CAPTAIN MICK’S WHEELCHAIR-ACCESSIBLE TRANQUIL ADVENTURES:
Like having a favorite uncle with an accessible pontoon boat in Key Largo
By Steve Wright
That Captain Mick also has snorkeling gear and knows the safest places in the Keys to do it in.
With his boat-mounted lift that lowers people into the water from the deck of the boat, he has enabled several mobility-impaired snorkelers.
For those with better range-of-motion, Captain Mick has a pair of sit-on-top ocean kayaks. It’s fun to watch him scramble up the ladder to the roof of his boat, manhandle a bulky kayak, then drop it into the pure blue waters. He can even use the hydraulic lift to ease a kayaker down into his watercraft.
The roof of the boat and its retractable awning provide excellent shade for wheelers and other landlubbers that haven’t quite acquired that Keys-brown tan that seafarers like that Captain have developed.
Better than all the lifts, ramps and improvised gear, is the down to earth conversation with a boater who truly loves the Keys that he has called home for nearly two decades.
Captain Mick loves to tell a big fish tale and see if the gullible rube believes a giant tarpon can be caught with a hollowed out detergent bottle.
He loves to tell a few dirty jokes, then blame them on the Internet (he’s just reporting the news, repeating the emailed groaners that friends send him.)
TOMORROW: THE BEAUTY OF THE FLORIDA KEYS
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