Last Day in the Florida Keys

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The weather was incredible on our last day, Tuesday. We took the dinghy over to the sand beach again and baked in the sun. Ian left at 5 am to go on a fishing boat. We are counting on him to bring supper home as we have invited Lydia and Roger over tonight. We met them at the Dockside Bar a few days ago. The have a beautiful Choy Lee sailboat called the Lydia Green. Seeing as it is our last day, we had to drink up any beers left so we took a few to the beach. Kind of nice how you can drink anywhere here in the keys. We saw lots of dolphins swimming right past the beach. One came up about 5 feet past the point. Pat met a few guys from Naples, Italy and had a nice time talking with them. Eamonn met a couple of girls and took them out for a spin in the dinghy.

I went snorkeling and was totally amazed that the reef was right there, 20 feet out from shore. I was swimming with schools of fish. Fantastic. Then I got a little nervous as I looked up out of the water and I was caught in a current pushing me right around the area where the shark was. And me without my flippers. So I quickly got my butt back out of there. I was very excited that I got to swim a reef before we left. Had to have a couple of beer to celebrate and get the taste of salt water out of my mouth of course.

There was a bald fellow just floating on his back on top of the reef in the water. 3 pelicans started diving right around him. I guess there was a school of fish swimming there that they wanted. It was too funny watching that. Pelicans are these huge birds with wingspans about 10 feet and and when the dive, they tuck their wings right in and drop like and arrow. With their big bills. they just pluck the fish right out of the water. I just love to watch them. So the poor guy is just floating out there and all of the sudden these 3 pelicans are dive bombing all around him. Gotta love the wildlife here.

We went to the Dockside Bar on the way home and met up with Roger and Lydia, a couple we had met a few nights before and invited them for supper on our boat. Ian had gone out fishing on a real fishing boat and came home with an abundance of fish. Fantastic. We had a feast. Hillary and Charles dropped by. And Jay, the owner of the boat. I will say no more on that subject. I will just leave it by saying it was a fun last night of a great vacation.

When I embarked on this journey, I had my fears about traveling on a boat with all guys and me. I must say that it really was a fabulous journey and I probably would not have had that much fun on a boat full of girls. Well, maybe, but different. We all got to know each other a little better and I believe that we all respected each other for our own differences. These men are gentlemen and scholars and I am so thankful that they allowed a woman on board.

I am also thankful for the swearing lessons that I took before the journey. This helped with my communication with the retired Irish doctor Eamonn, on board. We had fun telling people that we had an Irish doctor, an Italian banker, a German IT man, an English electrician, and a Canadian woman. I don't recall anyone mentioning that I was a massage therapist, just a woman.
Well, Jay, the boat owner did mention the fact that I was a massage therapist and told me that he gave great foot massages and asked if I wanted one. Well, of course, I said, YEAH, and then he continued on to my hands. Unfortunately, I had to stop him there. Now that was a wonderful end of a wonderful week.
I was out on the boat for 9 days but have only blogged about 5 of those. The rest of the time I believe we were sailing or eating, or drinking, and having fun. Something other than sitting on the computer.

