Got up the next day and the fog had rolled in.
You know those mini boxes of cereal? They make for a great breakfast. We ate more snacks and stowed our sleeping gear.
I have had various toys for them to play with on the boat, but their favorites are these little rubber duckies with a short leash.
I started off with a leash about 10' long, but the spare line kept getting stepped on and tangled up in stuff.
The current length is about 3' long, just long enough for them to toss the duck out, but short enough that it doesn't tangle in stuff, and when done it wraps up around the duck very neatly.
Of course each kid brings their own selection of toys, these ducks are only for play when on the boat, they don't get to play with them at home, so they are special.
If held just right, the duck will tow very nicely and wobble back and forth as it skims over the surface of the water.
If accidentally let go, they float so I can turn around and pick them up.
On my first pocket cruiser trip with my older one (this happened years ago), I had an incredible failure with the "boat toy" I picked to bring along. It was a small plastic tug boat with a rope on it. First stupid thing I did was put a snap link in the end, she had it wrapped around her hand and I realized that if it caught on something, it could pull a finger or hand off really quickly. So I pulled off the link. The line was too long, it came close to being tangled in the outboard and rudder a few times. She was leaning over wiggling it back and forth in the water, and then accidentally let go, and just started crying her eyes out.
I tried to calm her down as I swung around to pick it up. I didn't have a boat hook handy, and when I came up to it, I miss-judged the distance and couldn't reach it. It was one of those hollow plastic toys that did not have any foam in it, and the wake jostled it enough that the bubble of air trapped inside, was released and the toy started to sink. Swinging around for a second pass, the toy was gone, she was destroyed, and had a bit of a phobia of loosing stuff over the side.
It actually turned out to be a positive lesson, I explained how all "things" can be replaced, and then demonstrated by getting a new toy boat, the only truely valuable thing is life, which can't be replaced if it is lost. But I digress...
So we were off in search of alligators.
Looked over this lillie pad field, not even a frog.
A ways down and we saw the first one, you can barely see his eyes above the water.
I guess he is about 5' long?
But you have to understand most of that is tail, so really it is a small gator.
I swung by for a closer look, but turned too quickly and spooked him.
Just before this picture, we passed a fisherman and I hailed him "Ahoy !!! Who, where to and fro?"
The reply "Eh? (with a twang), I am fishen for crappie, got a few too" and his hand raised with a string of fish on it.
That looks like a nice catch, this is the ship MoogieBob, we are 1 day out of Huntsville State park, headed for... errr... oh never mind.
I have no idea why this tower is here.
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