Libby's Good to GO!

Well, the tooth is fixed and we bought another phone, and Don called from Missouri Thursday night with great news: he and Cheryl received Libby's Bahamian dog entrance papers...in the mail! Here we've been waiting for the FAX to arrive at Tracy's office in Stuart! Cheryl's daughter, Holley, scanned and e-mailed them to us to print out, so Hooray! We celebrated Daren's 65th bday on Friday, July 20th. I'm glad to say he's hardly changed in these 35 years since we met in San Diego, just before his 30th! Boat life keeps him strong, healthy, and happy! We're still in Marathon, and still waiting for an outboard engine! Things don't happen very fast in the Keys! Mechanic Cody's working on a 15 HP Mariner for us, but we're not sure when it'll be ready! We'd like to leave for the Bahamas before lobster season begins in August, and the water becomes an obstacle course of traps! Tom up in Stuart is looking for an outboard for us, too, but we hope to find one here and make a bee-line for Bimini! Meanwhile, it's such a great spot! It's a very calm anchorage, and every morning, I row Libby over to the south end of the defunct bridge, where there's an old un-used road (since the bridge is out!), with nothing but trees and land crabs, a radio tower, and a few trash piles. Libby and I also found some burned-out bee hives...about 15 of them at the west end of the road. One colony's still buzzing with activity, but we didn't get too close, in case they're Africanized (aka killer-bees)! Boat neighbor, Kevin loaned us a great book, Voyage of Commitment, by Raymond Triplett. He and his wife made an 8 yr circumnavigation between 1973 and 1981, going west from San Francisco. They had some amazing and harrowing experiences! He reminds me of Dirk Pitt in those Clive Cussler novels....a quasi-super-hero getting out of tight jams! Triplett gives God credit, though, and of course, that's the key to his "luck"! I love this line: "Time, not money, is the real currency of our lives...when time is expended, it can never be replaced." There's a sobering thought! I'd better get off this computer!! : )

Tooth Delay!

We're still here in Marathon, and as the saying goes, "there's always something!" I broke a filling on some organic popcorn (should've used Orville's!) on July 3rd and am still trying to get it fixed. Today's the day, but I have sworn off popcorn forever! The dentist told me it's the #1 cause of broken fillings, which is small consolation. The delay was a result of the holiday, of course, so my timing was pretty bad! Daren's still trying to get our outboard engine fixed or find a good used one, but in the meantime, we're getting lots of rowing exercise! It looks like we might need a new cell phone, too! I think the charger just fried ours! It's real hot and won't turn on! I miss it already, but I guess it's good practice to live without it! We had a wonderful July 4th celebration with an amazing fireworks display and live music at a waterfront pub. Sue and Al left for Fort Myers Beach on Friday, the 6th, and it's been raining off and on ever since! At least the weather's cool, and we're meeting fun people here at the anchorage. Mike on "Fast Times", from England, just arrived from Cuba, which he does NOT recommend! He said the people are so depressed by their government, they wear long faces and the service is terrible (no work incentive!). He got sick twice from the food, and said there's next to nothing to buy in the "shops". Another neighbor, Kevin, on "Imma-Nu-El" has some amazing stories! He fell off his boat 10 miles offshore and managed to swim back to it while it was sailing! Quite a feat! He has a nice guest onboard from PA, and they just met on Craig's List! That's quite a leap of faith for both of them! I just finished reading Tania Aebi's inspiring book, Maiden Voyage, about her solo circumnavigation as a teenager in the mid-'80's!! (Thanks to "Flying Dogs"' previous owners, we have a very well-stocked cruising library!) It took Aebi 2 1/2 years, but what an achievement! She managed to by-pass Mexico, and we may follow her path to Panama by way of the Caribbean Islands. We heard from Jack and Sharolyn on Heaven's Island (our twin Islander 36 we met in Key West) and they made it safely to Isla Mujeres, where Jack teased that their trash and entry fees were confiscated, but they were allowed to keep their boat!) We hope to catch up to them again one of these days! You gotta hang on to friends who make you laugh! Hope you're enjoying your summer and staying cool! We're happy to stay here for awhile until we get everything ready for the Bahamas trip. We got a call from Sandy and Charles in Alaska last night, (we met in Port Mansfield and she cut my hair like hers) and they have us all beat, weather-wise! I'm sure it's gorgeous there!

Marathon Key

Al got back to Key West from Houston Friday, June 29th, in time for nice weather again! He missed all the rain and wind! We moved the boats back to the free anchorage and spent a day being tourists! The 4 of us left Key West Sunday morning and arrived at Boot Key Harbor on Marathon Key in time for a great outdoor dinner at a waterfront restaurant, Burdine's. It was a lovely day and we even got to sail a bit, once the wind shifted off the nose! Today, Sue and I hit the Publix grocery store and I did 3 loads of laundry. It's a very boat-friendly place, with about 300 moorings, which are mostly vacant this time of year! We've had a great time traveling with Wind Dancer, but tomorrow we'll part ways until they return to the Bahamas in November. They're heading back to Ft. Myers and we're going to Miami, stopping at Fiesta Key and Rodriguez Key on the way. There's no big hurry, as we're still waiting for Libby's dog papers to be faxed from Nassau! I called again this morning, and they still haven't rec'd our application and money order sent 2 weeks ago! Hopefully, they'll get it SOON! It's such great weather in the Keys...nice breeze and temp. between 80 and 90 degrees, but it'll be a lot hotter in Miami. We don't have AC unless we're tied to a dock, which is why we're heading for the Bahamas. Congratulations to Tracy, who just got engaged to a wonderful guy! (He'd HAVE to be!) We got a laugh out of her e-mail announcement and photo of her "4th of July Sparkler!" We'll have to wear shades when we see that huge rock and meet her fiancee'! They plan to drive down from Stuart to Miami, hopefully with Libby's Bahama dog papers! It's great to have friends with FAX machines! Have a wonderful Independence Day celebrating our Country's freedom!