The next morning, we were up reasonably early, getting ready to leave. Merlin and Missy said goodbye at the house and had their driver take us to the plane. Once on the plane heading home, Mercy came up to the cockpit and put her arms around my neck. "I'm so happy to be going home. Mike and I belong with you and Sue, and home is where we are a family with our other friends and kids."
We didn't get into Tampa until almost midnight. We had called ahead to make sure an attendant would be there so the runway lights would be on for us and someone would be able to take care of the plane. As we passed Panama City, I was able to radio the Aero Park and had them order a limo for Ben and Beth.
Once on the ground, parked by the ops building, we unloaded everything and sent Ben and Beth home. I put our luggage into the truck and put the three car seats into the Expedition. Ten minutes later, I was carrying sleeping kids into their rooms so their mothers could get them undressed for bed. Surprisingly, this Saturday night there were still quite a few people on the patio partying hardy. Some had been to the hot tub, some had been swimming, and still more had just gotten back from a ride. Henry and Nancy were having a great time with Bear, Crystal, Hap, and Margie.
Once the kids were in bed, Sue and Mercy came out and wanted a Cuba Libre. I made up the very light rum and Diet Cokes with lime, and made up a Beefeaters for me. Tiny and Ruth were still up and apparently had been up to the hot tub with Kevin, Susan, Bear, Crystal, Hap, and Margie. They said they were having a great time when they were invaded by a bunch of older park residents. They had wanted our group to stay but Bear said, "Wow, some of those old ladies were scary."
Ruth said, "Just wait, Bear, you'll probably be scary looking in a few years too. You'll just be another old, hairy, fat guy."
Bear groaned; knowing what she said was probably true.
We talked about our trip a little, then a little at a time; we cleaned up the patio, fixed the big coffeepot, and drifted off to our beds. Both ladies were enthusiastic bed partners tonight. Both said they had missed being loved in our own bed. They were equally enamored over each other, since when I failed to get it up again, they just tangled up between themselves. Wonder what time they finally went to sleep.
Ah, Sunday morning. The clock said seven. All of these time zone changes were tough. I slipped from bed, checked the three kids, showered quickly, and put on shorts and a T-shirt.
Glenda was in a filmy robe, waiting for company. I gave her a hug and joined her with a cup of coffee. We had only begun to chat, when Ruth came in with a totally transparent gown. Minutes later, Sandy and Mandy showed up with gowns matching Ruth's. The next to show was Shawna, in her long T-shirt, carrying her little girl. Debbie and Hanna showed up, wearing really torn-up T-shirts with big holes, carrying their boy and girl respectively. They put the kids down, and made sure everyone knew the T-shirts were their only covering. Hanna had done a great job losing weight and was now approaching her pre-pregnancy weight.
Next up was a surprise. Nancy and Crystal arrived in robes that were the same as Ruth's. Wow! There was a lot of woman on display this morning. As some of the men began showing up, Crystal and Nancy went in to wake my two ladies. While they were gone, Juanita showed up in another transparent gown. She was excited to see me, and gave me a very healthy, intimate kiss. That'll make you tongue tied in the morning.
Crystal and Nancy came out, pulling now sexily gowned Mercy and Sue. All four girls had a dreamy look on their face and as Sue and Mercy gave me a good morning kiss, their pussy breath was overwhelming. It wasn't going to be long until I was dragging one of my ladies back to bed.
Samantha and Mickey showed up sexily clad, then Phil and Judy showed up with Judy wearing a robe showing she still had a very sexy body. Even Alice showed up in a shimmering, but not transparent gown. It was similar to Glenda's.
There was far too much female flesh to concentrate this morning. I went into the kitchen to begin the Sunday breakfast. Hanna, Juanita, Glenda, and Nancy joined me as we did the bacon, sausage, pancakes, biscuits, and eggs. While we were there Hanna, Juanita, and Nancy kept brushing against me with their sexy gowns. A breast on the arm, one on the back, another on the chest, it was becoming "hard" to get anything done. Then Susan showed up in a copy of Ruth's robe. While I was standing gawking at my older sister, she came up to me, pressed her breasts into my chest, and said, "Welcome home, Brother. You should have told Kevin and me about your hot tub club. It is really something."
