Scroll down for info on receiving a free MahiMingo sticker!!
Pirate lore and the MahiMingo
Devil RumRunner and a Happy Hour
This encounter of the mystical MahiMingo dates back to the 1700s and a small but legendary Pirate ship known to supply both coasts of Florida and other southern colonies with the finest rum from the western Bahamas. Its captain, formerly known as Roberto de Counteras was a young, brilliant yet brazen exiled Spanish naval sailor. Roberto had many drunken escapades including allegedly destroying 2 Spanish naval vessels by unintentional wrecking them into Rose Island Reef, just off the coast of Paradise island while under the effects of overindulging in Rum. Upon his last wreck, he was apprehended by Spanish forces and sentenced to life in a Bahamian prison only to escape and later return as Roberto Barriga de Ron (Rum Belly Roberto), captain of the infamous Diablo Corredora de Ron (Devil RumRunner).
According the log book, the Diablo Corredora de Ron was sailing up the western coast of Florida carrying a load of the finest Bahamian rum for a planned liaison with the famed pirate Jose Gaspas, known as Gasparilla. Roberto and Gasparilla would often meet, near the island now known as Sanibel and commiserate about the hated Spanish Navy and their desire to sink every Spanish ship in the Gulf of Mexico and grow their rum smuggling empire. While on route to their meeting, somewhere north of Naples, in the early morning hours of Friday, October 20, the Diablo Corredora de Ron was caught up in a horrible hurricane that took the ship by surprise. The seas tossed the ship around and winds blew many sailors overboard. Roberto stood firm at the helm with the wheel in one hand and a mug of rum in the other swearing the storm would not do him in. While looking for points of reference to keep his ship from being smashed onto the beach, Roberto saw flashes of bright pink, green and blue circling his ship, almost trying to guide the Diablo Corredora de Ron through the challenges ahead. Roberto followed the flashes for hours, weathering the storm and avoiding catastrophe. Finally, with the last final gust of wind, a portion of the mast broke loose and caught Roberto in the head knocking him unconscious with the last thing he saw being the flash of pink, blue and green surrounding his boat as if to protect it from the storm
Roberto awoke close to 5PM on that Friday afternoon, the storm had passed and beautiful blue skies welcomed him back to consciousness. Roberto studied the deck and, despite the unfathomable damage that had been inflicted, his crew, or what was left of them, had done amazing work in keep the Diablo Corredora de Ron afloat with its cargo of rum mainly intact. Upon seeing this, Roberto climbed up the remaining mast and yelled… “break open the rum and let us celebrate this Happy Hour!!”
Roberto savored the smell of the sweet nectar as his crew diligently broke open the casks of rum and sung the songs of the sea. But a strange sound, a loud laughing shrill, caught Roberto’s ear and he turned to survey out across the clear water of the Gulf of Mexico. To Roberto’s amazement, he saw a school or flock of creatures diving in and out of the water, flying and swimming around the ship with brilliant pink heads, wings and legs of a flamingo but with beautiful blue green bodies and tails of the Mahi Mahi. As the creatures circled the boat laughing loudly with excitement and joy, Roberto jumped from his perch and ran to look over the side for a closer look of what had guiding him through the storm. As he got to the rail, a large bull leapt from the water and perched majestically on the side of the ship. Roberto fell back landing next to a barrel of open rum as the creature, standing over 5 feet tall, hopped down to the deck and walked over to him. Roberto, unsure of what would come next, prepared for a fight with the creature but instead, it fully immersed its head in the barrel of rum and took a long, deep drink. When full, it stood up, lowered its head and helped Roberto to his feet then shook its body and tail, fluffed its wings, looked to the sky and laughed out its beautiful call!! The crew stood amazed as more of the creatures jumped to the deck and joined in swilling rum. The MahiMingos sung beautiful songs with the crew of the Diablo Corredora de Ron till the early morning hours, celebrating their survival, the passing of the storm and that Historic Happy Hour. When the crew awoke, the MahiMingos were gone only leaving a few pink feathers on the deck.
Roberto went on to build a succesful fleet of rum runners and from that day on, every Friday at 5PM, Roberto with a pink feather tucked behind his ear and his crew would open their finest casts of rum and celebrate that Happy Hour to the MahiMingos and the good fortune they bestowed on them.
Fantasma de Agave and lick, slam, suck
This encounter with the MahiMingo was said to have taken place sometime in the mid 1700s, just north of Mérida Mexico at Scorpion Reef. The story was told that, Don Jose Antonio de Cuervo (founder of Jose Cuervo tequila), granted land by the King of Spain, Ferdinand VI, in the town of Tequila, Jalisco had perfected his tequila manufacturing process and was exporting it north. Don Jose’s young rebel nephew, known only as Alexander Dante, who had a reputation as a top-notch captain, pirate and smuggler based out of the port of Tampico, proposed that his uncle allow him to take a full load of his finest Tequila across the 1,000+km land trek to Tampico where he would then transport across the Gulf of Mexico for sale in the new, wealthy American colonies.
