Yesterday's trip to the lake shan't soon be forgotten...

It started out normal, even great. Warm day, bright sunshine... we arrived at the lake at about 11am. It was cool... well, near 90 but after last week's weather it felt almost chilly. So cool, in fact, we decided to leave the Bimini Tops down for the ride out to our anchor spot... my boat has two bimini tops, (that fact comes into play here in just a little bit).

The water was a bit rough, it was windy, so we decided to go back a bit further than we normally go to find a more sheltered cove. My son-in-law was in his boat, a ski boat, and he can travel must faster than I can in my pontoon boat so he went ahead to choose location.

Great trip back toward the end of the lake, sunny, perfect temps.... listening to music, about a 7 mile trip. We don't know where my son-in-law has anchored so we are watching closely and soon spot him, fully anchored. As I'm pulling up I see another pontoon boat, no one I know, pulling right next to my son-in-law... so I circle and soon discover it's friends of my kids in the other pontoon boat... we begin maneuvering to tie all three boats together, anchored, and begin the days festivities.

My son-in-law has 6 people onboard... I have 10, and the other pontoon boat maybe 8 or 9. As soon as the boats are securely connected I began setting up... adjusting ice chests, pulling out inflatables, and it starts to get warm so I begin by opening my front bimini top.... lock it down. Then I proceed to the rear bimini top... and this is where the you know what hits the fan.

I unzip the cover.... then standing on the rear seat I began pulling it open and about half way 'set' I noticed something fly by my face about 6 inches away... and I also hear a scream that can only be described as blood curdling. Followed by another scream, just as blood curdling, then another, and another, and another.. in rapid fire order.

What the hell is going on? I hop down to the deck to check out the situation. Well, seems 3, maybe 4, bats had made my folded bimini top into their abode. As I unfurled the read one they were extracted from a nice cozy nap... and they weren't happy about it, and they weren't about to surrender their abode without a fight.

These things are swooping and soaring and dive bombing... I grab a 'noodle', (that's a long foam thing you use to float with), and begin Micky Mantling it, all the while screams are coming from every direction and also the sound of loud water splashes... remember, all three boats are tied together as one.

Now this goes on for what 'seem's' like 5 minutes, during which time I struck out a few dozen times. It's chaotic... but soon the dive bombs become less frequent... screams are fewer, and rather than frantically swinging I'm now trying to take careful aim to improve my chances of contact.

Soon after that.. it's calm... the bats have given up. At which time I take a moment to assess the situation... 3 boats, all tied together, and I can't see one other person. It was like the 'ghost ships' you hear about every so often, those abandoned or 'haunted' skeleton ships found floating in the middle of the ocean with no trace of humans.

I'm the only one onboard, onboard ANY of the three boats.

"AHOY?", I call out.... and in the bright sunny glare shining off the water I squint and notice a lot, like a herd, of these things bobbing up and down in the water. Obviously no call from me, the ship's captain, to "Abandon Ship" was necessary... the other's showed real initiative... not to mention self-preservation.

I didn't have any duct tap onboard so when I got back to my slip that night and docked I wasn't able to 'seal' the ends of the bimini top covers... chances are, I figure, the next trip may be every bit as exciting... which means, of course, I'm inviting some new people... people who are unaware and didn't hear about our little adventure yesterday.... which may be hard after my daughter's finish posting about it on Facebook. - JamesJM