Monday, March 7, 2016

Mystery Cruise with the PGIslanders' Boating Club

3 catamarans hosted 40 PGIslander' sleuths at Mystery Cruise
Richard came up with a great idea to create a Mystery Cruise to Cayo Costa, a beautiful boat-only accessible park here in southwest Florida.  We floated the idea with the PGIslander's, our boat club, and before we knew it, the planning began.  We developed the cruise over a few months over dinners at our club member's homes.  It was originally scheduled in January, but because of bad weather, rescheduled to March 4-6.

Nancy & Steve ponder the clues on Punta Blanca
 
The mystery involved a lost treasure that snowbirds had buried somewhere in the Cayo Costa area.  There were a variety of clues that the snowbirds left on Cayo Costa that were identified by the boater sleuths.  Examples of snowbird items left were:  a snowflake, ice skates, an icicle, hockey puck, snowman, snowbird, a glove, snowballs...you get the idea!

Forty PGIslanders took part in the treasure hunt with 19 boats anchored in Pelican Bay.  Three club member's catamarans served as the "party platform" where we started off the mystery with a pot luck and listening to some ghost recordings that offered clues.  The next morning the hunt was "on"... There were 4 teams with names of Doc Ford, Sherlock, Joe Friday and the Shadow.  It was very competitive.  All the teams were able to find their respective treasure that was buried 5 ft from a cross on Punta Blanca. 
The Joe Friday Team celebrates finding treasure


The winners were determined on Saturday night by how many questions about the mystery that they answered correctly.  Everyone gathered for a taco dinner on the catamarans and the victorious team was Doc Ford!   It was a spectacular event with wonderful participation and a fun time was had by all.