Dan & Sally Yoder & family

I am planning a coastal/intercoastal waterway trip with my son and daughter, 7 and 8 years old starting in Fort Myers Florida in March 2003 and continuing north around the gulf for as far as we can go. We will be stopping frequently to free dive for fish and stone crab, which we will be selling to other cruising boaters and restaraunts along the way through my federal and state wholesale and retail dealers licenses. We will start with a full tank of gas and some groceries and $0 in our kitty. We plan to go as far as our harvesting and sales abilities take us. It will be a kind of comfortable but rustic subsistance camping on a 25' pontoon boat trip. We have room to take a father and 1 or 2 children my kids ages for short stretches of the way. All we ask is that you pay the gas for that stretch and come aboard with lots of groceries!(and a good attitude) By the way, I am a commercial fisherman with quite a bit of offshore and inshore harvesting experience. Now, I am just looking to give my kids a memory they will have forever. Any thoughts, advice, concerns, or comments are welcomed!

xxx

Have you thought about posting this on a bulliten board at any of the marinas? You may get better response.

x

Um, no offense, but this sounds horrible. Trapped on a boat with a bunch of strangers, no money, forced to dive for fish and crabs every day? Not exactly my idea of what makes Kodak moments. But yes, the kids will remember it forever, you got that right.

Dan

Who said anything about no money? We start with no money, by the time we clear Sarasota our jar will have good gas reserves. That`s the fun of it! And make no mistake, I`ll have a pocket full of credit cards. And who`s trapped? I can put 15 adults on this boat, 2 adults and 4 kids cruising a couple of days together is exactly what I call a Kodac moment.

cjf

troll

yyy

Oh yeah, my kids are always demanding I take them on a long trip on a smelly fish boat so they can dive for their keep in the polluted intercoastal waters all day. Fun fun fun!

Dan

Too bad, my kids love the water. I have been taking them on family boat outings for many years. I`ll never forget my girls eyes the first time I came up from underwater. As for dirty, have you ever been to Sanibel Island, or Cayo Costa state park. Just some of the prettiest parts of FL you won`t see at Disneyworld. And the trolls, we haven`t seen any under the bridges yet, but troll sized Mangrove Snapper, now that`s a great dinner for anyone!

Dan

Trolls don`t usually put their real email address on the post, my friend. I will say, it must be a bother to look on Fodors for a post on northern parts of the US and see posts from Florida. I would think Fodors might delineate areas somewhat, NW,SW,NE,SE etc.. There is definately a lot of traffic here. I won`t be responding to the 'troll' accusations hereafter, but anyone who wishes can email me for a couple of photos of our boat trips, fish etc... And all serious comments, pro or con are very much appreciated.

LN

Hi Dan

I'm sorry your story got such bad treatment. I actually enjoyed it and since my husband and I love to fish - I would have imagined many to have enjoyed doing this with you.

I hope that you and your son and daughter continue with your plan. The kids will enjoy it and you'll have gained a lot with your kids. We have enjoyed rafting up all around the Chesapeake Bay and all its little inlets and now we're trying to do a little of that in Sarasota Bay near LBK.

Good luck with your venture.

j

Dan, sounds like quite an ambitious plan, but what will you do with a 7 & 8 yr old while you are busy underwater? Will they be safe/trustworthy alone on the boat? I know some kids that age that you could NOT leave alone. Are you going to freedive for the stone crabs too? How will you know where to look? Do you have a scale onboard and a current price list so you can estimate, or just barter/round things off? Where will you anchor at night - docks or out in the gulf?

Be sure and bring all that paperwork - the Marine Patrol may get on your case!