Capt. Gill's River Cruises

12/17/2024

12/15/2024

Hello Folks here's my latest article. Hope y'all like it.

All Creatures Great and Small

Lane and I have back to back birthdays, that’s like consecutive. Mine’s the 9th and hers is the 10th of September. We don’t care too much for material things, we just like to do something special. This year Lane wanted to go to the Lodge at Wakulla Springs, have a nice lunch and go on the river boat ride.

The Lodge was built by Ed Ball of the St. Joe Company in the 1930s. See “Green Empire, The St. Joe. Company and the Remaking of Florida’s Panhandle” for more information.

The Spring is the home of one of my favorite creatures, the one from the “Black Lagoon.” Yes, when I was a young lad, maybe five or six years old, my cousin, a girl, was in the circus at FSU. https://circus.fsu.edu/ She was dating the actual Creature. So, I was thinking, “If my cousin marries the Creature won’t I be the coolest kid in town?” Too bad, that didn’t happen, but I have always had an affinity for him. Now, the Creature or “Gill Man” (no relation) was Ricou Browning who went on to create the Flipper series.

So, what was the creature, was he a fish? I consulted an ichthyologist and learned there is a walking catfish native to Florida that can stay out of water for 30 hours. I’ve never seen one.

Was he a reptile like an alligator? According to a herpetologist I consulted, he wasn’t.

Alas, the Creature was a Piscine Amphibious Humanoid. They have appeared in literature and many myths and legends throughout history.

The movie is a tale of an expedition of scientist who go to the Black Lagoon in search of a creature. According to a crusty boat Captain, “The Black Lagoon is a paradise from which no one has ever returned.” So, they invade the paradise where the Creature lives and attack him. The Creature falls in love with a beautiful scientist, Kay, and when he tries to whisk her away, they shoot him and the last scene he is sadly drifting into the abyss of the Lagoon leaving the viewer to question if he actually dies. My thought is he still lurks below the depths. Pretty sad story in my opinion.

Now comes movie director Guillermo del Toro who has always been fascinated with Creature and seeks a remake. The result is “The Shape of Water.” The story focused more on the Creature's viewpoint while also letting him have a successful romantic liaison. The film is a beautiful take on a love story in which marginalized people find power, strength, and love, while for others, the film leaves them questioning their own place and humanity in the eyes of society.

I had a herpetologist from the Bronx Zoo on “Lily” for a river cruise who explained that a reptile will respond to a human based on its experience. I have been in Apalach twenty-six years and I know of no human being attacked by an alligator. They are protected in our 246,000 acre Apalachicola National Estuarine Preserve. According to the gentlemen they only react when their habitat is threatened, such as building a theme park or a golf course in their swamp. Have you ever heard of Indians having trouble with alligators?

We are all like the Creature, we just want a little love and compassion and please don’t move in and try to harm us and invade our habitat.

By the way, I asked the Herpetologist, “How can you tell the difference between an alligator and a crocodile?” He explained, “It depends on whether he sees you later or after a while.”

See y’all later.
Your friend,
Capt. Gill

The Creature is the one in the middle

Ricou Browning “Gill Man”

12/15/2024

Let's try this one. Hope y'all like the article.

All Creatures Great and Small

Lane and I have back to back birthdays, that’s like consecutive. Mine’s the 9th and hers is the 10th of September. We don’t care too much for material things, we just like to do something special. This year Lane wanted to go to the Lodge at Wakulla Springs, have a nice lunch and go on the river boat ride.

The Lodge was built by Ed Ball of the St. Joe Company in the 1930s. See “Green Empire, The St. Joe. Company and the Remaking of Florida’s Panhandle” for more information.

The Spring is the home of one of my favorite creatures, the one from the “Black Lagoon.” Yes, when I was a young lad, maybe five or six years old, my cousin, a girl, was in the circus at FSU. https://circus.fsu.edu/ She was dating the actual Creature. So, I was thinking, “If my cousin marries the Creature won’t I be the coolest kid in town?” Too bad, that didn’t happen, but I have always had an affinity for him. Now, the Creature or “Gill Man” (no relation) was Ricou Browning who went on to create the Flipper series.

So, what was the creature, was he a fish? I consulted an ichthyologist and learned there is a walking catfish native to Florida that can stay out of water for 30 hours. I’ve never seen one.

Was he a reptile like an alligator? According to a herpetologist I consulted, he wasn’t.

Alas, the Creature was a Piscine Amphibious Humanoid. They have appeared in literature and many myths and legends throughout history.

The movie is a tale of an expedition of scientist who go to the Black Lagoon in search of a creature. According to a crusty boat Captain, “The Black Lagoon is a paradise from which no one has ever returned.” So, they invade the paradise where the Creature lives and attack him. The Creature falls in love with a beautiful scientist, Kay, and when he tries to whisk her away, they shoot him and the last scene he is sadly drifting into the abyss of the Lagoon leaving the viewer to question if he actually dies. My thought is he still lurks below the depths. Pretty sad story in my opinion.

