February 28, 2015 - Last Week in Key West

Most of the week was spent around the boat doing chores and laundry.  Tuesday night we went into Key West for dinner and the famous sundown show at Mallory Square.  There are usually several street performers, but there was only one performer that night.  There were a few clouds but the sunset was beautiful.  Wednesday we got up early and caught the Yankee Freedom to the Dry Tortugas National Park and Fort Jefferson.  Our party consisted of John and Kathy (Serenity), Barb and Ross, Julie and Jimmy (friends from Michigan).  The trip out took about 2-1/2 hours.  We got breakfast as soon as we left the dock and then settled into a pretty foggy ride out to the Fort.  By the time we got there, the fog had lifted.  We had toured the Fort four years ago when we were here, so Jack and I put on our wetsuits, grabbed our snorkeling gear, and headed for the water.  We took a break for lunch and then John and Kathy joined us for snorkeling.  It was great fun.  We saw a lot of fish, but the water was a little murky so we couldn’t really see the bright colors of the coral.  The ride back at 3:00 was beautiful.  The sun was out and the water fairly calm.  It was a great day.  On Friday, Jenny and Pete (friends of Barb and Ross) drove down to take us grocery shopping one last time.  We had a nice lunch and then said goodbye to them.  We spent most of today getting the boat ready for travel.  Mr. Scooter is back on top of the boat, the dock is clear,  and the boat is fairly clean.  We'll have a final Key West dinner with Barb and Ross tonight on our back deck.  Jack and Ross have started playing cribbage every night.  Hopefully we'll have a serenade from some of our musical dockmates.  We’re planning to leave Sunday morning to head up the East coast – weather permitting.  We’ve had a great month in Key West!!

A very large visitor to our marina

A Key West Bed & Breakfast decorated for a birthday party

Entrance to Mallory Square

Ready to take Barb to Mallory Square

The only performer that night (what you don't see are the sharp objects he was juggling)

Waiting for the sunset

Another Key West sunset (probably our last)

Fort Jefferson

Yankee Freedom III

The Fort


We're ready for snorkeling (with John and Kathy)

The Fort (and a wet snorkeler)



Leaving the Fort

View from the back deck (notice the color of the water)



February 21, 2015 - Week 3 in Paradise

We met Danny, June, Jan and Bud for breakfast at Blue Heaven Monday morning.  On Tuesday they all came over for a lunch cruise around Key West.  We had a great time cruising and eating hot dogs.  We then said goodbye to Danny and June with a promise to see them when we get to Elizabeth City, NC.  Thursday was a tourist day.  We took a tour of Truman's Little White House and Hemingway’s House (complete with six-toed cats).  Both tours were extremely interesting.  The White House was very nice and comfortable.  However, the Secret Service did not allow any photos to be taken inside since it is still used.  We did a lot of walking and window shopping on Duval Street.  The perfect ending to our day -- finding a Mexican restaurant with good food!  We were going to stay for the sundowner shows at Mallory Square but it was too cold and windy.  The weather has been a little cold and very windy most of the week.  Key West had a record low this week.  Glad we could be here to experience that!  Friday night we had dinner with Pete, Jenny, John and Kathy.  Saturday we went back into Key West to walk Duval Street (again), have dinner, and a drink overlooking the harbor.  We are finally getting into a warming trend.

One of two cruise lines docked in Key West

Carnival Cruise

Sunset Key - exclusive island off Key West.  Rumored that Jimmy Buffet has a house there.

