Having grown up watching Gentle Ben, I was always awestruck by the very concept of the Everglades. I couldn't wait to actually see it. The idea of boating through it on my own craft was never really a childhood thought. It was too far fetched to consider.
I have talked a bunch about the Shorebilly and it's versatility on the trip. Big Ben introduced the world to the airboat and made the shallows of the region notorious. One of the giant advantages of the Shorebilly her draft, which is only ~2 feet. Our first stop was Goodland. Here are two views of the navigation into the area. Dark red means less than one foot. Light red means 1 - 4 feet. These are essentially the same view just one is zoomed way in. Red is bad ....
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But the Shorebilly went through without any problems. In the shallow areas I simply tilted up the engines and glided over everything. This from a boat that was able to also tame a 180 miles open water crossing in 3 - 4 foot seas. Pretty spectacular.
Goodland
Goodland Everglades is a nothing town in the middle of bugville. We only stopped because it was one of the few marinas in the area. Guess what I discovered .... THE 70's! The entire town was hopping like Dewey Beach Delaware in the late 70's with bands playing outside, people dancing in the streets and fun was fully on tap. It was funny for I think it was even the same people! Many people were in their 60's+.
And look at the hair on the band! Tell me that is not from the 70's.
What a blast. Needless to say, it was an early night because I have now hit the age where I have to decide if I want to play in the day or at night. There is no doing both.
Everglade City
In researching the area, one of the big draws is the Rod and Gun Club. From their website:
The Rod and Gun Club is built on the original structure of the first permanent white settler who founded Everglades City in 1864. In 1922 Barron G. Collier, a banker and railroad man, bought almost all of Southwest Florida including the Rod and Gun Club which he operated as a private club. He hosted international dignitaries and several United States presidents here.
About a half dozen presidents and many movie stars have visited the place. Today only the lobby, bar and restaurant are open. The county requires the place be brought up to modern code before guest are allowed to sleep in the place. But the lobby area was fantastic.
The town of Everglades City proved to be delightful with a museum revealing the history of the area. Baron Gift Collier, founder, had one heck of a vision for the place and in its day I am sure was something to behold.
If you are in the Everglades, you have to do an airboat tour. This is like a Disney ride for adults. What a hoot.
I video'ed it to try and give a feel for the adrenaline rush. Imagine going 30mph+ through the mangroves with less than a foot on each side.
And of course, we got to meet some of the locals!
Everglades City proved to be a lot of fun with lots of interesting / unique things. Over the years the storms have taken its toll on the area and it is now only a shadow of itself. With that being said, it was still a great fun stop.
But' at last, it was time to close this chapter of the trip and this is where the Shorebilly had a chance to shine (again). The conditions were less than optimal but not bad: 2 - 3 foot waves. We wanted to make the big 125 mile jump to John Pennecamp State Park on Key Largo. The Shorebilly laughed (figuratively) at this effort.
Well, that's all for now. Next write-up will be about our time in the Keys, But I want to close with a HUGE smile. Months ago I wrote about our son Colt and his wife expecting. Meet Ava Madelyn Smoot born January 12, 2024. What a sweetie.
April 26 Haircuts On The Boat The admiral gets a little over zealous when it comes to cutting my hair. I wonder why? Maybe we have been on the boat a little to long ..... The Albemarle Loop The InterCoastal Waterway (ICW) between Norfolk and Key West brings prosperity to the towns that line it. As boat travels up and down the coast, owners stop and spend. Studies differ on the exact number, but indications are that a new dollar to an area will circulate 6+ times. Therefore, a $100 expenditure from an outside source has the economic impact of ~$600. For example; If you hire a boat mechanic, he spends that money at the farmers market for food. The farmer spends the money on help to harvest the crop ... and on and on. Lots of boaters on the ICW bring lots of spending that brings prosperity. Towns not on the ICW do not benefit from boat traffic that is moving just miles away. The North Carolina Albemarle Sound communities, they came up w...
June 26 CANADA!!! We made it to Canada! Yea! As a parting gift to the good old USA I took a dive into Lake Champlain. Whereas it was not as cold as my dive with Billy on Puget Sound, it was still far colder than this southern boy could handle. My total time in the water was ~30 seconds. This was the beginning of the skinny water. The Richelieu. It is extremely narrow compared to the wide open waters of Lake Champlain. We took this from the border just above Rouses Point to St-Jean sur Richelieu. As part of the Parks Canada pass for lockage, we also purchased a season pass for using the lock walls for mooring. This allows us to stay at no additional cost right in the heart of most towns where there is a lock. St-Jean sur Richelieu was just such a place. It was like stepping into downtown France. In this part of Canada, French is the primary language and the French culture is strong in the stores, restaura...
July 26 First, a smile to start off this posting. The Thousand Islands both failed to meet my expectations and far exceeded them. I guess this is to say that my expectations were all wrong. So what did I expect then? I thought I would be in a rural aquatic area accessible only by boat and largely untouched by man. What I found was just the opposite. Whereas there were at least a thousand islands (I believe Terri read somewhere that there are actually 1800), most of them were completely built out with some homes occupying 90+% of the available land. Homes were big and small. And yes they were islands so boats were the primary form of access, but there were large towns and small cities all around so amenities were never far off. Clayton NY In the last post I mentioned we were stopping in Clayton. This turned out to be a wonderful town with great food and a cool wooden boat museum. The area's history is one of wealth and at the turn of the 1900s th...
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Welcome back to the East Coast!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great write up on your Everglades excursion. Now tell me did you have some gator bites? Talk to you all soon!
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