It was never confirmed if Don Jose Antonio de Cuervo agreed to the proposition, but it is told that Alexander Dante left Tequila Jalisco with a mule train of the finest liquid silver and successfully arrived in the Port of Tampico. He set sail for the voyage on his newest ship named the Fantasma de Agave (Agave Ghost), overloaded with the crystal-clear spirit destined for Florida. According the log book, to avoid the many Spanish ships sailing in the central Gulf of Mexico, the Fantasma de Agave set out on an easterly course with a planned stop at Sisal near Mérida Mexico to refresh provisions, then head up in northeasterly direction looking to land in South West Florida. On her maiden voyage, the Fantasma de Agave proved to be fast and nimble even with the full load of tequila and Alexander Dante was making unbelievable time and thanked the gods of the sea for the good fortune. It is unsure on which day in the trip, but as Alexander Dante was getting close to Sisal, two Spanish Man-O-Wars appeared on the southern horizon, most likely heading back into the gulf after picking up new provisions. Alexander Dante quickly headed north in an attempt to avoid detection but was too late and the hunt was on. No matter what trick Alexander Dante tried, he could not out distance the Man-O-Wars, the Fantasma de Agave was too heavy from the tequila and it was just a matter of time before the Man-O-Wars caught him and open up each of their 120 cannons to sink the Fantasma de Agave.
Alexander Dante had one last option, sail through Scorpion Reef, an area known to sink many a ship with passages through the reef so narrow they had to be traveled at the slowest possible pace. The tides and shifting sands would close up one passage and open another, all without any changes visible above the surface. The Man-O-Wars continued to gain ground and began to fire their 4 bow guns with the cannon shot luckily falling just short. Alexander Dante had to decide between 2 horrible options, slow down to safely maneuver through the reef knowing that the Man-O-Wars would let loose with all cannons or he could plow full speed into the unknown underwater perils ahead and risk grounding or sinking his ship on the razor-sharp reef. Alexander Dante decided to slow down for a safe passage and just as he was about to give the order to begin to lower the sails, a flash of pink, blue and green caught his eye. He looked closer and saw beautiful creatures with the head, wings and legs of the flamingo and the body, fins and tail of the mahi mahi. They were flying, swimming and diving in and out the water surrounding his ship. The “shock” or school/flock closed in tight to the ship keeping pace while one bull leaped from the water and landed near the helm, locking eyes with Alexander. The MahiMingo puffed out its chest, flapped its wings and let out a loud laughing call. It then flew to the bow of the ship and leaned its head out over the water seeming to point in the direction for safe passage. Alexander Dante immediately felt a connection to the bull MahiMingo and ordered his crew to tighten the sails, increase speed and follow the Shock of creatures under the lead of the bull on board.
As the Fantasma de Agave blazed ahead at full speed, the MahiMingos in the water would bump or nudge at the ship and the bull would lean and point in the safe direction resulting in Alexander Dante making the required course corrections while maintaining full speed. The crew, in utter amazement, leaned over the side and, in the crystal clear water, could see the ship barely passing by the reef with mere inches to spare. The MahiMingos continued to stay with and guide the Fantasma de Agave through treacherous channels and tight turns with barely a scratch to the hull. Finally, a crew member near the bow yelled “Captain, we’ve cleared the reef!! We’ve entered the deep water!!” Everyone ran and looked over the side and saw the deep water and breathed a sigh of relief for the safety it brought. The first mate, still at the helm, looked back and triumphantly yelled out “Look at the Man-O-Wars!!”. Alexander Dante looked back and couldn’t believe his eyes. The Man-O-Wars, seeing the speed that the Fantasma de Agave maintained, must have assumed that the reef was deep and would provide safe passage. Instead, the lead ship, having barreled full speed ahead, collided straight into the reef completely smashing the bow and sending her towards a watery grave. The second ship, seeing this, turned hard to port but it was too late and she ended up slicing a gaping hole in the side of the hull and barely stayed afloat.
