I am selling our little 1979 Boston Whaler. It is kind of rare since almost all of these older boats for sale have been sanded down, holes covered up, poorly repainted, etc. This one is still factory original in great condition and with the original electric start 35hp Merc too! If you are starting a Boston Whaler museum this is a great first purchase. Imagine a 10 year old kid getting this boat to use – permanent smile! It has been a fun little boat, but situations in life change. Open to offers.

My neighbor grew this pineapple last year. They are very easy to grow but do take some time, about a year and half or more! The technique is simple, buy a pineapple from the store, cut off the top just below the spikey part and place it about an inch in the soil. Keep it watered at first, then just leave it alone. Next, wait 2 years and voila. I now have one growing in my yard that’s about 10 months old.

My Dad and I went up to the Punta Gorda Airshow today. Although the traffic was terrible (1.5 hours waiting to get parked) and it was beyond hot out in that field, we managed to enjoy a few hours of cool planes and interesting stories. If you go, bring chairs, an umbrella or sun tent and plenty of cold liquid.

For my birthday, my wife bought me some Heliconia Bahai (bah-hi). Heliconia are my favorite plant and cover over 200 species. Although they don’t flourish in the winter months in Florida, they really come to life in the wet, hot, rainy summer. Here’s a photo of the first new flower beginning to bloom. Later, these two bracts will grow to 9 or 10 and it will be stunning. This plant is over 7 feet tall! If you know what this particular cultivar is please let me know in the comments.

My neighbor, and expert fishing guide, took me out for a fishing trip yesterday! It was dead low tide at 7 AM but Bill was unfazed, he loaded up his 28 foot Grady White and headed out of Pine Island Sound and navigated through Boca Grande Pass. We caught bait fish along the way and continued on until we were about 30 miles off the coast of Sanibel. The waters were azure blue. By the end of the the day, we had caught several kind of Snapper, a Remora, and this big beautiful Grouper. That night I ate the best grouper I’d ever had. Want to fish on Pine Island? Check out Bill Schwalm’s Better Days Pine Island Florida Fishing Charter Service. He’s a great guy, knows his stuff and is highly recommended!

This is second time we have been to Tarpon Lodge for dinner and again it was excellent – dinner was delicious, the service was good and the sunset view over the marina was perfect. After dinner, we strolled out to the docks to eye the beautiful fishing boats – another nice night on Pine Island.

With the hurricane past, I ventured back out on Pine Island Sound and it was beautiful. I saw a pod of dolphins, a big Ray jumped about 5 feet out of the water and I noticed that the Osprey are back in town. The Osprey were perched on the pole tops, one  with a fish in its claws. This photo, taken at sunset, is of marker #12 just off St. James City.