Everyone had a blast at the Last Hurrah – Pool-A-Rama !!  Six boats left Marco bright and early to begin our adventure at Palm Island Marina on Tuesday morning, May 3rd.  Palm Island is a beautiful, quiet little marina tucked away in Cape Haze at the far south end of Lemon Bay.  The inviting pool and a locally popular seafood restaurant, Leverock’s, was only steps away from our boats.  We had the whole facility to ourselves, so for lunch everyone pitched-in making a delicious potluck feast prepared by our talented first-mates at the Palm Island poolside.  For dinner, we all took the little water taxi (I think Bob Herndon felt like it was the Titanic!!)  to Rum Bay restaurant on Knight Island, where Al and Susan found some delicious ice cream cones for desert.
On Thursday, we left our quaint, secluded little Palm Island paradise for the lush, tropical Captive paradise, South Seas.  There we were met by the Glefands and DeHanas in My Turn and our seven boats made up “M” and “N” docks at the far end of the marina.  Mother Nature tried to ruin our docktail party that night by sending an evening thunderstorm, but Marco Bay Fun Club persevered and we tucked into the South Seas Marina community Room.  It seems that the best food of the cruise comes from our own first mate’s galilees.  For our docktail/pot luck party we had a delicious feast of homemade meatballs, bang bang shrimp, chicken, ham/cheese and seafood sandwiches, egg/sausage quiches with a scrumptious chocolate desert and lemon cake.  No one went home hungry that night, and Mother Nature promised good times ahead by sending the most beautiful, color filled full rainbow from the bay waters across the sky.
The new pool facility at South Seas is hard to beat.  Marco Bay had two “Free” cabanas at the far end of the pool away from all the commotion overlooking a beautiful blue bay where the manatees and dolphins played.   The girls also played and played and played Mah Jongg, and the guys just relaxed on the cushy lounge chairs reading books or listening to “FOX” news between dips in the cool pool waters.  That evening, we all took off in different directions to explore one of the many inviting Captiva restaurants or to watch the gorgeous South Seas sunset on the beach.  
Then it was off again to our third and final destination, Tarpon Point Marina in Cape Coral.  Once we were docked, everyone abandoned ship to join the Herndons on Tennessea Waltz and Captain Bob took us by water for a yummy lunch at Rum Runners.  Soon we were back again to investigate the Tarpon Point Pool and new shops at the marina.   As it was Kentucky Derby Day, all the Marco Bay first mates donned their festive, flowered derbies for a dip in the pool and the captains, though not as colorful as their first mates, also took advantage of the sunny day and the cool pool waters.  For the evening meal, we all met for dinner at Marker 92, the derby decorated first mates and their captains, and the Fleet Captain began to ask the inevitable  Pool-A-Rama question “Which Pool Did You Enjoy the Most and Why??”   The conclusion of this fleet captain is that there were THREE winners for three different reasons:
Palm Island – First among all the girls and one of the guys because it was secluded, tropical and we were very close to each other, the pool and all the amenities the marina had to offer.
South Seas – First because of the lush environmental “eye candy”.  The cool, refreshing pool was right on the bay with gulf breezes gently blowing in from the water and the cabanas were terrific.
Tarpon Point – First among the guys because of the tropical, new on the water pool views which included the girl in the brown bikini (must be the male captain’s form of eye candy!!).
For our last supper, the boaters all gathered at the marina harbormaster’s patio where Captain Al grilled up fresh hamburgers and giant Hebrew National hot dogs for everyone.  As we watched the final sunset of our cruise, everyone agreed that boating is great fun and being out on the water with friends is the best!!
Remember: “There are good ships and there are wood ships, and there are ships that sail the sea….But the best ships are friendships, and may they ever be !!”
See You Soon…..Fleet Captain Ginny