DREAMING THE DREAM

Gary's back is improving every day and it doesn't bother him at all. It still looks nasty though.  Thursday night Linda, Mercy and her neighbor Rudy came out to the boat to watch the sunset and check out the boat.  Linda is wanting to buy a larger boat to go tho the Bahamas on. Mercy leaped up the ladder and inspected everything in the cabin within minutes.  She is a Rescue Dog, which I thought meant Linda "rescued her", but actually she is trained to rescue people.  She is a 4 year old Lab.

Linda turned out to be such an interesting person.  She grew up in Turkey and has piloted boats since she was a child.  She ran the supply boat to Tobago for years.  She is the match for any male captain that is for sure, her knowledge is immense!  Rudy is her neighbor and he is retired Coast Guard, everyone around here has something to do with the water.

Yesterday we went to shore and walked about 2 miles to the Winn Dixie and back.  Picked up a very few supplies and purchased some more books at the library.  I just read "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and it was great, I am now looking for the 2 follow up books, no luck yet although I try everywhere I go.

We then came back took a nap.....the walk, you know.....and then watched the afternoon show over at the little island where everyone seems to congregate in the afternoon.

The big excitement yesterday was the Sea Plane that flew right over our boat and landed close to the island.  The 3 people on the plane got out and went for a swim, then just hung out for a couple of hours before buzzing us again and flying off into the sunset!

I've included pictures of the Little Palm Resort and Shuttles.  Check this place on the internet- google Little Palm Island Resort and Spa.  This is LUXURY!!  Room rates are $1225. to $2091. per night.  The Marina takes boats up to 120' and the rates start at $350. per day.  On the Menu the Island Picnic is $300. and it sounds like fancy snacks (no Fritos, or cheese puffs served here) and possibly a bottle of wine, but it sure isn't Yellow Tail.  Oh yes, lest I forget, the Private Island Picnic to the tune of $2700. ( not including 7.5% tax or $50. set up fee) is a flight in their sea plane to a private Island where you will be wowed with more fancy snacks and a lot more wine!  I didn't even get into the dinner prices seeing as their Saturday Brunch is $75.PP.  It would be kind of fun to do it once wouldn't it?

Oh well, back to earth Jann.  We are off to the local flea market.....and some Fritos and Beer!

Little Palm Resort from Hawk Channel (Atlantic)

THE TRUMAN  one of 2 launches that ferry guests to the Resort

THE WOODSON the other launch for guests.

The Ace of Diamonds...pulling into the dock at Little Palm Island Resort
this was a 90' or larger Yacht Fish.

ALL IS WELL

These pictures are of Gary's back this morning. He had a good night, no pain or itching
and he said it feels ok this morning. This was an experience neither of us want to have
again. As far as our list of things that can go wrong....this wasn't on it!!!

How to Begin The Story?

Let's see,  we got up around 7:00.  There was a little cloud cover and looked to be a good day.  Well it turned out to be a very good and a very bad day.  First the fog rolled in...no big deal but add's interest to the picture story.  

We had met Barry & Jody yesterday on a 42' Heritage East Trawler "The Love Shack". They are beginning "The Great Loop" (Florida Keys through the Great Lakes, down to the Tenn Tom Waterway and back to Florida.   We went to the Tiki Bar with them for 75 cent tacos...and a really good band.  Then this morning we said our goodbye's and exchange of books.  We are pretty sure we will meet up again on our journeys.

Our plan for today was to clean the dinghy bottom.  Boot Key is a great place but it wreaks havoc on boat bottoms, not enough current I guess. So off we went  to the small beach on the Island close to our boat.2We turned the dinghy over and spent a good hour trying to clean the 2 inches of sea fur off of the bottom.  /We ended up scrubbing most of it off and I was shocked at the difference in speed before and after.  Yesterday we were slogging through the water not able to even get it somewhat on plane.  I thought we really had engine problems, but boy, cleaning that bottom was the answer.  We were flying through the water on the way back to the boat as you can see by Gary's face in the photos....

It was really warm (sorry) .....and when we got back to the boat I decided to go for a dip. Barry had warned us to hold onto a line as he found it to be a really strong current so I held onto a line and we checked the surface for any Man of War (pictures from previous post) and I made the plunge.  It felt wonderful.  Gary was hesitant to go in as it was not our usual 85-90 degrees but he finally decided to take the plunge.  First dip, everything good.

