Boating is...by boatguy Ed Fort Myers Beach is a satirical site!

Let me tell you how good the Florida VA care is... On the way back from a 2 week driving vacation I became short of breath with coughing and wheezing. I self-diagnosed upper respiratory infection but since my open heart surgery and unresolved issues were on our minds, Marion and I swung over to the VA Hospital in St. Pete. Thru the Emergency room I was admitted for upper respiratory infection or Congested Heart Failure. Battery of tests concluded Bronchitis but my Hospitalist  was still convinced of CHF until Marion caught my stuff.  In the mean time my CT scan showed total blockage in one of the artery's not replaced during the CABG. The procedure had been on hold because of infection. Whamo I was scheduled for an Angioplasty of a totally blocked vessel?  YIKES Even some of my family in the field were concerned. A hotshot Doctor explained it would be no problem. He did them all the time, he had this! Somewhat abrasive but very confident. He did it! WOW and this is the...

http://www.tradeonlytoday.com/2016/06/u-s-approves-boat-insurance-for-cuba-travel/ Common sense has finally prevailed. Pantaenius, a U.S. marine insurer, said it will offer coverage for American boats traveling in Cuban waters. This eliminates a major barrier to cruising and fishing in Cuba, in my opinion. Ten months ago, the division of the U.S. Treasury Department that regulates interactions with Cuba under the U.S. embargo announced that U.S. citizens with a legal reason to travel to Cuba could do so by boat — their own boat. However, the regulations did not permit U.S. insurers to offer hull insurance. Thus insurance issues have proved the major disincentive for the many American boaters dreaming of visiting Cuba. This was true when AIM Marine Group, parent company of Soundings Trade Only, organized a rally that went to Cuba in April and as articulated to us by the many boaters who have sought to visit the island nation on their own. Pantaenius is a German insurer with a U...

The Best BBQ ribs on Fort Myers Beach ain't at that place on Main Street with they're bunch of terrible ratings but in the Boot Kicken Sports Bar and Grill. Fantastic views and Kay's fabulous Ribs!

         When 91 year old Kel Egony passed away recently in Lee Memorial Hospital not many of his fellow Danes would ever have guessed that would be the place he would draw his final breathe. In his youth in Denmark, 14 year old Kel wanted to be an airplane mechanic but when the Germans invaded, his family insisted he change apprenticeships to became a mason.           Kel Jorgensen was too young to be conscripted by the Nazi's but old enough to work for the underground. Their jobs were especially difficult since the occupying German soldiers spoke fluent Danish after growing up in Denmark because of food shortages in Germany after the first World War. Still, his unit smuggled 3,000 Jews to neutral Sweden through enemy held territory before the war ended.            After the war, Kel and his brother Jorgen Jorgensen started a death defying circus act involving spinning around 75 feet in th...

I've never been a flag waver because I've never felt the need to confirm my Patriotism. I have my VA card to do that, if ever questioned. Likewise, I don't belong to any service clubs mostly because they smoke in them. And I wasn't ever a big green wearer on St. Pat's Day because of my red hair. If you couldn't tell I was Irish, you were blind. The non-Irish dressed up like clowns all in green. I wore just enough to piss off any Johnny Bulls I'd come across. I was never ashamed of any of it, you understand. I was accosted by a young hippie girl in the Pittsburgh Train Station the night I got out when she tried to throw a drink on me. Her aim was off because she didn't remove the lid and it went all over her as well. It was the perfect excuse to get out of my uniform and I arrived home in civvies which disappointed my Mother some. For thirty years I never thought much of my Army experience. I hadn't been permanently stationed in Vietnam ...

Boating….2004 by boatguy Ed          “This ain’t supposed to happen here,” were the words that bounced around in my head as I watched the local weather person bravely contradict NOAA about where the killer storm would landfall. For two days I had joined family and friends in the ritualistic tying up of boats, tossing pool furniture into the pool, boarding up windows and filling sandbags. But I never believed it was coming so close.             Our CBS affiliate called it first but within minutes the combined NBC/ABC team confirmed that the storm was taking an easterly turn and would impact the coast very closely to the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. That was between 1:30 and 2 p.m. and up to that moment we were staying. We left for obvious reasons.             I can rationalize meteorologicaly why our 44-year-old streak without a major hurricane ended on Friday the 13th. The compar...

Happy Day, Mommy! Boating America’s Cup racing on Ft. Myers Beach? by boatguy Ed Can you get excited about sailing? Have you ever watched The America’s Cup on television? If the answer is yes to either of these questions then you might have enjoyed an afternoon on the bright clear water off Ft. Myers Beach last Saturday. My old “Boating Show” television co-host, Captain Roger Nodruff and I went out on his 24 foot Morgan fishing charter boat in search of our youth. We’d both been smitten with sailboat racing in our younger days and the opportunity to be so close to so many good and great sailors was too much to pass up. The occasion was the 2004 Fantasy Sail Weekend, Leukemia Cup Regatta hosted by Gary Jobson and Colgate Sailing School to benefit t he Leukemia & Lymphoma Society trying to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Sailors from across...