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Last Flight Out: True Tales Of Adventure, Travel, And Fishing
Whether he's looking for wild orangutans on Borneo or diving off the coast of South Africa, Randy Wayne White is one of America's most adventurous travelers. Now Randy's back in Last Flight Out, a brand-new collection of essays keeping us up to date on his latest excursions.
Randy White is a "mover" and has no time for people who can't keep up. Join him as he dives in the infamous lake called the Bad Blue Hole on the desolate Cat Island in the Bahamas. Search for the perfect hot pepper in Colombia, and closer to home, go raccoon hunting in Pioneer, Ohio, where the hunted almost always outsmart the hunters. Get in the ring with Shine Forbes, an eighty-year-old fighter in prime condition and Ernest Hemingway's former sparring partner, and go on a secret mission to steal back General Manuel Noriega's bar stools. Though he rarely finds what he's looking for-such as the half-human, half-
alligator creature known as "Gatorman"-he cultivates his unique ability to revel in the unique and comical situations of each exotic trip.
From a jungle survival school in Panama to a week at a professional wrestler's training camp, White leaves the reader mesmerized by the potential of undiscovered places and the promise of endless adventure in unfamiliar territory. An icon of the new breed of thick-skinned, high endurance travelers, Randy White is the real deal.
Randy White is a "mover" and has no time for people who can't keep up. Join him as he dives in the infamous lake called the Bad Blue Hole on the desolate Cat Island in the Bahamas. Search for the perfect hot pepper in Colombia, and closer to home, go raccoon hunting in Pioneer, Ohio, where the hunted almost always outsmart the hunters. Get in the ring with Shine Forbes, an eighty-year-old fighter in prime condition and Ernest Hemingway's former sparring partner, and go on a secret mission to steal back General Manuel Noriega's bar stools. Though he rarely finds what he's looking for-such as the half-human, half-
alligator creature known as "Gatorman"-he cultivates his unique ability to revel in the unique and comical situations of each exotic trip.
From a jungle survival school in Panama to a week at a professional wrestler's training camp, White leaves the reader mesmerized by the potential of undiscovered places and the promise of endless adventure in unfamiliar territory. An icon of the new breed of thick-skinned, high endurance travelers, Randy White is the real deal.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
4 people are currently reading
199 people want to read
About the author
Randy Wayne White
79 books1,598 followersaka Carl Ramm, Randy Striker
Randy Wayne White (born 1950) is an American writer of crime fiction and non-fiction adventure tales. He has written best-selling novels and has received awards for his fiction and a television documentary. He is best known for his series of crime novels featuring the retired NSA agent Doc Ford, a marine biologist living on the Gulf Coast of southern Florida. White has contributed material on a variety of topics to numerous magazines and has lectured across the United States. A resident of Southwest Florida since 1972, he currently lives on Pine Island, Florida, where he is active in South Florida civic affairs and with the restaurant Doc Ford's Sanibel Rum Bar & Grill on nearby Sanibel Island.
Series:
* Doc Ford Mystery
Randy Wayne White (born 1950) is an American writer of crime fiction and non-fiction adventure tales. He has written best-selling novels and has received awards for his fiction and a television documentary. He is best known for his series of crime novels featuring the retired NSA agent Doc Ford, a marine biologist living on the Gulf Coast of southern Florida. White has contributed material on a variety of topics to numerous magazines and has lectured across the United States. A resident of Southwest Florida since 1972, he currently lives on Pine Island, Florida, where he is active in South Florida civic affairs and with the restaurant Doc Ford's Sanibel Rum Bar & Grill on nearby Sanibel Island.
Series:
* Doc Ford Mystery
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 22, 2019
From the inside flap, this was the third time I’d read all or parts of this book that was fist published in 2002. White is the author of the popular Doc Ford series. But he spent years writing columns for Outside magazine where this collection of essays was first published. A fearless traveler, White has sojourned the planet, foregone the beaten path, and experienced the world in ways most of us only dream of. Forget your Viking cruise. This is “let’s get a puddle-jumper and check out some fishing villages in Baja California.”
The material spans coon hunting in Ohio to diving in Cat Island, Bahamas. From stealing General Manuel Noriega’s bar stools in Central America to jumping in the ring with Hemingway’s former sparring partner. High adventure, indeed.
