Publicity Tour

One of the enlisted men on the Fulton handled PR functions. A couple of weeks after the “arrest" I was called to PR.

The guy told me that Cypress Gardens had somehow picked up the story about me being arrested.

Cypress gardens was an early version of Disney World. Disney World opened in 1971. I think the PR tour happened in 1968. Cypress Gardens was a family centered entertainment park within the Everglades in Florida. 

It mostly featured water skiing but also had singing and dancing shows.  There were beautiful girls dressed in Southern Belle costumes walking around the park.  The park also had in-park housing, along with several Motels in the area.  Just like Disney World had later, they had food, and rides also, just not to the extent that Disney World had later. I think Disney got the idea from Cypress Gardens.

The PR people at Cypress gardens wanted the Navy to send me down to promote the Navy.  They asked me if I wanted to go, and I jumped at the chance.

I don’t know if the Navy or Cypress Gardens paid for it, but I was assigned Temporary Duty for a week in Florida. I didn’t even have to use any leave time.

When I landed at Tampa Airport, someone from Cypress Gardens picked me up. CG is located midway between Tampa and Orlando. 

When we got to CG, they showed me to my own cottage. It had a bedroom, dining area, and living room. It was more like an apartment. You must realize that for the past 2 years, I had been living in close quarters with hundreds of other guys, and having all this space to myself was wonderful. 

The day after I arrived, they started setting up to have me do all kinds of water activities while they filmed me. CG is known for their water skiing teams, and clowns. 

There were a lot of beautiful girls in skimpy bathing suits running around and posing with me for photos.  The girls also sometimes skied in Southern Belle gowns. It was a cool place. 

As part of the Navy PR tour, there was a female sailor named Mary Christmas there also. I know she was there, because we had dinner one night with the CG PR people.

I think they were hoping that she and I would hit it off, but there was zero attraction between us.  I don’t know what they had her do, or how long she was there, but I don’t remember seeing her very much, and no filming together.

Like I said, the CG people had me posing with the girl skiers. They also had me wear my dress blue uniform and drive one of the small skiffs they used in the shows.

The skiff was about 6 feet long and just wide enough to sit in the bottom of it. There were no seats, per say, you just sat in the bottom of the skiff.

The skiff was powered by a 20 or 30 hp outboard motor and could really move if you opened the throttle. 

They wanted me and a couple of the clowns to do some passing moves at speed. They also had us do some weaving in and out in a braid-like formation. 

It was the most fun I had ever had.

They took me to dinner every night, and being in Florida, there was a lot of great seafood.  When the week was done, I headed back to New London and reality.