Pontoon Boat Cruising on the Dillon Reservoir

The Denver Magazine makes cruising the Dillon Reservoir by pontoon boat sound very attractive ...

Why we love it: This is what summer in Colorado should be: an alpine lake, a pontoon boat, stunning 360-degree mountain scenery, grilling burgers on board, and kicking back in your flip-flops and shades with a cold beverage and the breeze in your hair. 

When to go: The Dillon Marina opens in May, but we suggest July or August. 

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Having grown up on the East Coast, summertime, in my mind, has always been synonymous with boats and harbors and sailing. It’s the one thing I've had a hard time with in Colorado: the feeling that part of summer was missing. But one summer, a friend suggested we go boating on Lake Dillon. What? I thought…How? We don’t have a boat. We don’t know how to sail. Do we need a captain?

Turns out, it’s super easy and loads of fun. No boating license required. We reserved a 22-foot pontoon on the Dillon Marina’s website, corralled a group of eight, and headed west one weekend for a lazy afternoon on the lake. We pulled up to a scene at the marina that was bustling with jubilant lake-goers in sundresses, bathing suits, and board shorts, plus a crowd of onlookers chilling on the deck of the marina’s tiki bar. We walked down the dock to our trusty steed carrying a cooler full of tasty beverages and snacks for grilling, and settled ourselves onto the cushy seats. After a rundown on the rules—no swimming, no diving, no speeding—and a reminder that someone had to be the designated boat driver, the deck hands sent us off into the open water. For hours, we cruised the lake, sunbathed in the balmy summer afternoon, and appreciated scenery we’d never before seen. Suddenly, there was nothing missing. Colorado had it all.

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Pontoon Boat Helping Veterans

Here's a great story just published by the Valley Morning Star about a couple helping veterans with their pontoon boat...

"Still feeling the effects of Vietnam War combat experiences, Lyle Jaegler devotes his energies to helping fellow combat veterans through a Disabled American Veterans fishing program.

Jaegler and wife Gloria have been married 41 years, he said. They enjoy helping veterans by taking them fishing on their pontoon boat.


While spending winters in the Rio Grande Valley, the Jaeglers help veterans here and do the same with another boat they own back home in Wisconsin.

He is a certified peer facilitator with the DAV, which enables him to help fellow veterans talk out their war-related issues, Lyle Jaegler said.

Gloria is planning to take training for a similar role so she can help wives and families of veterans learn to cope with the effects of post traumatic stress disorder, she said.

Jaegler, of Wausau, Wis., is now a life member of the DAV and Veterans of Foreign Wars, he said.
After being drafted into the Army, where he spent 2 1/2 years, he came home from Vietnam and worked in a paper mill for 28 years and later worked in the cable television business, he said.

Veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan bring home combat experiences, then face unemployment and the resulting family stresses, Jaegler said.

The DAV fishing program, started by fellow DAV member Gene Allen, provides a setting for troubled combat veterans to spend time in the outdoors with other veterans with similar backgrounds, he said.

The veterans need to be with others who “have been there and done that,” more than to be interviewed and recorded by a professional counselor, Jaegler said.

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Gotta Love A Song About A Pontoon Boat

In this article the writer mentions a song by Little Big Town that features a pontoon boat ...

I grew up on rock-n-roll. Despite my parents’ best attempts at filling our house with Big Band music, swing and a little Lawrence Welk on Sunday nights, I eventually got my hands on rock music and loved it.

Early on for me it was Ted Nugent, AC/DC, KISS, Led Zepplin and the Rolling Stones. I’ll admit, I was a little districted by disco (curse you Bee Gees) and I got side-tracked by rap in the 1980s (loved Run DMC and the Beastie Boys) but I was always into rock, even if sometimes I was listening from a good hiding spot.

In the 1990s rock made a resurgence for me with the coming of grudge. Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden were some of my favorites.

It was also during this time I was first introduced to country music. At the time I could take some country (Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt, Alan Jackson, Hank Jr.) and others I could leave (anybody remember Billy Ray Cyrus?). But it was something that never really stuck to me.

Today I’ve found myself more accepting of country music and I’ve even found I’ll listen to it without being asked to change the station. I like songs by Jason Aldean, Band Perry, Sugarland, Little Big Town and Toby Keith.

What I’ve found is there is a recipe for a successful country song and any song with one or more of these elements is likely going to be a big hit.

Trucks — If you write a country song about trucks, you’ll probably have a hit. Take a good ol’ boy (or girl), put them in a pick-up truck and then add some mud and apparently that’s all you need for a good time. Throw in some beer (preferably not while driving said pickup truck) and a BBQ and we got us a hootinanny!

