Nettles Island, Jensen Beach, Florida

This is a great place for us. We have family and friends in the area and we have access to our car to get around.  So, in between boat chores, To Do’s and checking out our Wish List for No Keys, one must have fun!  At Nettles Marina, one becomes a member of the “Cranky Conch Boat Club” aka “The Tiki Hut Club”.  There were birthday parties, football playoffs, Super Bowl and also fair well parties.  The food, what can I say “Awesome”.  When everyone brings “A Dish”, the variety of food was great and made an incredible buffet.  There are many people that have been coming to this marina for years from New York, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Georgia and now us from Canada.  There are trawlers, catamarans, cabin cruisers and sailboats of all sizes and off course a few mega yachts 85ft and upward.

We signed up to participate in the “Annual Not So Annual – Blind Dinghy Race”.  The object of this was like a Poker Run but with a twist, the driver must wear a blind fold. Each dinghy has to have 3 people, a navigator, the blind driver (captain) and a helper. Each dinghy was given a package that contained, The Rules, The Map and The Blind Fold.

We all gathered out in the water to create a start line. Of course everyone just happened to have a super soaker on board!  Salt water was flying and you got to participate in a wet T shirt contest without even trying!  Once the air horn blasted it was time to go! 

Open your package, have the captain put on his blind fold, read the instructions and look at the course.  It weaved from one dock to another, around boats, in between boats and back again.  The navigator and helper had to give directions on which way to go and what to avoid. It was hilarious, dinghy bumper cars and off course, the super soakers.  Your goal, get all your little tags from each station.  

Half ways through the course, the captain and the navigator had to change places.  Driving a dinghy blind folded was hard to do!  Chris did the first half of the course with moi doing the last half.  Getting your “port” and “starboards” correct and remember which way the tiller goes and how many degrees.  A lot of pylons were hit and missed. But wet fun was had and our team worked it out.  We came in last place but won the “Booby Prize”!!  After the race, there was celebration, drinks and a DJ to top off the evening.  What fun!