Archive for January, 2009
I’m sitting here watching the sun rise in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon thinking that life really doesn’t get much better than this – after all we’re in the Keys, it is sunny and warm (finally), we have a bunch of cruising friends in the marina to play with, the open air bar here has live entertainment nightly, characters you usually can only read about in Travis McGee novels and cold pitchers of Key West Sunset Ale, and we are about to walk out to breakfast at the Stuffed Pig…
Tammy here…
Sorry – blogus interruptus…but I’m back. I’m sitting here again, the next day, watching the sun rise over Boot Key Harbor thinking that life is pretty great! The Stuffed Pig was a major find thanks to our friends Brett and Jill who gave us the inside Marathon scoop of their favorites places – it looks like a dive (usually our favorite places) but opens onto a backyard tiki garden with flowering trees and palms where mimosas are the rule not the exception. Although not indulging in the “pig” breakfast which we had heard so much about, I did fall victim to the “piglet” breakfast which was just a scaled back version of its bigger brother (and of course a mimosa) – thank goodness for the 2 mile walk back to the boat!
The weather was so beautiful we decided to walk to the beach for the afternoon. Friends had mentioned that it was “about” a mile and a half from the boat which we figured was no big deal even given the 4 mile walk for breakfast that morning. We have learned to be wary of words like “about” or “just over the hill” though given that we are walking not driving! But the pull of the beach was too great and Doug and I threw caution to the wind as we headed out with our beach chair backpacks full of books, lotion, beers and lunch. Finally more than 2 1/2 miles later, we came upon a beautiful little beach and promptly proceeded to pop the top on a nice cold beer as we sunk into the sand. All was good! Colleen who had been out for a bike ride joined us and the afternoon seemed to fly by. Before long it was 5:00 pm and time for the forced march back to the boat – surprisingly the walk went by quickly and soon enough we were on the cockpit of Tide Hiker enjoying drinks with our friends Norm and Vicky watching the setting sun and catching up on life since we had last seen them in Pompano. Did I mention life is good??? We are looking forward to spending some time in Marathon – hopefully we can drop the kayaks this afternoon and do some water exploring of Boot Key Harbor and the surrounding environs. And when we get back, the Dockside Lounge, with its rustic charm, salty characters and all day happy hour (today is Tuesday right??) will I’m sure call us home!!
There is so much to do and see down here in the Keys and the pace of life is really laid back and inviting as are the people – I now truly understand how people come down here and rip up their ticket home!! On the way down to Marathon, we spent a couple days exploring some of the smaller Keys. We left Rodriquez Key early one morning intent on heading into the back water channel around Lignumvitae and Shell Keys, south of Islamorada. We got to the channel after a beautiful passage on the Hawk Channel and started back toward the Bay side of the Keys – navigation was largely by sight since the sun was behind us and you could see the shallows and the mangroves on either side of us. It was truly a spectacular sight – the water showed shades of blue and green that I have rarely seen (and every color in between) with the white sand below reflected up on the surface by the sun as if you could reach down and touch it, and unfortunately in some places you could.
To say there were shallows is an understatement!! Our journey was accompanied by pelicans diving for prey and birds of so many different varieties that without knowing exactly what they were, we just enjoyed their company. Despite the charts which indicated there was enough water for us to get through this beautiful side channel, all of a sudden our depth sounder didn’t agree and I always go with the depth sounder (especially when it is accompanied by the sound of the bottom of the boat crunching against sand!!) Not to worry though as we were going pretty slow at the time – intent on getting through the channel, we backed off and tried another portion of the channel only to hit bottom again! With all the N/NE winds over the past several weeks, the water levels were down by about 3 feet which was just enough to make it impassable for us. Bummer – but we had a fall-back plan (on a boat you always need one!)- we went back out the channel to Indian Key and grabbed a mooring ball.
