Fun in the Sun

 

We have been in Key West for over 6 weeks and have yet to see rain. In fact as I recall it has been sunny almost everyday. After we returned from the Tortugas on Tuesday Feb 28th we had a couple of days enjoying some down time and taking, if you can believe it, a slower pace. On Friday our boating friends Jim and Lisa Steinle made the trip from their boat in Ft Pierce to visit us over the weekend. Sue and I decided to move Next Chapter over to Key West Bight to anchor just in front of the wharf. On Saturday we went to the 59th annual Conch Blowing Contest. We really did not know what to expect.

It turned out to be a blast. We laughed the entire time. After much goading from Sue I decided to participate. Although I did not win I gave it the good ole Virginia try. We had a great time with Lisa and Jim showing them the sights which even included a Butterfly Conservatory. It was surprisingly really cool. They also had a number of different brightly colored fruit eating birds cruising around. 

After we said goodbye to Jim and Lisa My sister Mary from Apopka, Florida came for a visit. Now one thing you need to know about my sister, she has the same obsession about being on the water as I do. We kept quite busy during the week she was here. We participated in a full moon bike ride where everybody puts lights on their bikes, went out to Snipes sandbar and managed to haul in 10 lobster which we enjoyed on her last night.

She was also here to celebrate my, better sit down for this one, 60th birthday. The day went like this: Lobster fishing in the morning after which we drove up the Keys and stopped at a big flea market. From there we went to the Marathon Seafood Festival followed by a drink at a local Key dive bar. To cap it off we had dinner at a spectacular restaurant called The Square Grouper with a finale of Key Lime pie aboard Next Chapter.

I figured if you have to turn 60 you might as well make it memorable. We practically had to drag Mary off of the boat and shove her in her truck. It was a great visit all around and would mark the last of our visitors until we return to the Florida coast. 

So now we are in a holding pattern waiting again for a weather window to open so we can make our way to the Bahamas. We plan to jump off from a place called No Name harbor in Biscayne Bay and run the Gulf Stream to Bimini. We are both excited and a bit anxious but heck if there wasn’t a bit of apprehension then what fun would that be. 

                                  

Full Moon lighted bike parade. There were some wildly decorated bikes. We cruised the whole length of Duval St and thru some back streets. 

Bounty from the sea! Yum

Did I forget that we have a resident 100% bonafide Pirate on our dock. His name is Pirate Nick. He was instructing me in the fine art of swashbuckling. I think. Very colorful but friendly guy. The first morning he came over and gave us a bag of Baby’s Coffee, a local keys roaster. Sue really enjoyed it. 

   

Although we missed the Oceanview St Patty’s Day parade we made up for it here in Key West at the Waterfront Brewery. These were full timers from our marina. Gary, Ronnie and Jeff. I’m pretty sure that at some point thru out the evening I was mugged by a group of nasty leprechauns cuz the next day was pretty slow. 

Even in my less than 100% state I did manage to wrestle a few more bugs.

The Dry Tortugas

 

After Mark and Nancy left, Poseidon treated us to a rare weather window to allow us to go out to the Dry Tortugas which is 75 miles to the west. We were up early and left at first light. Once we past the Marquesas we had a period where we lost sight of land until Fort Jefferson showed up on the horizon. It turned out that there was five other Looper boats from a different marina heading there also.

The water was such an amazing color all the way. We anchored right in the small harbor right in front of the fort. Along the way we managed to catch a errant piece of line in our prop so first order of business was to put on my dive gear and go cut it off. The water was crystal clear. While I was working below the boat I had a visitor. It was a 250 lb plus Goliath Grouper that was about four feet long. He was very curious about me for some reason so much so at one point I got uncomfortable so I tapped him on the nose with my fin. He backed off but a few minutes later he showed back up and was right in my face. So I gently reached out and pushed him back.

He finally got the message seemed to honor my personal space. I must say I was quite intimidated by his size but an exhilarating experience none the less. What I would have given to have a camera! Sue was topside watching him swim around under the boat wondering if this was going to be an updated version of Jonah and the Whale!

We enjoyed hiking around the Fort and hearing the history of how it was built and it’s significance of the times. Couple of quick facts. It contains somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 million bricks all of which had to be brought by ship from as far away as Maine. There is no potable water source hence the word Dry in the name. Due to it’s location on the straights of Florida it was a strategic stronghold to protect the inland rivers which at the time was the life line of our developing nation.

And lastly, during the civil war it was occupied by the Union! We spent a day over at Loggerhead Island which was a quick 3 mile dinghy ride. The reef along the island is one of the healthiest we have seen in a long time. We were teased by numerous large lobster that somehow knew they were in protected waters. The sunsets and sunrises were epic showing off an almost pink hue.

The sound of  conch horns serenading the sunsets was magical. We also looked over a couple of Cuban Chugs that were beached on shore. They looked like they had been there for decades yet the park ranger said the oldest one was less than a week old. As some of you may have heard, there is a mass exodus out of Cuba due to deplorable economic conditions and new draconian laws that go into effect forbidding Cubans from leaving the country. Watching the float planes come in and take off never gets old. On our second night one of the bigger Looper boats hosted an extended Happy Hour with over a dozen folks. At one point during the evening we saw a UFO! Now I know I will take a ration over this but everybody onboard saw it. Most were unwilling to even try to offer a guess as to what it was. That’s pretty amazing with all the captains present who usually have an opinion about everything. Yes there was both pictures and video, none of which accurately portrayed what we saw. The morning of our departure we again were treated to a magical sunrise shortly after which we hauled the anchor and set a course back to Key West. The Dry Tortugas deservedly earned a place in our top ten experiences on the Loop. 

