D-Fishman's Boating and Fishing Pages
Boating Vacations, Toys, and Links

Music is Jimmy Buffett's A Pirate Looks at Forty

INTRO

FISHING LINKS

WALKER'S CAY

BOATING VACATIONS It's great to combine a vacation with boating. A few years ago we took a four day vacation on a houseboat out of Hontoon Island Marina and Resort which is located on the St. Johns River outside DeLand, FL. What a great trip - four days with nothing to do but float along on the St. John's River, look at the scenery and do a little fishing. We got to see a barge pass by on its way up the river and a couple of alligators sunning themselves on the shore. A few of them floated near our boat and earned the nickname "guardian gators". We'd recommend this type of vacation to anyone who wants to get away from it all in central Florida. For information on other boating adventures, you can go Cruising the Florida Waterways with another local boater. SHOPPING FOR THOSE BOAT TOYS There are always a few more things that we absolutely need for the boat. Locally, there are several shops that we visit on a regular basis: West Marine, on US1 in Melbourne, Boaters World and Salt Water Sportsman stores. We can zip over to the Boat U.S. on-line store or we can look thru catalogs such as The Outer Banks Outfitter and Capt. Harry's Fishing Supplies from Miami, just to make sure we haven't missed anything! There is a really nice World Wide Sportsman store located in the Florida Keys. It looks like a huge store and I can't wait to visit at mile marker 81.5 in Islamorada. There is also a great Bass Pro Shop right next to the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) World Fishing Center in Dania, FL, which we visited when coming home from the Miami Boat Show in February 2000. If you don't own a boat, you can't do all this fun shopping so, to find tips on boat buying and links to all the boating manufacturers, go to my tropical neighbor's website. Remember to read the hilarious articles listed near the bottom, especially the ones with Ruth in the title. Poor Ruth, I feel kind of sorry for her and I would never treat my "first mate" like that! OTHER BOATING LINKS For some useful marine information, check out the informative links on the USA Marine Net site. For some good safety information visit BoatSafe.com. You'll find lots of great boating tips and courses on boating safety, something we all need to enjoy our hobby and make it safe for everyone else out there on the water. BoatSafe also has a page that will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about those nautical flags flying on some boats. If you visit the Water Line Nautical Flag Translation page you can learn how to spell your name with flags, just like the DFISHMAN flags below: An excellent way to keep the Florida waterways safe and clean is to get an Indian River Lagoon license plate. To keep yourself safe get BoatU.S. boating insurance. Call them at 1-800-804-2628 to find out about their low cost coverage. They offer 24-hour emergency service too, something we could have used with our old boat! If your boat is on the East coast of Florida like ours is, and you need routine repairs on your boat, you can call All Pro Mobile Marine Service and they'll come to you. They also offer a Boat Questions Forum and an email address where you can Ask A Tech. A lot of service, all on one page!

I also highly recommend that you visit

Citizens for Florida's Waterways and the Standing Watch organizations

Follow these links to get more information
about boating and fishing

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BOATING LINKS

FISHING LINKS

WALKER'S CAY

Email me at darrell@cfl.rr.com with any comments about these pages