Shifted to Ft. Myers Beach Mooring.

Moored. Ball 5. 26°27.3728′N 081°57.0415′W.

We had a Docwa confusion with the mooring ball assignment.

We find Docwa to be handy for making reservations. The Docwa dance involves you making a request and the marina or mooring field confirming the request.

The confirmation is really important.

We've heard folks complaining to marina staff and refusing to use the technology and insist on making direct phone calls. I think that's because they don't get what's going on. Docwa isn't making the reservation; they're merely handing it off to the marina.

We save the confirmations because they often have details -- like the mooring ball assignment.

When we got here, someone already had the ball we were assigned to. So we took another free ball, and called the office. While we're trying to get someone to answer their phone, another boat comes in who was scheduled for the ball we took. They took another ball. A third boat comes in and there are no free balls at this end of the field.

They pitched a fit shouting to all of us that "You don't just grab a ball! There are reservations. You don't just grab a ball!"

CA shouts. "What would you have done?"

The boat circling around stopped shouting and had to confess they didn't know. The reason the confessed they didn't know was, of course, they would have simply grabbed the nearest available ball.

The office did not answer the phone because it was late in the day and they'd gone home. We apologized to the folks around us for causing so many problems. The pointing and shouting was just needless aggravation.

We're kind of the the "you don't just grab another ball" folks aren't nearby.

Clearly, they've never been to Key West where the field works by grabbing a ball.

Travel