Have you every taken your submarine on holiday? It is very simple. We did it several times.

As related above, we found little appealing about Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where we spent six miserable weeks one time. So, on Friday evenings, when we had finished with our military exercises for the day, we were footloose until early Monday morning. With no place to go. Unless . . .

By surfacing at the end of the day’s exercise, and then running hard for four hours, we could drop anchor at Montego Bay, Jamaica. Throw me in the briar patch!

There were not any piers long enough, or with deep enough water, for us to tie up to, therefore anchoring in the harbor was our only option. We did not, of course, carry a small boat to carry us ashore, but the Jamaican economy provided us with opportunities to get to town, approximately fifteen seconds after we dropped anchor. "Hey mister! Take you ashore for a dollar!"

The local economy was officially based on tourism, which was doing a good business. However, we soon found that the real economy was based on a controlled substance. But it was possible to enjoy a weekend ashore without getting involved with anything questionable, and the entire crew enjoyed the change of pace from Gitmo.

On Sunday we had Cinderella Liberty, which meant that we had to be back aboard by midnight. We fired up all the engines, we weighed anchor, and we high-tailed it back towards Cuba. Then we submerged and began the military exercises again.

There was no legitimate military reason for us to go to Jamaica. But it was a hell of a good idea.