Anchors Away!!

Bob scurries around the dock, untying shorelines and flipping them expertly back onboard the ship. When I signal that I am ready, she unties the last two, tosses them onboard, then hops back on board herself. Pulling in the bumpers that have protected the sides of the ship.

I maneuver the old ship out of the way of other boat traffic. Drop anchor and let the engines idle while we wait for the others to leave their docks as well.

Once Bob has finished all of her tasks and has everything stowed away. She comes to the wheelhouse to sit with me while we wait.

We have been sitting there maybe five minutes, chit chatting about this and that. When she suddenly cries out "Oh My God! You went ahead and bought it!" when she finally noticed the little sea gull statue that I had purchased for her; sitting on the countertop in front of her.

"You have no idea, what this means to me!" she said with tears welling up in her eyes.

"I saw how much you liked it, and just wanted you to have it"

"Thank You Rick, you are the kindest and sweetest man I have ever met. You took in a complete stranger and have treated me like a true friend...like an equal. You genuinely appreciate me, simply for being me, and not as something to use up and throw away."

She was silent for a moment, then said:

"I have found myself in the worst kinds of relationships far more times that you can imagine!" she said with an incredibly sad, serious look in her eyes.

"There is a connection between you and I, that is so vastly different than anything I have ever experienced... and it's not just about the sex! Which is fucking awesome, I might add!"

"It is something that goes much deeper than that. We are Kindred Spirits, I guess you could say. We are like that Chinese symbol, the Yin and Yang thing. Total opposites in some ways but so alike in others!"

"Damn! Guess I woke up in a philosophical mood this morning" she said with a grin.

"What I am trying to say is that; Rick you are a good and decent man. Which is something that I have not experienced much of in my life." She says seriously "I have had men in my life that have TOLD me that they love me, TOLD me how much they needed me in their life. But every single time, all that they proved to me, was that everything that they told me, was all a lie!"

"Remember how I told you that my father is a preacher, and that I left home when I was 21 because of an argument with my parents...and have never gone back."

I simply nodded my head "Yes"

"What I didn't tell you, was why!" She said while wiping her eyes.

"My father used me, his own daughter, his own flesh and blood... in order to better himself in the church."

"One of the church elders promised him that he could get him promoted to a prominent position within the church Association, the main ruling body of the church. A position that would pay a lot of money and give my father a lot of power! Only thing that he had to do, was offer up a "sacrifice to the lord" to prove his "Faith and Worthiness" ... Turned out, I was to be that sacrifice!"

"I was never allowed to be around any boys, I was forced to quit regular school and was home schooled by my parents, so that I would not be "tempted" by boys." I was preached to constantly about how I must "stay pure" in the sight of the lord. In order to be worthy of God's love"

"A few days after I turned 18, my parents took me to this elder's house, stripped my clothes off and held me down on a table, while that vile bastard took my virginity!"

"That fucker did not care how much I screamed or cried, all he cared about was ramming his foul-smelling prick into me, over and over until he came inside me."

"Then he told my father that he had to fuck me too...and he did it! He fucked his own daughter, and my mother stood right there and helped hold me down while he did it, and never said a fucking word!"

"I begged and pleaded for him not to do it, but he just kept doing it anyway! Fucked my raw and bloody pussy ...as if I were just some whore that he had picked up off the streets!

"Long story short, I got pregnant that night and to avoid a scandal for the church. I was forced to have an abortion...which was botched, and I ended up with a terrible infection. Landing me in the hospital where they gave me a hysterectomy to save my life"

"Once I got out of the hospital and got healed up, I told my parents that they could rot in hell for all I cared, packed my shit and left! On my fucking 21st birthday! What a wonderful celebration THAT was! I Haven't been back since....and do not intend to ever go back."

Which has turned out to be a good thing! I am now free to go where I want to go. Do what I want to do, fuck whoever I want whenever and wherever I want...as you have had the privilege to experience!" she said with a halfway grin.

So, you see THAT is why this fucking little statue of a sea gull, carved out of a stinking rock...given to me by a man that I have SO much respect for and that I genuinely love...and yes, I just said the dreaded "L" word! Why this means so much to me!"

