We left off in the first part of the story with the hammerhead boat going northbound on the inter coastal waterway, headed for the Sanibel pass a 100 yards wide, and 100 feet deep, with a strong rip tide. Captain Fred, a former sailor assigned to atomic submarines was at the controls along with first mate Tucker who knew the waters in the area well having fished them many times with his grandfather looking for tarpon and shark. They both kept a sharp eye out for the channel markers, as they made the many changes in course as we headed north. As the boat turned east, Tucker spotted some dark clouds that were pushing north approaching our boat at a fast rate. To avoid the oncoming storm, Tucker told the captain that we were directly in front of Chino Island, a popular fishing area with very shallow waters approaching island.

Peek-a-boo!

Fred headed the boat towards the island, and let the five children off in the shallow area as he was going to back away from the island and anchor the boat off shore so it could ride out the fast moving incoming storm. As the boat was in reverse seeking deeper water to anchor, the storm come blasting full speed into the Hammerhead, which became caught in the rip tide and drifted further and further away from shore.

The boat disappeared from view as the winds howled, and the rain came down in a horizontal stream. Tucker took the children inland a short distance, and found some palm trees that they all could huddle under to give some protection from the storm. An hour or so later the winds calmed down, the rain stopped and the sun came out shining in full force to warm the soaked children and also cheer them up as they didn't know where the boat was with Fred and Le Ann aboard.

A period of time later, after drying out and warming up, one of the children spotted a giant rainbow in the sky. They decided to follow the rainbow when they heard a lot of singing and music. The children, unaware of what was going on, approached the music and singing and came upon a group of sun worshipers dancing and singing around a large driftwood fire. Tucker forgot to tell the captain that Sanibal and the islands surrounding it were a popular gathering place for the many nudists colonies in the area.

Part 3 will follow...

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