Great Loop Adventures Aboard Next Chapter: 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!