Happy New Year from the Keys

Hope everyone has survived the hustle & bustle of the Christmas season. Even on Conch Republic (Key West) time I found myself in a pinch the last day or two trying to get some goodies baked. I forgot to take into account that my counter space is all but non existent and my oven only holds one mini cookie sheet at a time. Oh well, it took me two days to do what would normally take an afternoon but I guess all that matters is that I got it done. Christmas day was busy as Dirk and I spent the morning and early afternoon at my cousins home on the next Island up. It was nice to finally meet some of my extended family and to see my cousins whom I haven't seen in a very long time. A nice breakfast buffet was laid out and as usual we ate too much followed by play time on the kids new toys. Wow, some of these toys they make, where were they when I was young enough to play and not injure myself too bad? But, if you know us you know we had to give them a shot and now we have the bruises to show for it.

At 2:00 our marina was having a pot luck Christmas dinner for everyone. They provided the hams and turkeys while everyone else provided the other goodies. Needless to say we were about an hour late but still managed to get our fill. Have to say I was still full from the late breakfast we had just two hours previously. We hung around a bit then slowly filtered away to our boats to process the huge amounts of calories that had been consumed. A bit later I meandered down the dock and ended up having some wine and conversation with Page & Dottie, a couple of boaters that took us under their wing when we arrived to show us the ropes. It was an early evening as both Dirk & I were pooped from playing with the kids earlier so we went back to the boat and piddled a bit before calling it an evening.

On other news the solar panels finally came in and got installed. We were beginning to wonder if they were gonna make it before we left. We ended up mounting them on the bimini top where they would be out of the way and out of sight.

At first we weren't sure if the top would be sturdy enough, but in the end we added a couple more support poles, two leading down from the sides attached to the toe rail and two added from the back to the back rail. Seems like they are pretty sturdy and I'm happy that we didn't have to go with the other option of having to mount them on the sides close to the bow of the boat from the front railing to flip up. The jury is still out on the new power production but I think we will have good news on that end. I also finally finished my cover for the cooler that we have on the front deck. When we bought it, the intention was to have a ready area to throw any catch in that we might be so lucky to get, with the ulterior motive of having an extra storage space. I wanted to make a cover for it as I know the UV rays can take years off of any item stored on deck. I have had the pattern cut and pinned for a while but had trouble with the sewing machine and gave up on the project out of frustration. Well today I found someone who was gracious enough to whip it through their machine and after making a few cut outs for tie down straps we are in business. Thanks Michelle.

Were still not one hundred percent happy with our refrigeration as it seems like it still runs a lot even after adding the other insulation. Were wondering if in fact we might have a problem with our thermostat and are looking at perhaps replacing it with a different kind. More reading needs to be done on this before we make any kind of decision. This week was a good week and what made it better was to finally meet someone who has been an inspiration to both Dirk and I for so long. Even before we purchased Tybee Time we began reading Bill's blog aboard s/v Galena and all the adventures he had made us want to become cruisers even more. We follow him still and realized he would be coming to the marina we are currently in and in fact he ended up just across the dock and down a couple slips. Dirk & I showed him to the local watering hole where we ended up chatting it up over several beers. Have to say its been very nice getting to know him and hearing all his stories he has to share. I do hope we find our paths cross again in the future. There are a couple other blogs we follow and we are looking forward to meeting these folks in the very near future.

Well here it is only a few days before the new year so its doubtful that I will be posting again until then. Here's to hoping that everyone has a safe and wonderful New Years celebration and may we all find the strength to stick to the resolutions that we make. Cheers & Happy New Year from Dirk, myself and Butters.

Merry Christmas from the Keys

It's hard to believe that Christmas is knocking on the door with baby New Year right on it's heels. Time has flown by since we have been here and it doesn't seem as if we have gotten anything accomplished. We have actually only been downtown to do the tourist thing once. Still wanna do that, but something tells me we will be back here one day to stay for a little longer. Well maybe a lot longer, who knows…..

Let’s see, when I last wrote we were waiting on our solar panels to arrive. Well, we are still waiting….we hear they should arrive this next week sometime so we will just wait and see. Dirk finally figured out how he wanted to mount them so he went and bought the stainless steel poles and all the doo dads to attach it over the bimini top. I will keep you posted on that one. Another project we have been meaning to do is to add extra insulation to the interior of the refrigerator. The previous owner put spray foam everywhere on the exterior hollow spots he could get to but we still felt as if it could be improved a bit more as it seems the fridge is a big source of our power usage. Since being down here in the Keys has afforded us the luxury of having a vehicle every once in a while as I have family here, we took the opportunity to go by Home Depot and buy a big sheet of the insulation. It was only ½ inch thick but in some places we doubled it up such as the side that faces the oven and the bottom which is by far too deep anyway. I usually end up doing a hand stand in the fridge to retrieve any item that has managed to find its way down there. So we got that done and I have to say I lost very little fridge space and we figure any improvement we gave it has to be good. Dirk still has not come back with the numbers to tell us how much but if I remember I will let you know when he does. Below is a photo of the fridge before, followed by the photo of the final product.