Alexander couldn’t believe this turn of events, less then 2 hours ago he was preparing to be sunk by 2 powerful Man-O-Wars but now, having safely made record passage through the Scorpion Run, was watching them flounder and sink while his Fantasma de Agave was completely unscathed. He turned towards the bow looking for the bull MahiMingo that led him through this dangerous passage, but he was gone. Alexander then ran to the side of the ship and looked into the water, hoping to see the MahiMingos that had provided safe transit but they too were nowhere to be seen. With the true gravity of the amazing events now hitting Alexander, a mix of emotions came over him ranging from excitement and joy for surviving this adventure to sadness and sorrow for not being able to thank his saviors. He stood up and bellowed “Lower the sails and drop the anchor!!” The crew followed the direction and when the Fantasma de Agave came to a stop in the perfectly flat seas, Alexander climbed up the base of the main mast and yelled “Break open the barrels of our finest tequila and put a shot glass in every crew’s hand, we must raise a toast to our good fortune and salute our MahiMingo friends!”
The barrels were opened and shots were being poured when a loud rushing, whooshing, laughing sound was heard coming from the starboard side. Alexander looked out and saw a disturbance in the water moving rapidly towards the ship with flashes of pink, green and blue both in and above the water. He stood, watching in joyful amazement realizing that MahiMingos had returned! They circled the ship jumping, flying and laughing in and out of the water, each with green orbs in their beaks. The bull MahiMingo again landed on the deck, standing over 5 feet tall, and majestically walked towards Alexander and the open barrels of tequila. He looked Alexander in the eye for a moment….and then winked! He then dropped a large, perfectly ripe, green lime on the deck. He used his foot to scratched off some sea salt that had accumulated on the base of the mast. Then, in one smooth motion he then licked up the salt, grabbed a shot glass in his beak and tipped his head back and downed the tequila in one large gulp, then bent down and bit a perfect wedge out of the lime and sucked on it to get the fresh juice then spit the peel on the deck. He then puffed out his chest, fluffed his wings, leaned his head back and let out the loudest, most joyful, devilish laughing sound Alexander had ever heard!
Alexander and the crew were in absolute amazement and even more then stunned then they were just moments before from the turn of events. But what they didn’t realize was that while this was happening, 30 or more MahiMingos silently landed on the deck and had covered the floorboards with fresh, green, ripe limes. Alexander, quickly grasping what was happening, triumphantly yelled “cook up some food, gather up some salt, slice up the limes and pour out more shots…tonight we are going to celebrate with our new guests and friends MahiMingo style!!”.
Alexander, the crew and the MahiMingos celebrated into the early morning hours, eating, drinking -licking/slamming/sucking- tequila shots and singing the songs of the seas. When the crew awoke, the MahiMingos had left with only pink feathers to be found on the deck. Alexander picked up the largest, most perfect pink feather and stuck it in his hat as tribute to his guides and mates of the sea.
It is said that Alexander Dante and the Fantasma de Agave landed in the Florida Keys, migrated up through what is now Cape Coral and established a successful tequila trade with the new American colonies....with Alexander always having a perfect pink feather in his hat. It is known that for years to come, on calm nights with starry skies, Alexander and crew would shake out some salt, cut up some limes, pour out their finest tequila celebrate their amazing adventure....MahiMingo style!!
Waterspouts and Guacamole
This encounter takes place sometime between 1717-1718, when a small pirate ship named Glory sailed the Caribbean. There are only 1 or 2 instances referencing the Glory with not much background information being uncovered. Based on the limited details available, it is believed that the Glory set sail from a Bahamian port under the command of a fiery redhaired, female pirate with an Irish accent referred to only as Captain Annie. (There is speculation that this was Anne Bonnie and her first foray into pirating prior to meeting up with her partner Jack Rackham.) On her maiden voyage, the Glory sailed west through the Straits of Florida into the Gulf of Mexico looking for some Spanish treasure fleets. The voyage seemed doomed from the start as they were caught up in a massive hurricane that temporarily disabled the ship. They continued to drift westward for about 3 days while making repairs, ending up close to Isla Pajaros in the Alcranes Reef. Having completely exhausted their rations, they luckily came across a floundering Mexican merchant ship that may have also been damaged in the hurricane. The Glory quickly closed in and commandeered the vessel finding it full of fruits, vegetables and local food stuffs probably destined for Merida Mexico. The crew of the Glory transferred what was still good including Mexican bread, onions, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, limes, garlic, spices and some other strange green pear-shaped fruit that they were unfamiliar with.
Just as they were completing the transfer, a fully armed Spanish galleon appeared on the horizon, turned and set a course to intercept the Glory and the chase was on. Glory, still damaged from the storm and crewed by starving mates was at a distinct disadvantage. Captain Annie gave orders to sail back towards the Isla Pajaros with the hopes of the smaller ship being able to out maneuver the galleon in the shallow reefs. But this strategy proved to be ineffective due to Captain Annie’s inexperience as the Glory never got close enough to the reef to take advantage of its shallower draft. With the fully equipped, and more experienced captain aboard the galleon, it was just a matter of time before they would open up their cannons and sink the Glory.