Indian Key has a fascinating history – once owned by a wealthy wrecker from Key West, a town grew from the wrecking business complete with a post office, warehouses, town square and an observation post which looked out onto Alligator Reef (it was from here that the wreckers could see ships founder on the reef, fresh meat for the wrecker crews) – it even became the seat of newly formed Dade County back in the 1800’s. A wealthy and prosperous island for a number of years, it was attacked by indians during the Seminole Wars and most of the town was burned to the ground. The owner was ruined and moved back to Key West where he died shortly thereafter crushed in a wreck he was “salvaging” and the town on Indian Key was never rebuilt. Today, Indian Key is part of the FL park service and there are walkways where the town’s streets used to be and plaques discussing the remaining ruins. We spent a great day walking around the island absorbing some of its history and picturing the way things used to be!!
After another day spent goofing around, soaking up the sun on the mooring at Indian Key, and watching a beautiful sunrise
and sunset,
the gypsies set out for a morning run to Marathon. What a great trip – sun shining, relatively calm seas and plenty of wildlife to accompany us along our way.
We had a pod of dolphins playing in our wake, including a baby who was too cute for words and we saw our first sea turtle!! Unfortunately he was too shy for a picture, but we knew we were officially getting to the little latitudes when we saw him. Shortly after our arrival in our slip at the Sombrero Dockside Marina, where Norm was there to greet us and help with the lines, we saw four manatees, again including a baby, feeding on the sea grass in a slip several down from ours. Now that is a sight – 4 sea cows pushing their snouts up through the grass as if they were grazing!! Too kewl!
I think we’re going to like Marathon…a lot!!!
To see a Google Map of our location at Indian Key click here.
To see a Google Map of our location at Sombrero Marina in Boot Key Harbor, Marathon click here.
January 27th, 2009
I don’t usually talk about politics in this blog, but Tuesday was a pretty awe-inspiring day not just for the country but for the gypsies!
Tammy here…
We had stayed another day in Coconut Grove due to really high winds and bad seas, so about 11:30 am, Colleen, Doug and I made our way back to Mr. Moe’s Bar and Grill to watch the inauguration. We certainly weren’t going to head north to brave the cold on the Mall like so many millions, so since Mr. Moe’s has 34 ounce beers and about 20 TVs, it sounded like the perfect place to see history unfold and celebrate. John had to leave that morning to fly back to New Hampshire for that work thing, so unfortunately he wasn’t with us to wave a fond (OK I’m trying to be nice…) farewell to the old, and give a very enthusiastic hello to the new! Despite the fact that I had been looking forward to this day for a very long time (I did after all have one of the very first 1/20/09 hats and I’m very sure it was the first in Kennebunkport), I was truly surprised and somewhat overwhelmed by the emotions! The three of us watched with rapt attention first Biden being sworn in, then Aretha Franklin singing, Obama’s oath of office and finally the inaugural address – there wasn’t a dry eye in Mr. Moe’s. We felt a little better when Al Roker confessed to the same thing. What we watched was not only history being made, but renewed hope, energy, youth, compassion and above all leadership – all of which have made this country great over the years but which have been lacking for some time amidst the pains of war, terrorism, partisanship and recession (yes, its past January 20th, so we can actually call it that now). Our gypsy hope is that our new President can live up to such lofty expectations and set this great country of ours on a better, stronger path (of course being cruisers we wouldn’t mind universal health care and the opening of Cuba either!)!
But enough of politics….we left Coconut Grove the next morning at sun-up despite some heavy winds and cool temps (OK – I know it wasn’t below freezing like up in New England but its funny how quickly we have adapted to warmer climes). We weren’t going far – just across Biscayne Bay to No Name Harbor – so we bundled up (Colleen even got her winter gloves out!) The morning got off to a tough start, though – as we exited Dinner Key Marina, we saw a sailboat in the anchorage engulfed in flames. As a boater, few things strike more fear in your heart than the thought of flames onboard!!!