I looked around for Dennis and his sister but was told they were at a sleepover. Susan said that was how she could get away with dressing sexily. All of the guys ate while checking out the girls of their choice. The guys all had to keep adjusting themselves, as the view was really enjoyable.
Tiny had most of the crew half-cocked with Bloody Marys and Screwdrivers, claiming that the ones who didn't want the tomato juice should have some orange juice. The young mothers resisted the offers as they had kids to watch after, as Sue, Shawna, and Mercy still nursed.
Damn! I love Sunday mornings.
After breakfast, Tiny got out a bunch of pictures of boats. He went over several with Sue, but suggested that the best way was to go see the boat and have a test ride to see it perform. Our paid maritime engineer had surveyed all of the boats Tiny had information on.
Tiny also had a dossier on a maritime engineer that specialized in sailing craft. He said this man was known to be the expert in and around the Southeast U.S. He was expecting my call or could come out to talk with us. Mercy said to call him and ask him out at his earliest convenience.
Tiny then got out plans to show me the design for a hangar at the Aero Park. He had made an agreement for leasing the ground to build our hangar with space next to it so we could have two hangars if we thought it was necessary. Tiny had figures for how many instances there were for requests for small, medium, and large charters that were going unfilled or where planes were brought in even from out of state to fulfill the charter. The quantity of missed business was astounding. Tiny said that a local limo service often got the business when it wasn't too far or when commercial flights couldn't be arranged quickly.
He said we could probably have at least one additional 200, two 206s or 210s, a couple of student planes, at least one Lear, and perhaps two Gulfstreams. Tiny had several sheets of paper showing purchase prices, anticipated maintenance, crew costs, fuel and fees, along with projected revenues that he said was intentionally only fifty percent of what was really expected. There was an amazing bottom line. The numbers were staggering when you consider how much some of the big planes cost.
"Where would we get the capital for all this, Tiny?" I asked trying to uncross my eyes from the numbers.
"You don't buy stuff like this, Steve, you lease it. You make a five-year lease then if you don't like the plane in five years, you give it back to the leasing company and get another one. The leasing companies have a backlog of people wanting to buy and/or lease, off lease equipment. There would be the additional expense of two more hangars if we bought everything listed here."
I laughed. "Tiny, all I did was ask you to build me a hangar and to save room for a second."
Tiny smiled, "I know how you think. First it's a model airplane, then you show up with two real ones. So if you can fill up two hangars, you'll be filling four. That's just the way you are."
Tiny continued, "I've taken the initiative to advertise for airplane mechanics. There seems to be several jet mechanics, but few with small plane experience. We may have to have some trained out at the Aero Park in order to handle the student planes."
"Wow! We'll look at all these numbers later. I didn't expect to be going into the charter service so fast. My goodness, we'll be looking for a lot of crew members too."
Tiny smiled, "It will be easy in Tampa. This is a hub for several airlines so there will be many people we can choose from those retiring and those who don't want to work steady routes for the airlines. There are a few hostesses that have found themselves out of jobs because they gave too many favors to passengers. They would be perfect for business charters."
Sue had heard that and said, "Are you pimping now, Tiny?"
"No, just promoting a business opportunity," Tiny said with a straight face. "Might as well take advantage of a young lady's proclivity to make passengers comfortable."
Sue exclaimed, "Yeah, right." Then she asked, "If we do this charter thing should we do it with another corporation or include it in one of existing ones."
"Separate corporation." Tiny stated. "Something like this has a high risk so we should keep it separate, with the corporate officers paid only minimum amounts. As profits accumulate, we can do something with them."
A tall, older, man with graying hair, complete with a worn captain's hat, came onto the patio. He confidently asked loudly, "Steve Sharp?"
I stood up and went to find out who he was.
"My name is John Morgan. Your man contacted me about finding you a sailboat. How about offering me a cup of coffee and we'll talk about what you're looking for?"
