Let's get a caravan started

We arrived at Twin Dolphin Monday evening, and much to our delight Lyle (Wild) and Mickie have bought a motor home. We're sensing a trend here; our friends from Marathon, Phred and Candy, just bought one too. Get ready for a caravan across the U.S. soon. We toasted the arrival of Beulah (Lyle and Mickie's RV) with champagne on Wednesday evening, accompanied by the gorgeous Sade, who is in charge of everything. We now have an official RV park at Twin Dolphin, with ours, Rankin and Sandy's, and now Lyle and Mickie's coaches. Let the games begin!

Reality bites...but not very hard

Headed back from Fantasy Fest. Haircuts (William and the Admiral), sunsets at Jolly Roger park (always beautiful), and good friends and traveling companions headed back to a tortuous life of living on a sailboat. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole trip, and even though we said we needed to "do it once," there's a suspicion that we might do it again. Cheers! The Fest is over...back to boat work and swimming pools and hot tubs. Do you feel sorry for us yet? We had so much fun on our trip, had a great time with William and Judy (there really is room for four people on the RV), and had a ball learning about Fantasy Fest and all its idiosyncrasies.

We enjoyed our journey across Alligator Alley (mating season; lots and lots of lusty gators in canals beside the road), and saw what was surely the world's smallest Post Office (Rusty, we have a new job for you!) along the way. The postmistress was just leaving for the day, so we got a quick chat with her before the photo session.

Fantasy Fest....day two...are we up to it???

Okay, we had a ball yesterday. We rode the bus full of colorful characters; we ate (very little); we drank (quite a bit); we wandered around saying "gollllleeeeeeee" just like Gomer Pyle; we giggled and pointed and took pictures. Total tourists. Now we're all grown up and ready to go back and behave like our parents would want us to. Or our kids. Or at least we're ready to go back.


We decided to take an early bus, assuming that the younger set (anyone under 60 qualifies for that set) would get a later start and the bus would have seats. Wrong. It blew right past us (which either means it was full or that we looked too seedy to ride, which is a possibility we chose not to consider, given the cast of characters we've seen on the buses before). So there we were, in the blistering sun, all ready to go gawk some more, and no ride. 20 miles. Being enterprising folks, we did what anyone would do, and stuck out our thumbs. But our thumbs must not look too good, because no one stopped. Captain Jaybird accosted 3 guys coming out of a nearby restaurant (Mangrove Mamas, where the guys had already slaked their thirst a time or two during the planning of Getting There Phase Two) and asked if they were headed to Key West. Guess what? They were! They just needed to zip over to their RV park to get one costume out of the dryer (remember this...it'll be important later) and take a shower. Hallelujah! A ride! They really did come back, and we were honored to meet Robert, Henry and Richard. They were very nice guys, all from Florida, who attend Fantasy Fest routinely. Our driver (we were in a pickup truck) was dressed in a crisp white chef's hat and apron (fresh from the dryer). We had a good chat on the way down and they even offered to bring us back or bail us out, whichever we needed. We got a photo of them when we got out at the parking lot in Key West, and were thrilled to see not one tan line.
































There were many options for paint schemes and themes (see poster and do enlarge -- you'll be impressed I promise), and many floats (very elaborate) at the parade on Saturday. The only rules within the Fantasy Zone (when isn't Key West a Fantasy Zone??) were that nudity wasn't allowed. Really?






The floats were amazing, as well as the street people/costumes which were either in or not in the parade (sometimes it's hard to tell). All in all, I highly recommend a trip to Fantasy Fest.....and in the Zone....

Key West beckons....let the fantasy begin

It was time for another haircut for the Admiral, so we took the motor home to Key West last week to attend Fantasy Fest. William and Judy (S/V Optimystique), our dock neighbors and long-time friends, went with us to share the fun. We spent the first night in Marathon, and revisited some of our old haunts from this past winter/spring. We then headed for Sugarloaf Key, where we stayed at Lazy Lakes during Fantasy Fest. This was the first time for all four of us, and we could barely wait to see the festivities.

We walked 1/4-mile to the bus stop on Friday, ready for the ride to Key West (the bus itself is an adventure, with lots of colorful characters).


Our marina manager, Mike, asked us to take some photos with the Twin Dolphin burgee so he could post them on the marina web site. We took LOTS of pix, but for some reason he only used one (and it didn't even have a Fantasy Fest character in it!!). You'll spot the burgee in a few shots, though.



We first visited Schooner Wharf, our favorite place in Key West, and were rewarded with Michael McCloud (Jay and William are total groupies) singing so well even the dogs slow danced. After liquid refreshment and some McCloud tunes, we headed to Duvall Street to see what all the fuss was about.

















We'd heard lots about this event, and have a friend who used to attend regularly. We'd seen his photo album. But you really do have to be there. All sizes and shapes, all ages, all persuasions.....costumes and lack of costumes and paint and two weeks of partying....it was a hoot for these 4 hillbillies! It was also obvious that some of the participants planned their outfit (or lack of) long in advance.





















































Just for kicks -- did you see the USMC hat? Me either.

Traveling up the learning curve

We attended the SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association) 8th Annual Florida West Coast Rendezvous in Punta Gorda, traveling by motor home to the Isles Yacht Club. It's a beautiful club, with a large facility for club members and a perfect venue for the SSCA activities. We attended seminars on Cruising Cuba, Heavy Weather, a San Diego-to-Thailand Voyage, a Belize/Honduras/Mexico/Guatemala Cruise, AIS/Radar, Land Travel, and Women Cruising, and gathered lots of information and tips for future travels. There was a happy hour with full-dress flag ceremony, drawings for prizes, lunch and dinner, and we met many new friends and fellow travelers. The dockmaster at Isles YC was most gracious and helped us settle in for the night. We thank Harry and Melinda (S/V Sea Schell) for encouraging us to go, and we enjoyed the company of Rankin and Sandy (S/V Heart of Texas) who also traveled by motor home. John and Susan (S/V Alchemy) arrived by boat from Clearwater, so we had a good visit and catch-up with them as well. We closed the event with a great dinner in Fisherman's Village at Harpoon Harry's.

The golf group continues and also continues to grow, and they too have a learning curve....never ever let your golf ball go to a mama alligator.