Winter Time in the Keys



Not everyone gets a Key Lime
Birthday pie!

 





Quite a motley crew!

Here they come!

Showing our support

A beautiful day for a scooter ride

Gathering up at the dock

Linda and Old Glory
waiting for the Wounded Warriors

Beautiful "birthday rainbow"!

Beautiful sky

Mr Manatee coming for a visit

Regular visitor here at the dock.
We've seen up to twenty in the harbor.

Gathering at the Hideaway Cafe

Finally a picture of an alligator
This one was at Blue Hole on Big Pine Key

Glad to have Jeff and Linda back.

Sending up another sky lantern for my birthday

Just another perfect evening in Paradise

Cooking up something good (again)

Poker Run dinghy ride

Getting ready to draw a card

Burdine's - one of our favorite stops

Yes, he is also the "dinghy captain"!

Off to the next stop

Another nice day but a little cool

Richard's perfect form during a game of "Corn Hole"

This says it all

Can you smell it cooking?

Rick - the proud Papa of the
Redneck Grill

We’ve had a very busy month since I last posted my blog.  There are so many boats here in the marina.  I think at last count there were over 40 people at one of the shindigs we had on the dock.  The weather has been great, however, we did have a few cold days by Florida standards.  There was about a week when we had to pull out the jeans and sweatshirts.  That curtailed the dock parties for a few days.  It was really cool when the sun went down.  I know that 50s and 60s are not thought to be cold where I come from but when you’re used to 70s and 80s it makes a difference!  Don’t get me wrong!  I’m not complaining just reporting the facts!  J  By the way, as I’m writing this it’s 78 and sunny.  Just sayin’!

A few weeks ago we held our own Poker Run – dinghy style.  There were thirteen dinghies and 33 people all together.  Mike and I were in charge of the pot and the cards.  They sure are trusting here!  Anyway, we all had a great time.  It was a beautiful day.  We went to the beach and made a few stops along the way including Burdines.  We drew the final card back at the dock.  Mike of Calypso Poet won the pot of $165.00 with a pair of Kings and a Jack. Don’t worry Mike, I’m not telling the IRS!  There is already a plan in works for another Poker Run in a few weeks.   Can’t wait!

Another night several of us went to dinner at the Hideaway Café.  It’s a neat little place tucked away on Grassy Key.  It’s a little nicer than what Mike and I are used to but we had a good time.  The food was great and the service was even better.  They took good care of our crowd and I’m sure that was no easy task!

Last week we decided it was time for a pizza party.  Patty from Conched Out Too took charge and ordered the pizzas and collected the money.  Again we had 40+ people there and a lot of pizza!  It was a beautiful night and we all had a good time.  We are definitely not short of good ideas of how to have fun and it always seems to encompass around food!

Mike has spent several afternoons fishing.  And we’ve had fresh fish for dinner several evenings!  Yesterday he went out with a friend we met here instead of in the whaler.  Dan has a fishing boat that can go farther out.  They went several miles out into 500+ feet of water and brought home black fin tuna! Yea!  Guess what we’re having for dinner tonight!  We would have had it last night but it was Taco Tuesday at Hurricanes and I already had my taste buds set for good greasy tacos!  Ha!

A couple of weeks ago there was a Wounded Warrior Ride here down US1 from Key Largo to Key West.  We all went out on the side of the road to show them our support.  It was really an emotional experience when they “rode” by in their custom bicycles/wheelchairs.  Those guys are amazing and I welled up with pride as they passed.  I think they enjoyed seeing us all out with our flags waving them proudly as they passed.  After that we all, of course, went to lunch at Hurricanes.  Can’t beat their $5 lunches!

I’ve also managed to make it to the beach a few times.  Mike isn’t much on just sitting at the beach but I could do it all day.  He rides the scooter over there about every morning to go for a walk but that’s about it for him.  Me – I can lay out there and watch the waves all day long…….

We are so glad that Jeff and Linda (Jeremiah) are finally here.  They are our cruising buddies we met along the Loop and live in Venice FL.  We went to the Nautical Flea Market in Big Pine Key that’s held every January.  Mike found a few things he couldn’t live without but that was about it.  We had lunch at No Name Pub.  It’s a great little place that isn’t the easiest place to find.  Decorated with dollar bills everywhere – I heard that there are over 500,000 dollar bills there – not sure about that.  Anyway, really good pizza and a great atmosphere.  We stopped along the way at Blue Hole State Park.  It’s an old quarry that was used during the building of the railroad.  The result is a big pond of water in a very serene setting that is home to a lot of wildlife including several alligators.  I finally got a picture of one of the smaller ones.   Pretty cool!

Karen, our “local”, invited us all over that night to have Happy Hour at her condo since it was too cool to have it on the dock.  How very nice!  We had a great time! We’ll be back over there for a Super Bowl Party.  Thanks Karen!

I was surprised on my birthday with a party on the dock! We are calling our group “Dock Dynasty”.  So one of the girls here made me a shirt that says Dock Dynasty on the front and everyone signed it on the back.  How thoughtful was that!  I love it!  Now everyone wants a shirt!  Ha!  I had the first one!  Mike “listened” and bought me the destination bracelet – the Marathon Bracelet”.  I love it and it was just what I wanted.  Wonder how he knew!  Thanks girls!  And thanks to everyone that made my special day even more special.  We had a big pot of 15 bean soup, “birthday” key lime pie - and we even sent up a couple of sky lanterns for good luck!   I managed to milk the birthday a little longer - so Mike took me to Key West that weekend.  They were having an Arts and Crafts show there and I wanted to go.  Now you know how interested he was in this stuff.  One thing for sure – these people in Key West are really attached to their goods.  Back home most items are at least somewhat reasonably priced but here – well let’s just say I didn’t buy much. “Paradise Ain’t Cheap” We still had a good time.  Lunch at the Half Shell Oyster Bar – yum!  Fun day!  Love Key West – just watching the people can be a good time!

Just last Sunday Rick smoked a couple of huge pork butts on his “Redneck Smoker/grill.  We all brought sides and had a scrumptious dinner.  The pork was so tender.  Rick is like a proud papa when it comes to cooking on his grill.  Can’t wait till we do that again!

While Rick was manning the pork butts, several of us decided to take a nice little dinghy ride.  It was such a nice day – the water was like glass.  We rode out to the beach and up and down several canals – ending up at our usual place Burdines.  Got back to the dock in enough time to fix our sides and head out to the cookout.  Tough life, huh.

One of the favorite local and tourist hangouts “Salty’s” burned to the ground a week or so ago.  We all loved that place.  They always had good food and great music about every night.  They were located out on the water, too - so it was always a fun place to go.  They are still investigating it.  There were several charter boats moored there that were damaged too.  Anyway, there’s a big fundraiser tomorrow night for the workers of Salty’s and the workers on the charter boats that were damaged too.  One of the local churches is having a spaghetti dinner and several of the local musicians that played at Salty’s have volunteered their time to play.  We’ll be there, I’m sure.  Eating spaghetti and getting down with the music.  What better way to help out. 

We had the fuel truck come by and load us all up.  I'm not sure how many boats took fuel but the truck holds 4500 gallons and I think it went home empty!  We took 200 gallons but that was a drop in the bucket as far as some of these boats around here! Got a good price this way.  Now we're ready to go somewhere whenever we figure out where and when!  

Looks like it might rain so I may have to postpone my trip to the beach this afternoon.  Oh well, I can always find something else to do.

Till next time!                                                                                                             

Admiral “C”