I drew the man a mug of coffee plus another for myself and sat with him at one of the round tables. Mercy had heard John Morgan's announcement and came to sit with us. I introduced her to him, then he asked, "How much do you know about sailing?"
I explained my limited experience of sailing the over one hundred foot sloop from the San Juan Islands down to San Francisco, then the recent cruise out to sea and back. I told him of the instruction Dewey had given me and that I had a captain's license for what good that was.
"If the man is an old time sailor, and signed for you to captain a like vessel, you are obviously worthy. Real sailors don't make those recommendations lightly. When it's time, I'll help you get your sea legs again. Now do you want a big boat like he has or perhaps a smaller one?"
I thought for a second then responded. "I think that a first boat should be probably half that size, but I would like all of the conveniences and automated equipment that he has so I could sail it by myself if necessary or I wanted to. It needs to be large enough that my family and I can go out for a week without being too cramped, but small enough that it will be easy to get into most harbors with slips along the coast."
"Good choices. Would you want one, two, or perhaps three staterooms?"
"John, I think either two or three. We would probably be okay with two but if we brought another couple with us, we would need three."
"Okay Steve, how about motors, generators, and electronics."
"That's easy," I said. "Yes."
I paused, then smiled, "With a boat that size a small diesel. It would be nice to have two, but one should be fine with sufficient fuel storage. Definitely a main and backup generator, and as far as electronics I would want a good full range radar, GPS, gyro compass, magnetic compass, radios, and depth finders fore and aft plus anything else you think we might need. I would want to make sure we had plenty of fresh water storage."
He said he would be right back and went to car and came back with a large salesman's sample case. He thumbed through files in the case and pulled out five. "These five boats are all forty-five to sixty-five feet and for the most part have what you are looking for. Let's go through them one at a time."
We looked at each one while he explained what features each had. Once we had gone through all of them Mercy wanted to look at a fifty-five foot and the sixty-five foot again. She had John go over the features that they had individually and what we would need to do to make the boats our sea home. She folded up the fifty-five foot folder and handed it back to John and said pointing at the other open folder, "I like this one. When can we go look at it?"
John looked at me then back at Mercy. "This is in Jacksonville right now, but will be ferried back to Naples, probably Wednesday or Thursday."
Mercy said, "Can we go up there and help ferry the boat back? That would be a good way for us to find out if we like the boat and what we would need to do to it."
"I can call and find out. Perhaps they would even pay us to ferry it back instead of paying another company. I think that between Steve and me, we can sail the boat back here. What do you think, Steve?"
"Sure, why not. I can get us a plane ride up to Jacksonville from Monday on and then we can sail the boat back to Naples. If we wanted to bring it here, where would be a good place to rent a slip?"
John thought a minute, "You could get a slip at the Tampa Yacht Club. That's about twenty to twenty-five minutes, but you have to go a long way to get out of the bay. If you don't mind the congestion you could go to Clearwater Marina that is about forty minutes away or for a nice place that isn't that far you could get a Dunedin Yacht club slip that is about thirty minutes away and right on the gulf."
"Make arrangements for us to go get the boat and sail it back," I said. "We'll know before we get to Naples if it's what we want. We can either bring it back here or just leave it in Naples and get a ride back up here. We have a plane and my wife can fly us to Jacksonville and if necessary pick us up in Naples."
John asked to use a phone and I showed him the phone in the kitchen. Mercy was squirming around in her chair waiting for him to come out. When he did, she looked up at him expectantly.
John announced, "We can get the boat tomorrow. The owner will have it stocked and fueled ready for us anytime after nine in the morning. He's come down a little on his price and I think he will come down a little more. He needs to sell the boat as he's had some bad days in the market lately. You know how it is with some of these guys, easy come, easy go."
Mercy looked at me and asked, "Can we go in the morning? I'll make sure there is someone to watch the kids. I'm sure Sue will be okay with it, let me ask."
Mercy was gone in a flash then came back to the patio, almost dragging Sue back, while Mercy was carrying Mike.
