The 2010 RPYC Palm Island Cruse, unofficially renamed the “Gilligan’s Island Cruise,” kicked off on Friday, May 20, when 28 souls found themselves marooned at Palm Island Marina, after a three-hour cruise up the ICW to Placida, Florida. Although the slips are a bit small at Palm Island Marina for our RPYC 40-footers, the marina staff cleared out all other boats to make way for our ten vessels, and provided expert help in assisting with our docking.

 

 First-time cruise leaders Carol and Rich Geib were ably assisted by veterans Mar and Charlie Guveiyian. Carol met each incoming boat on arrival with a briefing and a souvenir Gilligan hat. Friday’s activities began at the marina’s swimming pool and pavilion, which was decorated with all manner of Gilligan’s Island stuff. A trashcan punch called “Gilligan’s Grog” was whipped up with ingredients provided by the marooned islanders. The Grog was frozen and later embellished with more ingredients and was served several more times over the weekend. Participants came dressed in their favorite Gilligan character’s costume, and a costume contest was held. Probably as a result of the Grog, the contest was inconclusive. Music was provided by Charlie, who found a Caribbean Christmas CD, and played it all weekend. Leverock’s catered a barbeque dinner on Friday, as well as full breakfasts on Saturday and Sunday. Everyone seemed to enjoy a break from cooking, and gave the meals excellent reviews.

 

On Saturday, the Gilligan Islanders took the small passenger ferry across the ICW to Palm Island Resort for sunning and shelling on the beautiful Gulf beaches. On Saturday evening we all went back to the resort for a group dinner at Rum Bay Restaurant, where the food was good and the service excellent. Sunday was Pool Day, with a coconut decorating contest and Gilligan’s Pool Games put on by Carol. Three teams competed for high honors and fabulous prizes. Of all the games, the favorite seemed to be the cheering contest, where the teams developed and performed their own team cheer, some of which should have been censored. Sunday dinner consisted of copious quantities of warmed up barbeque, Carol’s cookies and, of course, another round of Gilligan’s Grog. After a restful Sunday evening, the Gilligan Islanders departed for home on Monday morning. So ended another fun and relaxing Royal Palm Cruise.