New Friends, the Internet, and the Boat

Our stay at Flamingo will be remembered because of new friends Jo and Bill, what we learned about data connections and time we spent in the boat.  Bill and Jo are from New Jersey - retired educators - avid outdoors people / fishing and hunting.  There are some people who you meet for the first time, and it feels as if you've known them a lifetime.  That would be Bill and Jo.  Good people as eager to hear our story as they were to tell their own.  They have four dogs after all.  Hunting dogs.  We've shared two suppers and plan to share on our final night also - pooling our resources and enjoying good company and conversation with friends.  We'll be sad to say good-by.

As for data connections... Just because there is a strong cell phone signal does not mean there is a strong data connection.  On the edge of extended service, Internet connections come and go... Very slowwwwwwww.

The little dory continues to win our hearts.  We were able to put it in the water, the Buttonwood Canal, twice this week, but the focus was auxiliary power.  Three different motors were being tested.  The first was a 2.5 gas engine which was heavy and made the boat unbalanced.  Keep in mind it's a double pointed boat like a canoe.  a motor mount us required to use an engine which puts it off to the side.  The second was a small electric that was amazingly quiet, did not unbalance the boat, but did not have enough thrust to push the boat like we wanted.  The third was electric with 55 lbs. thrust... Just right.  It's quiet, pushes the boat, and did not drain the battery in a four hour ride.

We took an amazing ride on the channel today and made it out into Coot Bay before heading back to dock.  Mangroves line the channel at times so dense little else can be seen.  I have to admit that I have fallen in love with the Everglades and have developed a sense of sadness too. While we have been here, I have been reading a book titled, The Swamp.  It's a history of south Florida and how the environment has been ravaged over the years in the name of development.  Attempts to drain the Everglades and control Mother Nature have been devastating to the ecological system of south Florida.  It's hard to know if the landscape we now see is even remotely like what it was 100 or more years ago.