Sue was near laughing. "Okay, okay, I'll fly you guys up to Jacksonville in the morning and come pick you up in Naples if necessary. If you park, or is that dock, the boat around here, I'll come pick you up. Mercy wants this too much to miss out on."
We told John to meet us here and we would drive out to the Aero Park together. His car would be safe here. He asked how long it would take to fly up there. When I told him about a half hour, he was surprised. I told him we would spend more time taxing and landing that we would in the air.
Sue wanted to know how long it would take to get back here or to Naples. John said, "If we don't stop at night we should be back by Wednesday. If we anchored at night we won't be back till Friday or Saturday."
Sue asked, "Will you be within cell phone range most of the time?"
John answered, "We should be almost all the way. There are a couple of places where we have to get out fairly far, due to shallows and rocks, and then going through the Keys, we will have to either pay the bridge toll or go around. It's a nice sail around Key West though."
Sue commented, "Steve has a ton of things happening all at once, as usual, and we may need him to make some decisions quickly."
John left, with Mercy playing with Mike while she was excited to be going sailing. She said to Sue and me, "When Mike, Lizzy, and Steve get older, we can all go sailing together. We could go anywhere in a big boat like Dewey has. The kids could really learn a lot about the world if we sailed around it."
Sue couldn't get over how excited Mercy was.
Sunday evening, Sue and I went out for a ride on the shovelhead with Hap, Bear, Charlie, and Jim, accompanied by their ladies. We rode up to Bear's clubhouse, then after visiting, we rode to Dade City then back home, a nice ride. Funny to think of all the different forms of transportation we used in just the last few days, sailboat, airplane, car, truck, and motorcycle.
When we went to sleep that night, Sue and I made love to Mercy for a long, long time, trying to calm her down. Her anticipation level was out of sight.
When I awoke, I wasn't between my beauties. Mercy was in the middle, but her head was facing my feet. The two girls must have been up to something in the middle of the night as Sue's head was sleeping on one Mercy's thighs and Mercy's head was on one of Sue's. It's a good thing I'm a sound sleeper, otherwise I wouldn't be as rested as I was.
As I slipped out of bed, Mercy's eyes popped open and she grinned at me. She mouthed, "I love you" then said aloud, "Let's get a shower and pack, so we're ready when John gets here."
Mercy was all business this morning. She was showered and dressed before me. She brought out my old duffel bag suggesting it would be good for the trip. I pulled out four pair of jeans and four pair of shorts along with a half dozen T-shirts, a couple of long sleeve shirts, a heavy wind breaker, socks, and an extra pair of sneakers. Mercy watched me and duplicated what I packed. I told her to pack my razor and our toothbrushes, along with soaps and four towels and wash rags. When she was done, I carried the duffel bag to the living room.
Sue got up and showered, then called me from the patio to come back to the bedroom. "Honey, I keep remembering the trip we made from Seattle to San Francisco and think you should take at least one gun. Take that fancy new aluminum case you have and fill it up with hardware. It wouldn't hurt you know."
I pulled out the case then immediately brought the AR-15 out and broke it down so it fit easily in the compact case with four magazines. I put a Glock 9mm in the case with three extra clips. That should be enough. Sue made sure my cell was fully charged and that I had my charger and converter packed.
Mercy had been flitting around playing with Mike, changing and dressing him, then she devoted her attention to Liz who was giggling as usual. She is such a happy baby. Little Steve recognized something was up and wanted to be held. I gave him hugs and kisses, saying we wouldn't be gone long. He became interested in eating and jabbering with CJ.
Juanita and Glenda said they would watch the kids while Sue flew us up to Jacksonville. Since Mickey was off, she wanted to fly with us. It was good that she did so Sue would have company on the way back.
John Morgan showed up in time for a breakfast sandwich, washed down with orange juice and coffee. Between swallows he asked, "Do you guys get together like this often?"
Tiny spoke up, "Every morning and every evening. Most of us work for either S&S or Quality, so it gives us a chance to rev up for the day."
"I'll say," John said. "This is like a mess hall in the military on payday. Everyone's happy anticipating a great day."
