pre New Years anchoring out--night time

In the end, it wound up being a good thing that we weren't anchored close to anybody else.  Because the deck of HemiD rapidly turned into disco inferno.

So, we started off with Sundowners, courtesy of our lovely icemaker.  And mother nature blessed us with her usual beauty.

Then bring on the dancing girls and boys. Holy cow.  It's amazing how spreader lights and a flashlight strobe will bring out the inner stripper in anybody.  ... oh, and alcohol...that too.

But--there's a background story to this.  Our slip neighbors a few boats down had installed a stripper pole on the back of their powerboat cruiser.  Yes.  A. Stripper. Pole.  Lighting in fact.  And they got a 'career' gal from downtown to test said stripper pole.

Luckily, we sailors come equipped with stripper poles already, the above deck on is about 55 feet high, and down below our compression pole does quite well in a pinch.

And...who knew that Toby Keith's Red Solo Cup would launch said dance-a-thon.

So, yes, luckily we were out aways from everybody, because we were definitely the problem boat on the anchorage.  However, I think we out-partied the stripper pole boat that also had gone out to Boca Grande for the night.

However, we did not quite make New Year's officially the next day.  I think we were all zonked by 10pm.

pre New Year's anchoring out--daytime

And then there were four miscreants aboard the HemiD.

Our friends from Kansas City joined us for a few days over the New Year's holiday.  After giving them the whirlwind tour of Key West, we planned for our next couple days to be out on the water.

It was recommended to us that we go out to Boca Grande Key, around 12 miles west of Key West.  Winds were light, but it still made for a lovely sail out there, no cruise ships, shrimping boats or barges to dodge.

We arrived and got up as close to the island as we could, which was still aways out, but I figgered we better drop anchor in at least 7 feet of water.  

Of course, just to mess with our friend Michael's engineering mind, HemiD rapidly did her 90 degree angle to the anchor rode trick that she's so fond of doing.  We figgered it would happen because the tidal currents from the 'gulf' side to the 'ocean' side of all of these keys are quite active.  It was obvious soon that we were nice and set in the great sandy bottom so we loaded up in Tiny Dancer to explore the island.

Thus, Tim's torture of our friend Kimberly with the Torqeedo (aka Prius motor).  There's a lovely display on the motor that tells you how much charge you have, range, speed, etc.  It's run by a built in GPS and pretty accurate, but that doesn't stop my husband from shouting out, we only have 30% charge left.  Yes, HemiD did look aways off.  But that's what oars are for.

There were signs stating that to keep off the island because of nature preserve, so we for the most part kept in the water.  Well, Kimberly and I did, the boys sat in the dinghy and drank beer.

The crew on shore leave.

The boys on dinghy duty.

Boca Grande

Later we went explored a bit more via dinghy.  Met some folks that were in the channel on their CSY.  So we asked how they got so close, and they proceeded to tell us it's not so bad, if we get over the 20 foot sandbar without grounding.  If we got to them before nightfall they'd lead us in a bit deeper to anchor overnight.

After a little thought, we decided that we were fine where we were.  No need to tempt the fates of the grounding gods.

And much to Kimberly' happiness--we made it back to HemiD without running out of Torqeedo juice.

Once again, with the names

Okay, first of all.  The Spouse and I are not the cutesy couple with matching boat outfits and other assorted goofiness.  We for the most part, manage to get by on a daily basis (at least in working hours) as normal human beings with respectable jobs and positions of authority.

However, when it comes to assorted boat toys, it seems everything has to have a name.  Don't ask me why, I have a feeling alcohol becomes involved....note:  Tiny Dancer

So, as we were hanging out having sundowners the day after Christmas (if you live in cold climates, just stick carrots in your eyes now).  And gloating over our new purchases that we had been buzzing around on just earlier that day in the warm tropical air, saying: this doesn't suck.

So I proceed to yammer on about the Montagues and the Capulets. (Our bikes are Montague brand) To which my Tom Clancy, British Naval history reading husband goes WTF?

Sigh.

So, thus begins the Cliff's notes version of Romeo and Juliet.

And then, spouse:  the bikes are now Romeo and Juliet.

And to further cement the fate that has thus bestowed upon his cleverness, we see this sign later on Duval:

BTW--Michael, if you read this, yes, you were riding Juliet.  However, I won't let the guys know...oh, wait....whoops.

Sorry.

However, kind sir, thou was such a noble knight to traverse back and forth to the rental car company with Sir Compy Comp to procure more motorized transportation.

