About Tom
This is me in my Klepper foldable kayak.Starting with the little two-person inflatable raft I had as my very first boat, I have always loved the freedom and the feeling of being out on the water. With my father's help, I added a hard plywood floor to that little inflatable, and that was the beginning of a long chain of boats I have owned, loved, maintained, modified, fixed, enjoyed, and scared myself to death on over the past few decades.
This is me at 15 in my first Boston Whaler. Boy, did we have some good times with that boat.A lot of boating time is spent fixing boats, maintaining boats, and upgrading boats with new boating equipment to suit our specific tastes and needs. Lots of salespeople at stores that sell marine boating supplies and boating accessories have learned to recognize me over the years. I have spent my share of time and money working on just about anything you could name on a boat, and made plenty of mistakes. I'm here to share the lessons learned.
The Joy of Boating
Enough of the work and drudgery of boating! Tropical boating is all about the FUN of boating year 'round in nice weather! I like fishing, diving, powerboating, sailing, water skiing, kayaking, jet skiing, and pretty much any other activity on or around the water. I'm here to share some fun stories and pictures about the best of times over the years, and tell about lessons learned — some of them the hard way.
No boating site can be complete without harrowing stories of terror and trauma on the water, and advice about docking boats and buying and towing dinghies. I'm also here to share the stories of the worst of times over the years, times when I was in fear for my life, times when I was in danger, but too stupid to properly fear for my life, and times when I was just so miserable I wanted nothing more in life than to simply reach shore. Maybe some people will be able to avoid learning the same boating lessons the hard way.
Recent Posts
Butterfly Sex And More Critters
Libby With Gopher Tortoise It’s not easy being a gopher tortoise that strays into our yard. Libby grabs them and puts them upside down on the ground and guards them until I come along and put them back outside the Invisible Fence where she can’t… Read more
Bobcat and Coyote Still Around
Bobcat By Pond Spring The pictures in the previous post show the neighborhood bobcat passing close to an oak tree and pretty far from the camera. I figured I’d get a better close-up pic if I moved the camera to that tree. Yes, those trees… Read more
Bobcat and Coyote on Trail Camera
I have kept my trail camera pointing at our chickens as I move the chicken tractor around the yard each morning but haven’t seen any critters trying to get at them in a while. I moved the chickens to a part of the yard where only the boldest… Read more
Chicken Run Extension
The railings from our old pontoon boat have been sitting on a Hobie Cat in my driveway for a while, waiting for me to either recycle the aluminum or find a purpose for them. Glad I never got around to recycling them because I figured out that… Read more
Blue Crab Gone Walkabout
I was picking up branches down in the bottom of my yard pretty near the marsh and next to one of them was a blue crab. It looked green and sort of moist on top, but drying. It was just sitting there but I was pretty sure it was alive. Poke. Yep,… Read more
Artesian Pond Swim – June 2019
The pond in my yard is fed by an artesian spring from the Lower Hawthorne section of the Florida Aquifer. It’s not exactly fresh water, though it has cypress trees all around. My tropical fruit trees don’t like the water much but it’s acceptable to… Read more
Small Bobcat Visits Chickens
Small Bobcat This bobcat looks quite a bit smaller than the one captured previously by my trail camera. That PVC pipe in the background stands 18″ tall and is noticeably taller than the cat. A cropped closer view shows that this cat… Read more
Pond Feeding Video
I throw finger mullet chunks to some of the fish in my pond and decided to try an underwater video of the action today. Pond Feeding Video from Tom Ray on… Read more
Bolger Folding Schooner Needs Rescue
This Bolger Folding Schooner was built and sailed by a local man who eventually got too old to handle it any more. He donated it to the Charlotte Harbor Community Sailing Center, a non-profit organization that supports youth sailing, disabled… Read more
Alligators Facing Off Over A Bobber
A couple of Shell Creek gators that have learned that fishermen mean food were having a dispute over whose fishermen we are. These are pretty small but still dangerous animals and completely unafraid of people. They will probably mess… Read more
