03/09 - 3/11 - Hontoon Island CBGT DeLand Florida

Anyone that will not be coming please remove your name from the signup lis

Best laid plans....The vaccination is getting in the way, Mary is scheduled for her second shot for the first week of March, would have to wait a couple days after that to leave to make sure there are no reactions. It's too many miles to cover in too few days to be able to make it on the 9th to Hontoon.I changed my reservation to the 12th. :sad
 
Thanks Alain for letting us know. We are very close to our maximum group size for Florida State parks. Glad you will be able to still come out on the St. John’s after Mary gets her vaccinations. Good chance we will run into you sometime as we will be cruising after the gathering. No need to bring your Mepps #5 down here as there are no northern pike in Florida that I know of.
I’m saving mine for Lake Superior this summer.

Travel safe......Tom
 
Avidmagnum12":3rkun2p9 said:
Thanks Alain for letting us know. We are very close to our maximum group size for Florida State parks. Glad you will be able to still come out on the St. John’s after Mary gets her vaccinations. Good chance we will run into you sometime as we will be cruising after the gathering. No need to bring your Mepps #5 down here as there are no northern pike in Florida that I know of.
I’m saving mine for Lake Superior this summer.

Travel safe......Tom

I'm Back

8th thru 12th

I'll have 70K in cash...NOPE :lol

Suppose I'll just have to deal with wearing a mask outside
My kids both work at Publix Pharmacy
Gonna tell them to put me on last second list for vaccination
Thinking I can pass for 65
 
We have made the determination that Serendipity and her occupants, C. A. and Bettie Derivas, will not be in attendance for the wonderful Hoontoon Is gathering. We are sorry to have to cancel out but health concerns are taking front and center.

We have cancelled our marina registration. Site 2a is now available from March 7-13.

Have a great time!
 
C. A. And Betty
Sorry to hear that the gathering is not going to work out for you this year. Health concerns and family come first. Take care of yourself and we’ll see what the future holds.

Tom and Joyce
 
C-Play has just signed up. Cindy and I attended last year and had a great time & were looking forward to this year. However, I am planning to come solo this year because Covid concerns have Cindy staying home. She is definitely in for next year. I've got a few KN-95s and have been getting by at work without getting infected so I figure this will even be less risk. Looking forward to it.
-Jeff-
 
I plan on stopping by one day, I'll be down having an adventure, camping on my 17' open skiff. You will probably spot me easily being 33 years old?

Never having seen a C-Dory in person I'm looking forward to checking them out before acquiring one.

I'll be practicing social distancing (even though I'm a firefighter and have been exposed many many times) in respect for everyone but still hoping to be able to chat and check out some boats.

:thup :smiled
 
TripSmith":2jwwlfqp said:
I plan on stopping by one day, I'll be down having an adventure, camping on my 17' open skiff. You will probably spot me easily being 33 years old?

Never having seen a C-Dory in person I'm looking forward to checking them out before acquiring one.

I'll be practicing social distancing (even though I'm a firefighter and have been exposed many many times) in respect for everyone but still hoping to be able to chat and check out some boats.

:

Welcome aboard! We have some firefighters in the group. " Ranger Rick", is a Florida State Parks firefighter, who usually comes to the Hontoon gathering. We have some young folks in the group also.

Awesome videos that you make--and the 17' flats boat is most interesting. After watching the Steinhatchee video, I wondered if you used an anchor as a safety precaution? Raw scollops for dinner! Only in Florida. (Well away from civilization!). Canned octopus is good--but we have only caught them, never out of a can.

See you at Hontoon.
 
Time not right for us. Good to meet Capt Bob at Silver Glen Spring. We are currently in covered dock Riviera Resort ($7.00/night) waiting out cold in AR. If it doesn’t warm up we may still be here in March.
Dennis. Sandpiper
 
thataway":sx0ozuz9 said:
Welcome aboard! We have some firefighters in the group. " Ranger Rick", is a Florida State Parks firefighter, who usually comes to the Hontoon gathering. We have some young folks in the group also.

