Chapter 14

The next morning, Elaine was so happy she was almost floating. "Rosemary, Connie, will you two please check Elaine closely and make sure she is healthy?" I asked my medical team.

I hugged Rosemary and kissed Connie. I whispered in Connie's ear, "Thanks beautiful."

She smiled and kissed me again.

I hugged Elaine and Jeanie and swatted Jeanie on the butt as they got around to starting our workday.

The kids and I got the boat underway while Elaine got breakfast started.

We tied up at the usual place and we began moving the tools and supplies to begin filling the sandbags.

I moved the cutting rig and welder from the dock area into a shop area for storage.

As the bags got filled, I took them aboard the boat and stacked them up on our predetermined spots. They were to be stacked three bags high and tie down stacked. After a couple of hours of work, we tied the bags down with ropes and our hard points were in place. The idea was for each hard point to allow for three people to be at each point; a machine gun crew and one additional person for the grenade launcher or rifle support.

Elaine called us to lunch about then. We were all ready for a rest and some lunch.

Just as we were sitting down our ship to shore radio came to life. "Petey, are y'all there?" I heard Sammy Wayne's voice over the radio.

I answered, "Sammy are you alright?"

"Yes, Petey, we're fine," he answered. "Jerry, Ted and I found a big sail boat like yours. We also rescued a family who got into our situation with fuel off Destin."

I looked at my family and said, "I need to take a big risk and tell them where we are over the radio, what do you think?"

Everyone looked at Mama. She looked around and said, "We need them; go ahead and answer."

I keyed the microphone and answered, "We are in the marina on Longboat Key, come on in."

Sammy said, "We should be there in an hour."

"We need to be prepared, in case they're in trouble," I said.

"I agree," Mama said.

We put a machine gun in one hard point and a grenade launcher in the other hard point. Connie and I spread out along the seawall to give us a crossfire position.

In a few minutes, we saw the mast and then the boat coming into the basin. We could hear the engine shortly, and they pulled up along side of us.

I saw Ted, Sammy and Jerry, along with another man around Mama's age and two young women.

Mama stood up and asked, "Ted, is everything okay?"

"Yes, Mama, we are fine. This is Berle Camp, and his granddaughters Barbie and Patty," he answered.

They were on a 40-foot single hull sailboat; sails rigged like ours.

When Ted called her Mama, I saw Mama relax. I stood up and so did Connie.

I then saw Mr. Camp shake his head and chuckle. We stood down from General Quarters and invited them on board for a drink and better introductions.

Mr. Camp had been a produce farmer up in south Alabama, and his granddaughters had been college students. Barbie was formerly a senior at FSU in Tallahassee, and Patty was formerly a junior at Mobile College. Barbie had been studying science education, and Patty had been studying history. We told about ourselves, including Elaine and Rosemary both telling about them belonging to me. I hadn't told them not to tell, so, no foul. Barbie was blushing and Patty was smiling and asked, "Really?"

Mama changed the subject and asked what their supply situation was. Ted thought they could use some supplies and needed to top off their fuel and water.

We spent the rest of the afternoon showing them our boat and looking at theirs and planning for supplying their needs.

Just before dusk, we moved both of our boats and anchored several miles offshore. The motor on their boat was a 46 horse Perkins marine diesel that ran very well. They had a low voltage electrical system that powered their refrigerator. The lighting and stove ran off propane. The battery system was kept charged by a wind generator on top of the mast. It was a nice boat.

The next morning, we headed into the marina for what I hoped was the last day for this trip into Sarasota.

We knew where most things were located by now, and helped them refuel and stock up on food and some water. During this day of helping each other some good bonding took place. I felt like we were all friends by lunch. They took Jeanie's boat for a "dinghy", and we used Papa's.

Mr. Camp (call me Bud) had been a National Guard officer for over twenty years, so I knew we could use his expertise.

We were all whipped by time to leave, so we pulled offshore to rest for the night. I hoped to head toward Costa Rica in the morning.