5/22 - 5/27......Party time with the girls!!!

5/22 - The last of our lazy days for a while. We picked up the hook at 7:30am to head into Sombrero Beach Marino/Marathon to restock and await the arrival of Amy, Leah, Chuck & Scott. They cruised in from Ft. Lauderdale around 2:00pm, in a red Mustang convertible and the fun times began! We got everything settled on board and went for a sunset cruise out to the "7-mile bridge" and back.

5/23 - Slipped the lines and headed out to Sombrero Key to snorkel, but it was too rough so we headed on down to Newfound Harbor (off of Little Torch Key) and took the dinghy out to the sandbar and hung out for the rest of the afternoon. Lots of laughs, lots of fun, lots of adult beverages!

5/24 - We had one of the crew severely wounded for most of the morning and into the afternoon (check with the girls to find out which one) but a recovery was made with a little "hair of the dog" by afternoon. We picked up a mooring ball at the Sand Key light (SW of Key West) to snorkel on the reef. We had a great afternoon of snorkeling, swimming and just hanging out. By late afternoon/evening Scott began his suffering with the after effects of too much salt water intake. We spent the night on the hook at the Key West anchorage.

5/25 - Bill brought the kids into KW mid-morning by dinghy to settle down "seasickness". We brought the boat into A&B Marina around noon. Spent the afternoon hanging around the harbor. From the pier we had front row seats for the "regatta" Schooner Wharf Bar was hosting. Most of the homemade "boats" couldn't make it around the short course and several sank at the starting line.

5/26 - Spent the afternoon at South Beach, went to Mallory Square for the sunset entertainment and then to the Tiki Bar at the Galleon Resort for sunset, here's one of the shots I took.


After sunset we went over to Alonzo's/A&B Lobster House for dinner - as always, great food! The crew headed out for the traditional "Key West Duval Crawl" for the night and the 2 smart ones stayed on the boat.

5/27 - Early start for the kids, they left @ 9:00am to drive to Ft. Lauderdale for their flight home and to recover from "Family Vacation with The Fockers" (those of you who have seen the movies may understand). We got the boat cleaned up and had an early evening ourselves.

5/18 - 5/21.....Just hanging out

5/18 - Took the dinghy over to Boca Grande beach (not much to it at high tide) but still enjoyed walking and wading around for a while. The winds started picking up so we headed back to the boat and picked up the hook at 11:30 and cruised on past Key West and back to Newfound Harbor. We anchored between Big Pine & Little Torch Keys. We've had a tough time with the sea grass clogging intakes on the engines, generator and air conditioners so Bill had to spend some time down below cleaning out the strainers on the intakes.

5/19 - Took it easy for the morning, picked up the hook around noon and headed back to the Marathon area and anchored at Burnt Point again. We love it here! Nice sunny afternoon spent floating in the water. Sassy is as worthless as we are!

These first 2 shots are tonights sunset, the third is the full moon rising - I'm still having a hard time getting photos where I want them on the page. For those of you that are also a novice with this blog stuff, I found out that you can click on a picture to blow it up to full size.



5/20 - 5/21 - More of the same. We decided to just hang here for a few more days. Took care of maintenance, washed the outside, cleaned the inside and spent most of the time relaxing and floating in the water. Tomorrow life will be drastically different - the "party girls" are coming!! Amy and Leah and friends will be here until Tuesday morning. We are looking forward to the fun.

5/13 - 5/17.....Pete's Big Adventure!!

5/13 - Beautiful morning, sunny, winds NNE 10-15 kts. All maintenance issues are resolved, boat is reprovisioned and Pete arrived from Biloxi on schedule (when you see him, be sure to ask him about his flight from Ft. Myers into Key West). Afternoon and into evening spent at Mallory Square for the "sundown ritual".

5/14 - 5/15 We planned to head out cruising, but the winds didn't lay down so we bummed around town for 2 days. Pete now knows where every waterfront bar is in the harbor area. We never really got far enough away from the boat to do the "Duval Crawl". Patty and Pete took the "Conch Train Tour" (great way to see the "Old Town" area) so he at least knows there's a lot more to the town.

5/16 - The 3 of us took the "Yankee Freedom II" (fast cat boat) to the Dry Tortugas to tour Fort Jefferson. After the tour we spent the afternoon snorkeling (a first for Pete!) and hung around the beach until time for the boat ride back. Fun, but tiring day!!



