Garrison Bight Moorings

Friday, we moved from Wisteria Island over to the moorings east of Fleming Key. We left with Wind Dancer about noon and felt a huge relief when we went from rough stuff to lake-like protected water. Our young friends Ryan and Amanda (Millenium Falcon) crewed on Wind Dancer (since Al's in Houston), and Daren, Ryan, and Amanda all got soaking wet (big waves and pouring rain!) on their way back to Millenium Falcon, which Daren and Ryan towed (no rudder) to a calmer spot at Wisteria Island. Sue and I were biting our nails waiting for Daren to get home, but of course, he was fine. We are all sleeping well again, not having to worry about dragging the anchor or getting tossed about! It was fun to finally meet Sharolyn and Jack on their identical Islander 36, Heaven's Island. They're still planning on going to Isla Mujeres and on to Rio Dulce, Guatemala as soon as this weather improves, but have been waiting here for over a week! It's blowing hard and raining a lot, and everyone's watching the track of Tropical Storm Debbie, which is in the Gulf. Let's hope it just fizzles out. Our friend Kat from M/V Zesson is here, too, waiting for Patrick to get back from Switzerland. He has a pretty cool job as a pilot for a Greek billionaire. She's British and writing a book at Finnegan's Wake while he's away. It's such a lovely pub, she feels right at home there! Speaking of books, friend Stephanie (Tally Ho!) gave me an excellent book called The Help. I couldn't put it down, and I'm not usually a fiction fan. We signed up for 3 days on the moorings ($18/night adds up fast!), but may stay a few more until this weather lets up! It's SO windy, it's nice to stay put! Libby does pretty well on a leash, but she's afraid of cars, and there's plenty of traffic on US 1. She's such a couch-potato, she doesn't really need to go to shore, but hates to be left alone now that Pete's gone! Stephanie told me I could go to a psychiatrist who could have her designated an "emotional support" dog. Very tempting, because then she could go everywhere with us....airplanes, restaurants. I think she'd have to be better trained, though! : ) And I'm reluctant to see a psychiatrist! Sounds expensive! Last night, on Sue's boat, Libby jumped into our dinghy (on davits, which broke loose!) and started swimming over!! She's crazy, but we love her to death!

Farewell Dear Pete

Today we had to have our Pete put to sleep. Most of you are dog-lovers, too, and know how hard this is. However, we're trying to look on the bright side. Thanks to his surgery by Dr. Stork back in Rockport, TX in Oct, he got an extra 8 months of quality life to run around and chase birds! It's true that his left leg was getting lumpy again, but it wasn't until a few days ago that it swelled up to twice its size and he was clearly in pain. This morning, we decided to take him over to Stock Island. A nice vet referred us to the SPCA for reduced-cost euthanasia and cremation, and we were glad that the Pink Cabs here allow dogs to ride. I can't say enough nice things about the SPCA! They were so kind and compassionate and only charged us $35, which was really helpful. Daren was with Pete until the end. I was there with our last cancer-ridden dog, Dixie, and just couldn't do it today, so I guess we take turns. For all the crying we've done, we still believe dogs are worth every tear you shed when they go to dog Heaven! Pete will be sorely missed, but I think Miss Libby will be happy to be an only child! She might even lose a few pounds, as she was constantly stealing his food!! Dogs have such short lives, but they teach us an important lesson: Every day we have here on this earth is a gift, and we need to follow a dog's example of showing all the love we can to all the people we can, every chance we can! (with apology to John Wesley)

Key West

We've been here at Wisteria Island anchorage in Key West for a whole week, having arrived last Thursday. After we left Fort Myers, we spent 3 nights in Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas with Wind Dancer and had a great time touring the Fort and finally being in clear water. The dogs weren't happy though, since they had to be on leashes and not allowed on the bird sanctuary island at all! No surprise there! We spent another night in the Marquesa Islands, but couldn't take the dogs to shore there, either! That's one great thing about the anchorage here: we can take the dogs to shore and let them run! It's just a low scruffy island that apparently can't support development, so the dogs lucked out! We've been enjoying the town of Key West, but I have yet to find the grocery store! The weather's been windy and rainy, but it can't last forever! Daren was able to get an internet signal here on the boat today, which is great, since I didn't have much luck at the library! We need to get dog papers for the Bahamas and then we can head on down. Stephanie on Tally Ho! has been a great guide! I'm sure I'd never've found the laundromat without her! Amanda and Ryan on Millenium Falcon introduced us to a great Irish Pub, Finnegan's Wake, with $5 hamburgers at happy hour and homemade french fries! It's a fun town, but the anchorage is a bit roll-y at times, like yesterday and today! UGH! We'll be glad when this front moves out of here!

