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THANKSGIVING AND LOOP CRUISE

 

 

On November 25^th seven boats headed out for Thanksgiving at the South Seas Marina on Captiva.  Included were the Risings on Denise’s Hope, Cooks on Cookin’, Herrins on Our Lady, Odenbachs on Odiekanobi, Thomases and Keenans on Pinch-Her, Herndons on TenneSea Waltz and Brinkoetters on Gotta Luvit.  We all enjoyed dinner that evening and had a great Thanksgiving.  The day concluded with a traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner.  We were joined by Larry Oswald and Betty Rosa who drove up for dinner.

 

On Friday, the 27^th all of us but the Brinkoetters, who had to return to Marco, left Captiva heading for a rendezvous with Bob and Sharon Burns on the Molly B in Fort Myers to begin the “Loop” portion of our adventure.  However, Cookin’ had to make an emergency stop for fuel at Tarpon Pointe because the new boat they purchased the night before leaving didn’t have enough fuel to get to Fort Myers and Captiva didn’t have fuel because their tanks were being replaced.  We all made it to the rendezvous with Molly B in Fort Myers where Bob discovered he had forgotten to unplug his electric cord and was dragging it behind his boat.  Trust me; this was just the start of the calamities.

 

That night all seven of us pulled into Roland Martins Marina in Clewiston ,and just as we rounded the last turn into the marina, Denny’s boat began overheating and he was forced to shut down one engine.  What he thought was going to be a simple impellor change turned into a broken water pump shaft.  Bob Burns came to the rescue with the name and number of Ahmet, his Naples-based diesel mechanic.  Around midnight Ahmet showed up in Clewiston with a used water pump, and by two am Denny’s boat was back in running condition.  That evening we were all treated to a great home-cooked dinner put on by JoAnne Herndon and Vicki Herrin.  As we went to bed, all was well and we anticipated no further problems…boy were we wrong.

 

Saturday morning we all left Clewiston and had not gone more than a mile when trouble again raised its ugly head.  In an effort to be polite and allow a boat to pass him, Joe Herrin moved a little to starboard and the wind took him just a little further to starboard and smack into a hard rock bottom.  As any us of would do, Gerry Odenbach attempted to position his boat for a rescue and ended up hitting those same rocks.  Bob Herndon finally got Our Lady off the rocks and underway.  Not knowing the extent of the prop damage to Our Lady and Odiekanobi, the group continued on its way to Stuart.  Along the way we negotiated the locks and arrived safely at the Hutchinson Island Marriott Hotel and Marina in Stuart.  We enjoyed the afternoon, got a plug on the Molly B’s electric cable, and had a great dinner in the Marriott dining room.

 

Sunday morning we headed south down the ICW for a leisurely cruise to the Old Port Cove Marina in North Palm Beach.  Without a doubt this was the nicest marina we visited.  They had just finished a $22 million renovation to the marina with all new floating docks, and they were wonderful.  That evening we split into two groups with Herrins, Herndons, Risings and Odenbachs taking a limo to a jewelry store that opened on a Sunday evening just for Vicki.  I think the jeweler went home smiling that night.  The Cooks, Burns and Thomases, along with their friends, the Keenans, headed out on a “short” three-mile walk to dinner at Bonefish Grill.

 

On Monday morning we continued our ICW cruise to the Bahia Mar Marina in Fort Lauderdale.  Denny lead the group and timed the bridge openings with precision.  I think our larger boats only waited for one bridge to open.  However, our calamities were not over!  Our two-night scheduled stay in Fort Lauderdale turned into a five-night stay.  Divers quickly discovered that the props on both Our Lady and Odiekanobi were severely damaged.  A new set of props for Odiekanobi were quickly obtained, but Joe Herrin was not so lucky with props for Our Lady.  A local prop shop attempted to repair them but after three days determined they were damaged beyond repair.  Eventually the prop shop came up with a make-shift set of loaner props that at least got Our Lady back under motion.