Charlie added, "Having breakfast here with your friends in the morning, knowing your family is being taken care of and looked after, makes it easy to go to work. I know my two kids are being taken care of and that my wife is going to work where she is safe and happy."
Crystal, who was lounging in Bear's lap, said, "I'll say were happy. I'm safe too because I have this lummox of a security guard watching out for me all day."
Mercy, Sue, and I gave all the kids a hug and kiss, then loaded them and John up in my pickup and headed to the Aero Park. Once there we carried our luggage to the plane that was already outside the hangar, waiting for us.
Sue took over and began the preflight inspection routine. Once inside, while she was doing the cockpit check, I gave the safety talk, making sure seatbelts were secure, then after shutting the door, I climbed into the right seat. Sue wanted to do all of the procedures by herself as she had always done it with someone else and wanted the practice doing it by herself. She used the flipchart so it was done easily in the proper order.
The flight was smooth and quick. We set down in the municipal airport nearest the harbor where the boat was located. Once we were parked and tied down, Sue wanted to see the boat so we called a taxi to take us all to the slip.
At first glance you think the boat is as big as Dewey's but as soon as you see it from the side you realize it is almost half the size. John had gone to the yacht club office to get the keys for the cabins and lockers. As soon as he returned, he and I pulled the cover from the deck cabin and lounge. Next, he opened the vents over the engine and generator, turning on the fans as he did.
While we were doing this, Sue and Mickey were exploring the boat. Sue came back up to say that the boat was nice below deck. She said it was a little dusty but should clean up nice.
I disconnected the shore power, checked the water level and drew a small cup to taste the water to see if were stagnant. It seemed fine. It was supposed to be fresh but sometimes people skip draining and refilling tanks. I checked the diesel fuel level and signaled John that I was clear so he could start the engines.
Both motors fired up immediately. While we let the engines warm up, I pulled the covers off the sails and checked the pulleys that were used to hoist the sails.
In the cockpit area, John had turned on the GPS and the radar. It takes the radar a little to get the signatures down, or warm up, or something. I just know it takes some time before it works right. John checked the radios and then checked the emergency radio. We both checked for life jackets and safety equipment such as flares and an inflatable raft with an emergency beacon. We both walked back and inspected the tiny dinghy on the rear davits.
It looked like we were ready. John gave us all a guided tour of the boat, showing storage areas in each cabin, and going over the galley. He showed me where to switch the refrigerator over to generator from shore power then advised that the fridge was separate from all the other lighting. He said the boat was equipped with regular 115/220 60 cycle shore power and generator but had the switching to go to 220 shore power. In addition the boat had a full set of 12 volt lights so it could run on batteries or direct alternator power.
Sue and Mickey gave us hugs and kisses, and left in the taxi that was waiting for them. John said, "Let's get underway."
With Mercy following me, I released the aft line, then walked forward and released the bowline. Once they were released, I showed Mercy how to coil the line up on the deck so it was easy to get at. As John eased the boat out of the slip I had to stand on the rear deck so I could watch for clearance in the tightly packed yacht club.
When we were finally in an area where we could swing the boat around, John brought the bow around to head out toward the Atlantic. As we passed the final buoy John said, "At last. There isn't much wind in near shore so let's get out a couple of miles then raise the sail."
We headed straight southeast until we were about two miles out then John cut the engines and showed me how the electric sails worked on this boat. They were similar to Dewey's, just not as many and not as large. The wind was from the east northeast so we were heeled over a little, but moving along very nicely. John was aware of Mercy's interest and made sure she understood each step and term. This trip would be a great learning experience for Mercy.
John told me to take the wheel and gave me a bearing to keep while he went into the lounge and weather deck so he could spread out his charts. Mercy had followed him in so she could understand what he was doing there as well. In the front of the lounge, at the foul weather helm, the boat had a large chart table with clips to hold down charts that had been rolled up. John showed Mercy the trip we were going to take and the few hazards we needed to be aware of. He noted the positions of the hazards then came back out to enter the locations into the GPS so we had five-mile warnings of each hazard. We had a submerged island about a hundred miles south then just after that a sunken merchant ship that had not been salvaged and then near Miami there was a causeway built three miles out into the sea. All three were easy to avoid but we needed to be aware of them in any event.
