Thursday February 27: Guppy Spotting!!

Guess who we spotted in Boot Key Harbor - Guppy!!! This is the small trawler we had seen two years ago in a marina near here in Marathon. She was for sale and for a brief time we thought this might make a great Canada boat.

After coming to our senses (WAY too much work involved and no place to do it), we passed on Guppy and ended up with our 28' Bayliner for our Canadian boat. Of course the name selected was a natural: GUPPY.


What a fun surprise though :-) We were actually in Boot Key Harbor visiting Werner and Kathie along with delivering a cover for the front of their boat. These are easy for me to make and can really provide a nice cover in case of rain as the hatch can remain open.

The cover worked out great for them and even covered their kayaks which ride on the front deck as well.

Funny sign where we parked our bikes over by the harbor though! I wonder if they are serious .....

It's not hard to tell from a side view that Guppy is a Gulfstar though. Basically a sailboat hull turned trawler. She's a small sister of Deja Vu (Peter and Cheryl's trawler).

We had a nice trip the other day on "Jenna Star" with George and Nancy (with other folks from the marina) as we rode on the bay side about 10 miles east to the Island View Restaurant for lunch.

When we were pulling in the guys on the dock were busy with the power washer cleaning all of the bird poop off. How nice of them, right?

And then the go fast boats started arriving .....

Oh - the clean docks were for THEM! In the end there were about 15 cigarette type boats that came in for lunch. We deemed the totally enclosed one with the skull painting to be the coolest!







Last night turned out to be "dock night at the movies"! We provided the movie "Batteries Not Included" and Cindy and Randy provided the computer and speaker.

Popcorn from "I Think I Can" completed the evening. It was a perfect night - light breeze, stars out and a gathering of friends.

Perfect :-)

Today though back to work. Steve started with the rotten board in the lazarette which holds the port 125 gallon water tank in place.

I worked on the high water alarm (so if the main bilge pump float switch turns the pump on we will know it is running by the sounding of a horn). The main pump should never run unless there is an abnormally LARGE amount of water entering the bilge. Check - done!

Once that was fixed, we both worked on adding an additional 60 feet of chain to our ground tackle. Just making sure we have enough for the Bahamas! To know how much chain is out, we painted a mark every 20 feet.

We've had varying opinions on how much chain we REALLY need but settled on a total of 95 feet of chain and 150 feet of line.

Totally good on that end now but sometimes we're concerned about how much weight we continue to add to this boat! I don't see nearly as much weight going off as I see coming on for sure.

Tomorrow: may be another work day - might as well as the weather doesn't look great for fishing. There is a place on the bay side we want to try so maybe Saturday or Sunday.

Meanwhile, we continue to enjoy what has been very pleasant weather!

Tuesday February 25: Aquarium Days in the Keys

Yesterday and today have been the two best days at the reef that we have ever seen!

These days don't come often and considering that we have been here almost 2 months and finally the boat work is on hold - it's definitely time to play.

We headed out yesterday with friends Cindy and Randy on "I Think I Can" and Werner and Kathy on "It's About Time" aboard. The wind was non-existent. (Thanks for the picture, Terri!)

It's been a while since the water has been literally like an aquarium - all the 12 miles to the reef. Sitting on the flybridge looking down, you could see every sponge and blade of grass.

A 4 foot shark swam under the boat - not where we were going to snorkel of course!

Totally amazing!!

Once we arrived at Sombrero Reef, the clarity of the water was even better. It was so easy to just look over and see all of the reef fish swimming around.

It wasn't long before everyone was in the water to get a closer look at the fish. The largest one I saw was, of course, a grouper! It's no wonder the size minimum is 2 feet when in season - this thing was huge!

Cindy and Randy had a new camera to try out: waterproof to 50 feet. No problem here at Sombrero as the depth is probably 50 feet at the very deepest end of the reef.

Nice camera, though - great colors.

After lunch at the reef, we headed off to try our luck at fishing. "Just go anywhere out there and find a ledge" were the instructions on where to fish.

Mmmm ... first spot was not so good. Got the anchor stuck again but Steve managed to work it loose.


Second place? Way better! Randy caught a scalloped hammerhead shark - really sharp looking teeth - as well as a triggerfish and a spanish mackerel.

Steve and Werner both also caught mackerel. What fun to catch! They just take the bait and run like crazy!

Sadly, Cindy had two fish on but both got away. I had one big something but it pulled the line down and wrapped around a rock :-(

But there was fresh fish for dinner tonight as everyone was just too tired to make it last night.