Dirk has been enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having by dividing his time between fishing and lobstering. He has seen so many lobster but since we are towards the end of the season they have all been too small. He took me with him one day and we see all the lobster sitting on the wall laughing at us as they are the size of a very large shrimp and know that they have time on their side, unless of course the two large new buddies Dirk spotted, Moray & Eel decide to have them for lunch. We went out again the other day and Dirk takes off snorkeling as I am relaxing in the dinghy working on my tan lines when he comes back with a big grin on his face. Yep, he got him a legal lobster, finally!!!! Only got one, but saw several more so he will return to that spot at a later date. We brought the catch back to the boat and in about 15 minutes we had our first taste testing to do.

Ready for the grill

It wasn't huge, but it was a nice tasty morsel. I want to try a few different ways of cooking them. My aunt gave me a few ideas that I will have to give a try.

Well, Christmas is in a few short days and then we find ourselves ushering in the New Year. Dirk and I will celebrate the New Year downtown in Key West. I hear there is much fun to be had, so we have gotten us a room within walking distance to Duval Street. Can't wait, but then on the other hand New Years also signals us that it is time to move on. Before we know it we will begin our journey north to Marathon where we will do some of our final provisioning, then we wait for a good weather window to make the jump to the Bahamas.

Dirk, myself, and Butters want to wish all our family, friends, and readers a wonderful Christmas, and we hope for a safe and happy New Year to all. Till next time.....Cheers!

Still in the Keys

Fear not readers, we haven't fallen off the face of the planet. We have begun getting into the grove of doing everything and nothing. Everything as far as meeting and hanging out with new people , exploring by land and water our new surroundings, and in general just doing only what we want for the day. The nothing is just what it means, nothing......Unfortunately that nothing includes boat work and projects yet to be tackled. But alas, we are in paradise so what are we to do.....


I may have said this before but the only thing we can find fault in this marina is the fact that you are a bit far from anything. This marina does offer a great laundry facility, a nice bar and grill so there is food and drinks to be found but for any provisioning or entertainment one must go off base which is about a 2 mile walk up to the gate to catch a city bus that runs on a not so frequent schedule. On the two occasions we attempted the walk we were picked up by folks that recognized us from the marina. So we decided that in order to get around without having to beg, borrow, or steal a vehicle was to purchase some bikes. So a couple days ago we set out looking for some affordable fold up bicycles. We did go to the local marine store (not mentioning any names) and test drove two different fold ables they had. I guess if you wanted only to go a short hop here or there they would be fine, but for the amount we would need to ride them they were just far too uncomfortable. We also looked online at a few fold ables and any that had what we thought was needed were far too expensive. After tossing the ideas around for a day we decided to go ahead and purchase two bikes we saw at the local K-Mart that were on sale with a great price, and a name brand. At least now we can head into town anytime we want which is what we did yesterday. It takes about 45 minutes to make the ride,we can park the bikes for free and walk all over Key West with no worries. So now we have more reasons not to stay on the boat and do what needs to be done.
Here Dirk is enjoying another day in paradise

One big project we are doing while here in the marina is to install two more solar panels. They have been ordered but now we have the task of finding the best place to mount them and how. We found that when we were on the hook or on a mooring ball during our time getting down here that we were running the engine or the portable generator far too often to keep the batteries charged. Not that we are energy hogs but between our refrigeration and our freezer we use a lot of amp hours. With the price of diesel and gas we figure the panels will pay for themselves pretty quick. Not to mention hours on the engine and oil changes. So I guess we will actually have to take the time to do this before we move on.

Tybee Time got her tree put up along with a few lights to give it the festive glow. I know that our northern friends and family and even our friends in north Florida have been griping about the cold but we have been experiencing temps in the 80's so its hard to believe its Christmas time. The calendar however, assures us that it is.

Before we know it, it will be the new year and time to move on to Marathon and then to the Bahamas. Surely you will hear again from me before the new year, there is only so much nothing you can do in a day.

