Three weeks ago Diesel Duck crossed lake Okeechobee bound for the Glades Boat Storage where we planned on taking her out for a bottom paint job and maintenance work. The boat yard is situated between Stuart and Fort Myers on the Okeechobee Waterway. It is a do-it-yourself place which Benno and I prefer because we are very particular and careful which products we use and how they are applied and when it comes to technical repairs, Benno really would do them himself. Beside the work area where the occupants are allowed to stay onboard, there is also a separate and secured large storage field for the boats stored here during the hurricane season or, in some cases, for longer periods.




(view from our door over the blocked boats to the west)


To get around while working in the boat yard we wanted our van at our disposal which necessitated that Benno flew home to fetch the car and drive back down. While he did that, we had prior tied Diesel Duck to a private dock on one of the canals at the Turtle Creek area which is about 3 miles farther than the boat yard on the opposite site of the waterway. Mark & Joyce Richter of "Mark Richter's Mobile Marine tel. 863 517 1152", who Benno knows from the internet's "T&T list" referred us to this lovely secluded spot. We were able to use the facilities of the currently unoccupied and very beautiful house and had water and hydro hooked up to the boat. I enjoyed 10 days there and met the whole neighborhoods who were all somehow involved in yachting.








To our surprise we spotted "Northern Lights" anchored across from the boat yard when we motored up the Okeechobee Waterway. She is a custom 48+ foot steel Diesel Duck built also at McNally Marine in Canada and the last time we had seen the boat was in 2008 in Panama . We blasted our horn and John, her owner, and Benno shouted to each other "What are you doing here?" John kindly offered to drive Benno to the airport at Ft. Myers and promptly arrived at 2:50 A.M. the morning Benno was to fly out to pick him up. What a friendship!









Now we are hauled out working on Diesel Duck's bottom and other areas that needed our attention. If you have been there, (meaning living on the hard) you know what I am talking about. A few boats down from us, a power boat had a different kind of problem that needed to be looked after. It seemed that a complete beehive found a new home in one of the exhaust tunnels. The owner only comes here on weekends to work on his boat and the new occupants got busy to produce enough honeycombs to yield a full pot of honey during his absence. Luckily, the boat owner is a hobby beekeeper and was able to relocate the entire swarm.