Unusual finds...

Several years ago I had the opportunity to travel the Intercoastal Waterway to Florida.  Being a boat owner this was a dream of mine.  Unfortunately I knew my husband and I would never do this with our boat because of the cost alone, however my dream was achieved.  Great friends of ours that we met through boating were planning their trip to Florida; with their boat; and they were looking for a few good "deck hands".  

When I was asked if I was interested in going I had all I could do to contain my excitement.  I did actually give it some thought for maybe a day before I said yes; which was really just getting approval from my husband. Getting approval only meant that he would have to take care of the pets and of course all the office work that I did for his business.   

So that year, the Saturday after Thanksgiving we pulled away from the dock about 630A for at least a 10 day to 2 week trip.  What a rush that moment was.  I still think about it.  There were only 5 of us, that included the owner and his wife, myself, another friend and they had hired a retired captain to come alone since this was only the second time they had done this trip.  Oh by the way, this boat is 53' long and can sleep up to 8 people.  Here is a picture of our transportation.

 

 Four days later be were docked in St. Augustine, Florida heading down the Intercoastal in Florida to the Keys for a day or two.  From there we were off to the Bahamas for 4 days of relaxing and fishing.  During those 4 days we did take a day trip to go kayaking; which I had never done.  Our kayaking trip was through the mangroves, then continuing by foot to some underground caves and nature trails to a private beach for lunch.  

After lunch we had time to walk the private beach; which was fabulous.  It was totally our beach.  Walking along the beach we came across many shells, and sponges that were just washing up on the beach.  I found this one which I did bring home.  After I rinsed it out many times and it dried.  It was the shape of a fish. It is a great treasure that I keep at my home in Florida to remind me of the great time.  The shells around my fish also came from the Bahamas. 

After the time in the Bahamas; the fishing was not good at all; we returned to Florida.  We traveled through Lake Ocheekobee to the west coast of Florida.  I disembarked in Fort Myers and spent the day at my home before catching a flight back to Pennsylvania.  We had 2 weeks of great weather, only rained one day traveling through the lake.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.  All I'm doing is waiting for the call to come in.  Our friends still have the same boat which we do enjoy on other trips we have taken with them.  We usually do Gloucester, MA and Nantucket every summer with them for at least a week.

So stay tuned you never know where I may go next. 

I do have pictures, somewhere.  Back then I only had a film camera.....not digital.  I just need to find them and I'm sure at the time I was also getting them on CD's as well as the actual prints.  

Be sure to enjoy your day!!!