The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-12-11
ATRlp ON THE GULF.

da is Paradise for Everybody-A Let
ter from Mrs. A. II. Eddy.
ED. ENTERPRISE Having made ar
rangements to start on pleasure trip
from Crystal River down to the gulf On
the 18th of November, we were little
disheartened to have that morning dawn
cloudy and rainy. To us nOrtherners
the storms of Florida are but a cloud
passing over the sunny face of a child,
which is soon all smiles again, so we pre-
pared for starting. But to our southern
friend the storm seemed dreadful and
they said we must have gone stark mad,
fit subjects for the insane asylum to start
on such day, but at 2 p. NJ. they raised
the anchor and started down Crystal
river for the gulf, distance OF eight
miles.
We had a very pleasant run to Shell
island off which we anchored and pre-
pared to spend the night. Here we took
our first meal on ship board, our vessel
being small sloOp, "The Fairlee."
After pleasant evening spent in chat
ting we retired to our narrow quarters,
and thought to sleep, but everything was
so new and strange that sleep was i'm
possible. We lay listening to the rain
overhead, the flap of the ropes in
the rigging, and the lap of the
waves against the side Of the vessel, and
thought of all the storms at sea Of which
we had read, feeling very much cha
grined in the morning to have all our
fine fancies dispelled by finding that not
adrop of rain had fallen during the night
and the sounds we had thought were
rain was only the rustic of the palmetto
leaves along the shore near which we
were anchored. After breakfast we set
sail for the oyster bars.
We passed many interesting places
which the captain kindly pointed out to
us and answered our many questions
with admirable patience. On one
island were thousands of large birds col
lected, pelicans sea gulls, aud cormor-
ants. They were beautiful sight,
looking at them through our feld-glass,
they looked like large city. We also
passed many islands used as pleasure re-
sorts. The gentlemen were kept busy
all the morning shooting ducks. AT
1880 a. m. we anchored on the oyster
bars and soon had large quantity
gathered, and began cooking for dinner,
after which we started for the fishing
grounds, the sea being quite rough.
We arrived at the fishing grounds at
Sd. m. Then the fun began in earnest.
GroOpery, a large fish weighing from ten
to thirty-fve pounds; red mouthed
grunts. and black fish, both small fish OF
superior quality, were caught. We then
anchored off st. Martins reef for the
night, about fifteen miles out on the
gulf. The wind blew quite cool and
hard all night from the north. The YES
sci rocked about so we did not sleep
much. The next morning was clear and
bright. We saw the sun rise from the
water, and just as it rose we saw the
double sun, one in the sky and one in
the water. 1t shows like that for only a
moment, and is gone. We had delight
full sail of twenty-eight miles to the
Chessenowske river, ran up the river
four miles and anchored. The Chessen-
Owski is quite a large stream mostly used
for rafting cedar out of the swamps by
which it is surrounded. Here is where
much of the cedar comes from of which
our lead pencils are made, the DixOr
Company having large mill at Crysta
River, and the Faber Company having
one at Cedar Keys.
After dinner of wild ducks the MIN
rods went off in the rOw-bOat to few O
the many islands, to find something Il
shoot. They returned at night will
squirrels and birds.
The next morning we started agail
for the gulf. The gentlemen had con
siderable sport shooting at pOrpoise tina
were playing around the vessel. w
passed many places of interest. Th
first town we sighted was Bay Port, stu
ated on an island at the mouth of tn
Wickwatchee river. About 4 o'clock w
passed CoOta river, a great fishing place
We anchored for the night having rul
forty miles during the day. We had in
tended to reach Clearwater that night
but the wind did not hold out so we raj
in there the next morning, a distance 0
30 miles.
We found very nice little town wit
some very fine residences, mostly Owne
by rich northern people who spend thei
winters here. The town is built on
high bluff with nice sand beach an
good harbOr. The streets and walks ar
covered with shell which is very nice
Here we saw oranges on the trees, pei
haps One-tenth of crop. The trees ha
been hurt by the freeze OF last winter
but not killed as in this part Of Florida
In the afternoon we started on our rt
turn trip, stopped on one Of the island
to pick up shells and the nimrOds shot
great many sand snipe Of which theI
are great numbers. They make yer
nice eating. We remained here a
night and the next morning the me
went as soon as it was light to gatht
stone crabs and got great many. Aft
we had learned to eat them we fOun