Thursday February 26: It's Tiring Having Fun - Day 1

Thank you to Jenna Star and I Think I Can ... for the generous sharing of their pictures!!

Finally - the weather Steve was waiting for - came. Three days of little or no winds - perfect for the cruise to nowhere and back :-)

Sunday the seas were a bit higher than predicted though (often the case) so we opted to return to Bahia Honda State Park and then continue on to Newfound Harbor on Monday - assuming the weather predicted was just a bit late in coming.

Randy and Cindy in I Think I Can ... and George and Nancy in Jenna Star had traveled down the bay side but we didn't fit under the new highway bridge so we traveled outside. Pretty rolly so it suited us to stop after a couple of hours.

Jenna Star and I Think I Can ... were anchored nicely outside the entrance to the marina. Steve and I opted for the marina itself. After all it was Sunday night and Downton Abbey was on. How lame is that ......

Regardless, it was a good base for a gathering at the picnic table for a group dinner.












Cindy and Nancy were in charge of the steaks on the grill - Steve added the vegetarian chili and green beans. This was dinner after snacks of course :-)

There were some walks to the old bridge and a stop at the ice cream shop (I won't name names here but they live on a red American Tug :-) )

The view from the bridge overlooking the harbor and the new highway bridge is always pretty - today was no exception.

Cricket was getting cold so out came my Brown's blanket - she loves to be covered up!

The shore line is a nice view as well. Normally the beach has a lot more sea grass but I guess the north winds had blown much of it off shore.

It's the lines of sea grass that Steve is always looking for when we're out trolling for dolphin fish. The small fish hide under the sea grass so the big fish go to the sea grass to find lunch :-)













Dinghies are the transportation of choice. Nancy and George were returning to Jenna Star before coming back for dinner.

A perfect ending to the day: gorgeous sunset .......

Monday? On to Newfound Harbor.

Sunday February 22: Happy Kidney Day!!

As it does every year, February 22nd has rolled around again. 30 times this day had rolled around since 1985.

30 times I have called my brother to see how his remaining kidney is doing :-)

30 times we have formally celebrated one more year of a successful transplant.

In year 10, we had a party. I was somewhat leary of having an actual celebration - you know - jinxing and all of that stuff.

So now we just continue to be grateful to my brother Tom for his gift. And we both continue to monitor the health of my other brothers. Just kidding - although they all seem to be holding in there quite well!

Tom retired recently. This is what my brother Pat posted on Facebook:

After 37 years as a surgeon on the Navajo reservation in northern Arizona, my brother, Tom, has retired.

What began as a two-year stint turned into a life of service to the Navajo and Hopi. A comment by a cohort to a photo post of Tom as a much younger man earlier last year presented a good summation of his work:

"Who would have guessed on that day that Tom would someday be a legendary surgeon, known among other surgeons as "The Master"? That he would work tirelessly for years, taking call every other night or every third night for years, and do so cheerfully and with humor? That he would follow two legendary surgeons, and surpass them? That he would have been a superstar in any venue, but he found his home on the Navajo (reservation)? That he would retire as a CAPT in the US Public Health Service? That he would recognize a hereditary bowel cancer in Navajos and call in the experts from the CDC, a significant scientific contribution? I have a dear friend, a Harvard-trained surgeon, double-boarded in Anesthesia and Surgery, who thinks Tom Drouhard WALKS ON WATER. . . and there are a whole lotta people who feel and think that way about him."

Just count Steve and me as two more who feel and think that way about him.....

Wednesday February 18: John and Daisy

We spent an enjoyable few days with Steve's brother John and his wife Daisy.

They arrived early evening Saturday and after a quick dinner, we settled into what became our nightly game of chicken foot dominoes.

I always keep score and somehow they haven't picked up on why it is that the scorekeeper always wins .....

Actually that's not true but I did manage to win the second game :-)

The weather was sunny but cool. Still way warmer than what's going on up north in Ohio!

A walk on Big Pine Key to the Blue Hole produced a look at a rather large alligator (hard to see in the picture left) and an up close and personal look at the small key deer which are native to this area.