Leaving Fort Myers Beach!

We're heading for the Dry Tortugas today about noon, with our friends Sue and Al, who are celebrating their 30th anniversary on Sunday. We're looking forward to snorkeling at the underwater park with them for a couple days. We've had a change of plans. We've been increasingly concerned about going to Mexico AT ALL, and Thursday had further confirmation that it was a REAL bad idea. I met a really nice man, Mike, who told me more stories of murders and kidnapping on his property in Arizona, which is why he left and came here! He's the one who brought it up when I told him how much we are enjoying Fort Myers Beach, so when I told him we'd been planning to go to Isla Mujeres or Puerto Juarez, on our way to Rio Dulce, he said "DON'T GO!". Sometimes God gets our attention in really obvious ways through other people. So Daren and I decided to head on over to the Bahamas for the summer. I know it's hurricane season, but we can dodge them in the Bahamas as well as here in Florida, or so we hope! We won't be online as much as before, so bear with us and please don't worry, just say a prayer when you think of us!

Fort Myers Beach/Punta Blanca Island (Cayo Costa)

We left Clearwater Thursday morning, May 24th, and had a lovely day until about 7 pm! Then....yikes! High winds, nasty seas, driving rain, and lightning! The only thing missing was the scary music, but I knew we had lots of friends praying for us, (thank you!) and that we'd be fine. What a long, sleepless night, but the dogs were real troopers! They didn't get sick, whine, or even drool! I kept hearing Mom say, "This too will pass!", and she was right!! It also helped to think of it as a big washing machine, thanks to Meredith on "Bahamamama"! By dawn, all was well with the world, and we sailed through the Boca Grande cut and anchored at Punta Blanca Island, near Captiva. I rowed the dogs in for a well-deserved romp on the deserted beach, Daren changed the fuel filter, we ate lunch, and then headed for Ft. Myers Beach anchorage to see Sue and Al, whom we hadn't seen since November! It was a great reunion, and we all went to a wonderful outside dinner at Nervous Nellie's...in Sue and Al's dinghy, which turned out to be a mistake! When we got home, we found Libby tied to the wheel in the cockpit and DAMP! Hmmmm. Next morning, I met our kind neighbors Randy and Margaret on S/V "Neariad", who fished her out of the water...twice! Randy said the second time he saw her swimming, he brought a piece of line! Thank God they saw her! I shudder to think what would've happened to our sweet Libby, who tried to jump into the dinghy...and missed! Randy said she'd have swum to shore and been returned to us because of her chip! Still, we won't make THAT mistake again! We've had a wonderful time here with Sue and Al. The anchorage is really nice, with a dinghy dock and nice laundry and showers, and lots of restaurants and resorts. Fort Myers Beach has really changed for the better since we last saw it in '92, but the dogs have to be on leashes and they HATE that! The place was packed for Memorial Day weekend, but Sunday, we had a wonderful visit from Tom and Jodie, who we hadn't seen in 6 yrs! We met them in Nassau during the Christmas storm of '94. They live in Stuart and brought Daren a SCUBA tank we gave him when we sold our trawler in 2001! Good thing he didn't charge us storage! : ) We had lunch and then drove to a West Marine store. They are SO entertaining! Tom knows EVERYONE, and even met the founder of Bacardi Rum while captaining a boat in Puerto Rico. Tom learned the real reason there's a red bat on the bottle! Yesterday, we decided to bring the dogs back over to a deserted beach, but had to go 30 miles back to the one near Captiva! Deserted beaches are hard to come by around here!! We are waiting for more courtesy flags we ordered that we thought Tom and Jodie would bring us Sunday, but they hadn't arrived yet! It's tempting to leave without them, but Al and Sue would like to join us on the trip to the Dry Tortugas (west of Key West) and they're waiting for a battery charger anyway, and friends of theirs, Jack and Sharolyn, on an Islander 36 just like ours are going to meet us there, too. They're in Marathon at the moment, waiting for mail, too. Then we're off to Mexico, Belize, and Rio Dulce, in Guatemala, which is a great hurricane hole!