The Brad Mersereau Show
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The Brad Mersereau Show
Boating Adventures: From Florida's Chain of Lakes to Dubai
The Brad Mercerow Show takes listeners on an aquatic adventure through Florida's waterways and beyond, sharing personal stories of boating, surfing, and close encounters with marine wildlife. Brad explores the expanding Freedom Boat Club, reminisces about navigating Florida's Chain of Lakes, and recounts heart-stopping experiences with sharks and hurricane surfing.
• Freedom Boat Club is expanding to Dubai, offering membership-based boating internationally
• The Winter Haven Chain of Lakes connects 17 lakes for versatile boating experiences
• Modern jet skis pack 300 horsepower engines, more powerful than many motorcycles
• Brad witnessed a 6-foot shark jump completely over his friend while surfing at New Smyrna Beach
• Surfing during Hurricane Wilma created massive waves alongside dangerous lightning and waterspouts
• Kayaking near Spring Hill provided peaceful encounters with gentle manatees
• Waterfront restaurants like Harborside and Old Man Frank's offer boat-up dining experiences
• Safety tips include staying hydrated, using sunscreen, and enjoying the water responsibly
Follow me on all socials at the Brad Mercerow Show. I value each listener and hope to bring entertainment to your life. Thank you so much and I'll be seeing you soon!
This is the Brad Mercerow Show. Welcome everybody. So to kick this off, I'm going to be starting with some news from Florida. Of course, florida man makes the news again, as has been in my previous episodes. On this one we have Florida man marks birthday by doing meth stealing conch train, picking up riders and leaving his car running sitting on the street during the middle of it. Can you believe it? Yeah, so in reports it says. Key West police say a man told officers that it was his birthday today after being told he was under arrest for stealing a conch train. So conch is like a type of seashell sea creature out in the ocean and that's just what they gave as a name to this like train that goes on the streets of Key West. And this happened on the 4th of July, according to a News 6 partner. According to the arrest report, july 4th was indeed Mr Winslow's birthday. It's his 57th birthday. He's facing three criminal charges after being accused of taking one of the famous vehicles on a meth-fueled joyride Says.
Speaker 1:Police went to the Conk Tour Train Depot at Staple Avenue in Key West just before 1130 am, friday after receiving a report that the conch train had been stolen and was being GPS tracked around downtown. An arrest report states that Winslow of Big Torch Key left his Kia behind at the depot, still running with rock music playing on the radio. I mean, what does one else listen to when they're doing meth? Police said an employee told officers that he had come into the depot, claimed he used to work for the company years ago and asked for a tour of the train. They said he then got into one of the vehicles and drove off, leaving the employee confused, thinking that Winslow may have had permission to take the train. Winslow did not police it. Another employee was able to retrieve the stolen conch train near Duval and United Streets in Key West. Authorities said Winslow had even picked up two random passengers while driving the vehicle. They found Winslow at the southernmost point, buoy which is that buoy that says 90 miles to Key West and exhibited rapid speech and appeared excited. It's kind of some key indicators of being on meth. And when being told he was facing charges, claimed he merely borrowed the trolley, saying he used to work for the company and today was the July 4th was his birthday, the report states. The report states while being searched in the jail corrections deputy found a pipe in Winslow's pocket and he told him that it was a weed pipe, but it was not, because it tested positive for methamphetamine. As of Monday, after July 4th, winslow faced charges of burglary, grand theft, auto and possession of drug paraphernalia Records show. He was being held at Monroe County Sheriff's Office Key West jail facility on a $60,000 bond.
Speaker 1:So yeah, guys, another Florida man story for you today on this episode of Brad Mercer Show. Let's get to the show. Welcome to the show. It's the About it Podcast. Here we go Go. I'm your host, bradley Marslowe. That's the C-Cell to the Parachute. Hey everyone.
Speaker 1:So today's episode is going to be about boating and what we all like to do in the summer get out on the water, right. So yeah, I saw some interesting news today from a former club I used to be in called the Freedom Boat Club. This isn't an advertisement or anything, but I used to be a part of it and yeah, so Freedom Boat Club is entering the Middle East market. I just saw this news. It came out on the 8th of July, dubai, of all places. That's going to be pretty cool. So yeah, freedom Boat Club is going international.
