Day 2 - The Boat Ride (and I use that phrase loosely) Part I

Day 2: Boarding the Mustang aka the U.S.S. P.O.S. or the U.S.S. Heap

We showed up at the marina in Palacios right on time, and with everything girls need to have fun on the water. Beer, wine coolers, sunscreen, inflatable floaty things, junk food, and yellow watermelon.

When we originally saw the boat (evening of Day 1), our concern-o-meter immediately went into the red. Besides the exhaust/dead seafood smell, it seemed a bit - how shall I phrase this - rustic. After talking to Cap'n Tom, we learned that the boat was built in 1963 and was a modified torpedo recovery boat. The modification (singular) was to put a piece of plywood over the hole that led down to where the torpedos were stored. The torpedo storage ramp also doubles as our swimming entry and exit point.

He had two other people on the boat; Lisa, his 14-year old daughter whom we had met the evening before, and Lupe. Lupe isn't very talkative but seems nice enough. Cap'n Tom says that he's a friend of his daughters and that she's too young for him. He had originally scheduled two deckhands "of the female persuasion" but those plans fell through so our charter consisted of: Cap'n Tom, Lisa, Lupe, Kelly, Stephanie, Nadja, and me. We later learn that Lupe a) just kinda stuck around from the charter Cap'n did that morning and b) is at least 21 years old.

It was hot as Hades but once we were underway, the breeze cooled us off a little so we just laid out on the back of the boat and relaxed. After about 20 minutes, Cap'n came back and asked us if anyone knew how to shoot a rifle. We all pointed at Stephanie. Cap'n then asked her if she wanted to fire his SKS Russian assault rifle. WHUT. She agreed. WHUT. I asked him if it was legal. He just smiled.

He brought out the rifle and our concern-o-meter, which had dropped significantly, went back into the red.

<--- Imagine this gun but covered in rust. Apparently manufactured at the same time as the boat.

He threw an empty water bottle into the water (the boat is still moving at full speed!) and told Stephanie to try and hit it. She fired into the water a couple of times and we saw the water popping up where the bullets were impacting. He then encouraged her to fire several times in a row off the side of the boat. We then all took pictures with it trying to look tough. He also offered to let us shoot his speargun but we didn't get a chance to. The speargun looked like it was made pretty recently. He said it had three settings and on the strongest setting, the spear tip would put a hole throught the boat. It was called the JBL Sawed-Off Magnum Speargun.