Lunch cruise - June, Jan, Bud

Jan and Bud

Key West Art Museum

Two Friends Restaurant - we ate a few meals there



Truman's Little White House

Getting ready for our tour

One of the six-toed cats

More kitties - one six-toed - they seem to own the house

Hemingway's office showing his old, manual typewriter

A very friendly kitty - I don't think Jack was counting his toes as the claws were digging into his leg

Yummy Mexican food

Street performers along Duval Street

Historic bar - Hemingway a regular patron there

Smallest Bar

February 14, 2015 - Valentine's Day Cruise

We spent Saturday night aboard a sunset dinner cruise to celebrate Valentine's Day.  The group consisted of Barb, Ross, June, Danny, Jan and Bud (friends of June and Danny).  We boarded the "Love Boat" around 5:00 pm.  All the ladies received a box of chocolates and a glass of champagne.  Shortly after we set sail, the dinner bell rang.  We had an enjoyable dinner and then moved back to the top deck of the boat to watch the famous Key West sunset and listen to some pretty good music. The entire evening was a lot of fun, although it was a little chilly.  The food was good, company was excellent, the scenery great, and, of course, the sunset was fantastic.

Our cruise ship for the evening

Getting ready to board

Ross, Barb, Danny, June, Jan and Bud

June and Danny

Jan and Bud

Barb and Ross

Jan, Barb, Jack and Ross

Key West from the water

Beautiful sunset

February 14, 2015 - Week 2 in Paradise

We spent the early part of the week doing chores around the boat and running errands.  Although the weather has been sunny, it is still a little cool and windy.  On Tuesday we had lunch with John and Kathy (Serenity), Rob (Onward), Jenny and Pete (friends of Barb and Ross from Michigan) at Hogfish.  It was a fun lunch with a good group.  We had run into Serenity and Onward earlier in our travels.  Tuesday night Jack was reunited with Danny Sawyer, an old Navy buddy he hadn't seen in over 40 years.  He had learned via facebook that they were traveling to Key West in their RV.  Danny and his wife June came over to the boat Tuesday night and we had a great visit.  Jack was also the best man in their wedding 44 years ago.  On Wednesday, we took the scooter into Key West and had breakfast at Blue Heaven.  It is a quaint little restaurant with roosters and chickens running around (they all seem to have names).  We then toured the Mel Fisher Museum and walked around Mallory Square.  Mel Fisher is a treasure hunter who spent 16 years diving for treasures from two Spanish galleons that sank during a hurricane on September 6, 1622 off the coast of Key West.  In 1985, he recovered $450 million in emeralds,  silver and gold artifacts, and silver bars.  The museum was quite interesting.  Thursday morning we got up early and headed to Miami for the boat show.  The boat show is so large it is set up in 3 locations – the convention center and two marinas (one for power boats and one for sailboats).  We spent all day Thursday walking around the convention center visiting hundreds of displays.  Friday morning we took a shopping trip to WalMart (we found one close to our hotel)!!  It was like finding an old friend.  We then went to the power boat marina and walked around.   We didn’t find as many trawlers as we thought, so we ate lunch and took a water taxi ride to the sailboat marina.  After that we left and drove the four plus hours back to Key West. Sunday we drove up to Summerland Key to have lunch with Jenny and Pete.  When we got back, the winds had died a little bit so we were able to go Key hopping in the dinghy.

Danny and Jack

Blue Heaven Restaurant

One of the residents of Blue Heaven

Getting ready for a yummy breakfast

Miami Boat Show

Boat show from the water





February 8, 2015 - Week 1 in Key West

We have finished our first week in paradise!  We spent the first few days settling in.  We put the scooter to use several times running errands.   On Tuesday we took the marina shuttle into town.  We toured Key West on the Conch Train, ate lunch at Margaritaville, and walked around the seaport area.  It was raining Thursday so we spent the day doing little chores around the boat.  Barb and Ross rented a car on Friday and we drove to Marathon to meet their friends, Curt and Marilyn, who took us on a tour of the area.   On Sunday we drove to Islamorada and spent time at Bass Pro.  We bought wetsuits and snorkel gear in anticipation on going snorkeling and jetskiing.  We did a lot of sightseeing on the way back including driving on to No Name Key.  We even saw a few Key deer on the island (I think we've had dogs bigger than the deer we saw). 

Lunch at Margaritaville

Work in the engine room

Dinner in Marathon with Barb,  Ross, Curt and Marilyn

Some of the natives - roosters are everywhere

Trip to Bass Pro

Lunch at Burdine's in Marathon