Gary then decided to check the zincs as other people had had problems at Boot Key.  First look OK but something wrapped around prop.  He went down again to get it off and that was the end of our Good Day!!   He came up with a Man of War wrapped around his arm and back and it was horrific!!  First I had to get it off of him, but those pretty blue streamers you saw in the pictures stuck like glue and burned like HELL!!  We used towels and our deck shower and then I had to call 911, who put me through to the Coast Guard, who said call Urgent Care.  Finally since we only knew of one place here, the Sea Center, I called them they said vinegar or urine (what we used falls into the T.M.I. category, but you gotta do what you gotta do on a boat).and gave us the number of a local Dr. They said scrape the welts with a credit card to get off the remaining tissue and basically grin and bear the pain!

Anyway to make a 14 hour story shorter, we  cleaned  him up and go him somewhat comfortable and down for a rest. 

After a while I saw a boat circling us and went out to say hello.  It was a woman and her lab, Mercy.

She was inquiring about our boat and before you know it we had gotten into a conversation of her fishing and our days drama....and maybe you can guess the rest.

Linda was so nice.  She called her friend, who was a pharmacist and she said we needed Benadryl and a hydrocortisone cream.  I had antibiotic stuff and allergy antihistamine but not what we needed.  She insisted we follow her into her house and take her truck to the CVS which was about 5 miles, to pick up what we needed.  She is a real "boat woman" with 20 years of Key's experience so we really trusted her advice...

The boating community continues to be unique....people helping people with no sense of what's in it for me, but how can I help you.  

So it was a very good and very bad day.  

We learned....swim in a damn pool, and even in these times...people are great!!!!

Gary just went to bed and seems to be ok.  Hopefully he will sleep all night and it will be a better tomorrow.

Cleaning Dinghy Bottom

Pulling her ashore and getting ready to flip her.

It was actually worse than it looks very hard to scrub off and me with a bumb hand.

Looking much better

Foggy Beginning

Fog rolling in 7:30 AM

Getting Closer

Obscuring "Love Shack" 

The beginning of the END!!

Add caption

Whoa Dinghy!!

This place was so neat I couldn't resist taking a picutre.  Talk about living the
Keys life.  This is without a doubt  IT!

The house wine of a local restaurant...couldn't resist adding this for
"The Vino Sisters"!!!

Coming back to the boat after a 4 hour dinghy journey.

View from our back deck.
Awesome
That's the Atlantic Ocean guys, who would've thought we'd ever
be here.  Not me that's for sure.

Portuguese Man-of-Wars, Portuguese Man-of-War Pictures, Portuguese Man-of-War Facts - National Geographic

Portuguese Man-of-Wars, Portuguese Man-of-War Pictures, Portuguese Man-of-War Facts - National Geographic

Portugese Man of War
Very interesting looking and can give a very nasty sting. We got
lucky to see several of these close up today from the dinghy. It is
very hard to see what you are shooting in the sun but I was pleased
with these photos.  Added a link so you can read about them.
 They are everywhere here this year.

Note the long tentacles that can reach up to 165 feet.  These must have been babies
only about 3 feet

Hurricane Hole on Little Torch Key

Part of hurricane hole was this dive center with lots of boats to rent
and a marine research center.  Little Torch Key

WARMING UP IN THE SUN
This guy and his cohort nearby graciously let me take this picture from about 5'.
The smaller one skittered away but this one being older and wiser decided to put
up with my invasion of his privacy without even a blink of the eye.

THIS WAS SHOT FROM ABOVE THE WATER IN A
CANAL IN RAMROD KEY
SEA GRASS ON THE RIGHT AND FISH ON THE LEFT

WE FIGURED WE BETTER TRY THESE OUT BEFORE WE NEEDED THEM!!

SEA ANGEL AT ANCHOR IN VERY BUSY NEWFOUND HARBOR
Actually it reminds us a lot of Lake St. Clair on a busy summer weekend
boats are going by us at full throttle and a while ago a jet ski went by going at
least 70mph, I think they may have made a beer run as they returned about
15 minutes later.  At low tide there is a small beach by an island of mangroves near us
and it is THE spot to be on Saturday and Sunday.  Then at high tide the beach is gone and
the 45 or so boats go home, at full throttle of course.  This means much bouncing around for us.
But the night is peaceful.

