Monday, January 26, 2009

The Captain's First Fish...


The first time John and Dave went out fishing they took the dinghy out to the mangroves. They caught nothing.

The second time the guys went fishing they chose to fish off the back end of the boat while it sat on its mooring. John caught a small moray eel which was, of course, thrown back.

The third time, however, the guys pulled out the big guns and we took Tropical Breeze out towards one of the reefs for a day of fishing. Well the team proved that the third time is a charm with a catch of 12 fish in all. Mary started the catching bonanza with the first catch. The boys then followed. By the time the day was done the captain had caught 5 – all grunts – which are small but should be very tasty.

To say the Captain now has the fishing bug would be a bit of an understatement. I anticipate we are headed out for more fishing tomorrow. I’m just wondering what we will do if we do get a big one – I suppose we can always have our neighbors over for a party.

More fun to come.

The Admiral
1/21/09-1/26/09

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Southbound...






While we didn’t want to leave our newfound friends in Stuart, it was time to move south. After all, we had been in Stuart over a month. We’d enjoyed happy hours poolside, the boat show and the jacuzzi tub – but now the jacuzzi was closed for maintenance. What a bummer.

So south we headed. We left the marina Friday morning anticipating that we would go offshore. By the time we reached the crossroads for the inlet and the intracoastal the wind had picked up to about 25. A check of weather radio said 6-9 footers offshore and 7-13 footers in the Gulf Stream. With that we scrapped Plan A and instead opted for Plan B – a southbound motor sail down the ICW.

By Saturday morning, the winds had slowed so before sunrise we slipped out the inlet and headed south. It was a great run outside - moderate seas, winds out of the north at 15 to 20. We put up the spinnaker and sailed downwind to the northern Keys. Once in the Keys, we motor sailed through Hawks Channel finally reaching Marathon on Sunday. On arrival we were greeted by friends John and Goliath in their dinghy.

We plan on using Marathon as a jumping off spot for day trips throughout the winter. Key West is only a 45 minute bus ride away and there are lots of reefs to snorkel within a 10 mile sail. It should be a great winter!!

The Admiral
1/16/09 – 1/20/09

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Workin'? and the Captain's Birthday...


Working? Yes, I said working. Stuart has an annual boat show and was in need of some temporary help to set up, work and take down the show - so Dave and I signed up as boat show volunteers. Our first day of work was 1/7 which also happens to be the Captain’s birthday. Despite putting him back to work on his b-day he seems to have taken the job in stride. As for our functions – I’m in traffic management while David has multitasked between traffic management and waste management. It has been fun. We’ve made some great new friends. But it has also been some long days in the hot sun. The pool and Jacuzzi have become our lifesavers as we soak after a long day of work.

So what’s next? Well we have one more work day tomorrow and then plan to leave Stuart on Friday and head south towards the Florida Keys. Weather permiting, we will hop outside and around Miami in an effort to avoid a lot of the bridges.

More soon.

The Admiral
1/7/09 – 1/13/09

Monday, January 5, 2009

Happy New Year!!

We hope you all enjoyed the holiday season. Captain Dave and I returned home to visit family and friends for the holiday and were reminded why we headed south to begin with. The midwest has seen a brutal winter season so far. One, I admit, we will not miss. Our holiday travels, over 3000 miles in the car, have left us feeling rather qualified to share some interesting travel anecdotes with you.


1. The most popular roadside restaurant is - not a McDonald's or a Burger King - but a Waffle House. We saw these at nearly ever exit. While Dave and I admit we've never eaten at a Waffle House we can only assume that the number of outlets they have must mean they have a pretty tasty menu.

2. The most interesting business model seen was the combination of gas station and fireworks sales under the same roof. We saw much of this traveling through the southern states and could not help but wonder if any of these businesses ever had a fire and if so what was the extent of the damage.

3. Along the route we took note of license plates and identified plates from 41 of the US states and 2 of the Canadian provinces. After a review of the map, we've decided that people who live in Kansas must be the happiest because we never saw a Kansas plate along the route so they must have no need to leave their home state.

Enough kidding aside. We had a great holiday but are very happy to be back in the sun and warmth of central Florida. We plan on being here another week before continuing the trek south to the Florida Keys. Our to do list is rather lengthy with boat chores to be done, but no fear, we are still managing to get plenty of time in at the pool each day.

More to come.

The Admiral