Islamorada Time

Went back to KW for the Conch Fest where Karen displayed her Jewelry. Met up with Jon & Renee for a few hours at the show. Then we spent the night at our friends house in KW and back to the boat in Islamorada about a 2 hour drive.

The front that came across the US finally hit here with 50 mph winds. This marina is on the north side and it is rough when the wind blows from the north. Most of the time the wind blows from the East so the water on this whole side of the key is like glass. It has a sandy bottom with some coral. What a playground for people who love the water.

We have been exploring some of the subdivisions in the dingy & have seen some Manatee in one of the subdivisions close by.

Karen displayed her Jewelry at the Marathon Seafood Festival with a friend of hers named Holly whom makes belt buckles. They had a good show and we found a new credit card processor which uses a smart phone. Luckily Karen had an upgrade so I got a droid X. I love this thing, I can do most of what I use my computer for and it takes nice pics & video as well.

The same weekend as the Festival Linda & Carol drove down from Ft Lauderdale for a short visit.

We found a great bar/restaurant in Key Largo called the Pilot House. It has glass floors and places you can feed the fish through the floor. Good happy hour and food. We went there with our new friends and dock neighbors Mike & Kay Ann.

We drove up to Stuart Florida to check out marinas, then spent the night at Carol's condo right on the beach in Pompono Beach. The next day we went to the largest marine flea market in the county in Dania Beach.

We went on a glass bottom boat ride in Pennekamp State Park. They have a very nice Catamaran and it was a beautiful calm day. We saw lots of living coral, many different fish and stingrays.

We have had a couple of Manatee come up to the boat in the marina here. One even drank water from our air conditioner water outlet.

We drove back to Houston and dropped off our truck then flew back to Ft Lauderdal on Southwest Airlines. Thanks to Dave Frapart for the hospitality and ride to the airport. We spent Friday night at my sons house in Covington, then drove over to Lake Charles to my Mom's house. She treated us to a play called Aluminum at the Civic Center. While we were gone a tornado touched down on a boat about 150 feet from our boat. It tore the enclosure off a 90ft yacht. Glade it missed us!

Planning on heading north up the east coast around April 1st.

Moved up the Keys to islamorada

Our friend Jeff Gibson (Our Insurance Agent) came down for a night with Michelle we all went out to Sloppy Joes after we watched sunset at Mallory Square. We had a good time sitting by some girls from Pensacola. Karen & Michelle went upon the stage with the band dancing several times.

We went to Miami for a weekend to see the Miami Boat Show. They claim it is the biggest boat

show in the world. It is in four different places. You park and ride shuttle buses. We stayed at 6060 a hotel condo the unites are individually owned. We met our good friends that live in KW Eddie Gonzales & Hillary Porcha. We all went out to eat at Shula's Steakhouse for Karen's Birthday.

Eddie has a Henriquie 42 Sportsfish. He took us out fishing twice. We caught over 70 fish each time. He has been fishing all his life and he has it down. What a nice boat to go fishing on. Their friends from Louisiana Wayne & Debra and Eddies accounting manager Sarah went with us & are in the pics. We're about ready to head in from the North side of the Marquesses this Lobster boat in the pic comes up to us and offers us a bucket of Lobsters for some bottled water. They have been out for eight days.

We finally left KW. Miss it already. We had a nice run in the Hawk Channel from Key West to Marathon. Where we crossed under the Seven Mile Bridge into the Gulf of Mexico and back into the Atlantic ICW. Man is it shallow. Depths on the chart said 5 or 6 feet but at high tide it was like 4 or 5 feet. The water is so clear it looks like it's about 1 foot deep. We saw 5 Sea Turtles and traveled 78 miles in one day. Due to the fact that a front was coming through and it's hard to find shelter on this side of the Keys to anchor. So we decided to make the trip in 1 day instead of 2.

We're at Plantation Yacht Harbor at Founder's Park. The marina is very nice. It has a swimming pool, tennis court, baseball field, basketball court, soccer field, dog park, beach and brand new gas BBQ pits under a large covered patio.

Just so happens we're docked next to the Brian the hot dog man. He takes his floating houseboat out to Snake Creek Sand Bar on the Atlantic side and sells hot dogs, hamburgers, fries and souvenir cup for $3 which includes a free beer. There will be about 200 boats pull up to the sand bar on a nice day. This will be a nice dingy trip for us when we get a nice weekend day.

Race Week January 2011

We went to Margaritaville Cafe to see the Sauce Boss he plays his own Blues Music and cooks a chicken and seafood gumbo on stage while he is playing. At the end of the night he serves up the gumbo for everyone to eat. We met a couple that the girl is from Baton Rouge and her boyfriend is a doctor in KW. Some friends of theirs also came they are from Alabama and own Piggly Wigglys along the Gulf Coast.

We went to see the Shipwreck Museum and I took this picture for Mike Fairbanks who had told me that his family owned a scale company.

This pic is from the tower on top of the Shipwreck Museum once used to spot ship wrecks.

Key West was once the richest city in America due to the Salvaging of ship wrecks. I took this pic because Karen's best friend last name is Ripp.

Know I now who Jeff Richard feels.

Key West Yacht Harbour Marina

We went to see Poco a band from the 70's at Schooners Wharf Bar with Roger & Laura.

These are some pics of the Marina we are staying at in Key West.
















Houseboat anchored in the channel next to the Marina. They live on it and belong to the Yacht Club here so they can use the marina facilities.




























Inside the restaurant & club.















What a treat to park right behind your boat.

























































The Yacht Club beach is right next to the pool. Which is heated.

The docks are made out of aluminum.

Christmas Day to New Years Day 2011

This pic is a shelter someone had built many years ago that reminded us of Robinson Crusoe Island. Karen is siting in one of these areas. There were many places to sleep, make fires, bathroom area and pics could not do it justice. It even had different levels. Places to sit up high.

We went to the KW Garden Club on Higgs Beach New Years day. It is in & around an old Civil War-era fort that they have partially tore it down. The tree to the right of Karen is a Banyon tree growing through the old brick wall and over it.

This is Duval Street right before midnight 2010. This is close as we could get to the Slipper Drop in front of Bourbon 801 bar. The white truck is CNN news truck.

The pic on the right is some friends we met who have a trawler like ours except the 37 foot model. Laura & Roger. They were outside our boat looking at it and we invited them in.

We had New Years Day Brunch on their boat. They baked a great Blueberry French Toast casserole. This pic was taken right after midnight on New Years Morning.

Below pic is Deana, Troy & their friend that sailed down with them. We met them at Dirty Harry's before midnight.

Linda Koepsel & Carol Stauter drove down from Carols house in Pompano Beach (Ft Lauderdale area). We had a great time at the Southernmost Hotel Beach Bar & Alonzo's for happy hours. They were in a couple of nights between Christmas and New Years.

Karen, Linda & Carol went shopping & this is what they came back with.

Some lucky guy they met.

We went to eat at No Name Restaurant on No Name Key the day after Christmas. They have over $150,000 in one dollar bills stapled to the walls with notes written on each one. Had a great Shrimp Pizza.

We spent Christmas Day on Boca Chica Beach.