Over the next 15 minutes we saw and heard SeaTow and the various fire and rescue boats responding – unfortunately they couldn’t save the dog aboard. I quickly hugged our two boat kitties – they are 21 so I know we won’t have them around forever, but for now, we cherish every day we have with them (and if we feed them way too many treats and spoil them rotten, well they’d tell you its just what they deserve)! Even Auntie Colleen has gotten into spoiling the girls!
Since there was nothing we could do to help the sailboat, we continued on to No Name Harbor, a very cute, protected harbor at the southern end of Biscayne Bay.
The wind was whipping and the harbor was pretty full so we decided to just tie up to the seawall in back of a couple other boats so we could go ashore for the day to explore Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park.
We walked around the park along the water’s edge, found a very cool restored lighthouse, hit the beach even though it was definitely not swimsuit weather and wandered through various nature trails. We found some great flora, saw a huge green iguana (which was too fast for me to get his picture) and came across a beautiful mangrove swamp. [To see an enlarged picture double click on the thumbnail]
Five miles later we were parched and ready to head back to the boat for some coldies.
As we were sitting beers in hand watching the sun go down, a couple whom we had met in Charleston before Thanksgiving happened to walk by the boat – did we mention how small a world it is!! We first caught up about where we’ve all been since then, compared notes about future plans and then swapped some boat stories as cruisers often do. We felt pretty good about ourselves when they told us they had run aground 3 times requiring a tow and had stopped counting how many times they had just hit ground – ouch!! So far (our fingers are crossed) but we haven’t required the services of TowBoat US for going aground (no that’s NOT what happened in Northport) and have only really hit a couple times. We both will be in the Bahamas in March so hopefully we’ll be able to meet up with these guys again – of course, if we do, we’ll let them go first!
We left this morning again at sun-up on our first leg down the Keys – we wanted to get out of dodge before the park rangers came to work since we never left the sea wall to anchor after we got back from the state park yesterday afternoon – in our defense, the winds were still humming, the harbor was crowded, the boats in front of us didn’t move and the beers were too cold and good. Sometimes they don’t really care and we just told ourselves this was one of those times!! We had a beautiful steam this morning down the Hawk Channel and as you can see, the boat kitties have gotten their sea legs back after a rocky run for them from Pompano to Coconut Grove.
We are now anchored off of Rodriguez Key – the water is that wonderful shade of blue that you see down here and in the islands which makes you want to just dive off the back of the boat!!! Not going to happen today though as its still pretty cold and windy, although Colleen did find a place to sunbathe….I think she was last heard uttering, “I’m in the islands, darn it – I’m going to get some sun…” Sounds like something sun pig would say!!
Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer and we are headed further south to Lignumvitae or Shell Key where they have some moorings and more state parks to explore. Hopefully we can drop the dink and the kayaks and start living da life again in the sun!!!! Tonight I guess we’ll just have to suffer through another beautiful sunset in paradise – this one over Key Largo!
To see a Google Map of our locatin in No Name Harbor click here.
To see a Google Map of our location off Rodriguez Key click here.
January 22nd, 2009
Well, we are back on the water and moving south again.
Doug here.
Gypsies in the Palace spent 27 days in Pompano Beach (but who’s counting). We arrived two days before Christmas so we could drive down to see Scott and Michelle Kirby in Key West for Christmas. On January 1, Colleen and John left the boat to spend 12 days with her folks at their winter place in Pompano Beach. We got to visit with a couple other DeFever couples, we got reprovisioned and we got a lot of work done on the boat. It was a great time but we were ALL ready to get back out on the water. Well, almost all. Puss and Boots had lost their sea legs since we spent 2 and a half months in the ICW or at dock. They were not happy boat kitties today when we went outside in 2 to 4 foot seas but by the time we completed our 6 hour trip they were back to normal.
