This is not about Ernest Hemingway, although he lived in Florida and would understand why this phrase applies to this post.
We left Fort Myers and headed for the Okeechobee Waterway, a 135-mile trip across the center of Florida, using rivers, a lake, and canals. We made it through five locks and turned northward in Stuart, Florida.
Three nights were spent “on the road” so to speak. One anchorage, one marina, and one night tied to a dolphin (that’s a post, not a fish). Most of you know what locks are, but for those who don’t, it’s like a dam between bodies of water at different levels. So once you’re inside and the gates are locked, it either fills up or drains like a bathtub, then it opens at the same level as the body of water on the other side.
I was anxious about the locks, keeping the boat tight to the wall as you go up or down, but I admit they were a piece of cake—when I wasn’t distracted.
By itching.
Florida is buggy. No-see-ums are little flying midges that are all jaws. Large black flies also bite. Mosquitos are mosquitos.
Conversation in the bug room: “OMG, she’s baaack! Remember Uncle Bug mentioning this tasty treat from California years ago? Gourmet meals coming right up. Pass it on.”
The year we were married, when we attempted part of this trip in a sailboat that loved sandbars, I had seventy-eight no-see-um bites. No wonder I was skinny then. The critters drained off a few pounds of blood.
Similar scenario in 2007 when Mark and I bought a Grand Banks 36 and cruised from Stuart, Florida to the Chesapeake. I was smarter then—I took lots of spray with me, but I still ended up with massive water blisters from mini jaws taking their share of the moveable feast.
This time we were super smart. Mark and his brother Keith made thick screens for all the openings. They were great in the anchorage off the Okeechobee Waterway in a swamp where in the morning we counted about a hundred bug carcasses littering the outside of the boat. But in marinas I tended to be careless, leaving hatches open, even at sunrise and sunset, prime dining hours for biting bugs.
Yes, I had Deet, nasty stuff, but effective. Unfortunately I didn’t always remember to wipe it on.
The feast spent the next week moving through Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Reservations must have been taken, because those critters found me in all those places. First seating? Sold out. Second seating? No problem.
Not my favorite way to diet.
If you’ve missed any of the Confessions you can find them on my website at www.pamelagibsonwrites.com under Blog.
I am adored by biting insects so I can empathize with you!
It has never gone away, but in Nevada there are not as many mosquitos.