Happy New Year 2017!

       Sorry for the long delay since the last post!  We've been back and forth between Georgetown, Bahamas and Slidell, Louisiana!   Daren saw a pop-up ad for a Marine Trader trawler in Louisiana just before his birthday in July 2015!   Friends Candy and Orvil who we'd met in Port Mansfield, TX, checked it out for us, highly recommended it, did the sea trial, and we bought it sight unseen!  They even moved it to their lovely marina where it's been ever since!  It was great to escape to M/V Lagniappe (Creole for unexpected gift!) and avoid hurricane Joaquin that hit near Georgetown Oct.1, 2015.   This year, we missed another one, Matthew, that came through Georgetown Oct.5, 2016.   We weren't worried, because they'd never lost a boat in Hurricane Hole #2, where we keep Flying Dogs on a St. Francis mooring!   Amazingly and sadly, Hirricane Matthew sent 3 boats ashore in Hole #2 and SEVEN boats in Hole #3, which should be even more protected!   It was crazy and we're very grateful we missed it and that Flying Dogs was spared!
        We just had a lovely Christmas here with boat neighbors, Nancy and Curt on Rum Tum Tiger.  They left yesterday for Puerto Rico and beyond and we'll miss them!   Tomorrow night, New Year's Eve, the new Lumina Point resort is having a big party and midnight fireworks, so we'll enjoy the display from the comfort of Flying Dogs!!
       We're very optimistic about 2017 and hope you are, too!  Daren is still working at MVE in Modesto, CA, and they've agreed to give him the month of April off so we can move Lagniappe to the northern Bahamas!   It's a 1000 mile trip, and we don't want to rush!   A great Slidell boat neighbor, Mel, on Miss Mercedes, a 45' Columbia, is planning to bring his boat along with us!   It will be great fun to have his company!   I'm sorry to say, I've lost track of many of you, but I still have the same email address: flyngdgs@gmail.com   I'd love to hear your news!   Have fun, always, and a VERY happy new year!  🎉  Nancy, Daren, & Libby ~..~

Joaquin 30 Miles From Georgetown

We've been getting e-mails asking if we're OK after Hurricane Joaquin, and we heard that all the boats in Hole #2 survived unscathed!  Hooray!  Georgetown had a lot of wind and flooding, but the hardest hit were southern Long Island and the Acklins Islands.  Daren, Libby, and I are grateful to be far away from all the excitement...in Slidell, Louisiana, since mid-August.  Not that we're out of the hurricane zone!  This year was the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the survivors all have tales that make your hair stand on end!   It's incredibly beautiful here and the food is amazing, but we are heading back down to the Bahamas and Flying Dogs at the end of the month!  Time to fly south for the winter!  We were SO pleased to find Watermakers Airline, that let Libby ride inside a crate next to my seat in the cabin, nonstop from Georgetown to Ft.Lauderdale's Executive Airport!  We couldn't have had this vacation without them!

One Year in Georgetown!

     Thanks to encouragement from Michael and Pat in Texas, former owners of our boat,  I'm back on the blog after 6 months!  It's good to know people read it!  : )

     We extended our Bahamian cruising permit for another year!  Compared to the Florida Keys, Georgetown is an easy commute for Daren!   (Thanks Al on Wind Dancer, who commutes to Houston).  Daren takes Delta from Nassau to Atlanta to San Jose, then an MVE car to Modesto!  He gets there on the same day, thanks to 3 time zones!  So, we'll stay here in Hole #2, Stocking Island, on a St.Francis Resort mooring as long as he's at MVE.

      Georgetown is great!  Bahamians are proudly Christian, and not cowed by political correctness, so there's no confusion about gender or marriage, or Who made us!  Faith and love trump fear and anger!  The locals are friendly, happy, healthy, and speak English!  They're hard-working, entrepreneurial,  family-oriented, and know the 10 Commandments,  so there's very little crime!   We love the Bahamas and mostly Bahamians!   The beauty of these islands is an added bonus!  : )

       S/V Windhover, with Susi, Henk, and son Theo are now in the Dominican Republic, and signed up for 4 months at Marina Zar Par, near Santo Domingo, on the south coast.  They spent a lot of time in Ile a Vache, Haiti, and loved it!  We'd planned to travel with them in December and that was our destination for Daren's commuting adventure!  They love the Dominican Republic, and we may catch up when Daren retires, if Jesus doesn't return first, which is a distinct possibility! 

       Have a wonderful Independence Day Celebration this weekend!  Bahamian Independence Day is July 10, and Daren arrives!  Hooray!

Christmas Day at Emerald Bay!

    Hope you had a great Christmas!  The holidays are flying by!  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving on Bonnie and Steve's amazing St. Francis catamaran, Paradigm Shift with 4 other H2O (Hole #2 Occupants!)  couples!   

     Marathon friends Pam and Rick on Forever, are still at Emerald Bay Marina, which is part of Sandals resort and were able to arrange day passes for us!  What a place!  We had a wonderful time and met 3 new couples!  It was perfect weather!   We rented a car and Libby was happy to hang out in the car with walks between our incredible meals!  What a place!

      We actually did try to leave Georgetown Dec.11, but Conch Cut was too rolly, so we anchored at Hamburger Beach for 10 days and loved it!  We felt like cruisers again being at anchor!  After much deliberation, we decided to delay our trip to Santo Domingo, until the weather's more settled!  We're just having too much fun!

Hurricane Season OVER!

     It's been a great summer, and the time has flown by!   Daren's in Missouri for the weekend, finally getting to visit our good friends and former neighbors before it gets too cold there!    He'll be home tomorrow evening....hooray!

    After spending July near Chat 'n' Chill, we moved to a more protected mooring in Hole # 2 on Stocking Island, near the St. Francis Resort.  It worked out really well, because Libby and I take a path over to Honeymoon Beach twice a day to swim.  There's also a 5 mile long ocean-side beach, where Libby likes to dig up crabs, but the waves make it hard to swim there!  About a month ago, we met a cruising family on a big ketch, Windhover, who are heading for the southern side of the Dominican Republic, too.  They invited us to the Anglican church and Daren and I both loved it!   It's very old, with a beautiful stained glass window, amazing choir, and we sing traditional hymns!   Henk, Susi, and their son Teddy work at the library, so we've been taking our picnic lunches there after church!  

      The weather's been gorgeous for all but a few rainy days all summer, and we've had Hole #2 pretty much to ourselves, surrounded by 16 Canadian boats.  A few of their owners have arrived in the last week, and I was invited to a party by Michelle and Dan on Sea Monkey, a neighboring trawler.  The party grew and was moved to the St.Francis Resort, where we had a great evening!   I met a lovely couple who own one of the St.Francis catamarans and they charter it for 3 couples. Bonnie and I took our dogs to the ocean beach this morning, and I got a tour of their boat.  Oh MY!  It's truly amazing, with 4 staterooms, each with shower or bath!  Go to www.sailparadigmshift.com if you'd like a look at the layout...nice photo gallery, too!  The owners of the St.Francis resort are from South Africa and their catamarans are built there.  They're VERY seaworthy, since they sail them up to Georgetown and then to the Miami boat show and the one in Annapolis.   

      Daren's bringing our new reverse osmosis water-maker when he comes home tomorrow, which means we'll never run out of water...anywhere!   Hooray!  He plans to take the month of December to move the boat down to Santo Domingo, where he will continue commuting to Modesto.  My sister Barb is planning to rent a house down there and bring her standard poodle, Ollie to play with Libby!   Rents are rumored to be very cheap there, so we hope to have lots of company this winter!

     

A Trip to the States

     Before we left Missouri in search of our boat 3 yrs ago, we promised our neighbors we'd attend their final annual Family Reunion in 2014, no matter where we were!  Who knew we'd be in Georgetown, Bahamas after so many changes in our sailing plans!  
     Sadly, just one of us could go, since Miss Liberty can't fly commercially...especially in July!   Daren volunteered to watch her on the boat, so I flew out of Georgetown on July 9-13th.   A whirlwind trip indeed!  Good friends Don and Cheryl picked me up in Kansas City about 7 pm and drove the 2.5 hours back to their house in Warsaw, after dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant that even had gluten-free pasta!  
      We had a wonderful visit!  I'd forgotten how beautiful Missouri is in the summertime....SO green!   Cheryl drove me around the next day, and I stocked up on gluten-free foods from Wal-mart.  The weather was perfect and it was fun to see the library ladies and neighbors from our Flying Dogs Farm days!  I even got a real haircut in town!   Friday night, Don took Cheryl and me to see a fun movie in Sedalia, Jersey Boys, about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons!   Afterwards, we stopped at a real Dairy Queen for sundaes!  It was such a nostalgic and memorable evening, I felt like I was back in high school!!  
       The reunion in Fristoe on Saturday was great fun, too!  Lots of terrific food, friends, and entertainment!   Cindy and Jeff have 3 new horses, and gave rides to the kids.  I even sat on one and didn't get thrown off!   Daren posted the pictures to prove it!
      The next day, Sunday, I had to fly back home, and Don and Cheryl took me to Springfield Saturday night, where we got to see daughter Holley and stayed at Cheryl's Dad's house.   The visit was over so fast, it was like a blink in time!   But I'm so glad I got to go!  
       Daren had to go back to work in Modesto on July 15, so we had just one day together before he left for 2 weeks.  I'm SO glad we have these iPads to communicate with Face Time!  He's on his way home and will be back tomorrow for 2 weeks.  Hooray!  Libby is ecstatic!   It's too bad we didn't figure this out 2 yrs ago!  Oh well, no regrets!   We had a good time there, as well.  

Thank God and Garmin we're Here! Georgetown, Exumas!

    We left Nassau Harbour Club Saturday morning, after a wonderful evening with our neighbor John, on Hanco, a lovely Hatteras, the night before, at Señor Frog's!  We had a great 40 mile sail over to Shroud Cay,  part of the Exumas Land and Sea Park, with moorings.  How nice not to bother anchoring or worry about dragging or damaging coral.   Sunday, we had a nice run to Black Point, on Great Guana Cay.   But Monday was the last and longest day to Georgetown, going straight into the wind and tacking every 2 hours for 12 1/2 hours to Monument Beach.  We couldn't have come in at night if not for the Garmin ap on our iPad!!  Truly impressive technology that shows exactly where you are and where the rocks are...where to zig and zag!

     Tuesday, July 1st, we went another mile to Gaviota Bay, where we finally caught up to Sue and Al's boat, Wind Dancer.   We had a great lunch at Chat and Chill with Sue, right in front of our boats.  Sue and I took a water taxi across the harbour to the Government Dock, where she showed me around town to Exuma Market and Batelco, where I signed up for internet service.  Nicki couldn't've been nicer, and we loved the sign on the wall that said "Treat others as you would like to be treated!"  If only everyone lived by this paraphrase of the Golden Rule!   I love this country!

      We were hoping to see Al tomorrow, for 4th of July, but he was just admitted to a Houston hospital for at least 10 days, because of a MRSA infection in his arm!  The doctors thought he'd been bitten by a brown recluse spider, but this is actually worse!  Please pray for his complete and speedy healing!  

      We are signed up for a month on this mooring, and it's really a great spot.  Libby loves the beautiful beach and jungle trail at the end that leads to Sand Dollar Beach, although there are no sand dollars, just picnic tables, which are a nice touch!    

      Hope you have a wonderful Independence Day tomorrow!  Bahamian Independence Day is July 10th, so I hope that means fireworks!

Nassau!

We finally left Marathon after nearly 2 yrs last Sunday, and had a great crossing to Morgan's Bluff, arriving there Tuesday afternoon.  Daren had no trouble clearing customs and immigration there and they couldn't have been nicer!  What a great welcome and Libby's all set to run the beaches at long last!  

     We left Wednesday morning and made it to the west end of New Providence Island, at Lyford Cay...very upscale neighborhood, but full of flies!  Ugh!  Worst thing was realizing we didn't  have a fly swatter onboard, and had to flail around the boat to chase them out!  Good exercise, I suppose!  : ) 

     Yesterday, we came around to Nassau, and kept going, anchoring at Athol Island, so we'd have a quick trip to the Exumas, but a nasty squall came up and we decided to go back to an old favorite marina, Nassau Harbour Club, where we tied up just before they closed at 6 pm.   We met nice neighbors, Laura and Rich, on a big Hatteras, Forever Young, who gave me 4 laundry tokens, so I was thrilled to wash all the wet things we had!  We had to go out to eat, so walked over to the Poop Deck, where we had a lovely, albeit expensive fish and lobster dinner!  We'd planned to leave this morning, but didn't leave early enough, and the weather 's not so great anyway.  So, tomorrow we'll head to Norman's Cay, Sunday to Big Farmer's Cay, and Monday,we should reach Georgetown.  We are thoroughly enjoying our trip so far, thanks to your continued prayers, and will have an update and internet in Georgetown.  Right now, we're at the Starbuck's across from the marina, at a great shopping center with a Bed Bath and Beyond, that had flyswatters! 

Man Plans and God Laughs!

   We came SO very close to leaving for Georgetown this weekend, but missed our weather window by just a couple days!    Saturday would've been ideal for motoring across the Gulf Stream, but we just weren't ready yet!  Now the wind's blowing straight out of the east, which is where we need to go for over 200 miles to Nassau before we turn south.  The difference in speed could be 2 knots compared to 6, so last night, we decided Daren should go back to work earlier than planned and come home for a longer stretch of days off next time he gets home, June 17th. 

   We are very disappointed, of course, but Daren just had too many projects to complete when he got home last Tuesday.   On the bright side, we now have a working wind generator and brand new auto-pilot and a literal boat-load of food!  : )

    Meredith and her husband Brian had their baby on May 13th at their home in London.  All went well, and my sister Barb is visiting them now.  Lina Bird is the first grand-baby/great niece in our family, so this is a big event!

      Last night, I spoke with my sister Judy in Pensacola, and am hoping she'll come visit Libby and me while we're waiting for Daren to get back.  That'd be great fun!   We had such a nice visit with Mary!   

     We are SO anxious to get to the Bahamas and we know we will...eventually!!  As Daren says, "We're a long time leaving, but we'll be a long time gone!"

      

3 Days on the Hard!

      I'm so happy to report that we finally got the boat hauled and bottom painted while Daren was home last time!   Out Monday morning and back in the water last Thursday, May 1st.  Thanks to diver Bobby the Viking scrubbing the bottom regularly,  it was remarkably clean, and we were pleasantly surprised to see the bottom in such great shape!   No blisters or barnacles, and minimal damage to the fin keel, which Daren fixed with carbon fiber.  It was a very dog-friendly yard, on the bay side, Keys Boat Works.  We were able to stay on the boat at night, and Libby went up in a bosun's chair Monday night, but was unwilling to come down the next morning!   The yard manager brought a forklift and pallet over to provide an elevator for her!   I wish I'd had the camera!  It was pretty funny and I was impressed with his kindness!   Once we found her life vest, she was fine being hoisted up and down.   There was even another German Shorthaired Pointer to keep her company,  Captain Snoop.
      We had to raise the waterline 5 inches, because we keep putting things on the boat!  Sue and Al are waiting for us in Georgetown, (for nearly 2 months!) and need their mainsail repaired, so I packed my sewing machine.  Daren's found all kinds of canned food online, like grass-fed meat, cheddar cheese, and best of all, New Zealand butter, for all those lobsters!  Yum!
      Saturday was my birthday, and although I was hoping we'd be in the Bahamas by now, we had a great visit from long-time boat friends, Tom and Jodie, who drove down from Stuart!   Tom's birthday's just a week before mine, so we had a great celebration!
      The big family news is that niece Meredith and husband Brian are expecting a baby any day now.  My sister Barb is flying out to London tomorrow for a couple weeks.  We don't know the baby's name yet, but will very soon!
        Daren's decided to commute from Georgetown for a month or so, then on to Dominican Republic, and we think we'll finally leave when he gets home May 20th.  We shall see...
       
     

Almost Ready!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and great 2014 so far! We're shrinking our to-do list, and are pretty much down to the stuff we just have to buy; another solar panel (flexible & fits on the bimini), de-salinizer, small generator, and new sails (on order)! Daren's always working on boat projects when he's home. He pulled the wheel out of the cockpit and put in a lovely new tiller, which gives us a lot more room. He moved the 6 shrouds (cables that stabilize the mast on the sides) to the outside of the boat from the middle of the deck, which gives us more room to walk around. He installed new stainless steel davits he had made in CA. We still haven't hauled the boat to paint it yet, but are thinking of March, just before we finally leave Marathon! I know! You'll believe it when you see it! Daren's still very happy at MVE, so he's having a hard time leaving them. As much as Libby and I miss him when he's gone for 2 weeks, there are a couple of advantages. I can read late at night, or rearrange things, which makes a big mess! I just got rid of a bunch of dishes so we'll have more room for food! There are lots of boats in the harbor right now, most waiting for good weather to go to the Bahamas. It's been pretty cold here for about a week, but today we're back to the 70's, and a few boats left today! My younger sister Mary's coming down for a visit Feb.8-10. She'll be in Ft. Lauderdale after a Caribbean cruise, so we're very excited about seeing her before she heads back to Denver.

Time Flies!

September already?? I thought I'd add a few photos, and found updates of friend's blogs when I ck'd in. I'm glad to hear that Michelle and Joe on Simple Life are heading back down to the Keys. Daren and I've been busy when he's home, but decided to postpone the haul out and bottom paint job until we get to the Bahamas next January. We had a great visit from Don and Cheryl in July for Daren's birthday.

This is that corner cushion that caused me so much grief! I was happy to finish it about 2 days before Cheryl and Don came to visit, thanks to upholstery tips from Welder Dave! Isn't it great to have company to inspire you to finish projects!? Things are pretty quiet in Marathon, but we're getting some things done when Daren's home. Right now, the 3 of us are at the Motel 6 in Dania Beach and Daren's watching Monday Night Football! Libby and I will drop him at the Ft. Lauderdale airport first thing in the morning and head back to Marathon and drop off the rental car. Libby and I are getting pretty good at finding our way back and forth...it's actually a very scenic 3 hour drive...well, especially the Keys part of it! Here's a funny picture Don took on Daren's birthday at Lazy Days! Great view and has a creative chef! That's raspberry sauce with his key lime pie!

Luperon!

So much has happened! Mom passed away in her sleep on May 9th, so I'm very grateful that I got to say goodbye! Her Pastor Bruce has been on a mission trip, so tomorrow, July 1st, is her celebration of life service in Denver. I thought Daren would be gone back to work, so I'd decided to stay here In Marathon with Libby, but he was just given time off for Independence Day until July 23rd! Of course, Libby and I are thrilled to have him home for so long, and we have plenty of projects to do. We're having the boat hauled out and painted August 9th and Daren's going to replace the wheel in the cockpit with a tiller, so we'll have more room outside. We found a great little Yeti cooler that fits the gaps in the cockpit seats perfectly to make a bed on each side. We love the new fridge, which is very efficient and runs very well on the solar panels. I made a water-catching awning for the forward hatch, but Daren's going to get a water maker as well. He's also putting in new chain plates on the outside of the hull and new davits so the dinghy will be higher off the water when we're underway. We're planning to spend next hurricane season (summer) in the Dominican Republic. I met Griselda, a lovely Christian lady from Puerto Plata, who's been helping me with my Spanish. She's married to Roger, an American on a sailboat here and they just left for a family visit to Domincan Republic last Thursday. They kindly loaned us their car while they're away, and we've been exploring the area, finding more dog-friendly places to eat! Libby enjoyed the Coco Plum dog beach Friday AND Saturday, but today we took the day off to give her a rest! Luperon sounds like a wonderful place to live and a perfect hurricane hole, since the mountains block them! They grow most everything there, and none of it's sprayed or GMO! It's a Christian country with little violent crime and no drug trafficking! Most of you boaters have read Bruce Van Sant's great book, The Gentleman's Guide to Passages South (the Thornless Path to Windward). We just bought his 12th and final edition. He's made dozens of trips from Florida to Venezuela, and lives in Luperon, so that's quite a recommendation! The Dominican Republic's not very far from the Bahamas and airfare's cheap, in case Daren's still working for MVE by then! We're looking forward to it, but are enjoying the preparations and living here in beautiful Marathon. I recently discovered frozen conch at our Publix fish counter, so we've been eating a lot of it...sauteed in butter with Tiger Sauce. I think I'll make some right now!!

Denver and Florida Road Trip

Mom had a massive stroke on Mary's birthday, Monday April 15th, and Daren insisted on flying me out to Denver on Thursday, the day after he got home from CA! It was a great visit, under the circumstances and in spite of snow! Mom is out of the hospital and happy in her new nursing-care room. Everyone's really nice there, and most of the staff know her since she's lived on the assisted living side for several years. It was sure good to see Mom! She's doing SO much better and miraculously, her paralysis went away! All 4 of us daughters were there, and I got to see 2 out of 4 of our nieces, too. It was a nice family reunion! Daren & Libby picked me up at FLL Monday and we drove up to see boat friends in Stuart and Green Cove Springs (near St. Augustine). Daren is so sweet! He thought I'd need cheering up, and it was also a birthday road trip, since he's going to miss my big 60th birthday May 3rd! We had a great time, although it was pretty cold in St. Augustine and Green Cove Springs! I had to get my Colorado clothes back out! It was a whirlwind trip and we got home Thursday night. Daren added more insulation to the fridge, but still plans to buy a new one. At least the old one's back together and working! He left this morning, and I still have 2 cushions to sew, but they're the tricky ones. It's nice to be home again, but it's better when Daren's home, too!

Weather

Daren's back in Modesto, after a weather delay that stuck him in Austin Tuesday night! Last night, we were expecting a big blow here in Marathon, but it didn't hit until 3 AM! We were hunkered down and fine, but Libby was terrified by the loud thunder, and wanted up in the V-berth with me. That's always been the one place she's not allowed, but she looked so pitiful I helped her up and played music on my little radio to calm her down! She was quite comfy this morning, snoring softly as I had my tea and read in bed. We listened to the Marathon Cruisers' net on VHF 68 at 9 am, to learn that a 30 ft Catalina was dis-masted here last night! YIKES! There was a huge group to help get the mast back on deck this morning. This is a very helpful place, and apparently, the owner is fine, as well as his macaw! There's an open FB page called "Boot Key Harbor Cruisers", and was told there'll be photos posted this afternoon. Libby and I came to shore this morning before more rain hit, and are planning to sew a couple sail bags and a propane cover if and when we get off the computer! : ) My friend Michelle, with the cool blog, showed me how to put the photos in the right place, instead of off to the side. Like this:

Happy Easter

What a great Easter Sunday it's been! We've been having a great time since Daren got home! We went to see The Sound of Music at the local playhouse last Sunday, and it was excellent! What a happy story and lovely songs and it was fun to see sailing friends in it! Steve, Mimzie, Jacob, and Danielle were all involved and the local paper did a great write-up on them. The weather's been perfect and Daren's building a cabinet over the chart table. Every time he's home, he has a new project! Last time, it was a new dining table! This boat just gets better all the time! The next project is a new fridge. Our Adler-Barber uses too much juice because it runs so much, so Daren wants a low-energy Engel system. Our friends Michele and Joe on S/V Simple Life have a keel-cooled fridge that sounds interesting, but you have to haul the boat out to install it, and we're not quite ready for that! Our wind generator's been humming along lately, but it takes a lot of wind to get it going! It sure beats running the engine! Daren just finished scraping the bottom of the dinghy, and reports that the water's pretty cold! It's all relative, as I'm sure we're still in one of the warmest spots in the Country! You must check out friend Michele's blog, which should be listed as one that I'm following. It's www.sailingsimplelife.blogspot.com Excellent, and she's already posted photos from this morning's Easter sunrise service! We got to Skype Mom this afternoon! It was great fun to see Alex and Barb's new standard poodle puppy, Oliver, just 8 weeks old! CUTE!

Left Behind!

Sorry for the blog gap! I've gotten some interesting e-mails from friends wondering what's happened to us!! I always thought "No news is good news!" Everything's great and the harbor's been packed with boats. Time slips away down here! Daren's still commuting to Modesto every other 2 weeks, and Libby and I stay busy with projects. Bill and Diane on Tugnacious left Monday, and JoElla drove her car up to Jacksonville. Gary left with their boat Caveat yesterday, and I miss them all already! Lots of boats are leaving the harbor because of the fair weather. The wind blows ALL the time around here, which is why it's so nice in the summer. Libby and I are working on new interior cushions out of Sunbrella velvet, which is washable. Daren hates slipcovers, but these I can peel off and throw in the wash! We've been meeting lots of nice new people and last night, I went to a potluck at the chiki hut, which was a fare-well to departing boats! This morning looked like a boat parade! Soon we'll be among a few dozen boats instead of a few hundred!