Nearing the end of the trip

Well, of course I knew living on a boat with other people would have it's own set of drawbacks. Lack of sleep seems to be my problem today. It seems that when anyone walks around on the deck when you are laying in bed, it sounds like a herd of elephants is above you. There are some on the boat who are late nighters, and some that are early risers so.................sleep has been a little difficult for someone like me who is a light sleeper. Even with ear plugs in. Ah well, all part of the adventure.
And some on the boat are neat freaks and some of us are not. Thank god, I am kind of in between the 2 and so are not really bothered by either side. But there has been a little tension in the last couple of days between some of the guys and their habits. I am having a fabulous time but will really be glad to get back into my own quiet, comfortable bed.
We found a beautiful sand beach not too far away. Went with our dinghy. Had a wonderfully refreshing swim. There was a man fishing there. He caught a 2 foot shark. A few of us went running to check it out. He was desperately trying to get the shark off the line but was unwilling, for some reason, to put his fingers in the sharks mouth to get the hook out. Many little teeth. So brave Pat grabbed a hold of the shark by the neck and the wrestled with the line to get it off the hook. Someone there took some great photos. Then the poor terrified shark was let loose and was so disoriented that it kept swimming back to the shore. Pat kept grabbing him by the tail and kept throwing him back out and he would come in again. After 4 or 5 times, he finally swam away. Pretty exciting.
Pat, Ian, and Eamonn went to Key West yesterday and met a nice couple on the bus. They invited them over for supper. Hillary and Charles are a lovely young couple from MA who are living on their racing catamarand worth $300,000. Apparently it can go 21 knots. Charles doesn't race this one though. He does race on another one that can go 25 knots but it doesn't have a head or anything to weigh it down. Very interesting people. They run a company that puts on huge trade shows and make a lot of money.
They had met a man George in the Hurricane bar who runs the fishmarket across the street and invited him for supper as well. George gave us an incredible deal on the fish and shrimps and we had huge feast. George gave directions on cooking the shrimps and he grilled the fish on the barbeque on board. Lots of fun was had by all.

Much more Sailing in the Keys

Yesterday was a fantastic day of sailing. Got to actually steer the boat for a short time, and kept it on course. You have got to use a GPS at all times as there was a ship wreck close the the surface that we would did not see and we would have got stuck on top of it if we didn't have that GPS. We did see lots of boat wrecks that are just washed up on shore. Interesting that they don't take them away. People just pillage them and leave them to rot. Modern day pirates I suppose.We were out for 8 hours.

Sailed to another island(key) called Bahai Honda. Had to sail through a bridge to get there. My captain and mates are incredibly talented, thank god. We took a break there, walked around, and had a swim. There were kids swimming there and were all excited because there was a huge sting ray right there swimming with us in the little bay. One boy had found a foot and a half long lobster. Kinda scary. Unfortunately I did not have my goggles on me at the time so I didn't see anything. A pelican peed on James.

We had to race home as there was a storm approaching with huge black clouds. We were going around 4 knots on the way there and on the way home we got the engines going as well and were going 7 knots. So it took 8 hours to go a distance of 20 kilometers. No one ever said sailing was a method of transportation. It just is.

I got incredibly sunburnt and had to get cream rubbed on my back to sleep. Got back late and made a great dinner with anything we had in our cupboard which ended up being Asparagus, chick pea, tuna, in a home made alfredo sauce which I thickened with pancake batter. And added some white wine. Pretty darned good for camping. Had some late night discussions on deck about spirituality spurred on with the wine and after dinner liquors.

First Day of Sailing

Small vessel warnings have continued on and it looks like it may continue on until we leave with threats of thunderstorms and huge winds. Went grocery shopping in our dinghy. We decided to do some day trips with the sailboat out to some reefs. It was rough out there but incredibly exciting to get out there sailing. I always have had a healthy fear of the ocean and this experience just reinforced that in me. Powerful winds and the boat was just rocking and reeling. I had a small taste of what seasickness would feel like. They guys said that that was nothing compared to the storm that they weathered through. I was quite dizzy. But we saw 3 dolphins and a lot of pelicans. After a wonderful dinner on board, we headed off in the dinghy to a little bar on the water where I celebrated my first sail a little too much. Met a lot of locals who explained that the Florida keys are for all the misfits of the country to come and live. Lots of vets, and long haired guys. Met a woman, Lydia, who invited us to see her schooner. Absolutely beautiful boat. She told us that her husband was out of town but would return Saturday for his birthday and invited us over for a party. Too cool. I was just glad that I was able to maneuver on and off the dinghy without going in.

