THE JOURNEYS OF TERRMAR IV: OCTOBER 8-16,2012- NAPLES, FL

We are heading south to Naples, FL and the weather gods have looked down on us with favour! When travelling in the Gulf of Mexico we always cross our fingers and hope for comfortable boating. Four hours of sunshine and 1 foot waves, even Smudge was relaxed! We were excited because it is one of our favorite Florida winter destinations and interesting to view from a boating perspective. Naples City Docks was our resting place for 5 nights (Naples has a strange rule that transient boaters may not stay any longer than 5 nights at a time at any particular marina). It seemed like home and we were well acquainted with the area, many attractions and restaurants within biking distance including their famous white sand beaches and boutique shopping districts. Visits to Handsome Harry’s and Tommy Bahamas restaurants were a must and didn’t disappoint! We were enjoying Naples so much that we decided to splurge a few days and tie up at American Marine $$$ (advertising a pool), continuing north near Tin City, past Naples City Dock.

Unfortunately, although very pretty with pool and floating docks, we would have preferred the more cost efficient City Docks. The wind was kicking up and coupled with a nasty current, docking proved to be a bit of a challenge. By now captain Mark was very adept at handling his own vessel, however when docking in less than ideal conditions it is always welcome to have help from experienced, capable dock hands. This marina could learn a thing or two from their competition down at the City Docks. The 3 Stooges come to mind and the cardinal rule of docking – wrap the line around a cleat! Despite very arrogant attitudes, completely ignoring any instruction from “the little woman” on board Terrmar, even though this “little woman” has helped dock this vessel while travelling over 3000 miles with many different docking scenarios, Terrmar landed safely. Could not believe my ears when the oldest of the 3 stooges, proceeded to lecture me on docking etiquette, patronizingly explaining that the dock hands are suppose give orders to the captain and boat hands when docking???? All the while I smiled with gritted teeth, silently vowing not to spend another cent at this marina! Determined not to let our first impressions ruin our visit we enjoyed the pool every day, explored Tin City by dingy and let the parade of boats navigating the channel entertain us as we relaxed on the fly bridge.
Terri