Spring Has Sprung in the Keys!

Sunset at the Seven Mile Bridge
Happy Anniversary!

I love this picture!

Mikey (aka Pancho) enjoying fresh
lobster at the Seafood Festival!

Island Vibe - great reggae band

Myles Marcuso - love this blues guy!

The Color Guard at the festival
The girl in blue sang the National Anthem.
Amazing! 

This was the poster for the festival this year
I love it!

Happy St Paddy's Day!
Rick and Terese!

Celebrating being Irish!

Gotta have the bagpipes on
St Patrick's Day!

William and Judy - you're too cute!

Enjoying the party!

Dinghy ride to Gilligan's Island
Beautiful day!

Another dinghy ride in the harbor

I love it when it's calm -
 we can enjoy
the ride!

Great day for the beach!

William and Judy heading out
Safe travels!

Mikey is so proud!
Found this great grill - in the dumpster!
All the guys are jealous!

One last trip to No Name Pub!

Flying over the marina!

Here's our ride!

Getting ready to go!

Mike had to help start her!  HA!

Ready to go!  Looking like Snoopy!

Mike discussing our flight plan
with the Pilot (Evan)

Great pic of the harbor

Flying over the Seven Mile Bridge

Right after this shot - we saw a shark!

Out over the reef

Sombrero Lighthouse

Loving the ride!

Easy to see just how shallow the water is
near to shore!

Here's looking at you kid!

Another beautiful evening in the harbor

The sky is always beautiful

One of our last sunsets in the harbor
for the season

Spring has sprung and most of us are trying to decide where and when we are going!  March always seems to be a busy month for all of us.  We’ve played all this winter so now we must start charting our course, stocking the galley and “fixing” all the things that need to be “fixed”.  Mike has been busy “fixing” and I’ve been “stocking”.  If all works out like we planned, we will be leaving for the Bahamas sometime during the first week of April.  We’ll be leaving here in a few days and heading north so we can stage our crossing.  We’ll stay in the Bahamas 6-8 weeks and then cross back over to the USA near Stuart FL.  Then we’ll work our way north up the east coast to Norfolk VA where we’ll finally cross our wake and finish the Great Loop!  We started the Loop in May 2011 in Norfolk so that is where we’ll end it “officially”.  But who knows what we’ll do after that!

The month of March hasn’t been all work and no play!  So here are a few things we’ve managed to do!

We were able to enjoy the company of a couple of our friends from back home.  Steve Smith and Steve Mounce stopped by on their way to Key West.  They were on their motorcycles and had come to Florida to enjoy the weather and Daytona Bike Week.  They couldn’t let a chance to ride to Key West go by.  We had dinner with them at the Island Fish Company where they both tried hogfish for the first time.  It was so good to see them and catch up on everything back home. 

Our anniversary was March 13.  This year it fell on a Friday but we didn’t let that bother us!  We spent a beautiful evening at Sunset Bar & Grille where we saw the sun set over the Seven Mile Bridge.  It was a wonderful evening – we had a great meal and toasted ourselves with a few cocktails. 

That weekend was the 39^th Annual Marathon Seafood Festival!  This is always a great event!  It’s second only to FantasyFest that is held in Key West in October.  There were lots of good food and great music!  We hung out most of the day with our boating buddies listening to music and watching the people.  We had so much fun that we even went back on Sunday for more!

Of course, March 17 was St Patrick’s Day so we had to celebrate!  Several of us went to one of our favorite watering holes – The Marathon Ale House.  They served up some great corned beef and cabbage and bangers and mash!  We even had a bagpiper come in to play for us.  He was a member of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Dept.  Very cool!

We managed to take another dinghy cruise.  The weather was perfect for a trip out to Gilligan’s Island.  This is just a small island about a mile out from the beach.   When the tide is low – it’s a great place to just drop an anchor and “bob” around in the water. The water was 85 degrees – the sun was shining bright - and the beer was cold!  What a fun day!

On Friday, March 20 we finally scratched off an item on our bucket list!  We took a bi-plane ride!  We had wanted to do it on our anniversary but it was too windy.  The weather was perfect and the ride was spectacular!  We went at low tide so we could really see the bottom.  We flew over the harbor, the Seven Mile Bridge and out to the Reef and over the Sombrero Lighthouse.  The water was crystal clear. We saw a bull shark, several barracuda and even a sea turtle.   I hugely recommend this ride to anyone that wants to see just how beautiful the Keys are.  It was amazing!

This past weekend we had another (and maybe our last) cookout.  Rick fired up the grill and we cooked ribs, butts and whatever else we could think of!  

 It’s been a great season here.  We’re going to miss everyone.  However, we’ll be seeing several again on the waterways, I’m sure!

The next time, if all goes well, I’ll be posting from the Bahamas!  We tried to make it last year but things didn’t work out that way.  So we’re keeping our fingers crossed!

Till next time!

Admiral “C”