Aldean is pretty good at this genre. He’s had songs about driving trucks down back country roads and about leaving tread marks all over town his last two CDs. I’d say the boy is on to something here.
Toys — If your write a country song about driving ATVs or motorboats, you might have a hit.

Like trucks, good ol’ boys (and girls) love their toys. Little Big Town hit it big this past summer with a song about a pontoon boat. Besides trucks, they sing about 4-wheelers, boats and occasionally about a gun or two. Ah! Country living.

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Fishing Boat Built For Disabled Vets

Just when you begin to lose faith in humanity you read a great story like this about selfless guys helping others ...

“This is gonna be a good time,” said Gary Pearson.

In the nearly 20 years he’s known his buddy Ernie Butler, they’ve have never been fishing together.
“I'm just looking forward to getting back out on the water again,” he said.

“Even the worst day of fishing beats the best day at work,” added Butler, with a chuckle.
 
The two military veterans are paralyzed from the waist down. To them, a simple day of fishing was literally entering unwelcoming waters.

“It's a whole new life when you’re in a wheelchair and you start looking at what reality is out there,” said Pearson.

That's where Mike Mayes and Ralph Brotherton come in. Mayes is a semi-retired plumber; Brotherton, a carpenter. Together, they built a one of a kind boat specifically for disabled fishermen.

The impetus for the simple design came from Mayes's dad and brother-in-law, both disabled veterans who love to fish.

“There is no reason they shouldn’t have access to do something like this. I looked around and couldn’t find anything,” said Mayes.
  
The two built an elongated pontoon boat, attached a retractable ramp, picked up some special reels for the rods and the “Accessible” was ready to sail.

On a crisp fall afternoon on Island County’s Lone Lake, Mayes, Butler and Pearson did just that.
“It's been a long time since I've been relaxing on a lake like this,” said Pearson. “This is pretty sweet, buddy,” added Butler, a smile creeping across his lips.

Here, not just veterans, but anybody confined to a wheelchair can cast away their cares and let them disappear like a sinker to the bottom of the lake.

“This is something that can bring so much joy to people,” said Mayes.

What's funny is that Mayes and Brotherton didn't get their inspiration to take to the water from a boathouse. They got it from an outhouse.

“Right next to the lake is a brand new ADA accessible bathroom,” said Mayes. “It dawned on me that anybody in a chair could come down here, use the bathroom and look at the lake but not go fishing on it. That’s ridiculous to me.”
 
With that barrier now broken, a newfound freedom comes. It’s the freedom to stop being guys in wheelchairs for a few hours, and to just be guys. Butler and Pearson chew the fat on the boat, talking about retirement plans and fishing trips from long ago.

“I’ll never get tired of coming out here,” said Butler.

“Me neither,” added Pearson, a look of contentment on his face. “I could cast  the fly rod all day long, never catch a fish and have a great time.”

Out on the water this sunny fall day, there were plenty of geese and deer to be seen...but no fish.

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Bonita Springs Boat Parade

There will be a light show on the water at Bonita Springs again this year with more than 30 boats expected to take part.

"The Imperial River Boat Parade is coming back to a vibrant glowing life after years of faded glory. More than 30 boats are expected to light up the river in Bonita Springs with Florida style decorations ranging from alligators and flamingos to dolphins and manatees.

The 27th annual parade was a big hit in the 1990s when dozens of boats would meander along the river delighting viewers. A decade later the parade petered out to about 15 boats. Now it is being revived with both businesses and individuals planning elaborate decorations, music and other entertainment along the river.


Adam Botana of Bay Waters Boat Boat Club, is organizing the event and plans to have his two-story pontoon boat in the parade.



“This year we will have lasers and T-shirt launchers,” Botana said about his boat decorations. “There will be music and lots of lights and lots of sound. We’re excited.”


Ben Nelson, owner of Nelson Marine, is a regular and a favorite in the parade. He transforms his marine crane into a lighted water-spewing dragon. Nelson says he never knows until the last minute if he can enter his dragon because it depends on how close to Bonita the crane is for a job.


“We have to decorate all in one day,” Nelson explained. The preceding Friday we knock off work about noon and go to work on it and do all the wiring and framing and water and electricity. The next day we start early in the morning decorating it. It’s always right down to the wire getting it done.”


Nelson said it’s a lot of work decorating, and then operating the dragon in the dark is difficult too. Still he’s been doing it about every other year for the past 15 years.

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