Speaker 1:For those of you that don't know it, it's like a membership you can join where you pay a down payment and then a monthly fee and whenever you want you can schedule a boat on a lake near you. A lot of them are in Florida and basically anywhere with lakes around the country. They have center consoles, some deck boats and pontoons and tritoons. What we would do is, on a day we want to go out, we'd call them up, get a boat scheduled usually a pontoon boat, because we had the family and kids along and get all our supplies together, get some food and sandwiches made and all that good stuff, get the drinks on ice and then head out to the lake. So yeah, it's pretty much simple as that. You pay your down payment for the year, your monthly membership, you schedule a boat and go take it out on your scheduled time and day. So, like on a Saturday, we'd get the boat scheduled and go out, take it with everything we were bringing with us and then head out on the lakes for the day.
Speaker 1:The lakes I used to go out on were in Florida, on the chain of lakes in Winter Haven, so that was pretty cool. You'd take the boat out from the dock and then you could take it out into the lake, of course that it's attached to then go through a chain of lakes so they're all connected by canals and stuff, basically, where you could go from one lake to another lake, to another lake, to another. There was about 17 or so lakes connected together and so you're not just enjoying one lake down in that area, you're enjoying like multiple, multiple lakes, change the scenery mode to the max. But yeah, I mean, pontoons were mostly our thing, but if we ever wanted to get on some tubing action, we get one of those deck boats and and really fly out there, which was a pretty great time. But yeah, again they're, they are entering the middle east, going to dubai. That's someplace I've always wanted to go. I can imagine you, I can imagine a lot of folks have wanted to go there as well. I used to work for the airlines and I could hear my friends and see my friends all the time, go into Dubai and across other countries and stuff like that. I've been to a few countries myself, but just haven't been here yet.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so expanding into Dubai marks a milestone for the Freedom Boat Club. The manager over there, arturo Gutierrez, general manager of the Freedom Boat Club for that region, says Dubai is a natural fit for the Freedom Boat Club. It's got a dynamic coastline, growing community and passion for luxury and lifestyle. They make it an ideal location for their first boat club in the Middle East. Yeah, their first location in Dubai is going to be owned by a franchise partner, baker Al-Masebe Said. He was born and raised in Saudi Arabia and brings a unique blend of regional insight and international business experience to the place. I guess that's cool and all it says that this owner was a Freedom Boat Club member in Canada and then, inspired by his love for boating and a desire to bring that concept closer to his home, is what got him into this. In his own words, as a longtime boater and Freedom Boat Club member, he's seen firsthand how the club makes the boating lifestyle accessible and effortless.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can speak to that from personal experience. Once you get into it, it's pretty simple and easy to get out on the water whenever you want to. Of course, sometimes the bookings get pretty busy, but as long as you get ahead of it and get your spot, there's not too too much of a fight, and I can only imagine man. Dubai is a place I've always wanted to visit, of course, like I've said, and being able to do the Freedom Boat Club. Going over there and just taking a boat out on the water in Dubai, holy cow, that makes me want to go there so much more. So, yeah, if you're into boating and getting out on the water and all that stuff, yeah, freedom Boat Club is definitely something to check out. Look them up in your area, of course, see if they're there. I Look them up in your area, of course, see if they're there. I know, personally, I love getting out on the water in all kinds of ways. But so yeah, like I mentioned, get out on the boats.
Speaker 1:My brother has one of those 300 horsepower jet skis. It's got the sport mode, you know. So you take this thing, it's got a supercharger on it. It's got 100 more horsepower than a 1,000cc crotch rocket. Of course, the top speed's limited by the coast guard to like what is it? 69 miles an hour or something like that. So it's, and, being the limitations of the water, it's not going to be going as fast as some sport bike on the street will go, but this thing literally has 100 more horsepower than a thousand cc sport bike. And when you put my brother's jet ski in sport mode and and hit that trigger, you better be hugging that machine with everything you got. When you put my brother's jet ski in sport mode and and hit that trigger, you better be hugging that machine with everything you got when you pull that handle back, when you pull that trigger, because that thing is taken off with or without you, it does not care. I mean, this thing's powerful enough it can. You can hook the uh tow ropes up to it and and get the tubes going with that thing. I mean, you can imagine just a just a normal boat has what 150, 250 horsepower on a motor and this thing having 300 and being so lightweight, you can get some serious tubing in with it.
