Liquid Therapy had been sitting too long on the mooring ball and we decided to go out to Sombrero Light ( http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=701 ) for a snorkel. The weather was forecast to be good today but worse tomorrow. So we tied the dinghy to the mooring ball and left the harbor. A very nice trip to the lighthouse about 5 miles off shore. There were a few jellyfish to watch out for but the view from the boat to the bottom was great. Fish were swimming by. We picked up a morring ball proided for divers and the boat was rolling a bit. Not really calm out there although the winds had died down to less than 10 kt, it was still rolling from the days before. I got in the water and then jellyfish started coming by by and I hung around the ladder so I could re-board fast . I shot many underwater pictures and we stayed a bit, but decided to head on back in at a leisurely pace to enjoy the cruise.
We stopped at the marina and took on water. And then it was back to our mooring ball. We cleaned the bottom of the dinghy which was starting to accumulate barnacles. Then we went by dinghy to the marina and got a shower and back to the boat for sunset and the conch blowing as it faded into the horizon. It's kind of fun listening to boaters blowing the conch shells and on boat fired a cannon as the sun sets.
Picture is a fish swimming by the boat at the reef...

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Another day in the Boot Key Harbor. Today Susan cleaned the hull and waterline of what is know as the ICW mustache. The ICW has lots of brackish water tht stains the bow as it plows though the water. My lazy idea was that when we go across the Atlantic to the Bahamas that the crystal clear water would erase the mustache. Most say that will not happen. So, while Suz scrubbed the waterline from the dinghy, she exclaimed that we had grass growing on the sides of the boat. Now we all know that grass doesn't grow on a rolling stone and usually the same can be said of a boat that has proper bottom paint and is on the move. So, I guess we have been sitting still too long. Tomorrow we are going to leave our mooring ball for a while ago out to the Sombrero Reef Light about 4 miles off shore. Im gonna run Liquid Therapy hard to see if the grass will ablate away the way the paint is supposed to work.
I continued on my beautification project of sanding the teak doors and windows and putting back the tedious wooden plugs that have been missing since I replaced some cracked windows. I refinished the wooded window frames and screwed them back with the new glass. But I failed to cover the screw holes as this is a slow process. You have to have the screws down far enough that the plug can be tapped in. You have to TRY to see the direction of the grain of the plug and match it with direction of the grain on the frame. Then your cut off the plugs excess length with a chisel leaving the plug a little high. Then you have to sand it even with the frame. Then you have to put varnish over the plug and the frame. THEN IT LOOKS GOOD.
So, after all of this work we took the dinghy in to the marina for a well deserved shower. I got in my shower room and suddenly noticed that my towel was not in my shower bag. I was not deterred one bit. I took my shower and dried off with paper towels.
Todays picture is of me drying off with paper towels. Not really. here is one of the wooden plugs tapped in before I chiseled off.

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Well today the wind starting calming down and I did a little brightwork. We discovered that the two doors were both leaking when we had a terrible rainstorm somewhere in North Carolina. So, fixing them has been on my mind since then. It doesn't seem to rain here in the keys. Cold front brings strong wind but no rain. So, anyhow it was a nice day in the mid 60s to work outside. I quit at lunchtime and we were supposed meet some people to go on a dinghy trip if they were not tied up with a new watermaker that they were having installed. When we dropped by their boat it was locked so we set out on our dinghy trip by ourselves to Sombrero Beach. It was a nice trip and we pulled the dinghy up on the beach and went ashore for a while. Really pretty water out there, but still too chilly for snorkeling. We hoped back in the dinghy and went up some canals looking at the homes. Nice vantage point from the dinghy. After retuning back into the harbor we motored down to the local watering hole ( Dockside Bar and Grill ) What a cast of characters. We had a drink and took in the conversations and headed back to the boat for sunset and dinner. And as announced on our cruisers net this morning, the International Space Station flew overhead at 6:37PM.
Believe I'm gonna hit the bed early tonight and try to jump right on the sanding and epoxying of the door leak in the morning. WE are staying in Marathon at least until 1-3-11 and will be staging to go to the Bahamas from here.
Todays picture is me at Sombrero Beach. Water is beautiful.

