Coquina Hotel - 8. Chapter 8

For the next few days, I composed advertisements for the Drake. I needed pictures, and Jon had his ideas of the type of pictures. He posed on the bow, I laughed. If I had a Viking costume, I knew he would want to pose in that costume.

They went fishing to see what type of fish lived in the waters close to the Hotel, so he said. For the next two weeks, Jon, Jerry, and one of the boys from the ground crew went fishing. We started to have fish on our menu for lunch and dinner.

A few of our guests began to go fishing. I wasn’t sure if it was the fishing or the boat ride. I did see more seafood on our menus.

Over the next few months, Jon and the boys fished every day. It was Jerry that told me he was selling fish in town. When they had extra that the hotel didn’t need, they took it to town to sell.

“Jon, if you continue to take the boys fishing, we need to hire more boys to work the grounds. I noticed the lawns needed mowing and trimming as well as the bushes.”

“Roge, put Charlie in charge of the grounds and let him hire his help. One of the boys working is his son. I’m sure he has some friends that would like to work as well.”

“I need to put a crew at the motel as well. I was there the other day. The grass needs cut. I saw a motel up north that had a swimming pool. We have nice weather all year, and maybe I should put in a swimming pool as well.”

“You would need lifeguards.”

“You can train them.” Saying that, I headed to my office.

The following day at breakfast, “I’m going in town this morning and talk to Jones about building a pool. Is there anything else?”

“Yes, we need a kitchen and a dining room. Instead of menus’ will have a buffet. I’m going to advertise the motel.”

“You’ll have to increase staff.”

“Yes, I’m sure finding staff won’t be a problem. You had no problem finding a fishing crew.”

It was late morning when Jon returned. “I spoke to Mr. Jones, and he will send a man out to the Motel to estimate costs and timing.”

“I’d like to see a sketch of the layout with the pool and dining hall. If you get a chance, ask him to do that as well.”

“I’ll give him a call and leave a message. Maybe I’ll meet the guy he sends out. I can give him an idea where the best place would be for a pool.”

“You may end up with a job. He’ll need someone to supervise the work.”

Jon laughed as we walked to the beach and the boat. Jerry was there, sitting at the end of the pier.

“Jerry, what’s so interesting?”

“Crabs, there are quite a few here. Jon, you were right. Dropping the cleanings from the fish have attracted quite a few crabs.”

I looked, and he was right. I wonder if they were good to eat. I’ll check with Diane. “Jerry, see if you can catch a few. If you do, take them to Diane and asked her if they are good to eat.”

I watched as he tried to snare a few with a net. He ended up getting into the water. He baited the net, dipped it in water in front of him, and waited. One sidled over, and just as he entered the net, Jerry snapped the net out of the water. “Is one enough?”

“Yes, if Diane says there are good to eat, then we can catch more.”

I realize that we need to be selective so we didn’t catch them all and then we'll not have anymore. If we put something on the menu, I knew we must have enough to provide our guests with food items for the hotel and the future.

“Jon, if those are good to eat, how are we going to make sure we always have them?”

“If we keep feeding them, they will be here. I’ll tell the boys to catch only the large ones, the small ones we’ll toss back. You understand we will have tp fish each day to provide food for the crabs.”

I laughed, “You’ll use any excuse to fish.”

It has been six months since Burlington Contractors finished the work on the motel. I had asked Jon and George to hire boys for a ground crew and lifeguards. Diane hired staff for the dining hall and created a seven-day menu. Reviewing their applications, I was satisfied that they had a good team.

Jon continued to go fishing, and fish became a regular item on our menu. Diane had the kitchen prepare fish nuggets to be delivered to the dining hall at the Motel for their buffet. Crab became a Sunday special, much to the delight of Jon as this ensured that Drake would continue to be going fishing with Jon and his crew.