Sunset Cruise

My day started by heading out to the marina to move the boat to the splash dock so that the marvelous marine techs at Snook Bight Marina can do their magic and keep us in business. For Mike and Cristina, keeping their equipment in top shape is a priority. If a van or boat breaks down on the summer out of season it can cost the business money but if it happens IN season it can cost thousands of dollars of lost revenue! Not a good thing!

The skies were bright and sunny but the breeze was stiff and the air was cold! I still felt comfortable at the marina. I love being around the water and around boats. It's in my blood. Kenny Chesney sings a song called "French Kissing Life" and boy does that describe how I feel about my life here on the island!

I guess to some degree I'm not complete, but, I'm not far from being there! I don't need to be famous, I just want to feel free and that's what I feel! Freedom!

So after my chore of moving the boat was over, I headed home to cut the grass and do some chores there at the house. Then MORE free feelings as I jumped on my new bicycle and headed up island for a 12-mile spin. I decided that since I was expending some energy and the internal oven was upping my metabolism that I would "refill" my tanks by visiting Surf Pie at Times Square for a slice of Tomato Basil pizza pie and a Cream Soda. Ummmmmmm! So good!

Of course all good things must come to an end so I saddled back up on my cruiser and headed back south to prepare for my afternoon tours. I did not have a 3:00pm dolphin tour, so after checking on the progress of the boat and seeing that it was pretty much done, I headed home for a couple of hours.

I did have a sunset cruise and decided to leave home early so that I could give myself plenty of time in case I had to reposition the boat or wait in traffic. Believe it or not, even though I live only 2.5 miles from the marina, traffic this time of year can cause an issue for me at times. However, today was not one of those days, I arrived at the marina with plenty of time on my hands so I pulled out a copy of Latitudes and Attitudes (sailing magazine) and caught up on some of my reading while I listened to some Caribbean and Latin music.

My customers arrived around 5:00pm and after a few minutes of loitering around the marina they finally made their way to the boat where I boarded them and gave them their safety briefing. After I made sure we had no walk-ons for a last minute cruise, I headed out for our night in the brisk air.

It was a wonderful night and our four, yes, four customers, who braved this cold windy night, had a wonderful show from the dolphins and a beautiful sunset.

I hope the pics show just how great it was. I had a good time for sure, but, then again, I was on the water. In a boat. With dolphins and the sunset. And eagles and pelicans and egrets and on and on and on and on! Yeah, I was in my element. I was with nature. I was experiencing another wonderful South Florida Adventure!

Dolphin and Eagle Mania!

Today was my day for boat tours and it was a 3-tour day. Sonja delivered me to the marina around 8:15am. Our Jeep is still not totally drivable so we are down to the pickup truck. I wanted to get there early enough to refuel the boat and have plenty of time to get things ready to go. The tide was low, the wind was whipping, and the temps were not even close to normal!

We started with a "shelling" tour with a family of four. I was the Captain and Cristina was the guide. We did not pick up dolphins until we were in the no-wake zone headed south prior to hitting big Carlos Pass. However, once we did get into them we had a wonderful show. The tide was so low I was a little nervous about getting through the gap running out to New Pass so we killed some time following the pod so more water would come in.

One nice thing about having an iPhone is all the cool applications you can download. I have several tools I can use on the water or in the wild (Steve Irwin would not have a clue how to use an iPhone). My favorite is my Tide Apps. I can watch the tides and know exactly where we are in high or low tides. So while we waited we also caught a fight between a couple of young Eagles as they chased a Fish Hawk (Osprey) after he caught a fish. The Eagles wanted his catch and we watched for a few minutes as the birds dove and dodged and regrouped. It was much like watching a dog fight in World War II! Magnificent! Finally the time came to head over to the shelling island.

I gently slipped up onto the beach and allowed our guests and guide to debark the boat. Then I anchored us off and sat and enjoyed some Kenny Chesney while they all combed the beach for some shell treasures.

After their palate was satisfied and our time started to draw down, we re-boarded and headed back to the marina. It was hard to believe but it sure seemed colder on the way back! But all in all, the journey turned out excellent.

After bidding farewell to our guests back at the dock, I readied the boat for a Dolphin Cruise. The boat was packed (21), the dolphins were wonderful and it was COLD! Adventures are adventures!

As the day began to transition into afternoon and afternoon to night the temps began to drop and the wind began to grow stronger. Our Sunset Cruise only ended up with 3 people. Alas! I know these people! They were with me on my kayak tour YESTERDAY!

As cold as it was we still had a great boat ride. The sunset was a little lame and dolphins were scarce, but a good time was had by all. Now I'm laying in bed, trying to thaw my feet and hands!
So that's it for this day. I look forward to tomorrow and yet another South Florida Adventure!