While there is plenty here to admire about his experiences, it is his writing that stands out and makes this a great book. White lets the action, setting, and characters tell the story, much like Sedaris does with Caylpso. White’s keen eye, humor and professional brevity of well-chosen words make this book a winner. It’s a great bed stand staple, and I suspect that the reason I perused it again is because it is never far from my reach. Read about flipping off the side of a speeding boat in the dark night and into the glowing phosphorescence waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Tell me that doesn’t encapsulate life. Gets me every time.
The last story lends its name to the book, as does the first story. Find out what your “last flight out” is. You don’t want to miss it.
The material spans coon hunting in Ohio to diving in Cat Island, Bahamas. From stealing General Manuel Noriega’s bar stools in Central America to jumping in the ring with Hemingway’s former sparring partner. High adventure, indeed.
While there is plenty here to admire about his experiences, it is his writing that stands out and makes this a great book. White lets the action, setting, and characters tell the story, much like Sedaris does with Caylpso. White’s keen eye, humor and professional brevity of well-chosen words make this book a winner. It’s a great bed stand staple, and I suspect that the reason I perused it again is because it is never far from my reach. Read about flipping off the side of a speeding boat in the dark night and into the glowing phosphorescence waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Tell me that doesn’t encapsulate life. Gets me every time.
The last story lends its name to the book, as does the first story. Find out what your “last flight out” is. You don’t want to miss it.
June 6, 2019
I read Batfishing in the Rainforest: Strange Tales of Travel and Fishing and loved it, so I picked up this book hoping it would be as good. It wasnt nearly even close to as good. But White's non-fiction is so honest and easy to read and fun and descriptive, that this book is still good comfort food even if it isn't remarkable. And there are certainly a couple of stories in the book that really hit the mark (the one about a restaurant in Baja for example), but the hit rate wasnt too consistent. Still worth reading if you are a fan of his stuff.
March 23, 2017
This book is funny and interesting at the same time. It is a hodge podge of articles that Randy Wayne White has written over the years. There is a good bit of humor (e.g. professional wrestling school). You do not have to be a fan of the Doc Ford series to enjoy this, but if you are, you definitely will enjoy.
June 20, 2018
I loved the stories in this book! An amazing look into the life of a travel writer.
August 31, 2021
I really enjoyed reading about Randy Wayne White's adventures in his book. Great stories! He has certainly traveled a lot.
April 8, 2023
3 1/2. These essays are wide-ranging and interesting. I think I especially liked the glimpse at professional wrestler training LOL. Good to sip at, one here, one there.
January 17, 2016
Last Flight Out: True Tales of Adventure, Travel, and Fishing by Randy Wayne White (The Lyons Press 2002)(Biography) is another collection of essays on the author's true-life outdoor adventures. This is his best one since Batfishing in the Rain Forest. Two of these stories are almost too fantastic to be true but are supported by enough facts to be absolutely believable: the first, "The Lost Divers," is a chilling story about unexpected dangers. The second is "The Moss Man," which should be must reading for anyone flirting with an amphetamine habit. Here is some very useful information from the chapter entitled "Survival Spanish"; it features helpful and useful sample translations from Spanish to English:
Your uncle's hotel sounds very nice, but I have reservations at the Holiday Inn.
El hotel de su tio debe de ser muy lindo, pero tengo reservacions en el Holiday Inn.
I would like your least expensive room.
Quisiera su habitacion menos cara.
I would like a better room.
Quisiera una habitacion mejor.
I would like any room not damaged by the recent earthquake.
Quisiera cualquier habitacion que no sufrio danos en el temblor reciente.
The local women do WHAT to cause fermentation?
Las mujures aqui hacen QUE para causar la fermentacion?
I don't question your abilities, but I am already married.
No dudo sus habilidades, pero estoy botin.
My friend is drunk and I am lost.
Mi amigo esta borracho y estoy perdido.
My friend is lost and I am drunk.
Mi amigo esta perdido y estoy borracho.
My apologies. I thought you asked me to dance.
Disculpeme. Pense que me invito a bailar.
Have I broken a law?
He violado un ley?
May I offer you the gift of money?
Puedo ofrecerle un regalito de dinero?
Did I say twenty dollars? I meant fifty.
Dije veinte dolares? Queria decir CINCUENTA!
You can have our women, but leave the plane tickets.
Pueden llevarse a nuestras majeres, pero dejen nuestros boletos de avion.
My rating: 7/10, finished 9/17/12.
Your uncle's hotel sounds very nice, but I have reservations at the Holiday Inn.
El hotel de su tio debe de ser muy lindo, pero tengo reservacions en el Holiday Inn.
I would like your least expensive room.
Quisiera su habitacion menos cara.
I would like a better room.
