Shoving Off, the Gasparilla Pirate Parade and More about Mullets

It looks as though we will be shoving off in 2 days. The boat is stocked with food and supplies and all fueled up (600 gallons!!) We just need to load up on fresh vegetables and then we’re off!

Last week, I rented a video on CPR when I found out that the owner has a cholesterol level of over 300!!!! (He wouldn’t tell me the exact number). Then I got smart and rented some videos on chart reading and navigation. I figure, if he keels over on the trip I’ll give the CPR thing a try and when that doesn’t work it’s the old heave-ho and I set a course for South America!! I’ll sell the boat to some drug lord in Uruguay and retire in semi-luxury with an army of cabana boys at my beck and call to fan me and give me foot massages.
Aaaaaah. “More pressure on the big toe, Pedro.”

The wildlife count now includes 3 dolphins, a couple of blue herons, some monkeys that I saw when I snuck into Noah’s Chimp Farm, and thousands of raving drunk lunatics at the Gasparilla Pirate Parade (Tampa’s answer to Mardi Gras). The legend goes something like this: Two hundred years ago, the pirate Jose Gasparilla, invaded the city of Tampa and sacked the town using the usual pirate techniques of pillaging, looting, general mayhem, etc. So, now they have a parade in his honor every February.
By this strange reasoning, I imagine 200 years from now, New York City holding an Osama parade and instead of dressing like pirates, the residents of New York City will don robes and fake beards and cheer as floats of tanks and airplanes go by on the parade route. Hey, stranger things have happened.

Unfortunately, research on the Mullet will have to be put on hold until I return from the Bahamas, but I’ve made some startling discoveries since my last report. First, I discovered that there is an island nearby called “Mullet Key”. Maybe the location of secret rituals and rites, maybe just a little island where people go to fish. No one knows! The other discovery is that of a fish called the “Mullet”. It’s a common, but unusual fish in Florida. This fish swims in large groups but has very limited contact with other species of marine life. It may have something to do with the fact that the other fish laugh at the Mullets because of their funny-looking hairdos.