Official record of the first 52mms reunion.

Photos submitted by Jim Settle, Text submitted by Charlie Conner.

1st Official 52MMS Reunion
(Members 1977/1978/1979)

Margate Florida, March 15 through 19, 2001

The 1st official reunion of two members of the 52 MMS who served together during the late 1970's happened this March. Charlie Conner and his wife Sandy flew into Fort Lauderdale, Florida to visit with Jim Settle and his wife Suzy Butler. Jim and Suzy played host to Charlie and Sandy for the four days at their Margate, Florida home. For those of you reading this who has not been to this area of Florida, Margate is a northern suburb of the greater Fort Lauderdale area.

The 1st evening was spent getting acquainted and having an excellent meal at beachside restaurant in the Pampano Beach area. We had visited the Hillsboro Inlet and Lighthouse where Jim and Suzy sail through on a regular basis to access the Atlantic from the Inter-Coastal Waterway (ICW). Their boat is docked on the ICW at a friend's dock. As luck, time, and the weather would have it, we didn't have an opportunity to go sailing this trip. Maybe we'll have better luck next time.

Jim and Suzy were the most pleasant and well-prepared folks that we've ever stayed with. The motel industry could learn a thing or two about real hospitality if the ever stayed with these two.

Our first full day in south Florida we drove south and into the keys which divide the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. We had a wonderful Mexican lunch in Florida City and headed into the keys as far south as the Seven-Mile Bridge. As you might guess it was 7 miles across it. We made several stops along the way to and from the bridge to stand in the crystal blue waters on both sides of the keys. We also had a pit stop for some alcohol concoction that had several shots of liquor in it and was frozen like a slurpy. Yum, Yum.

The next day was St Patricks Day and we spent the morning heading into the Everglades. We visited the Miccosuke Indian Reservation that was having an Arts and Crafts fair. We skipped the fair and took an airboat (yep, just like on Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom on TV) ride to a recreated Indian Village located on a Hammock in the Everglades. We saw an unbelievable amount of wildlife on the trip. We also saw lots of alligators at close range.

That evening back in town we visited an establishment called Waxy O'Connors that had a beer garden set up next to their permanent location. As you might guess we drank real Irish beer and made new friends. (It seems like that's the way it always happens. Two of the gents were from Ireland and we had a wonderful time swapping stories and such. Fortunately, neither Jim, myself or either of our spouses drank ourselves silly, but just the right amount to call for breakfast at 1:00 in the morning.

Our last full day consisted of visiting the tourist haunts in Miami and Miami Beach. We saw all the art deco hotels including the one in the TV show Miami Vice. We had a bit of weather this day and the driving in town actually got to Jim a little. Remember how nothing ever got Jim too excited 20 years ago. Well, these idiots succeeded admirably in getting under his skin and from my vantage point in the back seat, crawling.

Well, we seen the sights and ate lots of great food over the four days. We could have spent several more days there and still not seen all there was to look at. The weather was warm and cooperative for the most part, much warmer than Ohio. My only complaint was that the daylight ran out much too quickly and curtailed late in the day activities. I think that next year we might want to schedule our meeting in April to get another hour or so of daylight.