Hello All,
I hope each and everyone of you had a great Thanks Giving and Spent lots of time with your family and friends even though the Holiday weekend is not over yet. We had a great Thanks giving. Our Family goes out to the camp which is in the woods. Grandma Skippie makes a spread, Turkey, wild hog, swamp cabbage, all the fixings you can think of and all the home made pies you can think of. We bring the four wheelers out there for everyone to ride. We take the swamp buggie through out the woods and slough looking for Deer, Wild Hogs, Turkeys and all the other wild life that lives out there. It was a beautiful day, not to hot, not too cold sunny and just right.

Okay I have a really neat boating guide story this week, which has become near and dear to my heart. I had a man named Craig contact me several months ago saying he wanted to come to Florida and buy a place on the water for his family and friends to use and enjoy. He said he wanted to buy a boat and do all the fun things you do by boat in your boating guide. I said we can do that. When I met Craig , we clicked immediately. He is a great human being who loves his family and friends very ,very much and only wants the best for them. Long story short Craig bought a beautiful place right on the water. Craig said Shane, I need to find a boat that will accommodate my wife and 5 children. I said we can do that. So after giving Craig some advice on boats he found one in the keys he fell in love with. Craig told me the boat was in Tavernier (in the Florida Keys) I said Craig, I was raised in Tavernier and I have a very good friend who will go and water test the boat for you.The water test went great and Craig bought the boat and shipped it to Ft. Myers where Craig, Eddie and I met the boat at the city boat ramp. The first day we took Craig's new boat out it was rough and windy, but it did not matter. The three of us decided to take the boat to Cabbage Key for lunch. It is about a 20 mile journey one way. The wind was blowing 20 plus knots, the seas were kicked up and rough. Once we were able to get the boat trimmed in just right Craig stuck the throttles to the consol, running about 58 MPH. Craig looked at me and yelled in my ear, I will never forget what he said... He said," Shane I have dreamed about this moment for years and now I am living it, my dream!!!!" I will never forget that for as long as I live.

Since that day, Craig and I have been out in his boat several times with his buddies, showing them all these different places to go to by boat. Craig has become familiar with our waterways and places to eat on the water. Craig told me Shane I am bringing down my family for a week and a few friends and we want to go boating and do as much as we can on the water, I said Craig Lets do it!!!

Craig brought his wife and 5 children down including his oldest daughters friend and a couple other friends too. One of the days we went boating, I took them out in my boat fishing. What a blast, this time of year there are pods of bait fish everywhere which in turn attracts the predatory fish. We ran just outside of Sanibel Island and got into massive schools of Spanish Mackerel and Bonita. Oh my did we have a blast catching these fish.

After having a ball catching several fish we all decided to go to The Naughty Mermaid at Tarpon Point and new waterfront dining facility. Wow, outstanding food and service and atmosphere right on the water. I will write about that another time.

After a great late, late lunch and beautiful sunset we headed back to Craigs boat dock to drop everyone off and get ready for dinner. All twelve of us decide to go out in the boat the next day for another adventure.

The next day we decided to take Craigs boat out to Cabbage Key. We loaded up all 13 of us, (Yes we picked up another kid), my son's friend Matt into Craigs boat and headed to Cabbage Key. Craig has become a very good navigator finding his way around our water ways with his great sense of direction and with his Chart Plotter. As Craig says, " If I get lost, I simply look at my snail trail on his chart plotter." I have to say, I am very impressed. We had a great lunch at Cabbage Key, the kids fed the turtles flowers and we caught crabs on the beach. What a great place. On the way back home we stopped at Tween Waters so the kids could swim in the huge resort style pool. We ran into a half dozen other friends there too. Again we all had a great time.

Here is the best part of this entire trip. The next day Craig took his family out in the boat, just Craig and his family. No Shane, I had to work :-)... I checked in with Craig periododically. Craig took his family to Ft. Myers beach in the boat. They anchored behind the Lani Kai. They had a ball. They went Para sailing, played on the beach,swam in the water, had lunch at the Cottage. (All of these locations are on my boating Guide for your enjoyment). Craig and his family had a great day, but I think the highlight of their day were the Dolphins. I tried several times to get the Dolphins to come up and play behind the boat the times I had Craig and his family out, the Dolphins were not too playful. I showed Craig how to get the boat to make a big wake that the Dolphins love playing in. Well that day Craig was out, the Dolphins wanted to play. Check these photos out right behind their boat..

I realize this was a long addition to the boating guide, however, I want all of you to realize, if you have a dream and you believe in yourself and in your dream, you can accomplish anything you want in your life. This Man Craig had this dream for him and his family and now he is living his dream. THE WATERFRONT LIFE STYLE...The things and memories Craig and his family experienced while down here in Sunny South West Florida, they will never forget, especially their Children. I want to give special praise to Carolyn, Craig's wife, She is an amazing Loving, Caring person who loves her family so, so much.

Until next week, make time to spend with your family and friends, life is too short, so make the best of it.

Take Care..