I had a great, fun day. It was beautiful - sunny, clear skies, 80 degrees.

We started out by cruising on of the more popular channels, where boaters will anchor and just hang out. It's a pretty cool area - people come from all over the state just to hang out, walk from boat to boat, socialize and party. It was crowded Saturday, because it's Spring Break, but pretty calm. It was kind of funny driving through there on a law enforcement boat, because I was just wearing shorts and a tank top, and they were in their uniforms. You could see all the springbreakers squinting at me like, "Dude. They're taking her away on the boat. What did SHE do?"

We did a boating safety check on these two kids, and then gave a citation to a jetski for blowing the idle speed zone. I boarded a commercial stone crab boat. Did you know they don't kill the crabs? They just rip off their arms - well, claws - and toss 'em back. They grow new ones! Regenerate, like RoboCrab. The smell could have been more pleasant, but it was cool to see how the commercial operations work.

Then, we cruised the reef. So pretty.

Next, we got a call that a guy fell off his boat, it ran over him and shredded his leg, and the empty boat was running loose. When we arrived, the injured man was already at the hospital, and the boat was just running around in circles. You could tell it was a slow day on the water, because about 3 other law enforcement boats and a Coast Guard raft were all hanging around, watching it run. Someone finally lassoed it and stopped the engine.

The coolest part was on the way back home, and this is why I can't tell you the name of the group.

They let me drive! They let me speed (oh so fast) across the ocean, driving that bigass law enforcement/conservation boat. It was so, so fun. I was flying across the water, even though I could barely see over the flashing lights at the bow. I told Shawn later that if I ever become an officer, they'll have to issue me a phone book to stand on or something.

Next thing I knew one of the officers turned to me and yelled over the wind, "Crap! That was close! You almost hit a dolphin!"

That's right. While driving a law enforcement/resource conservation boat, I almost hit an endangered species.

Still a menace. Nice.