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January 1, 2012
Happy New Year, again! Rose Parade, NOT this year! No TV, but we really do not miss it! After coffee and the Cruisers Net we decided to take a walk and find lunch!! Gradually, we are finding out where things are, but we still needed some exercise, so we started out. We had seen a West Marine from the bus on Friday when we went to Key West, so we headed that way. We never found Burdine's, a recommended eatery, so took a tour of West Marine and ended up taking home a hoisting harness for the dinghy motor we borrowed from Nelson and Carter. Thanks, SO MUCH, guys!! We enjoy taking dinghy rides and are getting better at this. We ended up at another recommended eatery (by that I mean, open air, somewhat self serve, lots of fun and GREAT local dishes), called Keys Fisheries and both of us ate lobster tacos with a side of smoked fish spread. Smoked fish spread and fried conch fritters are a Florida staple on the appetizer menu! We may go back there to eat or get fish from their fish market. Almost worn out, but not totally, from this long walk, we visited Daffy Doug's which is a big Dollar Tree type of place at the beach. As you may have noticed, I write about FOOD! This has been a very nice first day of 2012!
Picture is Liquid Therapy hanging on mooring E4

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Day__, December 31, 2011
New Year's Eve we started the day by listening to the 'Cruisers Net', which comes on over VHF channel 68 every morning at 9AM. Their agenda is multi purposed: to introduce boats new to the Boot Key Harbor community and bid farewell to those leaving; to give general announcements of daily happenings, such as spanish and yoga lessons, get togethers; to connect the community to service people they may be searching for; to buy, sell, trade anything; and to train our brains with trivia questions. Very useful. They are starting another Cruisers Net at night where people can chat back and forth about common issues. Today, on this show, they announced a New Year's Eve get together at our marina Tiki Hut, so we took an appetizer and went over at 7! Lots of fun, many people. Before this get together we visited by dinghy the Dockside Bar and Restaurant. This is a colorful place where locals go. We did have a delicious home made Bloody Mary and considered going back for New Year's Eve prime rib. Ultimately, we decided the Dockside dinghy dock was too small to go back to on this holiday eve, in the dark, so, after the Tiki Hut party, we walked just across the street to Annette's Lobster and Steak House for a quiet dinner!! We were both tired, for some reason. So, after a fruitless search for a live feed of the crystal ball drop in Times Square, we fell asleep by 10:30!! Hark: we were awakened at midnight by conch blowing and fireworks!
Happy New Year to Everyone!!!

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Well Susan is still procrastinating on her blog for 12-31 and 1-1-12. So I'm fielding 1-2 and 1-3. It's all about weather today. Yep Suz just canceled our reservations at Blackwater Falls Lodge in Davis, WV. It was 9º at 3PM. I have been going to Canaan Valley,WV every year since 1972. Until 2012. So, now I sit in Marathon with the temperature at a near low record. It's 55º as I write this!. When we were in Key West and took a tour bus, it was exclaimed that Key West had never been lower that 41º EVER! Key West is 49 miles south of where we are. So, it might get in the upper 40s tonight. Figures - we take a once in a lifetime boat trip and the temperature is hovering around an all time low and it's been windier than anyone can remember. Today we caught up on mail via my Brother, Eddie. And started sanding another door and Susan caught up on many little tasks.
We are Hemingway territory and like Hemingway are writing AFTER happy hour. Alcohol gives clairvoyance in expressing ones self in print. And sometimes in a bar via speech. Or at least that's what we were told in Key West. So, we are trying out blogging under the influence. I don't think that's against the law YET.
I'm starting a novel write now. (See how clever "write" instead of "right")
Let's see a good title for my novel. "THE OLD GAL AND THE SEA". nope too sexist. "THE SUN ALSO SETS" That could work. Attached is the cover to my new novel. Hey the sunset even looks cold.

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