If you look carefully Next Chapter is in the background

                    The fort is surrounded by beautiful water

Sally port to Fort Jefferson

Cuban chug that landed only 5 days ago!

                           Float planes heading back to KW

Sunrise the morning of our departure back to Key West

VIP Visitors with a Special Request

After we had a great visit with the Gawne’s, we had about a week before our daughter Jackie and her boyfriend John would join us for a week. John was a late addition but more about that later. We were able to really embrace the Key West lifestyle and get plugged into the small live aboard boating community at our marina. We even made friends with the resident pirate, Nick! As with any marina the boating residents are usually colorful. 

Add the Key West factor and you have a sense of what we are enjoying. Jackie and John arrived on schedule and proceeded to get settled in for the week. Jackie was supposed to be solo but John was able to come last minute. Jackie was raring to go and fill every moment with an activity.

Got no idea where she got that from. After two days the serene boating lifestyle set in and they enjoyed just hanging out. Now mind you we still got it all in. We biked into town, went snorkeling, and took a dinghy ride out to a back country sandbar.

There we watched rays, fish and even a shark cross the gin clear water with a brilliant white sand backdrop. I think it was the highlight of their time here. In a quite moment with John, on the sundeck, he had a very special request. Yeah you’re gonna have to wait for what the request was because as of this moment the news has not been publicized. It was a sad goodbye as the week just flew by. We were grateful for the many special moments were able to share. 

Two days later we were joined by Mark Knutsen and Nancy. The fun factor went up once again. They had been at the Miami Boat show and added coming to see us as a side trip. Mark, I still can’t believe you watched the lighted boat show from the shore! 

Yesterday a Looper friend of mine came over and we loaded into the dinghy and went Bug hunting. Spiny lobster are called bugs down here. It has always been a goal of mine to bag and eat one. Ok so let’s put “legal one” in front of this train.

So after four plus hours of snorkeling we both managed to catch a legal lobster. It was a blast , a ton of work but fun nonetheless. Later that evening I dispatched it and cooked it on the grill as a 5 star appetizer. Before we leave I hope to bag some more of those tasty bugs! 

Well good thing I procrastinated getting this post out as it is now public knowledge. The special request from John was that he asked me for my daughter’s hand. After making him sweat briefly I gave my enthusiastic blessing. We are over the moon happy and look forward to John joining our family. Congrats Jackie and John!

                                        Look at the new island couple!

The crew out biking Key West

                 Mother and Daughter both smiling

Scenic shot from West Martello Tower

                              Engagement Picture of the beautiful couple

Torture by Boat, its Bananas!

 

OK I know. It’s been awhile. I sure many of you wonder if I joined a Cuban boat lift and took up rolling cigars. Well no such luck just been busy having fun and entertaining guests. So on with the Blog.

One of the curiosities I had prior to embarking on this life changing Odyssey was would I get antsy, bored or get claustrophobic living onboard without all my terrestrial belongings of a dirt home.

Well I am happy to report not only do I not miss them I also do not miss the routine of caring for a home and the property that it sits on. With that being said I find the care of a boat to be quite exasperating and defeating with certain projects. Case in point. We have been living with some nuisance water in our aft bilge that would periodically cause the bilge pump to kick off, usually in the middle of the night. I knew the cause or so I thought. I identified that the fitting holding the rudder post had a minor leak. I had tried without success to fix it before we left on the Loop but no luck. Well with some extra time on my hands I went at it with a vengeance. I finally found the right tool to tighten the fitting and wala no more leak. Dried up the water in the bilge, project marked as complete. Two nights later the bilge goes off! Checked the fitting, still dry.

Looked for two days and finally found the source. A crack in the shower sump. Ordered a brand new one, installed, dry bilge once again. Crossed another line thru the item on the project list. Four days later bilge goes off again. What the heck! Took about four days to catch this one. Water was leaking out of a loose connection on the shower wand. Only leaked when someone was actually using the shower wand.

Tighten fitting, third line to cross out the project item and rendered a prayer to Neptune to let up a little as I was growing quite despondent. Needless to say my plea when unanswered. Bilge went off again three days later. This time I took drastic unconventional measures. As I sat in the galley holding my head wondering, why do I hate myself so much I noticed a bunch a bananas on the counter. Many of you boaters have heard the tale that bananas on a boat were bad luck. Many more of you know I do not subscribe to such nonsense especially coming from a scientific/medical background. But I was desperate! So I rendered a Captains order banning all bananas onboard. So then I went to work to find the source of water as all previous repairs were holding. Turns out water was leaking from the fitting for the fresh water tank level sender ONLY if the tank was filled completely to the top. So I sealed the the fitting with some good old silicone, tested it and it held.

It has now been two weeks and the bilge is as dry as the Sahara. Don’t know if banning bananas on board was the trick but for now the ban will remain in place. 

So do I miss my terrestrial trappings? Not really. Am I bored or antsy? Don’t have time cause I’m always fixing, re fixing or working thru how I’m gonna fix something.  When I feel the slightest level of anxiety I simply sit down on the sundeck and stare out into the turquoise water. My blood pressure almost drops too low as I suddenly feel like I could sit there all day. A feeling I never experienced in my dirt home lifestyle. This odyssey certainly has altered my inner priorities in a very significant way. 

The Pics were mostly from a Sunset Dinner Cruise we did with two other couples. Very touristy but it really was a blast. 

                                                Manitee Cruising through the marina