Speaker 1:I made several YouTube videos over the years being out with the jet skis and the boats and all that good stuff. Something else I like to do is, obviously, being from the Florida region, going out to the beach. You know, of course this episode is all about getting out on the water and we'll talk some more about boats. But yeah, something else that's awesome to do is getting out on the water at the beach taking the surfboards with you the paddleboards. Sometimes that obviously doesn't mix, so if the waves are high enough to go surfing, you're not usually going paddleboarding out in there, but you can use it kind of as a longboard too though. Yeah, hitting the gulf coast over sarasota, going to new samarna where the sharks are, and all that stuff uh been some good times. Good times in fact.
Speaker 1:Uh, talking about new samarna, I've been surfing over there one time, and several times actually, but I remember one time in particular. The waves were high about head high. You fall down. You feel like you're in a washing machine. It's not going to let you up for about a whole minute. Sometimes it's going to hold you under there a little bit. But me and my buddy were paddling out one time and waiting in between a set of waves and while we were sitting there just looking at each other, chatting it up, all that good stuff. You know, smiling days, days bright, having a good time, kicking back on the boards. I I got stories for days out of new smyrna.
Speaker 1:All of a sudden, uh, something comes over out of the water. Right, me and my buddy are facing each other, so you can imagine we're like sitting there looking at each other. He can see behind me, I can see behind him. So just over or under his left shoulder, out of the water comes some unknown fish, of course, like I didn't know what it was for a second. And it's just behind him. So, like I can see behind him, he can't. Obviously he's looking at me.
Speaker 1:He can see behind me, um, but underneath, underneath of him, coming from his left shoulder, uh, what I eventually saw was a about a six foot seven foot shark. Went in a straight rainbow arc like right behind his shoulders, right over his head. It jumped completely out of the water from his left shoulder, went over his head and landed in the water behind his right shoulder with its mouth hanging wide open and all the teeth showing. I mean, I swear this thing was coming in for my buddy's head. No lie, all he saw was my face drop, turned white as a ghost and like no words coming out of my mouth, just in awe. And he said it sounded like a car got dropped in the water behind him and all he could do was say was that what I think it was?
Speaker 1:And I'm like, yep, yep, you just had a shark jump over your head, buddy, and we just sat there looking at each other like not knowing what to do for a second. I mean, this guy was a Navy rescue swimmer. So I'm just like looking at him, like, ok, buddy, hey, what are we going to do right now? And for some, some reason I don't know of, we just decided, you know what, we're just going to stay in this water right here. Just, this is normal, this is a good thing to do. You know great decisions.
Speaker 1:So we ended up just staying in the water and surfing, surfing the day out and with no further incidences from from sharks trying to eat our heads off. I mean, luckily they didn't get come after our legs or anything else. Um, but one of the reasons is one of the reasons new samarna's got this going on is the water is kind of muddy a lot of the times and sharks don't usually bother you in clear water because they can see that you're not their food. But with the muddy water sometimes things can get a little funky to where they don't necessarily know if you're food or not. I think that had something to contribute to what looked like this shark coming after us at the moment. I mean, thank goodness, uh, we saw some dolphins in the area afterwards as well. Like that always comforts me when dolphins are swimming around you. The sharks usually don't bother you too too much because, because they can put a hurting on those sharks.
Speaker 1:But yeah, that same day, like we finished that day out and sure enough if we didn't get up to the beach and I'm walking out of the water my buddy already made it out and so he comes out of the water, starts walking along the beach, going back towards the truck, because you can drive your vehicles on the beach there. And I got like one foot out of the water, about to start walking towards the truck too, and I go to take my other foot out of the water and all of a sudden I just feel this clamping force down on my toe. You know I'm startled, of course. So I like jump back a little bit, get up on the beach. I look down and I have a whole crab like straight attached vice grip to my big toe on my left, my left foot, like and this thing is not letting go, I basically had to sit down on the beach. My buddy came back and we had to like pry this thing off of me. He was like no, I'm going home with you. And I'm like what are you trying to get cooked? Buddy like like no, get off my foot until we finally get this thing off. And then I ended up walking back to the truck with like blood dripping behind me from the thing, lacerating my toe, lacerating my toe with its vice grip claws here, pinchers. So, yeah, that ended up being a quite a memorable day, uh, about a whole decade ago. At least that I can't forget.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, if you're ever going to new samarna, yeah, just be advised. Here's your public advisory right. Like they never take the purple flags down from the beach there, it seems like. And purple flags, you know you got green flags for it's okay to go swimming. Yellow flags for the currents are getting Getting Kind of swift, and then red flags they don't necessarily want you swimming in the water, just has to do with how bad the currents are and stuff. Purple flags are for, like dangerous marine life, like sharks, jellyfish that can sting you, just different things that could hurt you in the water. Yeah, new Smyrna, they, they about never take those purple flags down because there's always something in the water out there made for an interesting car ride, truck ride home.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, if you guys are listening to this on any of the socials and all that, I'd love to hear some of your uh, boat and water stories and things like that. Beach stories, mount lakes in the mountains stories, whatever you got you know, just comment if this is on. Again, this is on social, just comment down below like let me know what you got going on. But yeah, to continue, I'm gonna tell you one more surfing story. So again, out with this. Uh, buddy of mine he was my mentor growing up name's dave, hey dave, if you're listening, what's up, man?
Speaker 1:We decided to do what a lot of surfers do sometimes and chase a hurricane into the beach. So, yeah, we decided to do what a lot of surfers do sometimes and chase a hurricane into the beach. So, yeah, hurricanes can cause some excellent surfing conditions, awful swimming conditions. Yeah, sometimes they can create some pretty cool surfing conditions. I think it was Hurricane Wilma back in the day I don't know if that was like 2004, 2005,. Something like that Came in off the west coast of Florida, in in the gulf, I think, somewhere near um, between sarasota and lido key.
Speaker 1:I forget the exact secret spot we went to. We go and follow this hurricane coming in. We go to the beach where it's about to be creating some big waves and all that good stuff, and so we go surfing right, like, we get the boards, we head to the beach, go get them out, get out in the water. Of course it's creating some good waves and stuff getting on them, riding them in, paddling back out. But part of the story that gets crazy is when that thing started getting closer to land. It started churning up the water into some washing machine like conditions like the, the currents are going everywhere and these waves are getting big and harder and harder to paddle back out into because I mean due to their size and all that. So we started.
Speaker 1:So it started raining out there. Of course, the wind started blowing, the waves are getting big and then we started having lightning come down around us. We're seeing water spouts out there. I'm just looking over at this guy because I'm still like a young teenager and all that. I'm like man, I trust you. You're a Navy rescue swimmer, like we're good, right, like. I'm looking at him like are we going home yet, because this is getting a little scary. But we stayed out there for a while and, yeah, about the time when the water spout started getting within a few hundred yards of us, the lightning was getting within a few hundred yards of us. The water's starting to look like it's, it's ready to eat us and then take us home for dinner too.
Speaker 1:Um, that's that's about when we decided to get out of there and call it a day. Man, I've had some crazy experiences with Dave, no lie. Um, that, uh, that was a day I'm never going to forget as well. But, yeah, man, he carried us, he got us through that, dave, and the good Lord, I guess that's why he was pretty good at his job. He learned it pretty well because he took us into some crazy situations, but we always came out of them Okay and I get to tell people that, hey, I went surfing in a hurricane. So that's, that's a pretty cool story. A little wild but pretty cool. Wouldn't have been as cool as if something happened, but I, I survived it. But, yeah, to continue on with the show for all my folks out there that, hey, maybe you don't like getting out on the boats necessarily. Jet skis might not be your thing, not too much of a surfer or anything like that.
Speaker 1:Paddle boarders I know there's some folks out there that love kayaking and hiking nature trails, bringing the kayak with you, going to state parks and stuff like that, going down the rivers and the springs man there some cool things to to do in florida with that and all around the country honestly. But I remember one time went out with the family, brought the coolers, brought the snacks, brought the dogs, and where we ended up going out of was, I think, somewhere called mary's fish camp or somewhere near there, over near, uh, spring hill, florida, and they have got a whole like network of of springs and rivers and canals and stuff and even inlets, outlets to the ocean that we just had a one of the best times I can remember there. I mean we saw manatees, we're going down the rivers, going down another canal, down another river, seeing a spring, and then all of a sudden you got like 15 manatees swimming under your boat. Of course you're not supposed to touch them and all that stuff. So I did come out with some good pictures at least. But man, those things are. They're a little intimidating at first. When you see a big old, what they call a sea cow swimming right underneath you. It's quite a large animal. So when you first see it it's a little startling. Um, especially after experiences like I shared before with sharks and stuff coming out of the water. They are some of the most gentle creatures you've ever met. They don't really bother you or anything. It's like they know you're there, you know they're there and everything's just chill. But yeah, I can't recommend that area enough. I mean, shoot, spring hill, all that near wikiwachi mean all the rivers. If you look that up on the map you can see all the waterways you have around you. I think there's some restaurants on the water you can enjoy. I mean, shoot, can't get too much better than that, right? I think that day we did have, unfortunately, someone get a little sun sick and pass out and then slip in the water at that point. But luckily we had some good members in our crew that knew how to do water rescues and stuff, such as myself, like after hanging out with a Navy dude. Yeah, overall, overall, good memories, good memories, yeah. So start closing this episode out.
Speaker 1:I'm going to go back to some of the boating experiences we've had on the Chain of Lakes. Again, everybody's heard of like Disney World and all that. So these are just south of there. If you know about Legoland, it's actually on the chain of lakes. So Legoland Florida is on Lake Eloise, on the chain of lakes, and that's also where the Freedom Boat Club is for that area, like I was talking about in the beginning.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, we'd head down to Lake Eloise whenever we wanted to get on the water. This was really fun around the holidays. But we'd go to get the boat, take it out on the Lake Eloise and you could see Legoland right away after you get out on the water there and start enjoying our day, right? One thing we'd love to do is go to the restaurants on the water. So after getting our boat, we'd head out, have a little bit of a day on the water, of course, eat some snacks, drink some drinks all that good stuff play some music, get on the tubes, float a little bit, maybe get the jet skis out and have a good time. And then we'd get hungry for lunch or dinner or something Right, and we'd head over to Lake ship on the chain of lakes.
Speaker 1:So on Lake ship they have Harborside and what's cool about this place is you get to take your boat, your jet ski, whatever, and pull it right up to a dock. And you walk up to dock and the restaurant is sitting right there on the water. I can't take too many ways that are cooler to go to dinner than pulling your boat up to a restaurant Harborside had everything you want. I mean they had everything from hamburgers to your lobster to you know they got a full bar there and everything. It was all cool to visit and they had several other restaurants on the water as well.
Speaker 1:So, like Old man Frank's is on the other side on Lake Howard. You go through a couple other lakes and you get to there and that was a cool place just to hang out and stuff and they have a dock that actually goes over the water, like their dining area goes over the water at Old man Frank's, and so we go there a lot of times, listen to some live music, eat some oysters, put something on the jukebox and if there wasn't some live music playing, and have really the best of times with each other the jukebox, and if there wasn't some live music playing and have really the best of times with each other, well, things I recommend if you're going out there and doing all that stuff, you know, if you haven't been used to it before, try to stay hydrated. Get out on the water. You're in the sunshine, it's hot out there. Yeah, you're swimming and stuff. Don't drink too much or at all. That's probably the best thing to do drink some power a your water, drink some sodas, something like that. If you must get some good nutrition in you, bring your sunscreen along, but definitely bring your music along. Don't forget your music. And something else not to forget is just to have a good time. Be safe out there.
Speaker 1:Hey guys, I just wanted to thank you for joining me on this episode and taking adventure with me on the boats, jet skis, the surfboards, the paddle boards, all that good stuff, the kayaks yeah, if you're about the water life, then give me a follow. I'm going to have some more content coming up on that. I've been on the water all my life. I'm from South Florida, lived in Central Florida, north Florida, been all over, even lived in the mountains before with lakes up there, and I'm totally about it, about the water life. So definitely give me a follow.
Speaker 1:This has been the Brad Mercerow show and I can't wait to talk at you guys again. All right, everybody follow me on all those socials at the Brad Mercerow show. That's what you'd be looking for. Look for me, I'll be looking for you. Please join me soon and I can't wait to talk to you guys more. I value each and every one of my listeners and I hope I bring some form of entertainment to your life today. Again, thank you so much. Thank you so so much and I'll be seeing you soon. Peace out, thank you.