Now comes movie director Guillermo del Toro who has always been fascinated with Creature and seeks a remake. The result is “The Shape of Water.” The story focused more on the Creature's viewpoint while also letting him have a successful romantic liaison. The film is a beautiful take on a love story in which marginalized people find power, strength, and love, while for others, the film leaves them questioning their own place and humanity in the eyes of society.

I had a herpetologist from the Bronx Zoo on “Lily” for a river cruise who explained that a reptile will respond to a human based on its experience. I have been in Apalach twenty-six years and I know of no human being attacked by an alligator. They are protected in our 246,000 acre Apalachicola National Estuarine Preserve. According to the gentlemen they only react when their habitat is threatened, such as building a theme park or a golf course in their swamp. Have you ever heard of Indians having trouble with alligators?

We are all like the Creature, we just want a little love and compassion and please don’t move in and try to harm us and invade our habitat.

By the way, I asked the Herpetologist, “How can you tell the difference between an alligator and a crocodile?” He explained, “It depends on whether he sees you later or after a while.”

See y’all later.
Your friend,
Capt. Gill

The Creature is the one in the middle

Ricou Browning “Gill Man”

12/15/2024

Here's my latest article. Hope y'all like it.

Home / News / Local News / All creatures big and small Entertainment | Lifestyle | Local News All creatures big and small ByGill Autrey | Guest Columnist December 10, 2024December 10, 2024 Lane and I have back-to-back birthdays, that’s like consecutive. Mine’s the 9th and hers is the 10th of Sep...

05/25/2024

Here's my latest article. Hope y'all like it.

In Honor of Forgotten Women

Memorial Day is a day of remembering and mourning the men and women who died while serving in our armed forces.

Every year when Memorial Day rolls around I begin to reflect on things usually kept buried, but they always bubble to the top. I’ve written a few Memorial Day articles about the friends, the men I lost in Vietnam. But this is a little different. It’s a time for honoring men and women.

I recently read “The Women” a number one bestselling historical novel by Kristin Hannah. It’s a touching saga about the nurses who served in field hospitals during the “Conflict.” It tells the story of a young nurse, Frances “Frankie” McGrath, who grew up in the “idyllic world of Southern California” and joins the Army to go to Vietnam.

Mrs. Hannah captures the humor, compassion and the horror that Frankie experiences during her tour. But even more so “The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters and to a country who wants to forget Vietnam.” The book shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has been too often forgotten. Particularly moving is when Frankie holds the hands of too many young wounded soldiers as they take their final breath.

You may come home with body intact, but you are never again in one piece, you never really come home. I have always had an empty place inside. Reading “The Women” has somehow been therapeutic and helped me resolve some issues.

Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.

“The world can’t give you peace, the world can’t give you serenity. We can only find it in our hearts. The good news is by the same token the world can’t take it away.” Anon.

In the end, we didn’t fight for God and Country or Mom and Apple Pie. We fought for each other. Veterans don’t start wars we just fight them.

Happy Memorial Day

Your friend,
Capt. Gill

MEDALS
Roberto J. Prinselaar

Don’t envy a man his medals
All those ribbons on his chest
He did not try to get them
They’re not there at his request
They were earned in stinking hellholes
Where no man would like to go
Or in cold and wintry places
Where there’s only ice and snow
He didn’t know he earned them
Till they were awarded at parade
And they were bright when he first got them
But in time the colors fade
He was told he had to wear them
And to wear them all with pride
But when the colors fade
He was told he had to wear them
And to wear them all with pride
But when the memories come to haunt him
Those same medal’s make him hide
Cause those medals will not bring back
All those guys he left behind
And he would trade them all forever
For a little peace of mind
So, don’t envy a man his medals
You don’t want to take his place
Thinking back to long gone battles
And meeting dead friends face to face

05/17/2024

Beautiful Swallow Tailed Kites my favorite bird

01/01/2024

Happy New Year!!!

09/30/2023

09/30/2023

Here he is Capt. Randy aboard "Ideath" under full sail!

09/16/2023

Home / Community / Faith / Secret compartments inside of ourselves Faith | Local News | News | Opinion Columns Secret compartments inside of ourselves ByGill Autrey | Guest Columnist September 14, 2023September 14, 2023 Aboard my boat “Lily,” we take folks on eco-tours up the Apalachicola River ...

08/27/2023

Hello Folks here's my latest article, hope y'all like it.

They say we are in Dog Days. I heard that all my life and wondered what they meant. When I didn’t know something, my Mama would always say, “Look it up in the dictionary.”

07/25/2023

Here's my latest article. Hope y'all like it.

By Gill Autrey Guest Columnist When I was growing up, a condition I never quite attained, we lived in the country between a cow pasture and a pecan grove. We didn’t have many neighbors, so I talked to cows a lot. That’s how I obtained most of my common sense. On the corner of our...

06/03/2023

Hey Y'all it's the third of June it was a sleepy dusty delta day Billy Joe McAlister jumped off the Talahacche Bridge

05/05/2023

The Eagles are still here!

03/02/2023

Look who I saw today two bald eagles sittin' in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g

02/08/2023

Loved It😘