A Little Bit “Eccentric”

On our recent boat trip, as we were docking in the Marina, a strange thing happened.

A woman came out of her sailboat and started ranting about ‘being rude’, ‘ we don’t do things this way in Canada’, etc.
All of us were astonished because we were simply laughing as we docked, teasing each other and having good clean fun. Never had we been greeted in such a manner before.
Our response to her was....”God Bless You, Honey.”

Upon talking to her later, I found out she was a 71 yr. old woman who had lived on her sailboat in the marina for a year. The boat had been transported by truck from Canada to Florida. She said that she sailed on Lake Erie for 30 years but that she did not sail by herself any more.

I surmised that she was a very lonely individual and somehow we appeared “absurd” to her ’ dignity’ of life.
It was a sad encounter.
She was my idea of an ‘eccentric’ person.
Then I went to my dictionary and this is what I found;

...eccentric.....deviating from the norm, as in conduct, out of the ordinary; an odd or unconventional person.
....Yep, that’s what she was......
.....Do you suppose that is what she thought of us?



11/04/02...by Faith

Island Hoppers Yacht Club.... Enjoys The Good Life!!!

My greetings to you after a weeklong trip on the Florida waterways.
There were six boats of us...
.....and we covered approximately 300 water miles.
We traveled in.....not our ‘big’ boats but our ‘little’ cutty ’sleeping’
cabin boats.
There was the 19’5’’ Funliner named, ’Go Gator’ with Charlie and I.
Dockie and Ann in their 23’..... ’Nubbin’.
Patsy and Kenneth in their’little’ 23’ Sea Ray named the “Why Knot?’.
Bonnie and Buddy in their.... “Lucky Lady”.
Sally and Sam in their.....”Sea Hawk”.
Mary and Ronnie in their 26’......”Almost Heaven”.

The trip was perfection with only a few minor glitches.
We left Taylor Creek on the north end of Okeechobee on Sat. in the early morning of Oct. 26......
Traveling 30 miles across Lake Okeechobee and then turning west down the Caloosahatchee River and traveling another 70 miles or so, we reached the City of Ft. Myers Yacht Basin around 3:00 pm.
The next day, entering the Gulf, we traveled the Matlacha Pass and went to the north end of Pine Island to the Four Winds Marina at Bokeelia. The Pass was quite tricky with the low tide and the Sea Hawk had a mechanical mishap requiring repair. We left it for repair and traveled in the five boats to Captiva Island’s ‘Tween Waters Marina’ for a two day and night stay. It was wonderful resort living, swimming pools, Gulf Beach access, restaurants nearby and......Florida’s invisible pest called the ’no-see-ums’.
They were wicked, to say the least.
Yet I have found my favorite Marina so far.....‘Tween Waters Marina’ or Hotel Inn is ideal to visit. It is Tropical Paradise at its best...
After our two-day stay, four boats headed up Charlotte Harbor to the Burnt Store Marina and the Go Gator took Sea Hawks Capt. Sam to pick up his boat at the Four Winds Marina at Bokeelia, which was on our way.
All six boats arrived at the awesome 450 slip Burnt Store Marina at around 11:00 a.m. having come across a choppy Charlotte Harbor. Waters being choppy we had decided against going to the Fishermen’s Village Yacht Basin by boat and instead rented a van and took off by land to the Village in Punta Gorda. Had a grand old time, as usual for our group. Returning the van the next morning with twelve people in a 7-passenger van, we made some remarkable discoveries involving the hilarious sense of humor by those involved. For Sally, Bonnie and Mary Faith, everything came out all right in ‘the end’.
Thursday morning we retraced our previous route thru the Matlacha Pass. This time at a higher tide and with no mishap. We arrived back to the City of Ft. Myers Yacht Basin around noon and were ready for another rest. We met a very ’eccentric’ neighbor on our dock....will relate more later. Next morning around 8:00 am. we again headed up the Calooshatchee River to Clewiston to the Roland-Martin Marina for the night. The end of the trip was in sight and the entire group was complaining about so many ’dirty clothes‘. Food supplies were still plentiful though.
Saturday morning arrived with a very high wind factor and the consensus was to load out our boats in Clewiston rather than go across the Ole Unforgiving Lake Okeechobee. For my vote, it was a good move. Sally called her son, Gary, and he graciously drove over and picked up the 6 boat Captains and took them each to their vehicles and boat trailers in Okeechobee. Soon the men were back and we were all ready to load out and depart to our various homes around the state.
Seven days and nights, six boats, twelve people of diverse experiences....with one thing in common.......to have good clean fun on the waterways and thus share the comradre of the ’Good Life’ with like-minded people.

Mission Accomplished!
11/04/02...7:00:04AM by: Faith