The weather was beautiful for sailing. It didn't take long for Mercy to understand why I had brought caps for us to wear. The sun beat down on you hard out on the water. Sunscreen was a necessity.
I had gone down to the galley and made coffee, then scrounged around to make up a few ham sandwiches. When I brought up the coffee and sandwiches, I was a hero. The open sea air makes you hungry.
After we ate, Mercy went up to the bow of the boat and was standing there with her cap off and the wind blowing her pony tail. When I went up to her she said, "This is a feeling that I've always looked for. This is what I was born to do. I really love the sea. I know it can get nasty, but I'll bet I'll still love the sea. I just have to learn how to handle myself in rough seas."
Later that evening, after we had sailed out from shore about five miles, I fixed a meatloaf for us to have for supper and lunch tomorrow. After checking the GPS, John said we had traveled about a hundred miles. He said we had a choice to either, go in near shore and anchor for the night, or take turns at helm through the night.
Mercy wanted to keep going but wanted to share the helm with me as she wasn't confident in her skills yet. I told John to go to bed and I would wake him about four. It was only eleven but I knew he needed a little more sleep at his age than Mercy or I did.
For the next five hours we averaged about nine to ten miles an hour according to the GPS. So when it was time to wake John we were nearing the Keys.
Mercy had made coffee and a snack for John. She asked if it was going to be interesting going around the Keys or would going to bed be reasonable. John estimated the enjoyable viewing would happen in about four hours so he said he would wake us. He showed me the button the rang a bell in the main stateroom when he wanted to summon us.
We had not been asleep long before the bell went off. I jumped up noting the time and slipped on my shoes and climbed up to the deck. John looked concerned, "Ah, I didn't mention anything to you but sometimes there is a problem with people who want to steal your boat. I'm not saying something is happening but "he pointed to a blip on the radar, "there has been a boat off our stern for the last hour. They appear to be getting closer but at a slow closure. I have a pistol in my luggage, so we have some protection."
"Gotcha covered, John. Mercy, go down and bring that aluminum case up to the lounge."
When Mercy came up to the lounge, I opened the case then assembled the AR and locked a magazine in place. I pulled out the Glock, checked to be sure the clip was loaded then slid it into my belt. Back out at the helm, I propped the AR up so it would be easy to reach.
"When we took that trip I told you about, we helped a couple who had been attacked by some pirates, then we were attacked by the same people. Luckily our friend who owned the boat, had plenty of firepower. Sue reminded me to bring some protection with us."
"This is good. I feel a lot better. Perhaps it's nothing but it's better to be sure. Go back to bed. If this boat begins to close fast, I'll ring you."
Mercy and I went back downstairs and again laid down with our clothes on. Nothing happened until around eight the bell rang. I hustled topside quickly to find a Coast Guard cutter coming up on us.
John said, "It was these guys all along. They radioed a little while ago to announce they wanted to board us for inspection, so I've already dropped the sails.
I checked the approaching cutter with the binoculars and could see uniformed men on the bow and on the rear deck. I went to the rail and threw over a few bumpers then stood ready to catch a line they were ready to throw.
They were gentle in their approach and slowly drifted up next to us. Once they had thrown their bowline two men jumped on our deck and went back to tie a stern line as well.
An officer asked for the registry so John showed the papers explaining we were prospective purchasers of the boat and were ferrying it from Jacksonville to either Naples or Tampa. He asked if they could search the boat for contraband and we of course gave them permission.
As soon as one of the Coast Guard crewmen entered the lounge and saw the open case he came back out holding an AR clip. I pointed to the AR propped up near the helm then turned around to show him the Glock in my waist band. I explained why the weapons were out and they accepted that explanation. It took them close to thirty minutes to go over the entire boat then said they wanted to look into the water storage container that was below the galley. John and I went below and figured out how to raise the deck. There was a large inspection hatch on top of the water tank that was easy to lift. The crewmen used large lights to look into the tank through the water. After closing that hatch he asked to open the fuel tank hatch then with a large probe, poked around in the tank. These guys were really determined that something was on board.
