The video of this years Southeast Us (Jacksonville) Boat show is now available. If you missed the show, you can see it on Mermaids and Tales TV or you can click here Southeast US Boat Show. Check out the pretty girls that you missed.

The Southeast US Boat Show Bikini contest (Jax Boat Show Bikini Contest) is now live and can be seen on Mermaids and Tales TV We didn’t think the weather would cooperate but it was sunny and the contest was one of the best. See the models in the dressing room before the show.

The Sorry Dog Boat Car is making headlines all over the country.  The most recent is the Jacksonville Times Union front page story about Carl and the car.  Most people probably think that the Sorry Dog is crazy.  Those of us who know him know that he is crazy as a fox.  Check out the video of the boat car at “Mermaids and Tales TV”  

The following is the article printed in the Times Union by Dan Scanlan. Thank you Times Union for the following article:

Carl Pegel is getting used to the stares when he sets sail in his 13-foot Sea Ray jet boat.

It’s not just the skeleton of Capt. Argyle, the pirate on the bow or the fish on the fishing rod rack behind his seat.

Shows what happens when you stay out in the Florida sun too long.

Maybe it’s the fact that “Doggy Daze” has wheels on its keel as Pegel pilots this converted dune buggy down Jacksonville’s roads.

“It gets a bit scary when people slam on their brakes and hang out of their cars with their camera phones,” he said of his year-old creation. “It is fun. My biggest regret is I didn’t do it 20 years ago when I saw one.”

Doggy Daze garnered a lot of attention when it cruised to a First Coast Car Council car show in Fruit Cove on a recent Saturday night. Car council president Lon Greenwood says he regularly sees lots of hot rods and classic cars at the Saturday night cruise-ins at Florida 13 and Racetrack Road, but not a boat.

“It makes me think of the Amphicars that were around for years that people could drive in the water,” Greenwood said. “His wasn’t a big boat, and I liked the fact that it probably gets better gas mileage than it did as a boat.”

Pegel lives just off Julington Creek and buys and sells boats through his brokerage, Sorry Dog. His love of boating goes back to a 10-footer he built in his woodworking class in Oak Ridge, Tenn., which earned him an A-plus.

and heeerrrreeeeee's Sorry Dog

This boat car, license plate LIE-N-DOG, started as a jet boat given to him with no title. No title meant no sale; then Pegel remembered a boat car he’d seen in Fort Lauderdale 20 years ago. “I said, ‘One day, I will build one,’ ” he remembered.

He found a Middleburg man with a Volkswagen dune buggy that looked like it would fit under the Sea Ray. Pegel hung the boat up, marked out where he needed to cut, and went to it.

“I rolled the buggy back under it, and it was a perfect fit,” said Pegel, 66.

A few hundred dollars saw the steering wheel and console moved, and new steering, pedals and a hydraulic clutch added.

There’s a life preserver on the rear deck, a prop propeller and headlights mounted where a bow wave used to foam. The fishing rod rack has a mounted game fish and stuffed parrot, with miniature beaches with seashells, coral and toy boats on the frame rails.

“We Tennessee boys, we can pick up nothings and make somethings,” he joked.

Pegel said he’s cruised it up to a “scary 50″ mph. When he took it to its first cruise-in two months ago, men with $70,000 Corvettes flocked to see it.

“I used to pull over so many times to answer questions that a buddy asked me if we would ever get where we are going because we are always stopping,” he said.

Pegel says he’ll build others for about $8,500 each. And he mentions he could be making a veggie-car out of a big plastic chili pepper for a local restaurant.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-04-02/story/jacksonville-man-brings-boat-and-dune-buggy-together-make-boat-car#ixzz1qzbKOmaT

There is a new ship in the fleet that is absolutely fantastic.  It can exceed 40 knots and seemingly turn on a dime.  These pictures tell the story:

We were coming back from Juniper Springs on highway 19 when we saw a sign that said ‘Ferry’ as we were heading into Salt Springs.  This whole area is rather sparse and we couldn’t believe that there was a ferry to cross the St. Johns River.

Wondering if it would hold the car.

We stopped in at the Salt Springs Welcome Center and asked about the Ferry.  They said it was still operating and that we should take the next road with the Ferry sign and go for about 7 miles and when it dead ended, just flash our lights.  They also said the road was a little rough.

little bit of rust but it floats

Being reasonably adventurous, we decided to try it out.  We made the turn as instructed and headed down the road.

Safely on and moving

We made it across and continue on our trip

After just a little bit, it turned into a dirt road and continued on through the woods.  About 5 miles in were wondering if we made a wrong turn.  I felt like I was in the back woods and we hadn’t seen anything for the last 5 miles.  We decided to continue on and finally we came to a dock on the river.  There was nothing around and couldn’t see anything across the river, but we did as instructed and flashed our lights and waited.  About that time, the blind mosquitos had found us and we retreated to the car.  Nothing seemed to be happening so we flashed our lights again.  After about 5 minutes we saw a little spot on the river moving toward us.  As it got closer, we saw a little tugboat with a flat barge and now we were wondering if we had made a mistake.  It was too late to back our now so we waited for the boat to dock.  Once it docked and we drove on to the barge, we found some interesting things.

This ferry was started in 1863 to move the federal troops across the river from Fort Gates during the Seminole wars.  The confederacy also used the Ferry to move troops across the river.  The tugboat and ferry are over 100 years old and the ferryman, Don Yale, has been doing this for the last 16 years.

Once you got over the concern of being on a 2 car ferry, it turned out to be a really great 1/2 hour trip for only $10.00.  When you reach the other side, you are about 1 mile from county road 309 just south of Welaka.  It turn out to be an amazing trip and we learned some more about the history of Florida.  All in all, a rather good day.