For more info on the key deer, click here.

John was ready for the sunny day on the trip Monday to the Dolphin Research Center with his Hart of Dixie Rammer Jammer ball cap - thanks Becky!!





It was a nice trip to see the dolphins. One thing we rarely see on the bay side by the marina here are dolphins. Not sure if it's too shallow (mostly about 5 feet or so) or not enough water moving through. Whatever the reason, going to the dolphin center was a sure fire way for them to see dolphins!

As you can see, it's really hard to miss the place :-)







It was still a bit windy but not so bad on the bay side so it was voted to go to lunch by boat.

The Island Grill is a nice 45 minute ride on the bay side. It was a bit crowded (President's Day) but no problem with docking space.

John finished off the trip yesterday morning at breakfast with Key Lime Stuffed French Toast at Porky's. I mean where else can you get that but in the Keys, right?

He said it was very good and there wasn't any left on the plate so I guess it was!

After breakfast, they headed off to Miami to fly back to Ohio.

Sure hope they packed some of the sunshine from down here .....

Friday February 13: Early Valentine's Day!

I just never know what Steve is going to pull out of that backpack of his!

He went to the store for a few groceries and came back with a vase and flowers :-) How sweet .... guess I better get something for him! Good thing I still have a few hours :-)

They look really nice on the table, don't you think?

Meanwhile, the Auxillary Coast Guard came to the marina to inspect anyone's boat who signed up. Thanks, George (Reflection) for arranging this.

We were totally up to snuff on flares, documentation, horn, life jackets, placards and the rest of the list of about 20 items a boat our length should have on board.

Which earned us a sticker for the flybridge that shows the boat passed the vessel safety check. This doesn't mean the Coast Guard can't still stop us and perform the same check but we feel it'll go a long way to lessen the chances of being pulled over and inspected.

But more fun things this week: an electric fillet knife!! Randy and Cindy (I Think I Can) gave it to us as a thank you for them using our front berth as sleeping quarters while their daughter and family were visiting.

We had seen a couple of guys at Bahia Honda using one to fillet fish - it seemed to take no time at all. Mmmm .... put that on my list of things I need!

I'm sure I didn't say that out loud but Randy and Cindy must have noticed how enthralled I was watching the guys use their electric knife.

What a nice surprise :-) And just in time, too.

Steve and Gary had a good day fishing under the bridge the day the knife was delivered!

A nice bunch of mangrove snappers and one little grunt (it was caught first and I would guess there was some fear that this was all they were going to catch!).

With the electric knife, I made short work of cleaning those fish!

Thanks, Randy and Cindy!!!

In the meantime, it was another lost "washer" - this time from one of the kayaks as Steve had them apart to dry out.

Where could it be? So Steve asked George (from Jenna Star the boat next door) if he happened to have seen it in the water (George was under his boat checking zincs and stuff).

Sure enough, George had seen it, picked it up, checked it out and left it in the water!!

Steve tried finding it yesterday without his air hose but couldn't stay down long enough to find it.

Success today though :-)  The kayak can now be put back together. The water temperature? 67 degrees ...... yikes!!

Steve's brother John and his wife Daisy arrive tomorrow! We're looking forward to their visit - it's only in the mid 70's as the north winds continue to blow but it still beats being in Ohio!!

Monday February 9: Bahia Honda State Park

Guppy's cushion covers are totally finished (100% of the remaining 4 zippers in correctly!!) - time to play for a day or two.

Steve said we had a two day window of opportunity so we headed out to Bahia Honda State Park. This is located a short two hour cruise west (toward Key West) so it makes for a nice trip.

We headed out on the ocean side (rougher than we thought it might be sadly) with Randy and Cindy on I Think I Can behind us.

It was a rolly trip down but just before turning north into the park entrance, dolphins were spotted. One more thing checked off on the list to show their grandkids who were visiting for the week!

It was an ok trip - definitely glad to see the cut in the old bridge (built by Flagler in the early 1900's -  click here for more info) and the entrance to the dock at the park.

