The Manatees Have The Schedule

Or, What a Day!




Well, all the guys are on the back deck cleaning catfish... which are on the dinner menu for tonight. We got a pretty early start this morning and were making really good time. That's really good time when you're only going about eight or ten knots. For those of you not trained in nautical speak... that's about 9 to 11.5 mph.

This is an old steel hull tow boat

Some type of water plant

Along the way, Mitchell and Jeff spotted a couple of small alligators and bird life that is wonderful. We discovered that they grow thousands of acres of sugar cane in Florida. Who would have thunk it? We saw some interesting sights from our vantage point on the water. Did another lock through and the boys are really becoming proficient at being deck hands. They have this lock thing just about down.

This is locking up

So, we were about to get our third full day in and our second day without mishap. We had to lay out in front of the Franklin Lock at Franklin, Florida. Had a little lunch and even caught a quick nap. Now this is how it is supposed to be! When we went into the lock, we had a little trouble steering, however I thought it was because of the fairly high winds that we have been bucking for the last couple of days. BUT when we came out of the lock, we definitely couldn't steer worth a darn. We had lost our steering!

That's when the tow boat got called and the boys starting catching our dinner figuring the way things were going, what they caught might be our only food... cus' I just might go broke.

As you can see our crew has a good attitude even when towed

So the tow service has arranged for a fellow that specializes in repairs of this type to come to the boat tomorrow morning. They have also arranged for us a slip at the City of Fort Myers Yacht Harbor.

Judy at the VFW called and said she would gas the short bus and come rescue us if we wanted. But we thought about it and decided we could never live it down if we showed up in the short bus.

Here's a shot of Wayne overseeing operations

Well, the boys have the wet suits off those catfish and the tow has been going on now for over an hour, so before very long we hope to be able to pop those bad boys in the oven or put 'em on the grill. So let's see... left over spaghetti, rice and fresh catfish. Boy, it doesn't hardly get any better than that.

Oh, I nearly forgot to tell you... The lock operator, at the third lock we went through, was telling us that the manatees have figured out the new lock schedule so they show up to make their way through when the gates open. Pretty cool stuff!