Greetings from the edge of the Everglades!

[gulfcoast john]

Greetings from the edge of the Everglades!

We’re enjoying Calusa Island Marina, Goodland, FL, on a pre-Hontoon Hoot side trip. This is a great staging marina for a Cruising Adventure with a good ramp for a Tom Cat, big-trailer secure storage, trailer/engine washdown at ramp, gated code entrance, and clean air conditioned showers/restrooms. $60/night transient, floating cement docks, modern ECLI power distribution system (if there is the least non-std power issue on your boat it won’t work).

To riff Jimmy Buffett, the weather is HERE:

https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l/9e3e1e8c79f1cfa882ee915c6264b4e4975d332d36a62c5dc8a62ff6648c040c

...Wish you were beautiful!

Yes, we completed the newly required Boating course to go into the Everglades.

https://www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/boater-education-program.htm

And you have to pay online to enter with a boat now.

We see much more wildlife at Hontoon since the pythons and boas and other exotic pets released by their owners have decimated 90% of the mammals and many birds in the glades. For wildlife watching, Hontoon is 10 times better these days. I remember camping with my parents as a kid with 2 sibs in a 17ft travel trailer how incredible the Everglades wildlife was back then.

And while we’re on the subject, how come the milkman won’t deliver the milk in glass bottles to a cooler on our front stoop any more?

84 degrees and sunny, thank goodness the rooftop AC is pumping out frigid air.

We were awarded the 2019 Navy Yacht Club Pensacola Power Boater of the Year award, so we’ll bring that trophy to the Hontoon Hoot for all to admire.

The cynics among you (there are many) may wonder aloud whether we are the only Club members who have a power boat.

Shame on you.

Hope to see you soon!
John