The weather wasn’t too bad today so we decided to go outside for the trip from Pompano Beach to Biscayne Bay (Miami). We had 25 knot winds most of the trip but they were from the southwest so the chop was not bad. We didn’t make very good speed today due to the edges of the jet stream which travels north so the 42 nautical mile trip took 6 hours. We made the 7:00 AM opening of the Hillsboro Inlet Bridge and went about 3 miles off the coast. The sun was just coming up as we looked back at Hillsboro Inlet and forward toward our next adventure.
The jet stream was so strong there, we were only making about 5.6 knots so we came back in to about a mile and a half off shore getting the speed up to just over 7 knots.
About 7:30, I went down to make my first engine room check and found that the gages on the stabilizer system said they had no pressure and they were, therefore, doing us no good. I spent 15 minutes checking everything to be sure the power was on and none of the hoses had leaked. The system was full of oil and had power. So, what could be the matter? Well, when all else fails, ask someone for help. I called my friend Captain Steve (Steve Koch – who put in my electrical system upgrade). Steve mentioned that the system has a fail safe that consists of switches on the two transmissions which, if both engines aren’t in forward gear, will shut down the system. Now, even I knew that both engines were in forward gear since we were making 7 knots. I went down into the engine room and took both switches apart, checked the wires, tightened them and put the switches back together. Sounds easy when you write it, but remember that the boat is in 2 to 4 foots seas without stabilizers and the switches are down on the side of the transmissions, right beside the shafts which are turning at 1700 RPM…and the engine room is about 120 degrees. It took me nearly an hour to take the switches apart and put them back together. But, low and behold, after the switches were back together, I turned on the stabilizers and they worked perfectly. Now many of you are saying, “what’s the big deal, he fixed a couple of switches”. This is, however, the first time that we have had something happen underway, that we were able to fix underway. It was a time for great celebration by the crew of Gypsies.
The approach into the Miami harbor was very interesting. 
Tammy was at the wheel and had to dodge several car ferries and a bunch of other boats, all in 25 knot winds. She did a masterful job as usual and got us into the harbor and back onto the ICW. After traveling south several miles on the ICW, turning over the controls to me part way, we approached the very narrow channel into Dinner Key. As I started into the channel, with 25 knot winds on my port beam now, two wind surfers decided that the only place in all of Biscayne Bay that they needed to be was in the middle of the channel that we were in. Now a wind surfer needs about 6 inches of draft and I need 5.5 feet, and the water on either side of this very narrow channel is less than 4 feet. So we were having trouble figuring out why they needed to be in the channel so badly. However, after a nice loud sounding of the horn on Gypsies, they decided they didn’t really need to be in that channel after all.
The dock in the Dinner Key Marina had about 25 knots of wind across the dock pushing Gypsies away from the dock. With the help of a couple dock hands and a fellow from the boat right next to us we were able to get Gypsies up against the dock. It wasn’t pretty but no one got hurt. My definition of a successful dock!
The four of us decided to spend the rest of the afternoon exploring Coconut Grove. Now Coconut Grove has special significance to our traveling companions, Colleen and John, since they got engaged here about nine years ago. We, of course, had to return to the scene of the crime and had beers at the Barracuda Bar and Grill.
This bar has exactly the ambience I would expect of the place John would pick to propose to Colleen (she put her foot down at Hooters). The bartender was really excited when he found out why we were there. My guess is that it is not a frequent occurrence for him!
We, of course, couldn’t have only one beer today so we tried a couple of other bars. Mr. Moes was a great bar with a really “old west” motif. But the drinks were good as were the apps.
As we walked back to the boat at 5:30 PM, we remarked that it was great to be watching the very beginning of a sunset at 5:30 with 70 degree temperatures. Where we all came from it was in single digits and got dark at 4:30 today.
Back on the boat, we all went our separate ways (which isn’t very separate on this boat) while Colleen prepared dinner. Tomorrow our crew drops by one again as John has to fly back to Manchester for a week for that work gig. Well, I guess someone has to do it. The rest of us head across the Bay to No Name Harbor for a couple days and then off to the Keys.
