Why Boating Enthusiasts Are Always Upgrading Our Equipment

We bought a home in Florida in about 20 minutes. We've spent longer ordering dinner out. My daughter was pregnant and my Dad had just died. I was now solely responsible for my invalid Mom. We lived in New Jersey at the time and my pregnant daughter lived in Florida. We were down visitng with her and helping her house hunt. While touring homes with the realtor my husband said something like "I'd buy a home in Florida but only if it were on water." Within nanoseconds the realtor had us looking at several homes on the water. She ws one very smart realtor.One of the homes she showed us was was totally wheelchair accessible, perfect for my Mom. I'm not quite sure if we even looked at anything but the main rooms and the dock and water when we made an offer on it. Within a few weeks we were new home owners.

Of course, the next thing on the shopping list was get a boat to plant on our water. Again, in our inimitable supermarket shopping spree type of shopping we'd purchased a 24 foot Invader cuddy cabin walk around. I'm not even sure if that's the order in which you say that. That was 10 years ago.

We took our Power Squadron courses. We've added a porta potty, new Bimini top, top of the line safety vests, vests for our two Chihuahuas, a charcoal grill meant for boats, and charts, odds and ends, a Pirate flag, an American flag, a new lift, enlarged the dock and got more of the usual neccessities. We enjoy the heck out of the boat and go out every week end with or without the grandkids or assorted friends. We've made a few local dives off the boat. Having been diving in many, many areas I have to say diving in Florida is equally as good if not better. For one thing it's so much more convenient. Hop on the boat and go diving. That's it. Another thing , it seems we've seen as much wonderful marine life as we've seen in the exotic places we've been to. Another aspect is we're not crammed on a boat with a dozen other divers. That alone is a plus.

Along with the house the boat has been one of the best investments we've made, the house has more than quadrupled in value and the boat has been of endless value pleasure wise. We've made tons of friends at our little cove.For the most part we just take little cruises down the Intracoastal to a cove where we anchor our boat, we don't goout on the ocean much. Hubby has done some nice fishing off the boat though..

We have all sorts of adventures on the boat. When our first Chihuahua was suffering from Cancer we took him on his last boat ride on this boat. As we motored down the Intracoastal we were surrounded by white feathers. As we approached the cove a pod of Manatees breached in front of us. That was a boat ride we'll never forget. Another time we were out for a ride and as we approached another boat we couldn't help but notice it was packed with half naked girls. They were filming 'Girls Gone Wild" and waved to us to pull over to them. They needed to film from our boat if it was okay with us. Of course, my husband being extremely gallant was more than happy to oblige. He was happily surrounded by nubile young things. Another great memory to look back on.

We have a fish tank that we set up. As we motor down the intracoastal when we see seaweed we will net it and shake it out over a pail of water. This is how we get fish for the tank. As they get bigger we return them to the waters.

Boating isn't all just fun and games, It's serious. You need to know what you're doing. There seems to be no laws about taking boating courses. People can buy a boat and hit the water. When we anchor at the cove we see people tying off to trees, using only a front anchor leaving them swinging in every direction, running over other boats lines. People power up with huge boats and haven't a clue as to what they are doing.

Now, to get to the anchor part of the story. We anchor with a Fortress aluminum anchor. It's worked through a windlass . You just hit the up down switch. We chose this because it's lightweight, easy to grab and has a lifetime warranty. It's a Danforth style. It has two triangular blades which help it hold in the sandy bottom. It keeps out boat secure. The cove is to the right of the intracoastal and when big boats come and go through the inlet you can get a lot of wave action. As regulars at the beach we try and respect others boats as well as the land. We anchor properly, clean up after ourselves. My husband will help other boaters anchor as will eveyone else there.

We enjoy our boat, we enjoy the area and we hope to continue to do that. We're teaching our grandkids the pleasures and responsibilities of boating. We look back at these lickity split decisions we made and are just tickled that they turned out so well.

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