Pictures finally back in

For those of you who requested pictures you could enlarge, they're finally here! All old photos have been replaced, so if you have several rainy days in a row check it out.

We've Got Friends in Fun Places

We had a surprise visit Friday from Dick Jones (s/v M&M Packet) from our home marina in Tennessee. Dick is a sailor extraordinaire, having logged more miles than Jack Sparrow (without all the repairs, gold teeth and wooden extremities). He traveled south from Tennessee in early autumn (single-handing most of the trip), and he's now in Marathon for a few days. We saw him briefly before Christmas, and it was great to see him again.

Our friends Bill and Charlotte from Omega (Papa Smurf and his bride from our days on the hard at Lee Spry Marina when we all sanded and painted) live in Summerland Key. Friday they picked us up for a visit in their beautiful home (designed and built entirely by Bill with hand-picked materials) with a view of both the ocean and the canal (and Omega tied up dockside). We talked a lot, met their neighbors, walked and biked, and ate far too much far too often. One of their kind neighbors gave us tickets to a Habitat for Humanity cookout and concert on Sugarloaf Key, where we had great food and heard great music with a backdrop of the blue-green water and deep blue sky. Bill took us for a dinghy ride through the canals (so we could covet his neighbors' homes and views). We had delicious pizza at the No Name Pub (notice the dollar bills all over the ceiling and walls and every available surface), and visited their church on Sunday to see more of Bill's handiwork (he contributed his skills and work there as well). It was such a good visit, and it's always fun to catch up with new best friends you've made in your travels. We loved their B&B and hope we can find it again (unless they know we're coming and move before we get there).

Floaty Boats and Changes in Plans

Our dinghy has been a workhorse; we've used it as a car, laundry cart, garbage scow, dive boat, and motor scooter for almost 7 years now. It's traveled almost 12,000 miles with us, and has never let us down. Jay bought it on e-Bay, and we've been so happy with its size and performance -- it's large enough to keep us from getting drenched even when crossing a bumpy and busy bay, but small enough that we can lift it and drag it on shore or the boat when we need to and can also deflate and fold it to carry on deck. Sadly, glue eventually succumbs to sun and salt water, and it has become a full time job to keep it inflated. Sooooooooooo, the Captain started dinghy shopping. The requirements are fairly simple: inflatable floor so we can store and fold it on deck when necessary (we can't use dinghy davits since we're a double-ender), 18" tubes to keep us dry, ~11-12' in length so we have enough room for us and company, and light enough so the two of us can lift it. We planned to go to the Dania flea market to shop for another one, but West Marine had one on the display floor (men bypassing West when out biking is like a dog bypassing a fire hydrant) that caught the Captain's eye. After several trips to fondle and murmur to the display, a new dinghy was ordered. With help from Jim Freund and William Mayberry, the new baby arrived last Thursday. The virgin voyage was wonderful, and we're thrilled with the new Dip. It doesn't fit into the v-berth, so the Admiral still lives on Serendipity...but when deflated....

Our plans when we left Tennessee in October were to head south to Marathon, then go to the Bahamas for a few months and possibly up the East coast for a third visit to our beloved Chesapeake. As time has passed, we've realized that we'll be making a few trips back to TN in the next few months. Since it's hard to predict where we'll be at any time (given our total dependence on winds and weather) to plan a trip to TN, we've decided to postpone the Bahamas and Chesapeake trips for now and head back to Bradenton for the summer. We love Twin Dolphin marina; we have good friends in the area (hi Paul and Gail, Pat and Kat, John and Susan, Pat and Dan); it's easy to fly back and forth to TN; we'll still be in the good company of William and Poor Old Judy; we'll be close to Freundship Marine for all our boating projects and needs; and we have lots of work to do on the boat that can be done there. Best of all, our daughter and her husband and our two grandbabies will be spending a week in St. Pete in May so we can squeeze Madison and Micah! Plans may change again, of course, which is part of the beauty of being retired and having a home that floats.

It's a Wonderful Life

Life drags on in the Keys -- sunny weather, biking and walking, finding the best restaurants and happy hours, meeting new people, attending local functions -- well, someone has to do it! We attended the Marathon 34th Annual Seafood Festival, which was a huge event. There were tents with local crafts, vendors with everything from boat lifts to scuba gear, and huge tents with crab, lobster, shrimp, conch, and fish dishes. There were also many local bands playing all day Saturday and Sunday. The Captain was deliriously happy (no, not because there was shopping available) because you could purchase an event mug and have it refilled from the tapper. Notice his smiley face in the photo.