Click here to see a Google Map of our Coconut Grove location.
January 19th, 2009
A dragon, three snakes and a cock go into a bar…sounds like a joke right? But it actually happened the other night in Pompano Beach…
Tammy here.
How so you might ask? We had a mini-cruisers reunion with some good friends of ours, Vicki and Norm from Tide Hiker, whom we haven’t seen since our bon voyage party in New Hampshire back at the beginning of September. They have been cruising the East Coast like us but always seemed to be about two weeks behind our schedule – until now! Tide Hiker arrived in Pompano Beach on Sunday along with friends and cruising buddies of theirs, Lynnie and Rick on another DeFever named Rickshaw. After helping them into their slips, not such an easy task with the ripping current and really low tide (Rickshaw hit ground and had to actually go bow into the slip and for anyone who knows powerboats, thats so embarrassing!) and figuring out how to climb off their boats with no finger piers, the reunion began!
Minus two gypsies (Colleen and John were still visiting Colleen’s parents), the festivities kicked off that evening with drinks and apps on Tide Hiker at 5:00 pm – soon the wine and the boat stories were flowing wild and freely. We even told the Northport story which we swore we’d never do (albeit late in the evening – wine could have been the culprit) – if you can’t tell your cruising friends a good boating disaster story, who can you tell?? As the wine continued to disappear (we think it was gremlins), we sat down to a wonderful dinner Vicki had cooked. We soon felt like we had know Lynnie and Rick forever – that’s how good friends are made in this cruising life (over wine and stories!!) Not wanting the night to end, we wound up on the cockpit with yes, you guessed it, more red wine and a truly decadent desert Vicki had made. Everyone got back on their respective boats without anyone falling in, so the night was deemed a resounding success!
I know, I know – what about the dragon, snakes and cock….the next night drinks were on Gypsies, after which we decided to have Chinese food for dinner. Across the street from our marina is a little Chinese restaurant – it had all of two tables which we promptly put together and took control of. Colleen and John were back aboard so the eight of us formed a “lively” party in what was an otherwise very quiet little restaurant where few people spoke english (probably not such a bad thing). Over beers (they didn’t sell wine much to Vicki and Colleen’s dismay), we all started discussing the Chinese calendar and the animal representations of the years we were born. You all know those paper placemats in dive Chinese restaurants all across the country that describe the animals in the Chinese Calendar – the year of the “Snake” for instance and if you were born in that year, you are supposed to have certain characteristics and be compatible with certain other animals. Much jocularity ensued about the “animals” we were and our supposed characteristics – but the prize went to Rick, who at a particularly quiet moment, beamed and rather boastfully (or so the other gentlemen in the party felt) declared “I’m a cock!” Now it turns out that Lynnie, John and I are snakes and the cock is very compatible with the snake – after several somewhat off color comments, we settled on the fact that John was just out of luck! So anyways that’s the story….
Too much fun – but eventually the night had to end as Tide Hiker and Rickshaw were leaving early the next day. They are both heading south so hopefully we will meet up with them again soon – I see lots more wine and maybe even more Chinese food in our future! After helping them off, the gypsies spent the last couple days doing some last minute work on and around the boat since we are hoping to head south ourselves by the end of the week (although at the moment mother nature seems to have other plans for us).
We finally saw a manatee today – right here at the dock!!!!!
After traveling the whole way down here on the ICW in Florida and traversing untold numbers of slow speed manatee zones and not seeing one, we were starting to think they didn’t exist but were just some fictional creature made up by the boating authorities to force boaters to go slow (OK I know we don’t go real fast, but even we had to slow down in the manatee zones). But they do exist and are actually really cute, in a big, ugly Vince Vaughn sort of way. We actually turned on the hose and had him (or her – tough to tell) drinking from the hose like he was a baby sucking on a bottle – it was unbelievable.