"It shows me that you really care about me... as a person, as a real living breathing person. Not just some bitch you are fucking on the side....and not some bitch you are using to help you get this ancient boat and your wrinkled old ass around this big fucking loop!"

"You actually took notice of something that I thought was exceptionally beautiful...and you bought it and gave it to me... just because you wanted me to have it! That makes me feel so good inside, makes me feel beautiful and appreciated!"

I pulled her close to me and held her tightly in my arms. "That is because you are beautiful and you are appreciated, and I am deeply and madly in love with you! Yes, I said the dreaded "L" word too!"

For the first time, we stood there in each other's arms and kissed openly and passionately...as lovers do...

"You two coming with us or are you going to stay here and make out" a voice crackles across the ship-to-ship radio.

Bob grabbed the radio microphone: "Always got to be a darn cock blocker in every crowd!" She said jokingly "Yes, we are underway"

Have to admit, heading out into those open waters of the gulf in front of us, and seeing the safety of land disappearing behind us...was a bit intimidating!

We ran our engines up to 30 knots and held the throttle there. In some ways it felt like the old ship was flying across the water, but in other ways it almost seemed like we were barely creeping along. We had nothing around us to use for reference of our speed, other than the other boats in our flotilla.

Bob was right, I had nothing to worry about. The other ships kept to a steady pace and would check with us by radio, every little bit; just to see how we were doing.

We passed several shrimp boats, and crab boats as we moved along. Crab buoys littered the area, showing where the crab pots were "Soaking" as we were told by the other boats.

Bob became so excited and giggled like a little girl when a pod of dolphins started swimming along with us. First, they were on the port side, then they would disappear and pop up on the starboard side. At one point three of them came so close to the side of the ship that we could almost reach out and touch them. They eventually left us when we passed by a crab fisherman's ship. Figured they knew where their best chances for a free meal are, so off they went.

We had been at sea a little over twelve hours. About the time I was ready to tell Bob that we may need her High school Spanish after all... One of the other ships called us on the radio to tell us that we are approaching Cape Coral and that they will be happy to help guide us through the OWW at least until we get Fort Meyers where they all plan to drop anchor for the night.

Bob and I find a nice place to anchor for the night a short distance from the other boats. We thought about going ashore with the others, to find a place to eat. But we decided that toasted ham and cheese sandwiches sounded good to us, and we wouldn't even have to get dressed up to go eat. Matter of fact, we decided to not even get dressed at all.

While I was fixing the sandwiches, Bob took her shower. When she came out naked, drying her hair. I took that opportunity to hop in to take mine. When I was done, I did not bother to get dressed either and stepped out to find that she had whipped up a nice salad for us, so we sat down to eat!

Since we had been up since 4am we were both a bit tired, by the time we had our meal and got the galley cleaned up.

We laid in bed together and talked for a bit. Bob had her head laying on my chest...

"Maybe I just look at things differently than most women, but I really hope that we do not fuck up a really good relationship, by bringing the word LOVE into it!" Bob said as she played with the hair on my chest.

"What do you mean...fuck it up?" I asked sincerely puzzled!

"I just mean that I hope that we can continue to be open and spontaneous and do whatever we want, with whoever we choose to do it with... and not let jealousy sneak in and fuck up a good thing! You know, like the night we decided to fool around with Tom. We did it on a whim, had a hell of a lot of fun doing it....and that later led to us doing things with Him and Ingrid....and then there was the "Gabby" thing." We couldn't have done any of that if there had been any jealousy at all."

"I see what you are getting at, you would like for us to continue to use sex as a form of entertainment... if that is what we choose to do. Just keep it as something fun to do. Like some people enjoy getting together with others to play card games, some like to get together with others and play golf. Us, we just happen to enjoy meeting new people... then fuck them as part of our evening's entertainment!"

"EXACTLY!" laughed Bob "See, we really DO think alike!"

"Let's see if you can guess what I am thinking" I say with a grin, then roll her off of me and pin her to the bed.