And the Rat Race Continues

Back to work, airing boats out after the months of cool damp weather, biking to West Marine for epoxy (old dinghies require lots of TLC), and cleaning. Of course all this has to be done early so we don't tarnish our reputations as lazy dogs.

Saturday was gorgeous, sunny and warm (till the sun went down), so we dinghied to the park for a Gospel Explosion. The featured performer was James McDuffy, who has the voice of a very strong angel. We heard him again on Sunday, and he vibrated the rafters in the small church, danced with the minister (while singing), and amazed everyone in the audience. Even though he's presently in poor health, you'd never guess it from the way he can belt out a song.

Lunch afterward at the Island Fish Company was wonderful, rivaled only by the Lady Vols win that evening.

Monday was warm enough for a dinghy exploration. We found inlets on Sisters Creek we'd never seen, with lots of boats anchored in the hideaways. We made it to Sombrero Beach, and walked the beach without long underwear and shoes finally. On the way back, we explored the man-made canals with huge and beautiful homes and boats -- we'd love to endear ourselves to these folks so we can inherit! We ended the day at Lazy Days (how appropriate) for great wings and a gorgeous sunset. Now we have to start all over again.

Abducted!

William and Judy (Optimystique) and the crew of Serendipity were kidnapped Thursday and spirited (pun intended) away to Key West. Our abductor was Rick Duggan, a boating friend of over 30 years who is now living on Wide Awake in Boot Key Harbor with the lovely Debbie and son Bo. Rick has a vehicle (precious commodity) and decided it was time to whisk us away. He apparently also wanted to see if he could bench press each of us, since he plied us with exotic beverages.

Our first stop was lunch at the Half Shell Raw Bar, then on to Schooner Wharf (where happy hour is from 8 a.m. to noon!!) to hear Michael McCloud (one of our favorites from several years ago). His faithful companion can be seen in the guitar case on stage. We then proceeded to...of course...Sloppy Joes, where Rick introduced the ladies to Chocolate Cake and Pineapple Upside Down Cake. These were beverages, not pastries, and they were so deceptively delicious! We strolled about town, sampled some great conch fritters at Margaritaville, then began to freeze as the sun went down. It's always fun in Key West, and it was great to be back. Chances are excellent that we'll be there again soon....

No Problems, Mon

Aaahhh....Marathon.....

It's so nice to be in the Keys, with weather getting warmer (anything above 30 feels toasty now), the water beautiful, and easy walks or bike or dinghy rides to revisit fun places. Laundry's caught up, Publix has replenished our larder, boat's clean(ish), dinghy's repaired and clean, and now we can concentrate on beach walks, sunsets, and meeting new people. There are boat projects to finish (begun in TN last year) and new ones to start, but we're on island time now.

We toasted our arrival in the Keys with mimosas on Optimystique, and heard Joe Mama play at Dockside, so we're officially here now. We've seen and heard of several boats and people we traveled south with or met along the way, and have already met new people in Boot Key Harbor. It was fun to listen to the cruiser's net at 9:00 a.m., which we loved on earlier visits. It's a combination of announcements of upcoming events (and there are so many!), requests for or offers of help, and Treasures from the Bilge (buy, sell and giveaway). It's amazing and heartwarming how many people are involved with community service and aid to others in need. A boat left yesterday for Haiti, loaded with water and supplies for an orphanage, and they left with many donations from the harbor population. There are always benefits for local and national organizations, and the people in the harbor appear to be most generous (even though we all know how tight sailors are rumored to be!).

The Keys!!!

We had a beautiful day to head for Marathon. Sails out, winds out of the northeast, and finally the beautiful blue-green water (after months of brownish-green). Lots of crab pots were waiting for us, but we managed to avoid them all. The tide was exceptionally low in the Boot Key Harbor mooring field due to the full moon the previous night, so even though it was an area we'd traveled through several times we found a shoal that couldn't accommodate our 6' draft. We were visited by lots of nice dinghies and friendly sailors offering assistance, but ultimately had to wait for higher tides to continue. But we did make it into the marina, hooked up to electricity and water and TV (after a month on the hook), and had a good dinner and happy hour at Dockside. We opted to stay at Dockside Marina for a month, since all the mooring balls are full with a waiting list of 40. Apparently it's a zoo at the city marina (which is in charge of the mooring field), with cold water showers and an actual fist fight over washers/dryers (who likes to do laundry enough to fight over it??). With all the fronts moving through, there's no guarantee anyone will move soon, so we gratefully took the two remaining slips at Dockside.