When we had to turn the hose off, he was bummed and swam away off under all the boats but not before we got a couple pictures of him!! We all just waved and watched him go – who knows if or when we’ll see another one of these elusive creatures. Maybe in the FL Keys….
January 14th, 2009
Well, we’re still in Pompano Beach but we’re starting to think of heading south again!!
Tammy here….
We have gotten tons of work done around the boat in the last couple weeks while Colleen and John have been visiting Colleen’s parents – we are re-provisioned with enough food on board for a couple months (hopefully now that we are in FL and heading south we will be able to catch fish for dinner!!!); we have ordered all the spare parts we think we need (of course, the first spare we will actually need will be one we don’t have – murphy’s law of course); and we have oiled, fixed, polished and cleaned most systems on the boat. We still have some work to do but there is starting to be an end in sight, although on a boat there is really never an end to the maintenance – its amazing what salt water does to electrical and mechanical systems!!
This of course makes us want to be on the sea again not just in a marina on the ICW – wanderlust was a main cause of this trip to begin with after all. However, we’ve changed our plans slightly based on the weather patterns so far this year and lots of advice from our cruising friends. Instead of heading directly to the Bahamas which are subject to lots of nasty cold fronts in the winter (this year thus far has been even worse than usual), we are going to take at least a month and work our way down the Florida Keys. As everyone knows, Key West is just about one of our favorite places so how can the rest of the Keys be a bad place to spend a month – they are warm, on the water, have lots of cool little beach bars and cays to explore and did I mention the weather is great!! Sorry to rub it in (not really…) to all our family and friends back home in the snow – sounds like we got out just in time to avoid a really cold and snowy winter!! Did we really used to love to ski??? Seems like so long ago! We just had a cold front go through here the other night and it dropped the temp to just 73 yesterday….sorry again!!
So that you don’t think Doug and I have become all work and no play (as if anyone would) …..we actually spent a whole day at the beach a couple days ago (before the cold front when it was about 80!). We had dinner one night with Colleen’s parents at a great Italian restaurant and drinks another night at their condo (or the asylum as they refer to it) with some of their friends. Doug and I have also found what has become our favorite bar in Pompano – Flanigans – where we had dinner and watched the National Championship game with all the other Florida crazies. What a great night! Somehow they already know us by name – kind of like our Cheers in the south although neither of us looks like Norm or Cliffy yet! We’ll head back there on Sunday to watch some of the football playoffs – with pitchers of cold beer and just about the best ribs ever, can’t see why we wouldn’t!!
We just heard from some cruising friends of ours, Norm and Vicki on TideHiker ( a 49′ DeFever just like ours) whom we first met in Delaware back in May on our trip bringing Gypsies up to Maine for the summer, that they should be in our neck of the woods in the next day or so. Whenever they get here, a grand cruiser reunion will take place – we haven’t seen them since our going away party up in NH. They have been cruising the East Coast as well but have always seemed to be a couple weeks behind where we were – we have the boxes of wine ready!! They are traveling with some friends, also on a DeFever, so hopefully we’ll get to meet them too! This is actually part of the lifestyle that is so much fun – you meet people and in a fairly short period of time, you get to be good friends since you are experiencing so many of the same things and lets be honest, it takes a certain type of crazy person to just chuck everything and go off for points unknown in a boat – so we bond!! Then you might not see them for months at a time, but when you do (and you usually do!), its like old home week and the party picks up right where it last left off. Speaking of friends, now that we’ll be down in the Keys for a month, we’ll be able hopefully to hook up with Brett and Jill on Muircu, our friends from Alligator River and Belhaven, SC who we last saw in Fernandina Beach, FL – they are wintering in Marathon so we’ll get to surprise them!!
Lots of people always ask how the cats are doing so I figured we’d post a couple pictures of them doing what they do best!