Quisiera una habitacion mejor.
I would like any room not damaged by the recent earthquake.
Quisiera cualquier habitacion que no sufrio danos en el temblor reciente.
The local women do WHAT to cause fermentation?
Las mujures aqui hacen QUE para causar la fermentacion?
I don't question your abilities, but I am already married.
No dudo sus habilidades, pero estoy botin.
My friend is drunk and I am lost.
Mi amigo esta borracho y estoy perdido.
My friend is lost and I am drunk.
Mi amigo esta perdido y estoy borracho.
My apologies. I thought you asked me to dance.
Disculpeme. Pense que me invito a bailar.
Have I broken a law?
He violado un ley?
May I offer you the gift of money?
Puedo ofrecerle un regalito de dinero?
Did I say twenty dollars? I meant fifty.
Dije veinte dolares? Queria decir CINCUENTA!
You can have our women, but leave the plane tickets.
Pueden llevarse a nuestras majeres, pero dejen nuestros boletos de avion.
My rating: 7/10, finished 9/17/12.
July 29, 2009
I like White's Doc Ford series, and have read most of them (mostly on vacation on Sanibel, of all places). This was a great read, different, but smells a lot like where Doc Ford came from.
This is a travelogue; White documents some of his trips to unusual places. I like the fact that he seeks out locations far from the tourist crowd, as we do.
One story was about a marooned sailor found naked on a lighted buoy and the controversy around the accident. You might recognize this the main plot of "Twelve Mile Limit", one of the Doc Ford books.
These are short stories, nicely digestible in short sittings, filled with fascinating people, out-of-the-way places, wisdom from unlikely sources, and a lot of life I wish I would have lived. Plus travel tips to Colombia, if you are so inclined.
It reminds me of Hunter S Thompson's "Generations of Swine" which I have read at least 20 times over the years, but without the drug use. Mostly. Same intense pace, and same interesting people.
Highly recommended.
This is a travelogue; White documents some of his trips to unusual places. I like the fact that he seeks out locations far from the tourist crowd, as we do.
One story was about a marooned sailor found naked on a lighted buoy and the controversy around the accident. You might recognize this the main plot of "Twelve Mile Limit", one of the Doc Ford books.
These are short stories, nicely digestible in short sittings, filled with fascinating people, out-of-the-way places, wisdom from unlikely sources, and a lot of life I wish I would have lived. Plus travel tips to Colombia, if you are so inclined.
It reminds me of Hunter S Thompson's "Generations of Swine" which I have read at least 20 times over the years, but without the drug use. Mostly. Same intense pace, and same interesting people.
Highly recommended.
November 23, 2015
A curious collection of stories through which to escape as he explores topics both light-hearted and serious – from a man who grew moss by living in a mountain pool and the existence of a half man half reptile creature and on to the search for truth in a tragic marine accident investigation and the realities of life in Castro’s Cuba.
I have not heard of Randy White before this book popped up as a recommendation and on the basis of my enjoyment of these tales, mine is the loss.
Leave your world behind and join him in his.
A wide ranging read, engagingly written.
I have not heard of Randy White before this book popped up as a recommendation and on the basis of my enjoyment of these tales, mine is the loss.
Leave your world behind and join him in his.
A wide ranging read, engagingly written.
October 8, 2015
910.4 Nonfiction - White has collected 23 adventure stories that describe strange and sometimes comical encounters with people he has met in the United States and Latin America. These include jumping out of speedboats at night, attending jungle survival school in Panama, driving a rental car in Cuba in search of everglades, and searching for hot pepper plants in Colombia. [The stories originally appeared in Outside magazine between 1987 and 2000.]
January 24, 2016
...proving Randy Wayne White has more talent up his sleeve than female readers may detect in his 'man-oriented' books. If you think his Doc Ford series is a little heavy on fight scenes, (boat)chase scenes, and sex scenes (see why I said man-oriented?) please give these essays a try.
And don't knock the Doc Ford fiction 'til you've tried it. His descriptions of Florida and foreign isles are evocative, insightful and humorous.)
And don't knock the Doc Ford fiction 'til you've tried it. His descriptions of Florida and foreign isles are evocative, insightful and humorous.)
Want to read
February 29, 20082002
September 7, 2010
Interesting stories from around the world. A good insight from the comfort and safety of your armchair to some of the wild tales in remote areas.
May 22, 2012
Great compilation of great stories. Inspires me to try it myself.
April 15, 2022
It is fun to imagine these stories are true.
March 24, 2010
Delightful
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews