IPSWICH — Bill and Joe Casey spent their first night back in Massachusetts in Plymouth last night, after 10 days on their high-seas-and-no-wakes adventure between Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and here.
The brothers — Bill is from Ipswich, Joe, Newburyport — are riding Yamaha WaveRunners on the trip as a fundraiser for the Ipswich YMCA. They expected to make landfall in Newburyport by 4 p.m. today.
The duo have been nabbed twice by local police, once for ignoring a "No Jet Skis" sign, the other for leaving a wake in an unposted no-wake zone. They got off with warnings both times, and one has to imagine the officers were left shaking their heads when they learned what the boys were up to.
Luckily, they were able to get an escort through the Cape Cod Canal yesterday, another no-personal-watercraft channel, saving themselves a circumnavigation of the Cape.
They've been blogging, and a couple of days ago, Joe let out a little secret.
"At least once a day while we are skimming along about 3 feet from the water with the wind and spray in my face (and if Bill's not too close) I give a yell at the top of my lungs. It is such a wonderful feeling of freedom and adventure. Please do not mention this to Bill or Joe Peterson as they think I'm peculiar already."
They saw dolphins every day until they got to New Jersey and have also spotted many osprey.
When they had a bad break and got stuck in the mud in Virginia, some other wildlife forms decided to make them feel they were right at home — biting greenheads. Locally, we don't usually have to deal with those ravenous flies until mid-July.
The pair plan to tie up at River's Edge Marina in Newburyport, next to Cashman Park behind the River's Edge Condominiums at 126 Merrimac St. Bill's wife, Pam, wrote that it might be nice if there were some people on hand to welcome them home.
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