Last Sunday, I reminisced on this blog about taking the Jungle Queen riverboat cruise down the New River in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with my sister Susan and mother Mary back in August of 1996. It left from the Bahia Mar Marina, and when we returned, Susan took the photograph above of me next to the "literary landmark plaque" in front of slip F-18, where Travis McGee, John D. McDonald's fictional hero, kept the Busted Flush, his 52 foot houseboat home. I just loved those thrillers, and have read every one of them. McGee was a "salvage consultant," who specialized in helping victims recover money and items of value for a 50% fee, but only when the money in his safe began to run low. These books inspired many Florida mystery writers, including Carl Hiassen, Randy Wayne White, James W. Hall, Les Standiford, and Tim Dorsey. Evidently, Bahia Mar was remodeled to accommodate mega-yachts up to 300 feet in length, and the plaque was moved, first to the Dockmaster's office, and then to the marina's gift shop. As you can see from the photo, the plaque is really not that big. Would it have killed them to leave it where it was? Would the super-rich find it too tacky? Still another piece of Florida's literary history gone, or at least hidden away. Sad.
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