THE REST OF THE STORY

May 24, 2010

I can’t find the original email from the Bahamian Tourist Ministry so the date is a little fuzzy. I believe it was just after New Years when Earl Miller from the Ministry first contacted me and asked if I would like to come down to the Bahamas and do some fishing on the “out islands.”

Considering the “out islands” had been and were Sponsors on Fly Anglers OnLine (FAOL) I thought it was a terrific idea. My late husband Jim (Castwell) was in town doing errands when that call came in, so I had big news to tell him when he got home.

His first question was, “Is the invitation for both of us?”  I had to tell him it wasn’t, I was invited.

He was very disappointed and asked if I would talk to Earl and see if I could get Jim included. Earl wasn’t very receptive. He said every time they had ‘couples’ on a trip there was a problem. I practically begged him to let both of us go, and in fact I think I promised him he wouldn’t be sorry.

We gathered our gear and caught the Kitsap Airporter on May 18th, a local jitney service to SeaTac airport and checked in at the desk. Our tickets were there, courtesy of the Bahamian Ministry. We boarded the Delta flight and headed for Atlanta Georgia, and then a connecting flight to Nassau. About twenty minutes into the flight Jim was having trouble breathing. I called a stewardess and asked if there was any oxygen on the plane. She checked around and came back with a small cylinder. We got Jim hooked up and he seemed to be fine. We thought it was the altitude and lack of oxygen that had caused the problem. Jim had previously problems with his breathing and had been on oxygen at home. (He really didn’t want people to know about that because he felt it made him look old.) If we had company at the house he would ask me to remove the oxygen from the living room.

We landed at Lynden Pindling International Airport and were met by Earl Miller who had arranged limo transportation for us to a very nice restaurant, Compass Point for lunch. We got to meet the other folks who were part of the junket, Angie Orth with a P.R. agency in New York, Karsten Bronk a Journalist from Fundamental of Fly Fishing Magazine, Germany, Kirk Deeter from Field & Stream, Larry Kinder, Florida Sportsman, John Taranto, Outdoor Life, Geoffry Mueller, Fly Fisherman Magazine, Allan Ristori, Salt Water Sportsman and the Fisherman Magazine. We were the only Internet people and in pretty spiffy company. Everyone was very friendly and nice. 

After lunch we were scheduled to fly to Crooked Island by charter plane, but the weather was bad down on Crooked and we would not be able to land. Earl Miller made a phone call and we hopped in the limos (white stretch of course) and drove to the Sheraton at Cable Beach Nassau. Just like we did that stuff every day. Wow, what a beautiful place. It was huge with several pools and right on the beach. We put our bathing suits on and went down to the pools and had a swim. Afterwards we picked a place to eat, I think there were four or five restaurants, and we enjoyed a nice dinner

The next morning we grabbed our gear and went downstairs waiting for Earl. We had a light breakfast and then a coffee in the lobby waiting for Earl and our limos. (One can get use to that very quickly.)

Back to the airport we boarded our charter flight, Sky Bahamas airline, to Crooked Island. There were ten of us on the flight; I don’t think there was an empty seat. It was a very nice flight but a half an hour into the flight Jim said he had an upset stomach. A few minutes later he said he needed to use the bathroom, except this plane did not have a bathroom. When we landed we discovered the airport was locked up, and while there was transportation for us Jim really needed to use a bathroom. A policeman at the airport took us a block or so to the new police station, which was not even completed - but it had a couple of bathrooms. I helped Jim the best I could but he was not looking well at all and becoming very weak.

One of the people at the airport on Crooked Island to greet us was the local Superintendent. He came over to the police station to see what was happening and if he could be of some assistance. He took one look at Jim and suggested we go to the local clinic on Colonel Hill.

One of the policemen went with us. At the clinic there were two nurses who got Jim into a bed, got him on oxygen and an IV. They weren’t sure of what to do so they called their on-call doctor. After that call they called Doctor’s Hospital in Nassau and they sent out an emergency air flight to pick up Jim and take him back to Nassau. All this time no one was sure of what was happening or what was wrong.

I’ve lost track of time at this point. The clinic was busy, people coming in and out with various problems and most of the time, once they thought Jim was stable and the plane was coming, the nurses went about their normal duties. Eventually one of the nurses came in and said the plane had landed and someone had driven to get them.

Jim was watching the nurse as she gave us the news. I turned and tell him the plane is here, and they will get us to the hospital in Nassau. He didn’t say a word and just closed his eyes.

He was dead.

I yelled for the nurse who was just in the room, she came in and checked Jim. She called the other nurse and they listened to his heart, checked to see if he was breathing, and declared him dead.

Continued next week.

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