What was amazing was how the pelicans figured out that I was cleaning fish! I don't know if their eyesight is that good or they smell that well but regardless, there was no wasted fish :-)

Today, Steve, Randy and Cindy headed back to the reef with "Jenna Star" George and Nancy. I begged off and had a whole 6 hours to my lonesome self ... and I did almost nothing the whole time ... it's been a while :-)

Pictures from today's snorkeling and snubba: (snubba is the nice way to dive - the tank stays in the boat or floating on the surface on buoys while you get your air from a 60 foot hose).

Anemone on the left and anglefish on the right.

Just color Steve happy :-)

Friday February 21: Back to Home Alone

We had a great time with Steve's brother, John, and his wife, Daisy! They had never been to Crane Point so we went there yesterday. It was a perfect day with warm winds blowing.

Standing in front of a life size manatee gives you some sense of how large these very docile animals are compared to people!

The tram ride around the property was very well done. This is the same one Joe and Joy went on except our guide yesterday was a "newbie" but still very knowledgeable about the area's plant and animal life.

This picture is near the part of the grounds which contained a private swimming area for the owners. It's salt water but very pool like. Of course now it's pretty overgrown with mangroves.

We were all tired last night - what is it about being outside in the sun and wind that is so draining???

Regardless, we managed to finish the game of dominoes that was started the night before. It's amazing how we can actually play a full game with the limited space on our small table!

Mmmm ... today was their last day here - must need to go for a ride, right? We were too tired last night so off we went this morning (thanks for the picture, Terri!).

With two extra deck hands, the getaway from the dock was smoother than ever!

The water was very clear but the chop on the water from the winds didn't allow us to see down into the water. We were looking for turtles on the surface but no luck.

Steve tried his hand at fishing but no takers there either. We did however manage to try out the anchor after adjusting the clutch on the windlass. Worked like it always should have but never did. Check off one more thing on our 'to do' list.

And before sending John and Daisy on their way, Steve thought it would be good for John to fully experience a boater's life: how to empty the holding tank!!

So off to the marina office they went, brought back the portable hose, hooked it up to the drainage system at the dock, hooked the other end to the boat - and done! An empty holding tank.

Who knew it would be so easy :-)

Tomorrow? Not sure but too windy to fish so I suspect there will be some work involved. After all, it's been almost a week ....

Wednesday February 20: Out with the Old, In with the New :-)

So Joe and Joy (former dock neighbors from East 55th St Marina in Cleveland) arrived on schedule Saturday.

The nice thing about boaters visiting is they are boaters! No need to explain things about heads or shortage of on-board space :-)

They live in New Hampshire when not living on their boat High Spirits (currently on the hard in the Chesapeake Bay area).

Sunday, with perfect weather beckoning, Joy and Steve headed out for a day of dingy fishing under the bridge.

Loaded with live shrimp, squid and a bag of chum (a bag of ground up fish pieces which is hung over the side of boat to entice the fish toward the boat), it would be a short run and then hopefully fresh fish for dinner!!

I did warn them though NO GRUNTS!

It wasn't long after they left and I was settled in for a long read (Joe was at the local movie theater to see "Lone Survivor"). Mmmm .. do I hear noise and voices at the back of the boat?

What are they doing back so soon???

Seems the engine died - fortunately not very far away from the harbor - but Steve was able to get it to at least idle so they made it back to the boat.

So ended the fishing for the day :-(

Joe and Joy decided to take the tour of Crane Point - a museum and trolley tour around an excellent example of a Florida hardwood hammock.

We went there last year when Christi and Will visited last year and highly recommended it.

For info check out their website at :  Crane Point

In the meantime, Steve called in the experts! We met Billy several weeks ago - he was highly recommended by some boat neighbors here. Young kid just starting out with his own business - super guy and very knowledgeable.

After a short time, Billy indicated the carburetor needed rebuilt.
Seems our diligently running the fuel out of the engine when we won't use it for a while is not such a great idea as it just sucks up all of the junk in the small drain under the carburetor. Who knew?! As Billy was working, he showed Steve how to rebuild the carburetor. How super!

So off Joy and Steve went again. Engine ran great - fishing was not so great. Steve caught a really nice grouper (about 2 feet) but once again out of season. Back it went.

Then Joy got in the act and also caught a nice sized grouper! So big it took both Steve and Joy working to coax it up to the surface.

Funny thing? When they finally got it up - a big chunk was missing!! Most likely what happened was a shark (which are seen swimming under the bridge quite often) was hanging on it and finally bit it in half.

I argued that even though it was out of season, why didn't they keep the part the shark didn't take? Steve was having none of that - out of season is out of season. Seems like a reasonable exception to me .....

