Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Michele Senda at the Boca Grande Marina.
Docktails at the Boca Grande Marina. Stacey Stevens, Tiffany Mercer, Cindy McKeown, Michele Senda, Rosie Pasch, Mark Senda, Luanne Datema, Sandy and Bill Miller, Craig Datema, Dan Lange, Sean McKeown, Terry Pasch, Kelly Clark, Jenny McCammon, and Steve Weiss.
Cabbage Key Excursion. Front row: Rosie Pasch, Jenny McCammon, Jo Logan, Cindy McKeown, Stacey Stevens, Judy Lange, Keiron McCammon, Kerry Clark, Michele and Mark Senda, Tiffany Mercer, Event hosts Rosie and Don Harty, and Sandy Cass Miller. Back row: Terry Pasch, Dan Lange, Event Co-hosts Therese and Phil Hausler, Steve Weiss, Sean McKeown, Keiron McCammon, and Tyler Mercer.
Tyler Mercer, Dan and Judy Lange, and Terry Pasch at the fishing charter.
From left: Nick Nichols, guest speaker Sandi Firtion, event host Don Harty, Kerry Clark, and Jenny McCammon. From right: Prescott Nichols, Joy Zaben, Rosemary Harty, Keiron McCammon, and Jo Logan.
Bill and Sandy Miller, Nick Nichols, Joy Zaben, Tiffany and Tyler Mercer, and Mark and Michele Senda.
From left: Steve Weiss, Stacey Stevens, Rosie and Terry Pasch. From right: Tyler and Tiffany Mercer and Judy and Dan Lange.
Keiron McCammon, Kelly Clark, Judy Lange, Tiffany Mercer, and Therese Hausler.
Bill and Sandy Miller, Phil Hausler, Dan Lange, and Tiffany Mercer.
Phil Hausler AND Dan Lange on High Maintenance. The far left boat is Terry and Rosie Pasch on Livin' the Dasch all heading to Cabbage Key.
At the Farmers Market: Craig and Luanne Datema, Dan Lange, Stacey Stevens, and Kelly Clark.
Judy Lange and Rosie Pasch are having fun cruising around Boca in their BGM Club Car.
Boca Grande, otherwise known as Big Mouth and the Tarpon Fishing capital of the world, is a place like none other. It is accessible by car over the Boca Grande Swing Bridge or by boat. Boats could arrive via the Intracoastal Waterway and Gasparilla Sound-Charlotte Harbor or the outside route via the Gulf of America. There were a total of 11 boats and 30 members on the cruise.
Conditions were looking good for the day of departure with flat seas, low winds, and rising tides off Marco and Boca Grande. And it all came to fruition. It was an easy run on the outside. Because boats run at different speeds, the 11 boats split off into two groups to make the run via the Gulf. Slips were reserved well in advance at both the Boca Grande Marina and the Innlet Dockside Marina. Most members came by sea and some by car.
After securing their boats and freshening up, members met at the Boca Grand Marina Dockside for Docktails followed by dinner upstairs at the Boca Grande Marina Eagle Grill. Event host Don Harty scheduled a wonderful speaker - Sandi Firtion, a Board of Director from the Boca Historical Society - to speak before dinner. She was excellent and it was a lot of fun to hear the history and her interaction with members' questions and answers.
The second day was just as well planned as the first - that being to take everyone out on a couple of the faster boats on a short cruise about five miles south to Cabbage Key for lunch and hiking. Departure time was early in order to beat the ferry traffic, a very good plan. After lunch, hiking, and a fun cruise back to Boca Grande, members gathered for Docktails at the Boca Grande Marina, followed by dinner at Scarpa's restaurant.
For all those fishermen and women on the trip bragging rights went to Tyler Mercer who caught a six-foot Tarpon weighing approximately 150-pounds. Congratulations Tyler - you earned it.
Day three members walked the beaches and collected fossilized Shark's Teeth - Pliocene to Miocene Epoch, approximately two to 35 million years old. They rode their bikes and golf carts everywhere, went to the Farmers Market, spent some pool time together, and some went charter fishing. All followed by Docktails at the Boca Grande Marina and dinner at Temptations. Time flew by at a nice pace.
A big thank you goes to hosts Don and Rosie Harty and co-hosts Phil and Therese Hausler and Stacey Stevens. A lot of planning a year in advance really paid off. It was a wonderful event.
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