Picture Story

LEAVING BOOT KEY HARBOR 

SHALLOWS AT ENTRANCE TO BOOT KEY HARBOR

OOPS....GUESS HE MISCALCULATED LOW TIDE  AND HOW IS HE GOING
TO GET ABOARD FROM THAT KAYAK??

CHECKIN' OUT THE TRAFFIC  IN A CANAL ON RAMROD KEY
(There is lot's of funky yard art in the keys)

New Beginnings

At 11:40 am today we left Boot Key Harbor.  Cast off the lines and headed towards our next destination, Newfound Harbor, located between Ramrod & Big Pine Key.  We chose the westerly arm which is between Little Torch & Ramrod.  The surrounding area with all of the small boats darting about from the nearby ( Flats Sand Island) Island reminded us very much of the St, Clair flats. The sunset was spectacular as usual.  It looks to be a peaceful night...all the day boaters have gone home.

Unfortunately I am suffering from a severe case of tendonitis (hopefully) in my right hand, making typing extremely uncomfortable, so this is going to be short but sweet.

Wish you all could be here.....

Last Few Days

I hope everyone hasn't been holding their breath to see the new frig.  We ended up with company, Jerry Lozen, and friend Bev Hagberg in town and the refrigeration (I know, after all that angst) had to be put on hold.  We didn't want to plug it in and leave in case she burned to the water line. Know it is all in and running.  Yesterday we filled it up as we plan to head out on Saturday.  Today should tell the tale on energy use.

We went to Key West to give Bev a tour as she hadn't been there.  We walked them to death, but they enjoyed it.  They didn't get to see the dog on the roof or the rooster as they were hot footing it ahead of us to get back to the van at the end of the day.  We then met Patty & Larry Havens (Jerry & Bev were staying with them) at the No Name Pub for Pizza.  Yummyyyy!!  We also found out that there are several other people from Algonac and Harsen's Island that live on Marathon in the winter.  Small world.  They left yesterday and we got back to work on provisioning for our Saturday departure.

We ordered the new name vinyl on Tuesday and it should be here on Friday.  We can't change the name until we get the documentation back which should be the end of the month.  Then we are jumping in with "boat feet".  Everyone here has changed the name on their boat unless it is new to them.  Some have done the ceremony, but most haven't.  Their luck doesn't seem to be a whole lot better than ours....well maybe a lot better but not a whole lot.  The new name will be,...... well maybe it would be more interesting to see how many of you can guess!

Today I am going to clean window glass.  It is frightful how quickly they get dirty with the salt air.  They turn wet and slimy and you can't just wipe them off or you get a real mess.  So it's out with the

vinegar and soap spray and elbow grease.  The boat itself is also covered with salt, but fresh water is too precious when you have to haul it from shore, so I am waiting for a good rain to take care of it.

We are looking forward to getting out of Marathon and seeing new things.  It becomes very easy to stay here and most people seem to spend months here.  Our friends on Cool Change Wayne & Colleen left on Tuesday.  We were sad to see them go but hope to meet up with them again.  They are on their way back to N.C. and have been cruising since fall.

Colleen tending the lines and saying "Adios" and Cool Change heading for home

So there has been lots of excitement this week and I'm happy to report that most of it has been GOOD

Our new Vitrifrigo Refrigerator

We caught the departure of a Cruise Ship while in Key West on Tuesday

These 2 cast off the bow lines.  Then he got on a bike and she grabbed her 2 dogs and
they went their separate ways.  Good job...wonder what it pays?

Jerry, Bev and Gary after the fun of watching the ship get underway.

We thought we might try and market these as the new thing in Boat Shoes

s!

One of Key West's Finest....and I am not kidding he was posing,  because after taking the picture we said," ok we're done" and sure enough he turned around and strutted away!

This is NOT a photo shop job.  Only in Key West.  I just started laughing when I saw this dog
on the roof.  No one had even noticed him and he was just watching the action . You can see he was being very blase' about the photo op, could have cared less.... unlike the Rooster.

Bev, Jerry and Patty at the NO NAME PUB on No Name Key
Lot's of dollars on them thar walls!