My wife, Sera, laughed out loud when I told her my secret desire is to get a boat. "You don't even know how to swim," she responded.
That's true, but there's something magical about being on the water. We spent Sunday afternoon on a boat with another couple and we had a great time. We went up to Disappearing Island, which had disappeared at the time (high tide) and passed Chicken Island and Bird Island as we headed north from the North Causeway Bridge to the South Jetty.
You get a whole new appreciation of New Smyrna Beach from the middle of the Indian River or as the natives around here call it, "the river" or the Intracoastal Waterway.
I have always been partial to water systems. I used to go to Misquamicut Beach in Rhode Island from Connecticut when I was in high school and college. Years later, I lived near the Hudson River in suburban New York and ferried to the Statue of Liberty many times. And I love going to Cape Cod, or as we native New Englanders call it, "The Cape."
Even though I can't swim, I've snorkeled in the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, Barbados and Mexico. I have been known to spend many hours with my head in the water with a trusting life jacket keeping me afloat and a T-shirt to keep my back from burning.
One of the great things about living in New Smyrna Beach besides the sunshine and the friendly people are the waterways. We are so lucky to have not only the river, but the ocean, too.
I like the ocean as well, but I do worry about rip currents, which is why I faithfully heed the advice of going in the water where a lifeguard can keep an eye on me (or I can keep an eye on him or her to save me) and I rarely go past my waist.
Being on a boat, though, in the river, is very enjoyable. Besides soaking in the sun and the occasional spray of salt water, is the soothing glide through the water at nominal speeds. You can see dolphins and all kinds of neat fish jumping in and out of the water, as well as turtles sunning on shore and majestic pelicans flying around.
Besides all of the beautiful homes and landscapes I saw on both sides of the river, I noticed many other boaters waved to us as we passed by. And everyone seemed to be respectful of the manatee speed zones. There were lots of boating couples, of all ages, and boats with whole families.
After Sunday's affair with boating that cleared up my asthma from Saturday, I think I convinced my wife to get a boat. Now all I have to do is find a way to pay for it. I'll have to sell more ads. A lot more ads.