No Wake, No Rules
No wake, that was not in our summer language and so we dared to try and try we did, skiing right off the dock's edge, winding full throttle around the tiny, narrow bends and curves of Boggy Branch and the river. The wake of the ski boat sent large waves against the river's shoreline. Perhaps it never occurred to the summer cousins that another boat might be making it's way around the narrow curves and bends of Boggy Branch. It was with great anticipation that the river on any given day would be glass still and calm, making for a cypress garden performance on a set of wooden skis.
In front of Nelson's boat yard would be a small fleet of shrimp boats casting their trash fish to the waiting sea gulls and many a time, a gator would be waiting for the same feast. There were no rules about gators in the river and no fear for as the skier approached Nelson's, the gator would retrieve to the depths of the river, leaving only a circle of awareness of it's presence. It was quite the thrill to ski over the gator's surface circles, never knowing where the gator was or is watching or waiting. Perhaps only the best of water skiers dared this thrill for I don't recall every pulling a cousin out of the river as a gator licked it's chops.
Now the river is covered up with No Wake markers, making for a more peaceful cruise, a longer time commitment on any given outing and possibly a safer way to boat, but never the less, I can still hear those full throttled motors screaming past the tight shore line, bringing in and taking out a summer cousin waving behind the wake of a ski boat.