I Think I Can was still behind us as we made our way in.

First on the agenda once we were tied up and plugged in was to walk over to the top of the old railroad bridge.

The view back toward the marina is always a good one and the day could not have been a better one!






And of course there had to be a trip to the beach. Randy and Cindy's daughter (Nikki) and son-in-law (Nick) were escaping from the northern reaches of Ontario (actually near Orillia - one of our favorite stops on the Trent) along with their children Mea and Liam. Gigit and Cricket of course were with us as well :-)

Lots of sea grass with the south-east winds but the kids still enjoyed finding shells and playing in the water.

The afternoon for the kids wasn't complete without a kayak ride though.

Liam rode (and helped paddle!) with Steve while Mea rode with her dad Nick.

It was a great day on the water for the kayakers and a great day on the dock for those left behind :-)

The docks at the marina are quite nice and are RIGHT by the beach. Also a plus.

It's a shallow entrance though. We need to enter at half tide or better. Definitely worth it though!

The evening entertainment was provided by the spiders that live in the walkway to the old railroad bridge. They are quite large and the webs are not all that far off of the ground either. Not that I experienced this first hand of course :-)

You can get a sense of the size of the spiders and the height of the webs with Randy reaching up behind one of the webs. Yep - think I can do without seeing these in person.

One of the creepiest scenes from Lord of the Rings involved a giant spider - nightmares are made of this.

Early today I Think I Can headed out. We were stuck until the tide came in a bit. Nick and Nikki needed to drive to Ft. Lauderdale yet today so the earlier start the better!

It wasn't too long before we could leave but the winds were such at we decided to lay the mast down so we could fit under the highway bridge to the bay side.

Good decision for sure. Nice easy ride back :-)

The weather was weird the rest of the day. Rain seemed to come and go a couple of times.

Interesting cloud formations late in the day. Never did have the thunderstorms predicted though. But that was ok by us.

Cricket slept in the front v-berth this week :-)  She loves being under the TV! Randy and Cindy joined her and Gigit as they took us up on our offer to use our front cabin.

Those two dogs are SO cute it's almost makes me want to have a dog on board. But that's not going to happen ..... it's way easier to just enjoy someone else's dog :-)

Wednesday February 4: More Days of Winter

Well, rumor has it that the groundhog saw the shadow of a palm tree here in Marathon and the prediction is for six weeks more of the "winter" weather down here. If we have to, then I guess we have to .....


In the meantime, friends from our former marina in Cleveland, Joe and Joy on High Spirits (who sold their home and stuff and left the same year we did) arrived in Boot Key Harbor here in Marathon over the weekend. They are headed for the Bahamas but I see some euchre playing in our future before they head out.

This morning we met them at the Stuffed Pig for breakfast - always a good place and the most photographed pigs in the world live here!

Also there this morning was the cutest puppy we've seen in a while (sorry Cricket :-) ) - a six week old Jack Russell. Way beyond cute, really.

Especially in her little pink shirt :-)

Steve's other lost piece for the front sink faucet made it's reappearance yesterday. Sitting on the boat on the walk around deck - right in front of the door.

Weird. No way the both of us could have gone in and out of that door numerous time and not seen it sitting there.

Best we can figure is that it had fallen under the wooden track for the door. Almost impossible to see under there. So our thought is that the wind blew it out from under there.

That's Steve's story ......

The truly last job for the stove: cut the towel holder off a bit.

The space we had was just a bit too short cutting a quarter of an inch off of the holder worked just fine.

NOW the job is truly done!

Fun planes flying overhead lately including this one. I don't know what it is but the popular pastime was trying to get pictures of these older prop planes. I think a B-52 maybe was one of them.

I'm sure my former Air Force brother would know - he flew fighter jets and C 130's for many years.


My work on the new cushion covers for Guppy continues. So far I have put in two zippers. Both of them - wrong side out. What are the odds of randomly putting two zippers in - both wrong side out? 25% actually. Won't be buying a lottery ticket today ..... but I am certain the remaining 4 will be correct :-)