Last week my family and I had the opportunity to spend the week of the 4th of July in the Florida Keys. After a 13-hour drive through the night pulling our flats boat we arrived at our place at 7 am on Saturday 30th. Even though we were exhausted we had the boat in the water by 9am and were on our way to a small white sand beach to let the kids snorkel while my wife and I recharged the batteries. The area we were staying had a lot of narrow channels and we passed quite a few other boats in close proximity on a busy Saturday. As we typically do here in the Lowcountry my wife and I waved at everyone we passed. It was rather interesting as the kind gesture was very rarely returned? After over a dozen encounters we came to a rather disappointing conclusion; boaters in South Florida are simply are not as friendly as we are here in the Carolinas! As the week drew on our conclusion was reaffirmed time and time again. It pretty much turned into a game for us as we jokingly bet who would wave back. As a matter of fact I guaranteed a friendly response from one boat, my wife did not believe me at first as the stats were well in the favor of the “non wave,” I waved and got a big wave back, my wife looked at me in disbelief till she saw the registration numbers, “You cheated,” as she read aloud “SC _ _ _; I see that now.”
With over 40 people a day moving to the greater Charleston area alone; the make up of our population is changing extremely rapidly. Make it a habit to wave to all fellow boaters so our friendly tradition is not lost with the influx!
Tight lines…
Captain Tim Pickett
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