Mike the boat owner at the helm. Thanks again for the ride Mike!
Eileen, you can have Larry buy you this boat....you won't even need to change the name!
A couple other boats. The far one went by at 120 MPH...
Our good friends Mary Beth and Jim and Mary and Kevin arrived as planned late afternoon on Sunday Jan 31...(The Supper Club group arriving for Supper Club South!!) .
And supper club it is at Seven Mile Grille:
The weather started out rainy on Monday morning so I cooked scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and coffee aboard. As you can imagine, six on board is a bit crowded....the boat sleeps six but I would say four comfortably. But we are all great friends and we made it work really well for the four nights we were able to spend together. The "Supper Club Shuffle" was coined to describe moving around in the tight quarters! Oh, and it was also the name we used for the new card game Jim taught us and seemed to usually win...something to do with the scorekeeping Jim?
For lunch Monday we walked to Burdines, the local "best burger" joint. It was good and they had some good craft beer selections as well. And behind us here is the old Faro Blanco Oceanside remnants (destroyed by hurricane Wilma in 2005 along with the marina we are now staying at). And the Boot Key mooring field is behind us in the picture as well.
Tuesday we had a nice walk to the Stuffed Pig for breakfast.
This was followed by a great pool day and capped it off with a late afternoon dinghy ride for the guys and we then joined the ladies on the fly bridge for a nice sunset. Weather was wonderful! The guys leaving for a dinghy ride. Note the "wave blocker" large boat out on the right...more on this later.
A little after sunset on the fly bridge:
We then went to a local fishery, Keys Fishery for a great seafood dinner.
A fun day was had by all! Why there are no hurricanes in Key West! (Click on it to read)
Thursday morning we rode our bikes to the Stuffed Pig and met the others for breakfast before wishing them well on the rest of their vacation. Thanks so much to all four of you for sharing our adventure!!
We continued on to Publix after breakfast to re provision a bit. I unfortunately got a flat tire as we arrived at the store. So I got to push the bike 3 miles to the repair shop...but I will not complain as it was nearing 80 degrees and I knew the pool was next!
OK, here is the next lesson learned. Even at a marina, one needs to be diligent in checking the
weather. We knew the winds were going to shift North (which in this particular marina exposes us to waves coming in unbroken) but I didn't really focus on the strength of the wind and left the dinghy moored beside the boat. Mistake for sure. Once the waves started coming in, I had to get up in the middle of Friday night and retie it as well as place some fenders to keep it from bouncing into the boat. And once the waves are of a significant height, it is also impossible to retrieve the dinghy with the crane due to the forces it would exert on the boat and crane hardware as the waves rise and fall. So, now we will launch and retrieve the dinghy each time we want to use it rather than leave it in the water. Lesson learned. Note the flag and the whitecaps in this picture. The island and large boat are helping knock down the waves from the North.
The winds are continuing from the North here on Sunday (and are forecasted to continue most of the week) so a move to the east basin sure looks a lot better to us. Less of a view but definitely calm. They only have 6 or 8 slips in that basin for a boat our size so we'll have to see what happens. Sum Escape is pretty heavy (50,000 pounds) so movement is at least dampened. And maybe the view makes up for the waves. They were actually about two feet coming through the marina. Here are the large wave blockers to our NE ....we are thankful they are here!
I was giving Nick, one of the dockhands, a little "grief" about the winds. He just looked at me and said "you don't have to shovel it right?". He wins....!
We walked down to the marina where our friends Rod and Julie aboard Tuscobia are staying. They are taking an even bigger pounding there as we have Palm Island to the NW at least knock down NW waves. Their marina is directly open to the NW to the NE so any northerly component in the wind is allowing the wave action directly into the marina. These are all the things they don't tell you on their websites! At least these large boats are helping knock down the waves!
Tonight the restaurant at the marina has Super Bowl specials and the game on a few big screen TV's...may have to wander up there and see what is happening.
We look forward to Brett and Natalie coming to visit in mid Feb. It is so great to have family and friends aboard to share our adventure! Thanks to those who have come and also have committed to come. We love having all of you!
So this week will be some boat chores/maintenance, catching up with other Loopers and friends in the area and perhaps some work on a tax return so I don't have to try to file it from the Bahamas. Busy as always!
January statistics:
Miles travelled: 275 /Trip to Date: 2784
Travel days: 4 / 49
Engine hours: 29 / 317
Locks: 0/35
Bridges opened: 3 /14
Days on hook or free wall: 3 /14
Gallons of diesel: 280 / 2081
Marathon in the Winter: Wow. Maybe only the Bahamas could be better!
1 comment:
Mom and Larry are playing euchre, so I'm catching up on emails and blogs while I have wifi. They are in the card room at the club house. We are experiencing a vert cool week for Florida. I haven't donned my shorts since we arrived!! I'm sure it will warm up by the time we return in early March to take Mom back to Michigan. Saturday we will meet Pam when she arrives for her visit, and we will go to Fayetteville for a couple of days with Darleen and to celebrate Larrys birthday. We have to be home on the 18'th for a couple of doctor appointments. Happy and safe travels!
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