We're close enough to town to provision on our bikes, which is a good thing since all the soap on the boat has been used to wash out the captain's mouth!

To the Everglades

We left Marco in choppy waters, but it eventually smoothed out and we rolled out the sails! We traveled to a beautiful anchorage in Indian Key (Russell Bay) in the Everglades. Since strong winds were predicted, the captains decided to put out two anchors. While setting anchor #2, we backed over the first anchor line and it wrapped itself thoroughly around the prop. It was a chilly, windy day, but we greased the captain and poked him into his wetsuit (which had shrunk considerably over the past few years). He received a new hookah (sorry, kids, it's for diving) for Christmas, and got a chance to try it out! Thankfully, his dive was successful and no damage was done to either the prop or the line. He did, however, mention a few more new nautical terms.

We went by dinghy into Everglades City the following day, and it was quite an adventure. Since Serendipity's dinghy was incapacitated (floor leaking air), we all rode in Optimystique's dinghy. It's always nice to have a limo and driver, but it makes it a little hard to plane -- we were all drenched by the time we got back from our ride, but still had a good trip (4 miles each way). We walked around the town (which took about 6 minutes), visited the Rod and Gun Club (gorgeous structure), and had lunch in a restaurant that had exactly 2 beers and 4 pieces of Key Lime Pie left. Gotta get there early! Our waitress was very nice, and I bet she would've been even nicer if she'd heard anything we said....

We left Russell Bay to head for Little Shark River (famous for mosquitoes and no-see-ums) to hide from some severe storms. It was another beautiful anchorage, and thankfully it was cold and windy enough to minimize the buggage. We had good protection from the storm, and left after two days for Cape Sable. It was a bumpy day and a pretty bumpy anchorage, but the full moon was absolutely gorgeous and William and POJ saw the green flash at sunset.

Ft. Myers to Marco

The fog finally began to clear when we were offshore, but the day stayed so gray that it was hard to tell the water from the sky (Serendipity is the top photo; Optimystique is the third). But it was smooth and of course good to be moving again.

We encountered a nemesis from an earlier trip, a tiny, innocent-looking crab pot. When we traveled the first time, we snagged a crab pot that resulted in pulling the engine in Marathon and taking it back to TN in a rented truck (because that's where Russ Jones was and he's the diesel genius who rebuilt it for us). This time we snagged the little sucker with the dinghy and it pulled the bridle loose in front, resulting in a dinghy totally full of water (and partially deflated). The captain pulled the dinghy alongside, and got in fully clothed to bail it with a bucket. It would've made a great picture, but the photographer feared being bludgeoned to death with the remaining oar (its mate abandoned ship when a passing yacht who hadn't completed Slow, Courteous Pass Training went by). The Captain used some new nautical terms, but he eventually rigged a new bridle and we towed his little bathtub behind us again.

Off the Mooring Ball, Headed SOUTH!!

We finally had some warm beach weather in Ft. Myers, and got to scamper about in the sand just before we left. We also got to visit with William and POJ's daughter Kathryn, her husband Jim, and their little guys James and Max (the Admiral got a little granny fix).

While we were in Ft. Myers, we of course encountered lots of other boats and lots of other dinghies. One boat was particularly interesting, having been obviously constructed of two boats (complete with a wooden outhouse door with a half-moon). It was named "Freddy Freddy," and we guessed that may have been the wife's response when the Captain showed her his plans. One dinghy in particular caught our interest, because when passengers were aboard, all you could see were passengers with an outboard sticking out the driver's rear. It was hard (make that impossible) not to laugh out loud, especially the time they had FOUR people in it!!

We passed the Matanzas Inn on our way out, where we'd spent many Happy Hours on the top deck overlooking the harbor and using our 2-fer coupons (much to the dismay of our waiter Anthony). It was VERY foggy the morning we left (see Optimystique squinting under the bridge).