Jacques Langlois of Casa Quebec (now closed unfortunately) and John Broxi of the Casa Internacional Hotel Joxi broke new ground in the late '80s and early '90s. Living in the Bay Area, Nicaragua His years in San Juan have been marked by the ups and downs faced by anyone doing something different in a different country. Finding the materials for maintaining his vessel, running the obstacle course of bureaucratic stumbling blocks, and weathering out storms have caused more than a few headaches, but Chris has stuck to it through the years and is now ready to extend his horizons. Piedras y Olas A dream he has had since deciding to make San Juan del Sur his home is about to come true. With encouragement and organizational help from Leslie Anne Sullivan, his longtime friend and professor at the Mobile University Campus in San Marcos, Chris has embarked on a project to build a low-density tourist lodging facility. Complete with a swimming pool, it is located on a hill with a magnificent view over the center of town and the bay. Support and financing came with another partner: Jean Brugger of St. Louis. Jean saw an opportunity to help a valuable individual realize his dreams. It also offered her a chance to begin a venture for herself. She hopes this success will capitalize the future of her foundation for grants and social causes. With the blueprints drawn and the necessary permits obtained, construction is underway. Chris anticipates the opening of the first six of a projected 20 bungalows within a few months. Given the attention to detail Chris applies in his sailing charters, "Piedras y Olas" (Stones and Waves) will offer fine service and garner many repeat clients. For more information about the project or to make reservations for the sailboat excursion contact pelican@ibw.com.ni or phone 04582-110 or fax 04582-344 in San Juan del Sur.

	Racing to shore. Last one there is a rotten egg!

Look out over the bay in San Juan del Sur, you see a multitude of vessels bobbing on the swell. Fishing boats, shrimpers, barges, luxury pleasure craft, open launches.

There, close to the center, you see a white sloop, the tip of its mast tracing invisible patterns in the sky. The name blazed in yellow on its prow: Pelican Eyes.

Sailboats tend to bring out the wanderlust in most anybody with a heart that still has a beat left in it.

Words surge upwards from almost-but-not-quite-forgotten memories of old pirate movies or ESPN showings of an America's Cup race: yardarm, mizzenmast, spinnaker, foresail. For many, it's just a fantasy dream, but thanks to Chris Berry it can come true for you, if only for a day.

Take a day-trip on the Pelican Eyes. Over the past nine years, many people have done just that; none have been disappointed.

After meeting in the early, but not too early morning on the municipal wharf, you are whisked along in a motorized launch which wends its way between the other craft anchored in the bay.

For safety's sake, that same skiff will follow the Pelican Eyes at a discreet distance throughout the voyage. A fast way to get someone back to the real world in the event he or she develops, for example, acute appendicitis.

Climbing aboard the sloop, you notice how immaculate it is: polished teakwood and metal cast glints of reflected sunlight into the corner of your eye.

You are offered a lifejacket if your own personal sense of security leads you to want one. Of course, children's sizes are available for the little ones.

The anchor is lifted and your voyage begins with the hoisting of the sails. While casting off and setting sail, suppress any worries of being shipwrecked, sunk, or scuttled. No one on the crew is named Gilligan.

The Skipper, Chris, has a select crew, its members providing you with individual attention for the duration of the excursion.

Pelicanizing: a great way to disconnect

Gliding over the sea surface, the bow slicing through waves like a well-honed knife cutting into prime beef, the sound of the wind and the wake in your ears: you can easily blank out the white noise of hyperactive, stress-fed thought processes just by looking at all the nooks, crannies, coves and bays in the shadow of the coastal cliffs.

The more active day-sailors on the charter toss a line over the railing and troll for fish. On this trip, as with many others, luck smiled down on the anglers who gleefully hauled in tuna and mackerel.

Others look all around in anticipation of sighting a whale or a turtle or two. Have you ever seen two turtles mating? It happens, as occasionally does the appearance of a playful group of dolphins leaping alongside the vessel.

The Pelican Eyes carries up to 18 people in comfort and has on-board service beyond compare. Snacks and beverages, non-alcoholic or alcholic if you please, are at your beck and call. There's enough spicy guacamole and chips available to make up for that breakfast you may have missed.

Life's a beach

	On the Beach at Los Brasilitos, one of many virgin beaches along the Pacific Coast of south Nicaragua. Chicken's on the barbie.Lunch is almost ready. What to do in the meantime?

There are countless beaches, most of them unspoiled by human activity, up and down the Pacific coastline of southern Nicaragua. Some surrounded by cliffs, others fronted by islands, many stretching for up to a mile or more.

The Pelican Eyes will drop anchor just off one of these beaches in the late morning, and if you don't feel like swimming to shore, the motorboat will zip you there before you can say "Robinson Crusoe and his good man Friday."

Boogie boards and frisbees are taken out of the hold and you and your fellow passengers are left to your own devices for diversion while Chris and his crew prepare lunch.

The fire for the barbecue is lit. Environmentally friendly, this excursion doesn't use firewood -easily available in the scrub brush and forest above the high tide mark. Charcoal is brought along.

Mid-day hunger pangs are egged on by fresh air and exercise/play. What's for lunch?

Grilled fish (the fresh ones caught along the way) and chicken brushed with Chris's own barbecue sauce, fresh tossed green salad with homemade dressing, fruit salad... and best of all for big eaters, like our photographer, there's never a shortfall when it comes to second helpings. CID-Gallup has yet to take a poll, but if it ever does it would be hard pressed to find a discouraging word.

As the sun slowly sinks in the west ...

	Was that a turtle? Did you see the whale when it surfaced? Don't you just wish you could be like those dolphins? All part of day-tripper conversations aboard the Pelican Eyes.

Lunch is over, people are full and/or beached out, and it's time for the return leg of the charter. If you were the one just gazing out at the intricacies of the coastal formations in the morning, check them out again in the afternoon.

The angle of the sun has changed and now the cliffs and hills are illuminated, the contrasts sharper. If not, try trolling again. A free supper might give you a bite.

The Pelican Eyes arrives in port at más o menos sunset time, no fixed hour, no precision schedule to keep, no worries.

Anchor down, the launch pulls up alongside her and you climb down to it for the ride back to the wharf. Look over your right shoulder and you'll see the sun settling down towards the horizon.

You're back on dry land in time to see the sun disappear into the water and the subsequent pastel lightshow of a classic San Juan sunset.

Onshore and in town

A quick shower and change of clothes and you're ready for an evening on the town in any one of San Juan's several bar/restaurants. Seafood, pizza, European-style: it's all there for the choosing.

The sloop bobs at anchor in the bay and Chris and his crew ready it for next morning's trip.