We were just off the Everglades north of Cape Sable out from Ponce de Leon Bay. From offshore a distance we could see an inflatable dinghy up on a narrow strand of beach. As far as the horizon every direction, no boat, nor any person could be seen. We sailed in closer, dropped the hook, boarded our Avon and headed to shore toward this 10 foot treasure find.

Any sailor will tell you that anything you find and didn't have to pay for and maybe some day you might use is a treasure. Almost anybody sailing with a sailor who keeps picking up things he finds and dumping them on the boat will tell you that what he found is trash.

So, the question: Treasure? Or, Trashure? Its a matter of junkstaposition. If you throw a banana peel on the deck next to a piece of PVC pipe that also was thrown on the deck is it clear which one is trash and which is treasure? It has to do with where we stand. Stand on it, stand in it, can't stand it, stand to make no profit, it probably stands to reason, its trashure. So, who found it, where he dropped it, how its piling up, and what he does with it placed next to who we are, where we stand, and what affect it has on us makes the difference between treasure and trashure. It is all about junkstaposition.

So, back to off-shore from the Everglades. We near the beach and get a close-up look of the abandoned dinghy and what a mess! We could see that most of the bottom had been torn up. Puncture holes along the starboard side told the story of the force with which this vessel impacted the Glades mangrove lined coast. There was no hardware, no equipment of any kind to salvage. She had been picked clean. Treasure, or trashure? The debate began.

In mid-arguement, swat. Swat! Swat! SWAT! SWAT!SWAT!SWAT! We were being consumed by flying teeth. Well, not really teeth, but insects were all over us. We dived into our Avon and sped away leaving behind a cloud of biters and stingers swarming the wreck on shore. To soothe the itchy bumps raising up all over our exposed body parts and some unexposed parts as well, we jumped into the Gulf of Mexico.

Back on board we began to haul our anchor when ugh! It was stuck. Not wanting to spend the night this close to the No-see-um Coast, all hands tugged away and pulled the anchor up. As it surfaced we found that it had snagged another anchor, a plow with about 3 feet of chain. What a find! An anchor you do not have to pay for is always a treasure.

"Where are you going to stow it?"

"Right there."

"But that's our hatch. It won't open with that next to it."

"That's OK, you don't need that hatch it's just...

The Captain and The Kid