It ain't all about the restaurants

Sometimes its a good yummy grilled dog and some conch fritters and cheap Copa wine.  (I couldn't take pics of the Danger Dog (hot dog wrapped in Bacon, deep fried and served Chicago style or my regular grilled dog with all the fixings plus cheese) mainly because I was rapidly covered in all sorts of cheesy gooey mess.

Also, the fun loving owner of the Conch shack, thanks so much for the dogs!

Not as bad as I feared.

Good for absorbing alchol!

Not sure what the spouse was reading, but it was entertaining.

Dinghy Cruising

Not much wind, so we decided to goof off in the dinghy.  An extra application of sunscreen should have been applied, whoops.

Mostly around the surrounding channel and a quick buzz to the Navy marina (go away, Navy property, you must not see us playing on the beach and having cookouts)

Boat's name is Happyness. Don't look so happy.

Cruising through the mangroves.

Navy marina with their cookout area/beach over on the right.

Osprey family on a abandoned power line less than thrilled we were checking them out.

Pelican 1, Me 0

We decided to go out for a dinghy ride, which was quickly diverted back to the boat after a annoyed pelican (we had gotten to close to his piling evidently).

So, as he flew off he decided to release a payload and it was mostly on me.  In case you have never had a pelican crap on you, it's pretty much like being nailed with warm mayonnaise that smells like rotting fish.  Good times.

Of course, because I owe the spouse a few good chuckles, he took some pictures.  I had got most of the loveliness off my arms by the time he grabbed the camera.

I should be grateful I didn't get it smack in the kisser.

YUCK!

The Turtle Hospital in Marathon

In all the years we have been coming down to the Keys we have never stopped to take a tour of the turtle hospital.  We have often heard calls over the VHF when people are trying to get in touch with the Florida Parks and Wildlife due to injured turtles.

Visiting the hospital was a very interesting experience, and truly makes you more aware of who you are sharing the ocean with.  There are only 7 species of sea turtle in the world, and many of them are endangered. 

Some of the functions the hospital performs are surgery, laser surgery, rehabilitation, release and when all else fails humane euthanization.

To learn more about the Turtle Hospital of the Keys (there are many throughout the world), visit turtlehospital.org

The surgical suite.  There is a vet that donates his time to help the turtles.

Some of the patients in recovery, due to them being cold blooded reptiles, the anesthetic
procedure is a lot more complecated.

One of the patients in a recovery tank.

The permanent residents in the tidal tank.

BeBopping around on Bikes

We took the bikes out for some adventuring, it was nice to get the handlebars up and less pressure on my bruised hands.

Note to self: When visiting a botanical garden in the tropics, make sure to wear 10 gallons of DEET, I got demolished by noseeum bites.

Wasn't able to take pictures because they were closing early for Christmas and we got chased out.

However, just outside the gardens were these Cuban chugs. A testament to what lengths people will go to for a chance at the American Dream.

Daysailing

We took HemiD out for a jaunt around the area and to test out our 'not really broken' furler. It's never worked better.

It's always interesting to get down around where all the main ship channels meet, because then we get to play chicken with the big boys.

And in case you are wondering, sailing on the leeward side of a cruise ship at port will totally put you in irons :-).  We weren't the only sailboat that did that.

Hoist the ensigns!

Newest addition to the Key West tourist fleet. The Duck.

Big boat steal wind.

Give way to the Coasties, sir, yes sir!

Saying by to the Carnival ship after watching her disembark.

Merry Christmas ala Key West.

 

Our personal favorite came via the Key West Parking Department, saved us some serious $$$$ over the weekend!

 

 



 

 

 

Holiday Travelling

Traveling in the wintertime from anywhere North of the frost line is always a challenge.

Then add to the recipe:
1. Holiday travellers
2. Amateur hour travellers  (what do you mean I can't bring my water/$19 Starbucks/soda with me? I just bought it outside the security area.)
3. 15,000 cranky children
4. Big winter storm.
5. And me.

I started out the day by wiping out in the parking lot on a patch of ice. One minute I had feet, the next minute I didn't and wound up flat on my back.  After catching the breath that was knocked out of me, I call out to the spouse: "Help?"  To which spouse replies, "Where the hell are you?" To which I reply, "Try looking down." To which he replies, "Oh shit, are you broke?"  Maybe?  Since it was one of those sudden loss of traction meets gravity moments, I went down so quick I didn't have time to really tense up, otherwise I most likely would have broken my wrist.  As it turned out I had a pretty nasty gash on my hand and bruised up both my hands, my elbow and a few lower vertebrae. However, it was a 'lucky' fall.

Ouch!

Unfortunately, the day before we had to leave there was a big storm that cancelled all the flights out of the KC area.  So, we arrive at Oh-Dark-Thirty to catch our flight and I see a trillion people standing OUTSIDE the terminal to Southwest and about 3 TV news vans.

I think-oh, shit-bomb threat-this is seriously going to screw up my arrival time in Key West. Because it's ALL about me.

It was actually about the sheer numbers of travellers due to two days worth of holiday travel trying to get out.

Thanks to having Southwest A-List status, we were able to jump all the lines and got on the plane fine.  There were several people that were losing it on the TSA folks and I thought--most thankless job in the world.  However, a smile and a Happy Holidays from Tim and I really seemed to be appreciated.  Random acts of kindness, people.

Now for the Southwest Luvfest.  We took off late from KC for our trip to Houston, they held the plane due to the long lines.  Very nice gesture.  They made up time in the air, but we arrrived in Houston with 6 minutes to our next flight.  Seven of us tore across the terminal--Airport Mathmatics: The distance between gates is exponentially proportional to the amount of time you have to get to you next gate--to arrive at the gate with nobody around and everybody boarded..

I have already posted my lack of enthusiasm for Delta's customer service practices, if this had been a Delta flight, we would have been SOL and given a lecture about close connection times to boot.

But we were on Southwest, so the gate agent comes out from the jetway, big smile, THERE YOU GUYS ARE, we've been wating for you! and gets us on board.  HOW AWESOME WAS THAT.

So, the KC seven get on board, we head for a stop/go to Tampa, able to move up seats during layover. Smiles all around, meeting our fellow adventurers, and all making a bet that our luggage was still in KC.

Oh, no. This is Southwest, our luggage made it.  I don't know how they pulled off that Christmas miracle, but THANK YOU SOUTHWEST!!!!!  I luv you!

I love this cat

Pretty much all it takes to put a smile on my face.

www.grumpycats.com

Two idiots and a furler

So, per my previous post.  We thought our furler was broken.  In our defense, we did have some issues with it being mistreated during shipping.

However, that does not excuse two semi-bright, completely sober people opting out of the instruction manual to install a sail that they've done, oh, maybe twice in the ownership of the boat.

So our lovely pal from the rigging shop calls to very nicely say, you freaking morons, The furler is fine.

1.  Needed some lube on the bearings (yep)

2.  You installed the sail incorrectly. (whoops)

3. You put the stopper in upside down (eeek)

Since it's national be kind to mentally challenged sailors month, we are going to give you a break.

THANK YOU!