Key West

There is some weather problems here in Key West, lots of wind, and threats of thunderstorms. Everyone on boats is hunkering down and hanging around waiting for a window of time to set sail again. Some of my sailing mates are still a little seasick so we have decided to go into Key West by car for the day. Went over a 7 mile bridge where they filmed True Lies on. The ocean shimmering continually changing, beautiful blues and green colours. Key West has the most intricate architecture. Balconies everywhere which would never be allowed with the building codes in Canada. green palm trees and luscious exotic plant. Had a lovely fish lunch at an outside restaurant/bar on the southernmost point of the US. Sun burnt tourists swimming on the beach. Huge cruise ships going by.

We had a great couple of days at Key West going to the Ernest Hemingway house and seeing where he wrote a lot of his novels, shopping, drinking beer, eating fish, and totally enjoying the local culture. Kind of looks like Mackinac Island with more character. There is an amazing number of HUGE YACHTS!! Key West drips of money. But it is not growing on the trees.

We had an amazing seafood feast at a restaurant at the marina overlooking those yachts with a wonderful musician setting the mood. James and I found a great little bar called the Hogs Breath where they had a fantastic blues band from Chicago playing. People dancing outside and a guy showed up with a huge parrot on his shoulder. He put the parrot down on a railing and the bloody bird starting dancing to the music. Too much. Got it on video. Talked to him later and he said he had gotten the bird when it was a baby 14 years ago and it had bonded with him but is not very friendly with many other people. Got a photo of him sitting on James though.

A couple of days in Key West was plenty for me. It looks like it is March break every day there. Party central. People were drinking first thing in the morning. I heard one young guy mention that he was so embarrassed because he passed out and woke up on his dock. Lucky he didn`t roll over too much. A lovely breakfast at another outside restaurant obviously owned by a gay guy. In the bathroom there were photos of the most eligible bachelor and it was a drag queen. They were going to be having a puppy shower later on in the day that my mates were invited to but alas, we must move on.

Sailing the Florida Keys

Got up at 3 am to get ready to leave to drive to Flint Michigan to catch the 11 am flight to Florida. Was still packing till 1 am. Amazing how friggin long it takes to put everything together. Of course, I always overpack but seeing as I am 56 years old now, the fact that I always overpack probably won't change in the near future. At 1:30, as I lay in bed trying to sleep, I would remember that I needed to print out maps or pack a flashlight, or....................... And being a little excited about the up and coming trip, I did not sleep a wink.

My friend Ian picked me up on time and our journey began. I believe I did fall asleep for 5 minutes somewhere along the way but no more than that. We arrived in Flint with a couple of hours to spare and had time to go for breakfast and a little shopping. My new dog Muckwa at home had chewed my running shoes that I was to wear on the trip. I was fortunate enough to find a nice SwissAir pair that fit perfect for $1.50 in a Salvation Army store. Bonus. We still got to the airport with time to spare. One may rightly assume that I was not in charge of this itinerary or we would have been late.

Now, with the new airline regulations, you are only allowed one carry on bag and one personal item (ie, purse). Of course, I had a little more than that. I was hanging my laptop, binoculars, and 2 purses around my neck and hugging on to my pillow with these things underneath trying to hide them, We boarded effortlessly and had a good laugh and a sigh of relief. Poor Ian, did not know what he was getting into coming onto a beventure with me.

The flight was not full, and I was allowed to lay down and stretch out across 3 seats. Ian also had 3 seats to lay down on. But being a light sleeper, and still a little excited, sleep did not happen for me. By the time we arrived in Fort Myers Florida, I was very tired. Ian was helping me carry some of my stuff off the plane. All we could think of was getting to the car rental agency and getting our car so we could unload and start the drive for the last party of the journey to the Florida keys. All of the sudden, I realized that I did not have my little small purse around my neck. My very important little purse with all my ID, passport, credit cards, and money in it. Absolute panic set in. I had so much stuff around my neck that I did not miss one more thing and the fact that Ian had grabbed some stuff made me not miss it too much. I told Ian to continue on to go get the car while I went to locate my purse. I spent the next hour desperately trying to get back to the plane to look for my purse. The information clerk sent me to the AirTrans counter. I explained that I had left my purse on the plane and that we had changed seats and that our gear had been moved in the upper compartment but security would not allow me through with no boarding pass and no ID. No one seemed willing to help. AirTrans said they were not responsible for things left on the plane but they would send someone to look for me.