Keeping the economy alive one boat toy at a time

It's been a pretty productive day for our pocketbooks. However, one thing was already purchased and the other two kinda fell in our laps like a gift from the Key West gods.

The first became top of the spouses rapidly evolving priorities concerning all things sailboat after the requisite rum drink after snorkeling was delivered sans ice.  That JUST won't DO.  (Something about us and wanting sweet fruity drinks after snorkeling, I think it's to counteract the salt water).

So after much OCD research, my boy picked out an icemaker and had it delivered to the marina.  Storage of this bad boy is up for debate because it just might require that Tim would have to reallocate some of his junk pile space for it.  We shall see.  However, tonight, we've christianed it with drinkie drinks, it works and that's groovy.

Ice is civiliation.--Harrison Ford in Mosquito Coast.

The second purchase wound up being the dumb luck coup of the century.  We were wandering around downtown Key West and we stopped by West Marine.  So we decided to ask about folding bikes and some sales we saw advertised and blah, blah, blah.

Now, I had some requirements for my boat bike, it had to be easily to adjust seat/handle bar height, break down and NO SMALL WHEELS!  Holy crap, I do not need one more thing to make me look goofy.  However, I get those bikes, I really do, they just ain't for Miss Legs here.

So while chatting with West Marine dude, we told him what we were looking for and he says:  "I have those in the store."

What? WHAT? Seriously? OMG--mega super monster West Marine doesn't even have these in stock. There's a reason, they are stock that don't quite move so well, if the dustiness of the bikes was any indication.

So, I left my husband to start wheeling and dealing, yep, sure enough, they want the bikes gone, and they matched the price we found on the internet.  Whoo hoo.  Bike-o-rama!

So, now we have collapsible bikes for the boat and in-port visits.  We biked around town dodging the Conch Train and tourists for a while and then Tim used his to bike back from the airport after returning the rental car.

One thing after we visited the Eaton Bike Shop I didn't get and I wish I had was the bell that says "Get the f*&# out of my way"  After having the third cruise ship passenger just barge into traffic in front of me I was ready to run some folks down.

So here's our new acquisition---

Christmas gifts....

Last night my husband started lamenting on how he's so sorry he didn't get me a Christmas present and he'd been so busy at work--or it could have been the alcohol.

Hello?

We had already agreed on no presents a LONG time ago, but that's not the point.

I'm here, it's 80 degrees and I'm on my boat.

I think that's all the Christmas present I need.....

Merry Christmas from Key West!

We arrived without a hitch to Ft. Lauderdale yesterday. (Well, there was a close call when the 3 year old behind me coughed right into my face, but my spouse was able to disentangle my fingers from around the little tyke's throat---but if I wind up getting sick, I will hunt the little bugger down).

After the required visits to Southport Raw Bar and West Marine we headed south. 

Friday we had got a call from the marina that our alarm is going off, when that happens it's supposed to call Tim's phone, but he uh, yeah, forgot to renew the SIM card so no ringy-dingy for him.

Now the alarm can go off for several reasons, I think ours is just set up for intruder and high water. (!!!) Finally we got somebody to get on deactivate it and check to see if she's floating. 

Everything is fine, so why did the alarm go off?  We had several theories, but the answer actually came when we arrived on the boat.

We done got no shore power, Lt. Dan.

Evidently, somebody borrowed our hose and coiled it up and threw it back towards our pedestal-in which is clipped our shore power and knocked it loose from the adapter (we have to have a freaky two pronged 30 to 50 amp adapter to get power here--oh and not short out the marina).

So, HemiD was dead as a doornail, she had obviously been that way for awhile. Not good on the batteries.

So any apologies we felt for the neighbors possibly having to listent our Klaxon was quickly erased by a dead boat AND....even WORSE....NO COLD BEER WAITING FOR US!

However, we got hooked up kinda wrapped the cord and adapter so it can't get knocked loose and we'll work on a more fool proof solution today.  (duct tape)

Merry Christmas to all!

Of grounding dinghies and chasing schooners

First, there was trouble in paradise.  But I'm happy to say no spouses were injured in the making of the post.

So, while in Key West we made an attempt to go out.  It started out okay, but gradually got rougher as we went into deep water, oh, and the cruise ship channel, and all the charter boats.

Fun, huh.

Then spouse need to take an 'important work call'. WTF?  So, now, I'm up above, slogging on a broad reach, getting tossed about and dodging traffic.

I officially, call NO FUN, DUDE!  And husband pops up and says, well, if you aren't willing to handle this, why do we have a boat, if you want to motor, why don't we have a motor boat.

