South Seas – Boca Grande Cruise

South Sea’s Report
On Monday, January 16th, 13 boats prepared to travel to South Seas Resort to Captiva Island. As usual, we broke the boats up into two speed groups and Therapy III leaving later on their own group called “eventually”.

It was a fantastic day with light winds and one foot seas, which drastically changed 5 days later, to high winds and 10 foot seas, etc.

Due to expected high seas, eight boats decided to return from South Seas for home, instead of the possibility of extending the second leg of the Cruise to Boca Grande for an unknown extended number of days. Cookin’, Nauti Buoy, Seneca, Too Many Wakes, Miss Ava and 0 Sea D continued onto Boca Grande.

While at South Seas Marina (which is always a favorite marina), Monday, the boaters enjoyed dinner on their own. Tuesday, the group enjoyed a fantastic dinner in a private dining room at the Green Flash Restaurant. Wednesday, we celebrated Brent’s Birthday with “Pizza Tails” and of course birthday cake.

Thursday, MBYC group had a fun time for Dinner at Doc Fords in a private room as we were 26 people.

During the days the Ladies spent time playing Mah Jongg and Canasta, walking along the beach, shopping and relaxing by the pool. The guys spent their time telling boating war stories, working on boats, playing Mexican Train, and also relaxing by the pool.

On his maiden voyage the Cooks had a new chick magnet “Timmy”. He had wonderful time, and is “a true boater”.

Friday was departure day, 8 boats to Marco & 7 boats to Boca Grande.  As usual, everyone had a great time.

Boca Grande report
Friday morning six boats took off for the short trip from South Seas Resort to Boca Grande Marina. This is always a favorite of many of us and we were sorry that the forward-looking weather report kept some of our group from continuing the trip. My Turn and Sonatella were scheduled to return to Marco, and they were joined by Sea Y’all, Gotta Luvit, Che Jac, Sweet Lips, A-Blast, and Divergent, some with conflicting appointments that would not allow for extra days if the weather and/or seas made it necessary to extend our return date, and some with memories of our “rough” trip back from Marathon on our previous cruise.

Cookin (Cooks), Nauti Buoy (Mounts), Therapy III (Browns), Too Many Wakes (Mulligans), Seneca (Brooks Wood and Sandy King) and Miss Ava (Mike Carter and Ava Dotti) were welcomed at Boca Grande by the Grahams on O Sea D who cruised up the day before. Also joining us in Boca Grande was Dianne Kernan who drove up – already missing the camaraderie of the boat cruises since putting their boat, Wanderer V, on the market. Several beautiful days were spent touring the island by golf cart, shopping, playing Triple Canasta and Mexican Train Dominoes (and Susan Cook even gave Ava her first Mah Jongg lesson), eating, eating and eating some more! Two group dinners were planned by Brent at the Eagle Grille at the Marina and Temptations Restaurant, both excellent.

The weather was beautiful except for Monday which had some clouds and sprinkles and a very early morning short downpour. Winds were high and our brave captains made their way across the island by golf cart to check the gulf waters. It was decided to delay our departure one day to allow the seas to settle down. No one seemed to mind staying an extra day. The trip back to Marco on Wednesday was only a little bumpy, but the weather was beautiful and everyone enjoyed the ride, including the Cooks’ adorable new puppy, Timmy.

We were all happy to have Brooks and Sandy (1st cruise with MBYC) and Mike and Ava (2nd cruise although Mike was a member years ago) with us. We enjoyed spending time and getting to know them all and are always happy to have new cruisers. Our almost monthly cruises are a wonderful way for new people (with or without their boats) to get to know our members. Most cruises are planned with hotels/motels either on the marina site or nearby.

February’s cruise goes to Palm Island, Sarasota, St. Petersburg and Venice. Plan to join us on all or part of the trip. Contact Brent Cook or Mike Brown for information.