Awesome videos that you make--and the 17' flats boat is most interesting. After watching the Steinhatchee video, I wondered if you used an anchor as a safety precaution? Raw scollops for dinner! Only in Florida. (Well away from civilization!). Canned octopus is good--but we have only caught them, never out of a can.

See you at Hontoon.

Looking forward to meeting everyone. Ha, glad you enjoy the videos! I did use an anchor but I didn't anticipate a 180 degree wind shift on that night. Now, I have 2 anchors that would have made the situation much better.

Cya soon at Hontoon!
 
Less than 30 days to the gathering. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the gathering. I was out on the St. John’s last week for a day trip with family and the water level looks good. Saw the Sandpiper at Silver Glen Springs. To bad you can’t make the gathering. Many next year?

Joyce is working on getting the supplies together for the group. Remember to think about the boat and galley gadgets. Prizes will be given. Clean out your boats and bring excess “treasures” for our fundraiser silent auction to benefit the park.

Be sure to make reservations before you arrive as they no longer take reservations at the park. There is some construction near Ed Stone park as a new bridge is being constructed. Should not be a problem. Just be sure to park as close as you can toward the highway away from the ramp.

Renee, the park manager is recovering from Covid-19. He was in intensive care for about a week. I’m not sure he’ll be back before the gathering. Keep his recovery in your thoughts and prayers.

Till later.......Tom
 
Attention, Attention, Attention

These are the names of the boats that filled out the Jotform as requested:
Comfy Dory Too
Calm C
Lake Effect
Molly Brown
Cat O’ Mine
Surprise
Tully B
Charlie Rock
Alma’s Only
Sea Angel
Thataway
Cat Claw
Intuition
C-Otter

Please if you’re not on this list fill out a Jotform today.
We want to get a list of attendees to everyone before the gathering.
A list make the check in process MUCH easier for the ladies that volunteer to do this work. This information is only used for attendees.

https://form.jotform.com/60634279765163

Thank you! Tom


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There’s a bunch of cruisers anchored in the bay here at Estero Island. Every morning at 9:30 they have a Cruisers net like VHF 68 radio chat forum to disseminate information. They even have an Agenda, believe it or not. It includes but is not limited to info for Captains, trivia, do you have any mechanical issues, and can anyone help Frank with his mechanical issues (it was always Frank), any great mods seen at church yesterday, what’s new at the Ft Myers Beach Farmers Market (Wed and Sun 8-2) and Carlos is still in search of someone who has some Grey Poupon.

They referred a lot to ‘going to church’ at a prior stop. Seems like they all went to church every day. Because of Lent? I had not pegged them as being a particularly devout group of partiers based on their spicy radio chatter. It turns out that there is an infamous bikers bar with the cheapest drinks in town on Church street and motorcycle owners from far and wide polish and show off their bikes and mods.

It gave me a whole new perspective on ‘going to church.’ And if you and your crew are ‘going to church’ you should switch your VHF radio to High Power and let all the infidels within 25 miles damn well know it.

Anyways, my point is that maybe this could work at the Hontoon Hoot. I fear that if Tom has to bellow out to 50 grandparents who are all hard of hearing (except Steve and Tina) and they’re all 6-12 feet apart that Tom might get a sore throat by the second day, unless he has a bullhorn. He might, he’s that kind of guy.

This is thrown out as just something to maybe consider.

Remember to stock up on provisitons for the duration of the Hoot, since ‘rides’ are not safe.

Get some fresh Florida strawberries to cut up, and some Premium USA honey to drizzle over them. Tex taught us to avoid anything else. Those beekeepers in Brazil and Argentina don’t use free-range bees, and the 55 gallon drums previously contained benzene or maybe something worse.

83 degrees and sunny, thank goodness the AC is blowing cold! Hope yours is too.

Cheers!
John
 
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