Now in the Keys, but 1st Marco Island

We left Fort Myers on Saturday after Thanksgiving pulling away from the ball about 8am and having I think a seven hour motor sail down to Marco Island. As we pulled out of the pass we were right on time to be right behind Dave from New Horizon to sail together. He was in our marina in Panama city and was due to leave before us but didn't. He too was headed for Marco Island for a day of rest before heading further south. Several people told us about a place to anchor in factory bay so that's where we headed once we got through the channel. Dirk and I were in the lead and we got to the anchoring spot where it showed 11 feet, then it showed 4. We draw 4' 11" we had run aground. Dave's boat draws more so Dirk tries to motion for him to go back but he keeps chugging on as he doesn't hear us yelling for him to go back. We reverse and are out with no problem but we see Dave churning up the sand trying to get free. Finally he breaks away and heads back the way we came. Later we find out that that particular anchorage has a sand bank running the width of it. No duh.....Lucky for us it was soft sand. So we found another spot outside the channel not too far away and set the hook. Dave is single handing it so we decided to invite him over for a home cooked meal and some conversation. Steaks and potatoes on the grill and he brought over some homemade mulberry wine that was awesome. Next morning he was headed south by the time we awoke but we decided to stay and check things out. Michael and his wife Christi live close by so they brought their boat out to ours and took us on a tour. Wow, the waterways are endless as are the small islands dotting the landscape. We stopped at one island called Cape Romano where the famous Dome home is located. Apparently hurricane Wilma decided to claim the home and the builder is trying to rebuild but running into road blocks. Pretty cool house but looks like a little too much work to me.
The guys decided to do a little fishing and I sat back just soaking in the warm temps and relaxed. Before long it was time to head back to our boat as it would soon be dark. The next morning we started preparing the boat for the 20 hour crossing to the Keys. The winds were suppose to be light and the seas calm so we decided just to put the dinghy on the davits as neither one of us felt like hauling it up to the front of the boat. We were trying to time it so that we would be getting to the Key West channel at sunrise so about 3pm would have been a good time to leave, but we were anxious to get a move on. At noon we were about to pull anchor when we were approached by the Sheriffs dept. boat. Oh great we thought, we have heard and read horror stories about this particular place in the past and realize that it isn't a very sail boater friendly area. We were pleasantly surprised as this guy was just making sure our papers were in order, he answered questions we had for him and was in general very pleasant. No problems here.....So once again we set about pulling anchor and heading out. Once outside the pass we set the sails and plotted our course so that we would go out about 20 miles offshore and then turn south hoping to avoid too many crab pots. A few times there were so many white buoys that I'm sure from the air it looked as if someone dumped a giant size bean bag into the water. At first it wasn't too bad as the water was calm enough that the strings of pots could be seen on the radar. Once the waves picked up a bit that didn't work any longer. We were finally able to turn off the motor and actually do a little sailing and lucky for us that we were sailing because while trying to avoid one crab pot I snagged another. I took her into the wind and was hoping once the boat stopped that the float would cause the pot to release then we would just push it away. No such luck.....Dirk tried taking the boat hook and pulling on the line as we could see the line under the boat but it was apparently hooked on something. One thing left to do, so Dirk tied a line to himself and jumped in diving under the boat to release the pot. Simple enough and we continued on. Sunset was coming quickly and we didn't seem to be any closer to getting out of the pots, at one point we were close to 40 miles offshore and we were still having them to contend with. The way we usually do the longer crossings is one person at the helm watching and the other rest or sleeps if they can. This time we didn't have the leisure of rest as one person had to be on the bow with a spot light reporting back to the helmsman. I knew those marriage saver headsets would come in handy one day. I couldn't imagine doing it without them. At one point at about 2am we both were so tired we decided to put the boat on auto pilot, main sail up and set the radar alarm for anything coming within 3 miles of us. I don't think either one slept but we both were able to lay in the cockpit and close our eyes and rest for about 2 hours. The wind was so light that we were only making about 2 knots. It actually worked out well as we reached the channel about 25 minutes before sunrise. Below is the sun rising over Key West.
Finally we made it through the channel and around and up to the Boca Chica naval air station marina. Wow, what a great place. We were going to stay one night in a slip and then move out to a mooring ball for a month but we were able to get a slip for the whole month which is great. I have shore power to do some of my sewing projects and easy access to land so we can get stuff done. But judging by the looks of things we may not get too much done. Like I said this place is beautiful, wonderful marina with many great folks. Great facilities, a little beach right next to the bar and grill with tiki huts and grills.
Our only problem is that it is a ways to get anywhere. I think we will look into getting two fold up bicycles as they will be very handy here and we can take them with us when we go. So here we will reside for a month, get into the slow pace of the cruising life and just take some time for us. A perfect ending to a perfect 1st day here was a beautiful Key West sunset.

I will keep updating while here as Im sure I will have much to report on and many photos to show. So keep checking back...