There are things that are original and then there are things that are unique. The boat I boarded last week, aptly named "Dragonfly's Bouquet", qualifies as both.

Attending a bachelorette party planned entirely over email, some details were neither shared or questioned. For example, the boat. Only briefly described as "painted like a dragon." When the 12 of us gals tumbled out of the party van that drove us to the dock, you can imagine our pure astonishment (see below) as we came around the bend and caught a glimpse of how "painted like a dragon" can be interpreted; and furthermore what our evening adventure would be aboard.

{"everyone has dreams, a few have strategies"}

Dragonfly's Bouquet was beyond anything I could have imagined. The voyage underscored for me, among other valuable lessons, that wood floats. Made entirely of 2x4's and plywood, every inch was hand painted by Captain Geoff himself - who was dressed like a wizard.

Upon disembarking, I asked one of the boat hands what his title was. He didn't seem to understand. I asked him if he "would be like, a first mate, or something? For this voyage?" "No, my name's Matt." I asked him how often they have to replace the plywood. "Oh, the deck?" he corrected. "Yeah, I guess that would be the deck," I replied. "It's marine grade plywood - it lasts a long time."

I reassured the other girls that all was well, in fact, it was marine grade plywood we were aboard. But we lost the rudder on a sandbar 20 minutes into the ride. We tried to get some jet skis to tow us back, but Captain Geoff and deckhand Matt had a good thing going and slammed that baby into port.

{clear skies made for a wonderful sunset}

Naturally, we all assumed the bride's sister, Arianna, was crazy 1) for knowing a guy with a boat like this and 2) for bringing us aboard a floating piñata. But this boat was more than just a boat painted like a dragon. It was also painted like a buddha, a medusa, a king, a lion, and full of inspirational life quotes. It was unlike any other bachelorette party I've been to and we had fun. What's more, Arianna is not at all crazy! She's just in love with being a videographer and more specifically, documenting the people that reside in Far Rockaway, Queens (which was devastated by Hurricane Sandy last fall). This is also how she happens to know someone with such an original and unique boat...

I was proud to catch Arianna's name in the credits of the Toyota film (see minute 6:00) that's been making it's way around the internet. For every "view" Toyota will donate a meal to Food Bank For NYC. I'm happy that all of the money that is inevitably spent attending a bachelorette was, this time, spent in an area that could really use it to start rebuilding.

a boat unlike any other