I was made to wait for an hour and then was told that it was not on the plane and that the plane had already been boarded and had left for Boston. Fear totally took over my body. I could not find Ian anywhere. Many tears were shed at the police office in the airport. I kept looking out of the office for Ian while sobbing with the nice police officer. Suddenly I saw Ian and collapsed into his arms crying feeling like such a fool. All of this from me, a woman who never shows fear and never cries. He assured me not to worry, that all would be well. He had enough money to lend me and a credit card to use. What a great traveling buddy. All of this was good but it didn`t really feel like all was well at the moment. The officer asked again if I was sure that my purse was not somewhere in my other luggage. All of the sudden, my mind woke up a little. Perhaps the emotional release allowed some of the brain cells to fire again. I remembered back in the Flint airport, putting my little purse into my computer case so not to have so much stuff loading into the plane. Being tired sure does diminish brain function. What an amazing relief.

And so the journey continues with me feeling very vulnerable going off on a boat with 5 guys. We had an uneventful drive through the Florida everglades keeping our eyes peeled for alligators but saw nothing but vultures and lots of birds. I tried to sleep again but no such luck. When we arrived at the marina and found our fellow sailors, we soon learned that they have had their own adventure sailing down from Fort Myers. First of all the boat that was rented on line was not in the best shape. There were several problems including no holding tank for sewage, meaning you can not stay in any port or marina. There was a problem with the motor. There was quite a few things missing and things broken on the boat . But on the 14 hour trip down that they had taken to the Keys, they were caught in a severe thunderstorm off of the coast with no land in sight. It was a complete nightmare in the pitch black where they were afraid for their lives. When we met up with them, 2 of the guys, including our captain, were still seasick 2 days later. James had not come out of his cabin for a full day except to vomit.

So Ian and I arrive all excited to go sailing, and no one on the boat wants to go sailing. Can you believe it!! Well, I was incredibly tired after not sleeping for 2 days. I had a couple of stiff drinks of rum and headed off to bed. James gave up his cabin for me and had taken a small room on the front of the boat. I slept like a log. I hoped the morning would bring some better news. It was so nice to wake up on the boat and have coffee outside overlooking palm trees and smelling the ocean. Life did seem good even though no one wanted to sail. I thought, well, even if we just sit here in the marina, life would be good. But there was this problem with the lack of a holding tank to deal with. They had arrived and docked after the office was closed. So while I drank my coffee, my new mates were making arrangements. The bathroom and showers at the marina were very close to our boat so it was decided that the office would put plastic tie-off things over the toilet so that we would not be able to use it at the marina. This was fine with us. And then they poor mates that had weathered the storm wanted off of the boat. It was decided that we would take our rental car and go to Key West by car (an hour drive) and spend the night sleeping in a hotel on land. James and Patrick were still very dizzy even though they had tried all kinds of anti nausea pills.


Today we are back on the boat at Marathon and there is a strong wind blowing. There is a small vessel warning on so no boats are going out. This is why I have time to write this. I have a strong feeling that my mates will be feeling a bit better by tomorrow and we may venture out for the day. They say there will be no long trips out though so the thought of going to the Bahamas or Cuba is out of the question. But day trips will be just fine for me. Everything happens for a reason and I am glad that happened before we go on board. The fact that 3 of these guys are very seasoned sailors and that they are scared is enough to keep me happy at the marina. Ok, just heard that there is a special across the street for supper with crab claws for $1 so off we go