The
day was partly cloudy and the wind was 12mph and it was great to be
on the water even for this short run of 3 hours. Lots of boats out
this Saturday...none slowing down for other boats except us! We were
rocked a lot by passing fast boats....
The
Crew Arrives: Our friends, John & Karen Hoke, Walter and Grand
Wonders, Amy....... Eddie had run ahead as he doesn't know how to
“walk” yet...... and was already boarding the boat so I missed
getting him in this photo.
As
we slowly made our way out of the SHALLOW creek and into the Anclote
River these solemn Pelicans stood watching from their perch.
Eddie
& Amy put on life jackets... friend Karen did also to show the
children that even an adult puts one on now and then. We were
sitting on the deck boxes when Eddie said, “I wish I could see my
first dolphin”.... low and behold two, no three came swimming by
just then! Leaping out of the water! He was so excited... here they
are watching them.
There
were dolphins all over the place today....such fun! One time four
were swimming off the port forward quarter and believe it or not,
just like in an act at Sea World, all four leaped high in the air at
once.... splashing down in unison....amazing! Then one jumped high
as the bowsprit which is about 5 ft off the water AND did it TWICE!
I
tried hard to capture a good picture of this action but this was the
best I could do....there are two dolphin swimming here just under the
surface of the water.
Eddie
had started back toward the sun deck when a large fast boat passed
us....the wake always comes a few seconds later. I hollered for him
to hold on... he did!
I
wasn't sure the Captain would let him but Eddie had been telling
everyone for days how he wanted to “drive” the boat.....so when he got to he was very serious listening carefully to all the Captain
(known to him as “Dalla”) told him... he did a great job, too!
Then
it was Amy's turn.... the Captain was pointing out the markers to
her......telling her which side of the boat she needed to put the red
marker on and the green marker.
Those
two Wonders were so good today!!.... their daddy didn't feel too good
today so we broke our rule of at least one parent being aboard when
their kids are here..... must admit it was good to have two more
adults to help. Here the kids are on the sun deck floor playing
sweetly together... a brother & sister?!
By
the time we turned around to return it had become almost completely
overcast and the wind had picked up. Even the Pelicans had decided
to just sit on the dock today......
We
had never done this before but we tried something new...the Captain
left the spring lines on the dock.... this would prove to be a fairly
quick way to secure our boat even in a strong wind when we returned.
The Captain with the help of Karen and John did a great job of
backing the boat up into our slip......missing the concrete piles on
both sides. Then with John's long arms and the boat hook he
quickly caught one spring line, then the other, pulled them abroad
and I looped them through the deck cleats and we were tied. The
Captain cut the engines off and he and John finished securing the
boat.
Taking
on extra crew was good and it gave Karen and I some girl time...well,
when we weren't watching the kiddos.
John & Karen
Before
the day was over we had celebrated an early Christmas with Amy &
Eddie and shared dinner with their daddy on his birthday.... such
sweet joys in our lives!
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