The officer asked if we would mind motoring into a nearby port for more inspection. John and I looked at each other and said we would be happy to, but what were they looking for.
The officer said that this boat had been identified as a boat that had been carrying drugs and had been meeting fast boats off shore then bringing the drugs back into shore. John and I nodded, then I said, "Leave a couple of your men on board and we will follow you in."
I started the fans for the motors then in a couple of minutes John started them up. The crewmen staying on board released the lines then pulled the bumpers. We were at seventy-five percent power but the cutter was separating from us. John radioed the cutter saying our best would be about ten knots and if they would give us the coordinates we would enter them into the GPS and meet them. They gave us the location but also slowed down.
As we were coming toward shore, I took the AR into the lounge then broke it down and put it and the Glock back into the case. I didn't ask her to, but Mercy took the case down to the stateroom. She was a gracious hostess as she brought up mugs of coffee for the crewmen as well as John and me.
When we were finally tied up at the Coast Guard dock, they brought out a couple of dogs and walked through the entire boat. I noticed a diver go under to what I figured was to inspect under the hull. They had a big hose and pump they connected to the holding tank and flushed it out a couple of times then inserted an optic camera to view the empty tank.
A DEA agent identified himself and John had to show him all of the papers again. He had a local deputy sheriff with him that said he had to confiscate my guns. I pulled my carry permit and showed it to him and asked for what reason he was going to confiscate my weapons. When he said, "Because." I pulled out the Major's card and told him to call this man and find out whether he should do that.
After about three hours the Coast Guard, the DEA agent, and the deputy sheriff were all convinced that we didn't have any drugs on board. The deputy was still acting pushy but did not ask to seize my weapons any more. I told the Coast Officer, "If you want to send a couple of your men with us, you're welcome to, but otherwise we need to be going. We've lost more than a half a day. We would like to continue our voyage."
The DEA agent asked John, "How much is the owner of the boat asking?" John brought out the folder and showed him all the numbers. The agent said, "How about I buy the boat so we can take it apart. If it comes out clean, we'll have it put back together and offer it to you for a reduced price."
John turned to me, "They usually put these boats back together nice so it won't kill the boat. The only thing they haven't done is to remove the masts. I don't think there are drugs on the boat but if you don't let them look, you'll be suspect."
Mercy asked the DEA agent, "I really want this boat, but I don't want it all messed up. If you take it apart make sure you put it back together right. I want it to be safe too."
John and I went below to get our duffel bags and my case. Once we were about to get on the dock, John asked, "Do you have any cruisers or large fishing boats that are for sale. Mr. Sharp is in the market for something in the forty to fifty foot range. Perhaps you could sell us something we can use to complete our trip."
The Coast Guard officer and DEA agent said to come with them. They had a forty-five foot fishing boat with big cabins, a nice galley, and a great lounge. It had dual helms plus a flying bridge with a good array of electronics, along with six outriggers and two fighting chairs. It was nice. The paint was a little dull and the Coast Guard guy said the hull could use a cleaning but the boat was in very good shape.
John asked, "Why hasn't it sold?"
"It has been in an estate war for two years. We finally filed papers and we now own it. It had been a coke transport vessel but it's clean now. Want a deal?"
John looked at the boat, checked the engines, and started them. He went through the boat thoroughly then came back to me, "What they want for this is about twenty-five percent of what it's worth. Buy it. If you don't like it after you clean it up, we'll make a killing."
I turned to the two men. Who do I buy this from and who do I pay. The DEA guy said, "We've checked out who you are. Give your bank a call and we will withdraw the agreed upon amount."
I used my cell phone and called Tiny. I told him to authorize the DEA to withdraw the money and told him we might have a surprise. He should call the marina up in Dunedin and tell him to look for a forty-five footer to be pulling in this evening.