"My guess is that you are thinking with the "Little head," and it is thinking the same thing that I am" Let's fuck!"

"BINGO! Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner" I say before moving in to kiss her deeply. We wrap our arms around each other and French kiss, slow, sensual, and intimate. By the time we "come up for air" we are so horny that we can hardly stand to be away from each other more than a second. We grope and massage each other's body...feeling the lust build and consume us with overwhelming need for each other.

Bob reaches in between us and guides my cock to her eager vagina. It slides effortlessly inside as if to say "Honey, I'm Home!"

We fuck missionary style for a bit, the Bob says "Wait, let me try something" Then she has me pull out and rise up onto my knees. Then she places her feet upon my shoulders and reaches for me to return my cock to her warm wet hole.

Do not know why we have not tried this one before! I am able to work my cock so deep inside of her that I can actually feel when it touches bottom filling her as far as my cock can go. Which is quite an ego boost if I do say so!

This is a very vulnerable position for her, as she can do nothing but lie there and take my cock any way that I choose to give it. What she may not know...is that this position is a true assault on my stamina. With her legs bent like that...it contracts the muscles inside her vagina making it squeeze and milk my cock, until there is no holding back! I feel like if I do not cum soon, my whole ass may explode...the sexual energy has built up inside of me so much.

Fucking in this position feels so damn good... but I cannot hold back the inevitable. Hot semen erupts from my cock, filling her hole to overflowing. When I begin to pound that cum deeper inside of her...with erratic thrusts, grunts, and groans. This sends her off on a wave of orgasmic bliss.

"Fuck me, Oh Fuck me," she cries out "Keep fucking me, keep fucking me Please! Oh yes, oh yes, oh fuck yes! Fill my pussy, fill my pussy with you cum!" Then she gasped and held her breath for a long time. Long enough for me to think that she had passed out... before she finally exhaled with an Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

I help her get her legs off of my shoulders then fall to the bed beside her. Totally drained of my strength.

"Okay, so how about we keep that position as STRICTLY just for us. That is "OURS" and we don't do that with anyone else?" Bob says, as she catches her breath.

"Works for me," I reply, "that was downright awesome!"

*************

We met up with the rest of the group at a little restaurant for breakfast the next morning. This was actually the first time that we got to meet everyone that was traveling with us. We had already met several in the group, so we did not really feel like we were dining with strangers. But at first, we did feel like we were the focus of attention, to see if we passed their scrutiny.

We politely answered any questions they directed to us, and we gave our input on other topics of conversation as well.

Mathew and Rebecca, the owners of the 80ft Seareef, were a genuinely nice and friendly couple. Very down to earth and did not flaunt the fact that they are obviously VERY wealthy. They are on their fifth trip around the loop. Turns out they used to have a small farm near Atlanta. Then "urban sprawl" moved into their area, and a real estate developer decided that he REALLY needed their property for a shopping mall he wanted to build. They said they declined several offers he made for their property. Finally, one day the developer told them "Name your price, no matter what it is, I want your property" so they told him "Fifty Million" thinking that would scare him away, and he would quit pestering them. He did not bat and eye and said SOLD! "So, that is when we decided that we were going to spend the rest of our lives traveling. Bought the Sunreef and that has been our home ever since.

Pete and Linda also a genuinely nice couple, on their second time around the Loop. Said they had dreamed of running the loop for quite a while. But had put it off until they had their kids raised and put them through college. Sold off everything they had and bought their boat...and it has been their home ever since, as well

Mark and Tina, Sam and Michelle, Steve and Rachel all had comparable stories to tell... had the dream, did whatever they had to do to achieve it... and have been "living the dream" ever since.

"So, I take it that this is the first time; you and your daughter have run the loop?" Sam asks

"Ah, Yes and NO" I reply "Yes, this is our first time around the loop. We started in St Joseph Missouri, and this is as far as we have traveled so far. I totally restored our old 1957 Chriss Craft and due to some issues with my immediate family... it is now my home as well... and NO, Bob is not my daughter, she is my best friend in the world, one hell of a deck hand and I would have never made it this far without her!"

