A Wild and Horrible Night
Mike, Skip, and I fished from Skip’s boat this morning. We caught a few small trout, and released them. The red drum didn’t want anything to do with us even though Mike tossed his lures onto their heads. We then went to Skip’s home to bid Mike, Kari, and Kami farewell on their drive back home to Tallahassee. Laurie gave me a haircut; we visited for a while, and then left for the beach. After a couple of hours of surf and sand, we shopped at Wal Mart and headed home.
Approaching our anchorage off the 520 causeway, we could see 2 marine patrol boats with their lights going, right next to Stardust. A man was visible on Stardust- she had been boarded! Getting closer, we saw numerous police cars in the park, and blocking access to the park.
I got out of the van, and told the policeman blocking the park that that was my boat out there surrounded by patrol boats. He asked for proof, so I showed him the photo of Stardust on the cover of my notebook. He said that a man was seen swimming towards Stardust, and was “missing”, but that our boat did not appear to be disturbed.
Fishermen on shore described a man who claimed that his dinghy had been stolen, and was going to swim out to his boat, pointing at Stardust. He took off his shirt and shoes, then got in the water and started “dog paddling” out to Stardust. It took him a long time, but just before he got to the boat, he went under, and was not seen again. They called the police, which got the Coast Guard, Marine patrol, sheriffs, dive teams, and investigators on site. It took an hour to find the drowned man’s body. I overheard the cops talking about how he had a rap sheet for selling stolen boat electronics. In the meantime, there were 3 wrecks on the bridge above us due to rubbernecking motorists.
They finally let us dinghy out to our boat at 8:00. Everything was fine onboard. Hopefully Rachel won’t dream about drowned men under our boat. She couldn’t believe that people actually had the job of searching for bodies underwater.
Tomorrow is Rachel’s first day of school. She went to bed trying to decide what to wear for her first day of school. I told her I was certain she would be the prettiest girl in the whole school. I have a dentist appointment for 1pm to find out what is up with my painful molar.
Approaching our anchorage off the 520 causeway, we could see 2 marine patrol boats with their lights going, right next to Stardust. A man was visible on Stardust- she had been boarded! Getting closer, we saw numerous police cars in the park, and blocking access to the park.
I got out of the van, and told the policeman blocking the park that that was my boat out there surrounded by patrol boats. He asked for proof, so I showed him the photo of Stardust on the cover of my notebook. He said that a man was seen swimming towards Stardust, and was “missing”, but that our boat did not appear to be disturbed.
Fishermen on shore described a man who claimed that his dinghy had been stolen, and was going to swim out to his boat, pointing at Stardust. He took off his shirt and shoes, then got in the water and started “dog paddling” out to Stardust. It took him a long time, but just before he got to the boat, he went under, and was not seen again. They called the police, which got the Coast Guard, Marine patrol, sheriffs, dive teams, and investigators on site. It took an hour to find the drowned man’s body. I overheard the cops talking about how he had a rap sheet for selling stolen boat electronics. In the meantime, there were 3 wrecks on the bridge above us due to rubbernecking motorists.
They finally let us dinghy out to our boat at 8:00. Everything was fine onboard. Hopefully Rachel won’t dream about drowned men under our boat. She couldn’t believe that people actually had the job of searching for bodies underwater.
Tomorrow is Rachel’s first day of school. She went to bed trying to decide what to wear for her first day of school. I told her I was certain she would be the prettiest girl in the whole school. I have a dentist appointment for 1pm to find out what is up with my painful molar.
posted by Stardust at 7:58 PM
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