I called Sue to give her a rundown on what had happened and told her to be sure to bring Tiny with her to pick us up.
While we were taking care of the details, the Coast Guard officer had his men top off the fuel and fill the fresh water tank. After figuring out how to turn the fridge on, Mercy transferred the food from the sailboat to the big cruiser. The officer asked if I had a license for a boat this large, so I pulled my captain's license out. He was impressed that I was rated for such big craft.
Within an hour, we were idling away from the Coast Guard dock having all the appropriate papers. Soon we were clear, able to speed up on our journey, now north. In no time we were up to a little over twenty-two knots, heading home.
John was able to spread out his charts and cursed not having a radar and GPS. He said that would be some of the first things we would get for the boat.
On the way north, John said this had been a very successful trip. Since I didn't buy the sailboat but someone else did, he could get the sales commission on it. He said that since I was his employee while we were trying to buy the boat, he couldn't reasonable charge the owner commission. But since the DEA bought it at the asked for price, he was entitled to the money.
We toasted John with mugs of coffee.
Our progress was better than expected as we passed Naples, and the bay there, well before we thought we would. John was using the Loran C to get our location and to plot our course. He said it wasn't too difficult, but it was not near as easy as using the modern GPS. I demonstrated to John that I could calculate a position as it was part of my instrument flight training.
To pass the time, John had me at the wheel while he made a list of work to be done on this boat. He said the first thing to do was to get the boat out of water and get the barnacles off. He could then give a good opinion of the condition of the hull. He said the rest of the boat looked in good condition, but it needed paint and polishing everywhere.
Mercy said it didn't look like the staterooms had ever been used. She said that even though there was dust every where, the sheets were brand new and had never been used or washed. She also said it didn't look as if the kitchen had been used much either. Whoever had the boat and used it for drugs must have just taken it out, picked up what they were looking for and returned.
John said if the gauges were correct, the motors were very efficient, as our fuel consumption was not as high as many boats this size.
As we passed Tampa bay, I used my cell phone to call Sue to tell her we should be in Dunedin no later than nine. She said she would meet us, with Tiny, as he was dying to see what we had picked up.
When we approached Dunedin, John took over piloting the boat and brought it toward a small harbor area where many bigger boats were berthed. At first we tied up to a main dock then after being assigned to a slip, John maneuvered the boat into the slip nose out, stern first. As we were tying up the boat, Sue, Tiny, Phil, Ruth, and Judy all showed up. The motors were still running so while we were connecting shore power and water, they toured the boat looking at what we had purchased.
John explained to Tiny that it would cost some money to get it in perfect condition but if we didn't like it we would triple our money, at a minimum.
Mercy was lamenting to Sue that she had really liked the sailboat we had been on and we would possibly still be able to get it from the DEA. John said they usually kept their word to people who were cooperative with them. He figured between one and two weeks before we would hear from them. Mercy said she could wait.
Sue asked John if he would remain an employee, supervise the refitting of the boat, and to remain alert for opportunities to find an even better sailboat. John said he would be happy to do that if he could still do some selling when he had the opportunity. We were all agreeable, so we closed up the boat and headed home.
As soon as we arrived home, Mercy and Sue were inside checking on the three kids. Juanita said they had all been good and happy. They had spent most of their time with the other kids, so they were happy and healthy. It was late and the little ones were too sleepy to stay awake, so they let them sleep.
We spent an hour explaining our trip and the mess with the Coast Guard and DEA. It had been an interesting adventure that turned out pretty much okay. John promised to give us a first survey on the boat by Friday. Tiny told him he should come Friday evening for supper and our usual end of the week party. He said it was a lot of fun and he would enjoy himself.
We finally closed the patio and went to bed. Sue was in need of attention and Mercy told Sue that we didn't have any opportunity to relax long enough for some on board loving before or after the Coast Guard incident. I did my best to make Sue know how important she is to me, then I gave Mercy all of my attention for as long as I could hold on. Then the two ladies were kissing and loving each other, telling the other how they had missed each other. Surprisingly though, we all three quickly went to sleep, with Sue in the middle.