But a good time was had by all. Euchre at night (I'm pretty sure the women came out ahead), play during the day. Joe and Joy are here one more night but at the hotel here as John and Daisy are scheduled in tonight!

So - out with the old guests and in with the new guests :-)

Saturday February 15: Odds and Ends

As you know, yesterday was Valentine's Day and Steve was up early .... as usual.

But this time he was headed off to the store to get the ingredients for chocolate pumpkin muffins! How great they were and a special treat that he hasn't made in many moons.

Ignore the one with the bite out of it - that side just sort of stuck to the side of the pan ... That's my story and I'm sticking to it :-)

The last couple of days has seen great progress made on Guppy's canvas. The larger of the two tops is almost done and I'm quite happy with how it came out.

I'm using a material called Surlast - it's made by the same company that makes Sunbrella canvas but it's not as heavy and is waterproof (without needing retreated yearly).

Trying to sew a piece of material this large in the boat is a challenge - I miss my large industrial sewing machine but I sure do like this little one for being portable.

Steve meanwhile finished cleaning and polishing the stainless railings on the boat (a two day project really). He also finished up rebuilding the aft hatch by attaching the new wood edge using glue and screws.

Reattach the hinges and we are now good to go - a fully functioning aft hatch!

Final step was to put snaps on both the front and aft covers that I made at Matt and Wendy's back in October. No more leaks through the hatch cover!



Meanwhile the sun continues setting more and more toward the bay side. It seems every night it visibly moves closer and closer to setting over the water within our view.

One of these days: the nightly search for the green flash begins!

As you may know, Steve has taken on the responsibility of sending e-cards for birthdays and anniversaries. He sent me a copy of the Valentine's Day card he sent to our kids and I just cracked up! Can't stop playing it - I'm sure the kids think we are crazy but then they have known that for some time.

Just had to include it: click on the arrow in the center - turn your speakers on first :-)

Wednesday February 12: Time to Fish, Sew and Polish

So Saturday and Sunday - I don't know where they went ... really.

All I know is that Monday morning it was a 'perfect' day to go dinghy fishing under the bridge. So why not?

The tide didn't change until later in the day so it was a relaxing morning aboard and off we went.

Ok - I'm not the best nor patient fisherperson alive. In fact as you may recall, I prefer to be a catcherperson not a fisherperson.

It was a very slow day - in fact the biggest thing we caught (me, that is) was some kind of spotted moray eel!

It was the strangest thing - all we wanted to do was to get it off the hook and all it wanted to do was to tie itself into a giant knot on my fishing line!

Very strange but eventually Steve got it off of the hook and back it went. Mmmm ... wonder how toasted eel is???

The fishing (catching) was slow but just being out on a relatively calm day between the new 7 mile bridge and the original bridge (on the left here) was nice.

Beautiful day, low winds - just wanted more fish!

But tomorrow is another day, right??






Literally. Tuesday was another perfect day to fish. So off we went again. Today I was the grouper queen!! No fewer than 5 grouper - which number 1 are out of season and number 2 were WAY too small!

Steve thought the size minimum was 2 feet - they really grow to be huge fish. Sadly, all went back but still - fun to catch.

After all was said and done, we ended up with 4 keepers: 2 knobbed porgy, 1 grunt (I WILL NOT clean any more of these! Bone structure is terrible and not much left even with a skillful fillet job!) plus 1 cero mackerel.

Nice enough for a couple of dinners.

Now on to the work phase of the last couple of days. It was, I decided, finally time to tackle making the new canvas for Guppy (the small boat in Canada). I have a pattern (thanks to the canvas we purchased 2 years ago) so no issues, right?

Why it needed replaced after two seasons is another story. But regardless, it still seems to take me several days to think about how to approach what I want to do. I've had the new material for 2 months but am now just getting to the point where I'm ready to tackle the project.

First - buy an iron! Really? On a boat? Who needs an iron, right? Well, to fold under and do some seams the right way it was a necessity.

Off to K-mart and for $10 I was ready to start.

Meanwhile, Steve was up on the flybridge working on polishing our brass clock. It was pretty much neglected since the last time he polished it (last October at Matt and Wendy's place) and boy was it bad.

Several hours later with much hand polish along with much dremel polish, it was looking like new!!

Steve's comment: we really need to put this on the maintenance list of thing to do!!

This is how bad it looked before he started - and on the right is how great it looks finished and on the wall!!





Tonight was party night at the point with the MTOA (Marine Trawler's Owners Association) group to which we belong. About 50 folks attended with appetizers and music. Werner and Kathy came over from Boot Harbor so it was good to see them again.

Tomorrow: more work on the canvas for sure - otherwise? Who knows!