5/17 - Pete had an early morning flight out, made it home without any problems - and fortunately had a bigger airplane out of Key West. Hopefully he had as much fun as we did!


We slipped the lines from the marina around 11:30 and headed west to Boca Grande Keys to anchor for the night. Put the hook down at 2:30 and had a lazy afternoon.

5/9 - 5/12 ..... Still Cruising!

5/9 - Another beautiful day, picked up the hook to make a move on west down the ICW - Bayside to the Marathon area, dropped the hook at one of our favorite anchorages - Burnt Point. Spent the afternoon floating in the water with a beer or two.

5/10 - Flat, calm, sunny & hot - made for a great day to cut through Moser Channel (7-mile bridge) for a cruise on the Atlantic side down Hawk Channel. The water was so calm and clear that you could see the bottom, we also saw several sea turtles swim by. Dropped the hook in Newfound Harbor Channel, just north of the "ritzy" Little Palm Island Resort. Put the dinghy in to hang out at the the locals version of Destin's "crab island".

5/11 - Picked up the hook @ 9:00 for the 4 hour run down to Key West. Dropped the hook at Fleming Key - the anchorage area just off of Key West.

5/12 - Headed in to A & B Marina to take care of some maintenance and medical issues and to await the arrival of Pete.

5/7 - 5/8.....We're back on the hook!!!

5/7 - We washed off the construction dirt and untied the lines @ 11:20am. Headed on down The Keys a little and put the hook down @ 12:45 on the NW side of Shell Key (which is a state park, but you are not allowed to go ashore - go figure!). What a great spot - even though we can see the bridges and traffic on US 1, it looks and sounds like we are far, far away from civilization. The key that we are closest to is Upper Matecumbe Key (still part of Islamorada) and are about 2 miles from the bridge in the picture. Had a lazy, sorry day - finally!! Reading, napping, reading, napping. Just what we've been working toward. Had an amazing sunset!! Someone with the initials PLD failed to get a picture.

5/8 - More of the same as yesterday. We did get energetic enough to put the dinghy in to do a little exploring. Sunset was fair, but the night sky is unbelievable. Tomorrow we may get ambitious enough to make a move. What a great mode to be in - all of the months of hard work are finally paying off.

5/4 - 5/6....Still tied to the pilings!

We are still tied to the pilings at Plantation Harbor Marina, but have been lucky enough to relocate and get out of the construction zone (we had been right next to where they are rebuilding the marina piers). Our parts came in and on Monday Bill successfully installed the new air conditioner and 0n Tuesday installed the new sewerage holding tank (what a crappy day for him!). We are glad that all of that is behind us. Although the folks are super nice, being tied up in a marina is not what we had in mind for cruising!

4/27 - 5/4.....Biscayne Bay to The Keys

4/27 - We've had great weather for cruising down through Biscayne Bay. It's like a major interstate (except with boats) on the weekends. Put the hook down at Sands Key and took a dinghy ride to explore Boca Chita Key & Marina. Today (Sunday) was the day our "Bimini Buds" are making their passage over to Lake Worth.

4/28 & 4/29 - Cruised on down thru Biscayne Bay to North Card Sound/Middle Creek. Spent the afternoon "dinkin & drinkin" thru the canals and channels at Ocean Reef Resort (Key Largo area). Made a pass thru Angelfish Creek channel out to the Atlantic just to take a look (the seas were flat & calm). Picked up the hook cruised through Jewfish Creek and dropped the hook in Tarpon Basin.

4/30-5/2 - Winds picked up and were predicted to be 15-20 knots, so we got a slip at Plantation Harbor Marina (Islamorada) for a few days. We rented a car to run errands, pick up supplies and to go out for dinner. The 4 of us had a great dinner at Marker 88 Restaurant Wed. night and a send-off dinner for Steve & Rose at the Island Grill Restaurant Thur. night. They drove back up to Ft. Lauderdale on Friday to catch their flight home. We've had a blast and look forward to future cruising with them!

5/3 & 5/4 - We're having to stay put several days (waiting for a few items that we ordered to be delivered) but we've lucked out. This weekend is "Island Fest" here in Islamorada and it's being held in the park right here adjoining the marina. Greg "Fingers" Taylor (from Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band) played Saturday and put on a great show. Also had a crew building a cool sand castle on the beach.