And then, he cringes as he sees the transformation into She Hulk.  (My eyes actually do change color, it's super cool).

I reply, and I'm not going to say it was in a nice way, or calmly, or anything like that, I reply:

1--Sailed 100 miles freezing my ass off.
2--Sailed 50 miles with rain in my face at 30 kts and no visibility because: a dodger ain't really necessary says the spouse
3--Spent many a mile on watch so my business owner spouse can work.

Hello? I THINK I'VE EARNED my right to say: No fun, I'm on vacation, don't really want to participate in this day sail. So, he asks if we can at least start SAILING back.  Which sent me back into a tizzy, yeah, because this has been so much fun downwind, let's just point our nose into it.

So after beating him verbally into submission, we pull in the sails and head back up to the marina.  And boy is it groovy.  In which, by my side, I hear a meek, okay, yeah, sailing wouldn't have been very nice like this.  HAH!  HA HA HA!  Told you so!

However, this story ends a lot better.

The day after we took the dinghy out to explore the area, we grounded it.  Not super dramatic, just one of those, you might not want to go that way, it's pretty shallow......never mind.  So we turned it into a game of guess how deep the water is, both of us wishing we had our handheld depth meter with us.

After our day of stillness, we finally had some agreeable sightseeing day cruise weather, so we did. And it was good.

And my husband chased down two schooners and passed them, very proud of his captaining skills. However, this was not hard considering they were deliberately heave to so that a wedding ceremony could go on.

That's my guy, and we lived happily ever after.

Man ain't go not business hassling the wedding boats.

Belated Updated Thanksgiving Feast

So this year was the 3rd year in the past 5 that we had Thanksgiving on the boat, and since this year we hadn't slogged down the coast for the past 12 hours, I thought I'd work on my galley skills.

I had all but perfected my tropical inspired Macadamia nut stuffing in the oven, but alas, the spouse was trying to adhere to a new low carb, wheat free diet.  No, he's not a celiac, he just plays one on TV.

What I did wind up with was healthy, colorful and perfectly suited for the tropics.  On a scale of 1-10 on the meal:
Butternut squash--5
Bok Choy Provencal - 7
Jerked Cornish Game Hen - 10

Butternut squash, now okay, this would have been better if I had either used precut frozen (not an option) or a fresh squash.  And after my wrestling match with the largest spaghetti squash I had ever met just the night before, I was done with the squash family. and knives. cleaning sticky, gooey, squash mess from all over the boat, myself, Tim, my hair.

So, what my attempt to make was a dish that my chef friend Jay had taught me, sautéed butternut squash with garlic and cayenne pepper.  I was almost there, but using precut butternut squash from the deli, well, after awhile, parts get mushy and parts stay intact, so my result TASTED okay, but it was a half mashed, half undercooked presentation and I wasn't happy with my result.

Bok Choy Provencal--turned out pretty good, but I might be too much of a purist to use Provencal type preparation with Bok Choy.  However, it was good, but I think I left out some seasoning, because the recipe seemed kinda bland.  Pretty presentation, though.  By the way, according to my recipe, Provencal is tomatoes, olives, garlic, onions, etc.

Jerked Cornish Game Hen -- Winner! First of all, come frozen so they have a good shelf life in the fridge, cheap as hell (I paid $6 for two), and grill master Compy Comp was able to create a thing of beauty, and this was with the Magma.  After they got thawed out, I washed and dried them, for spice monster Tim I used straight jerk seasoning that I bought at the store, and not no Lawry's or Kraft shit either, some regionally distributed stuff that was the consistency of paste and the smell made you purr.  However, as much as I like jerk seasoning, I am a spice wimp, so I waited about 8 hours before seasoning mine and added a bit of brown sugar (oh, thank you Microwave, oh keeper of my dry goods).  I think Cornish game hen will be in the rotation, versatile, cheap and MagmaBoss can good it up real good.

So below, here's a pic of Thanksgiving ala HemiD style. Since I was starving, I didn't worry about setting up the glamour shot.  Hey Hunter, willing to give me some $$$ for the free endorsement?

This picture is just missing Macadamia nut stuffing.  Seriously.

So, speaking of Bok Choy.  I prepared it again this past week, with asparagus, mushrooms, peanuts, red bell peppers and a coconut/lime/pepper sauce.  Delish.

And suddenly I hear several sailing sisters belting out a chorus of Coconut by Harry Nilsson.

Eat, drink and be merry.