"See! I Told you they are not Father and Daughter!" Michelle pokes Sam in the ribs with her elbow and laughs. "We saw you two... uh, making out back at Apalachicola! It's been chaffing his hide ever since... find out!"

"Just to change the subject and get my nosey ass off the hook" said Sam "Would you two be interested in going on an Everglades tour with us? Mark, Tina, Michelle, and I are all going. We promised ourselves the last time we were here, that we would do this... but the weather was awful and so they gave us a "raincheck" for the next time we came back through. It's a huge ten-person airboat and operator told us that we could bring more friends along with us...so what do you say?"

"We took the tour year before last, you will absolutely LOVE it" Mathew interjects.

Bob grabs my arm and bounces in her seat "Can we?"

"Guess we are going for an airboat ride!" I say "Thank you for inviting us"

Bob can hardly contain her excitement long enough to finish her breakfast.

The six of us walk as a group down to the Everglades tour ticket office. Sam shows them his Raincheck and they tell him it will be just a few minutes as they are still doing their safety checks. The operator should be in to lead us to the airboat when he is done.

The airboat operator comes in shortly after that... "Looks like I got me a nice group of really brave souls this morning! Any of you ever ride an airboat before?" We all shake our heads no.

"This is an incredibly fun ride, a highly informative ride... but it is up to you to do your part, to help me make this a SAFE ride! Few things you need to know before we get started! Wear your seatbelts at ALL times... don't do that and you are liable to end up as alligator poop in the morning! Wear your life jacket...that way if you don't follow rule number one...MAYBE you can stay afloat long enough for me to swing back around to get you...before the gators do! Also, because the airboat is very noisy, and the ride can toss you from side to side at times. Everyone must wear a safety helmet. This serves two purposes... it protects your noggins if you crack your heads together....and each helmet is equipped with a headset so that we can all talk and hear each other. We are going to be out there for most of the day... so it is always nice to be able to communicate...so that you all know what we are seeing and what we are doing.

As we all put on our life jackets and helmets... The tour guide reaches into a small container on the dock and pulls out a baby alligator....and allows each of us a chance to hold it and have our picture taken with it. Bob is grinning widely as she holds the small creature in her hands.

The operator DID not lie... we all had a fun time, riding in the airboat. Quite sure that we actually went airborne on several occasions as we passed over obstacles that would have prevented a normal boat from passing.

We learned a lot about the Everglades and saw a lot of wildlife including a large number of birds and we even got to see a huge Python in a tree... which made all of us shudder to even think that snakes like that are living in the wild in the USA.

The tour what truly an experience to remember...and we were incredibly happy to have been invited to go along. We stop at a little ice cream shop for a little treat before heading back to our ships. Turns out the little shop also sells burgers and fries, so we all decide to go ahead and have a meal...my treat. Figured it was the least I could do since they had provided the days entertainment.

On the way back to the ships Mark mentions that he is ready to pour himself a nice stiff drink and relax. Tina pipes up and says to him "Don't be getting yourself too relaxed, I'm in the notion for something stiff also, but it sure isn't a drink"

"A woman after my own heart" Bob replies

Mark and Tina looked at each other and raised their eyebrows, then looked at Sam and Michelle and smiled.

"If you all don't mind slumming, our ship is closest and we do have a full liquor cabinet" I say, "we can all pull up some deck chairs and enjoy the evening on deck, if you would like."

"That sounds wonderful to me" Michelle replies "I have been wanting to see the inside of that ship since the first time we saw it."

"Me too," added Mark "I LOVE those classic ships like that! They were built by true craftsmen! That ship is hand made of wood, steel, and brass... ours is made of fiberglass, crazy glue, and tinfoil...I think. Yes, I would love to come aboard to see your ship, if you are sure you don't mind"

"Let's do it then" I say as I usher them all aboard

"Bob and I took everyone below deck first...opened up the liquor cabinet and fixed everyone the drink of their choice. Then we gave them the grand tour of our living quarters. Everyone seemed impressed by the fact that I had been able to blend in so many modern features into such a classic boat."