Florida Gathering in October, Another Ditch Run?

[Tidbart]

I have been away all week and have been pretty busy, so I have not been updating the thread. My apologies.

Weather looking great and lunch run I planned for Saturday. Can't wait.

Late-comers are still welcome. B

[Budmann]

Denese and I have decided that we will fix everyone breakfast both Sat. and Sun morning! If we could get a tentive head count then we can stock the eff. and be prepared for a GREAT weekend!

Bud

[Tidbart]

Well, we had a fantastic weekend. Didn't get the boats in on Friday as we got there later in the day.

We launched on Saturday morning at about 10:30. We then made the decision to go to Stuart for lunch. The weather was perfect with a slight wind making for good riding on the open lake. Boat traffic was minimal all the way to Stuart. This also made the locks very easy.

We went to a place called Sailor's Return on advice of one of the lock masters. This made a little more sense since the trip all the way to Pirate's Cove would have added quite a few more miles and time to our trip. We had to make sure we made it back to the locks on time as we did not want to stuck.:doh:

This proved to be no issue as we cruised about 45 mph on the way back. We had the waterway to ourselves and it was just a beautiful day. Once going through the Port Mayaca lock back onto Lake O, we saw a flat lake. The slight wind from earlier in the day had disappeared. The lake crossing was absolutely gorgeous. In the distant east sky you could see rays of sunshine showing through some clouds and smoke as the sun got lower in the sky. The smoke was from the burning of the cane fields around the lake. As we got closer to Clewiston we ran into a rain shower. It was just enough to soak us before we got to the ramp.

What a great run. We ran about 120 miles round trip. Sorry more could not attend. We ended up with just 2 boats, mine and Budmann's. Smokediver had a personal issue come up and could not attend. We were joined by Jim (Buiz), who drove up from Miami to join us for the run. Glad you could make it, Jim.

I will post a few photos in the next day or two, as soon as I get some time.

Bob

[Tidbart]

Some photos..............Run over in the am, lunch (Denese, Jim, Me, Heloisa, Bud), the run back, and evening cocktails. Enjoy.
Bob