Have no fears, both Puss and Boots are doing just fine – they have totally adapted to the boat and seem to love having us around all the time. They have completely commandeered our love seat in the salon – one or the other if not both are always on it.
But what the heck – they are 21 years old and deserve the best seats in the house. They have both recovered from the trauma of going to the vet for their rabies shot – we’ll have to bring them back to the vet for a health certificate before we head to the Bahamas but they have earned about a month’s reprieve on that one. So they remain happy and healthy and lots of fun – even the boat rooster has calmed down somewhat which the human gypsies appreciate – a lot!!!!
January 10th, 2009
Happy New Year! from all the Gypsies from Pompano Beach, Florida, where we are tied up in a little marina just past Hillsboro Inlet on the ICW. Sorry for the gap in the blog but we were doing some serious holiday partying down in Key West which then merged into Doug’s birthday and New Years Eve (which are one and the same), but we’re back and almost recovered from our adventures.
Tammy here by the way…
We made it down to Pompano Beach from Lake Worth via the ICW about a week ago (but who’s counting since days really don’t mean anything to us living on the boat) – the trip was relatively uneventful except having to maneuver through about 15 bridges, most of which we had to have opened before we could go through. What a pain!!! Had the weather been better we definitely would have traveled outside but Mother Nature as usual had other ideas (9 foot seas!). We got a hoot going through the George Bush Boulevard Bridge, which happens to be one of the smallest bridges on the ICW with just 9 feet of vertical clearance – coincidence? I think not!!!
Colleen met us at the dock so the gypsies were reunited once again.
The next morning we headed out to Key West to visit our friend Scott Kirby (who played at our bon voyage party and who we last saw when we crashed his gig in Kent Narrows, Maryland). We had a great drive down through the Keys and were sitting sipping a coldie with Scott and his wife Michelle by noon on Christmas Eve! We stayed across the street from Scott’s house on Catherine Street in a wonderful little home owned by his friend Brook (thanks so much Brook!) – it even had a pool so we were in heaven, especially since it was hot enough to enjoy a pool! We headed down to one of our favorite bars Schooner Wharf to hear Michael McCloud sing and to eat some Wharf wings (my all-time favorite wings anywhere!!)
A couple of buckets of Kalik later, it was time to mosey over to Hog’s Breath (our other favorite KW bar) to hear Scott and Dave play. If you’ve never heard Scott’s music (it plays a lot on Radio Margaritaville), you should check out his website – he’s a really talented guy and a great friend!
After they got done playing, they were ready to hit the party scene so we were all invited to an Xmas Eve bash at one of the bartender’s of Louie’s Backyard (our other favorite KW bar – think I’m seeing a trend here). From there it became somewhat of a blur… and stories diverge but no one was hurt. Next morning though Doug and I had enough energy to celebrate Christmas morning by walking down to Pepe’s for breakfast and mimosas – what a great start to the day!! We did some Duval Street crawling (ie, pub crawling) and found our way back to the house in the afternoon. Colleen the night before had been volunteered (we won’t say by whom) to make gumbo for Christmas dinner, which we were planning to spend with Scott and Michelle, so she spent the afternoon playing chef. The gumbo rocked as did the rest of Christmas – we headed to the Kirby’s around 5:00 and were met at the door by their dog Badger.
Badger is a great dog who just makes me laugh – it always looks like he is smiling – kind of like a dolphin only furrier. That morning he had tried to climb into my lap over by the pool – I tried to tell him that dude, you’re not a cat!! He didn’t get it. Right after we got there Christmas evening Badger grabbed Colleen’s santa hat from her hand and proceeded to run around the house chewing on it. No one could understand why Colleen didn’t want it back on her head – can you say dog slobber!! He kept us entertained much of the rest of the night.
Aside from Badger, there was a wonderful group assembled for Christmas dinner – friends of Scott and Michelle’s from all walks of life it seemed – a tennis pro, musicians, a hotelier, and even another cruiser who was without his family for the holidays.