According to the first mate, the winds suddenly died down and the seas became completely flat with the Glory sitting just outside of cannon range of the galleon. A strange laughing, whooshing sound was heard as school or flock of creatures with brilliant pink heads, wings and legs of a flamingo but with beautiful blue green bodies and tails of the Mahi Mahi began to circle the ship. They dove in and out the water and flew over the ship laughing with excitement. The crew of the Glory, now all on deck couldn’t believe their eyes and stood dumb founded, trying to make sense of what was happening. Two of the lowliest members of the Glory crew heard a strange sound below deck and went down to investigate. They came across some small, roughly 2 feet in height, of these same beautiful creatures but with light pink heads wings and legs and light blue, green and yellow bodies and tails rummaging around in the spoils from Mexican merchant ship. The young MahiMingos pulled out the green pear-shaped fruits, sliced them out of the skins, removed the walnut sized pits and began squashing them with their feet down into a barrel that they neatly sliced in half. They then added in some sliced up onion, tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno pepper, lime juice, garlic and sea salt making a consistent green mush with beautiful specs of red and purple from the tomatoes and onions. The creatures then found the dried Mexican pitas which become very brittle and hard and dumped them into the other half of the open barrel and broke them down into small pieces or chips. The crew members stood there completely silent and dumbfounded at both what was going on above and below deck. The juvenile MahiMingos, when done, looked around and when they saw the 2 crew members, quickly dove out a porthole and disappeared into the water.
The mates, still unbelieving of the events went to take a step forward when they heard a strange sound, a loud laughing shrill coming from above. They quickly ran topside and saw a large, almost 6-foot-tall bull MahiMingo standing on deck with eyes locked with Captain Annie. With a shake of the bull's chest and wings, the wind suddenly picked up with so much force that the ship almost lurched over. With Captain Annie at the helm, the crew jumped into action, tightening the sails and having to focus all of their energy on trying to control the run-away ship. The first mate, barely holding on, looked back and screamed “Look at the galleon!!”. Everyone looked back and saw that the shock of MahiMingos had left the Glory and were swarming around the galleon, swimming and flying in a tight circle so fast that they created a large water spout. The captain of the galleon had no idea what to do as his ship was consumed by the mini maelstrom. His ship’s deck was washed clear and his sails torn to tatters but as quickly as it started, the storm and Mahimingos disappeared leaving the galleon sails ripped to shreds but still floating with all crew accounted for but in no shape to pick up the chase.
Captain Annie couldn’t believe the events and turned to look at her crew. They were shocked, exhausted and alive but still starving. She looked back at the bull MahiMingo and he returned her gaze with a knowing stare, almost telling her that she had gotten in over her head on her maiden voyage. He then let out a low, soft laughing call and shifted his focus to the stairs leading down below deck. Everyone on board turned and saw pairs of small Mahimingos flying up the stairs with each pair holding barrel halves in their feet, some full of the greenish vegetable goop while others were full of chips from the dried pitas. They placed them on the deck, then picked up some chips, dug them into the veggie mix and gobbled them down. Captain Annie couldn’t believe her eyes and again looked back at the bull. He looked back at her, winked and nodded towards the barrels. She immediately understood and yelled to her crew, “dig in and eat this life saving dish from Mahimingos!!” They all dug in and filled their bellies with most delicious guacamole in the Caribbean. Once full, they began to lay down and pass out from exhaustion with Captain Annie’s last view being the bull MahiMingo flanked by the juveniles watching over her. She awoke more than 8 hours later to perfectly flat seas, a gentle breeze, clear skies and a perfect setting sun. She scanned the deck and, seeing her crew still sleeping, looked back for the MahiMingos but they were gone having left only a perfect pink feather next to the helm. She walked over, picked it up and placed in her beautiful red hair, a tear failing from her eye as the gravity of the events finally hit home.
Annie and the crew headed back towards the Bahamas with a stop near Ft Myers to replenish supplies and, during the layover, introduced avocados and the traditional recipe for the best guacamole in the Caribbean to Florida and the rest of the new colonies. It is said that Annie made it back to the Bahamas and never crewed again on her own but instead met up with another captain, fell in love and honeymooned on Lovers Key, eating guacamole, toasting the MahiMingo…always with that pink feather in her hair.
Bring home the Good Luck of the MahiMingo!!
If you'd like to share in the good luck of the MahiMingo, send us an email with your address and we'll mail this sticker!
Would you like a FREE sticker to share in the good luck of the MahiMingo?