The champagne, warmth and fun flowed freely throughout the evening and dinner was eaten out on the porch under a gentle KW breeze.
Not only did we enjoy Colleen’s gumbo, but we had a whole cajun theme happening complete with Turducken and sweet potato pie – Michelle outdid herself! Not wanting the evening to end, we cranked up a great James Taylor dvd (OK – maybe a little too loud – sorry Michelle), heard a couple new tunes Scott wants to record and headed back to Brook’s house for a couple more cocktails. All in all, it was a memorable Christmas spent with great friends!!
The next morning, although a little hazy, Doug and I set off again for breakfast at Pepe’s – it really is the best! Once we left, it started to rain so we ducked into Schooner Wharf – seems they have 2 happy hours a day, one from 7 am to noon and then again from 5-7 pm (do you get why we love this bar??) At first I felt a little funny drinking beer at 9:00 in the morning, but I got over that real quick – funny thing was, the bar was packed and some of the people were in the same place that we had seen them the day before! You really just have to love KW!!! Another day well spent Duval crawling led to an afternoon nap, something I don’t often due but when in KW it is often necessary before round 2 starts. Round 2 for us started at 5:00 pm when we met Scott and some of his friends at Louie’s for drinks. We had some cocktails, watched a great sunset and generally just luxuriated in the warmth of the friendships and the island. Michelle met up with us and dinner (which was very necessary at that point) followed at a fun little Mexican place on Duval. We ate too much, we drank too much, we laughed tons (never too much) – our trip to KW had been a resounding success.
The next morning we had to say goodbye to KW and to Scott and Michelle, but not before making plans to meet up with them soon in the Bahamas. Thank you Scott and Michelle for a wonderful trip!! It was a quiet ride back to the boat, broken up by one last fish sandwich at the Islamorada Fish Company (our favorite bar on the way down to KW!)
We were entertained by a steel drum player while we soaked up our last time in the Keys and enjoyed the Best fish sandwiches ever (and a couple coldies).
Back on the boat, it was time to start working to get ready for the Bahamas crossing…but not before we hit the Briny Pub to watch the Patriots beat Buffalo – unfortunately the freaking Jets didn’t show up and Miami won, knocking us out of the playoffs. We were in a bar in southern Florida so you can imagine that no one was feeling bad for us!! Bummer and then depression set in – but it was short lived. There is too much to do! Colleen and I spent several days provisioning and Doug became an engine room rat. While we still had Colleen’s parents car, we also made runs to West Marine (they now know us by name – not a good thing), Boaters World, Home Depot, etc…. you get the picture.
Yesterday was Doug’s birthday – he is 39 with a whole bunch of years of experience!! Unfortunately we spent the first half of it bringing the cats to the vet to get a rabies shot. We just found out that the Bahamas require pets to have a rabies shot more than 30 days before entering the country – so that changes our timing a little. We will be in FL at least for another 30 days before we can cross but I’m sure we’ll be able to have some fun!!! The cats not only hate the car, but they did not have a good time at the vets – it was nearly as traumatic for me (although I don’t think they would agree)! They were very glad to get back to their “home” – the boat has become home for them too! We spent the afternoon feeding them treats and telling them how brave they were!!
Last night for Doug’s bday and for New Years Eve, we decided to have a great dinner on the boat complete with champagne, big steaks and key lime pie for desert instead of braving the crazies out here in southern Florida. Knowing we wouldn’t make it to midnight, we had our official Happy New Years before dinner with a ceremonial dropping of a tennis ball. OK – we don’t do things on the boat in traditional fashion but we’ve started our own new traditions and if every New Year is as great as this one, then we’ll be happy. Today starts the “second year” of our cruising adventure and our only hope is that it will be as full of fun and discovery as our first!!!! We hope this new year brings much happiness and success to all of our family and friends – we are with you in spirit!
January 1st, 2009