Gilligan's Island Picnic!

What a fun day today! Bobby the Viking had the great idea of inviting everyone in the harbor (on the daily VHF radio net) to dinghy over to an uninhabited island past Sombrero Beach, called Gilligan's Island, for grilled chicken fajitas. He brought his grill and big bag of marinated chicken breasts and tortillas and cheese and I brought grilled onions and others brought chips and homemade salsa! Yum! 15 of us from 9 boats followed "Beastie" over to the island at 11 am for a great lunch! There would've been a bigger turn-out if the weather hadn't started out cloudy with a bit of rain, but by noon, it was another Keys-perfect day! Libby had a blast running off-leash with 3 other dogs and one 25 pound cat, named "Crew" from S/V "Old Broad". We all had such a great time, that we voted unanimously to come back every Saturday from now on! I'm happy to report that Daren got our wind generator up and running and it's nice and quiet and seems to be producing electricity, too! Daren took a photo of it spinning, but the camera froze the blades! Anyway, you get the idea! We had a wonderful grilled snapper dinner last night on M/V "Caveat" with JoElla and Gary and their neighbors Bill and Diane on M/V "Tugnacious". JoElla and Diane are both talented quilters and Mah Jongg players and we all go to the same church, New Life AG, down the street. JoElla has a missionary friend in the San Blas Islands near Panama, and she's making gorgeous wall hangings and book covers using the Cuna Indians' intricate cotton molas to sell and help finance the mission..."Molas for Missions". Diane's making quilted notebook covers for a girl's orphanage in Brazil. They both have sewing spaces on their boats! I'm inspired by them to make new cushions, but will prob'ly work in the marina's "club house", since I like to spread out and make a mess! Hope you're having a great 2013 so far! Daren's going back to Modesto this Thursday, Jan. 10th, and Libby and I miss him already! Time sure flies when he's home!

Electric Start!!

What a great Christmas! Daren got home at 2 am Christmas morning, and woke up with the great idea of driving up to Stuart (5 hours) to see boat friends Tom and Jodie, while we had a rental car. We arrived just in time for the turkey feast and got to see both of their Moms and also Tracy, who stopped by after her family feast across town. After spending Christmas night at Tom's Mom's, we went to breakfast with Tom and Jodie and got to see their Union 36, which Tom's been restoring and looks great since we first saw it 6 yrs ago! They're planning to go cruising in a year, when Jodie retires. We all went to Calico Corners in Stuart, where we found some gorgeous fish fabric for the interior cushions. The sheet slipcovers I made are looking pretty bad, but at least they're washable! Libby may not be as welcome on the new ones, but we'll see....she's such a good dog!! Daren and I spent Thursday trying to find a used outboard motor in Marathon to replace our 15 HP that we got tired of throwing money at! No luck, so Friday, we picked up another rental car and drove up to Tampa (7 hours). Daren'd found a gem online, and we needed it right away, since we were borrowing our friends' Diane and Bill (Tugnacious)'s dinghy! They were so kind to loan it to us! We got home late last night, after a stop at Bass Pro and Chick Fil-A, near our old neighborhood of Ft. Myers. Daren designed the master plan for 10,000 acres on Alico Road years ago, and it was fun to see how great it looks built out! Part of it is called Miramar Lakes with a sign that claims to be "The Number One Community in the USA"! No surprise to ME! Daren and Bill just got the new motor installed on our dinghy this afternoon! It's a 9.9 HP Mercury with ELECTRIC START!! Just that phrase makes me smile! : ) Push a button, and it starts right up....a MIRACLE! I will be the envy of Boot Key Harbor!! It runs like a top and is pretty quiet! Funny the things that make our lives better! Daren and Bill are watching football at Hurricane's so Libby and I are enjoying the computer to ourselves! Daren's home until the 10th of January, so I know "we'll" get a lot of projects done!! Next up: the wind generator! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

12-12-12

It seems like a memorable date to update the blog! The harbor's still full of boats, but a flotilla left last Saturday, Dec. 8th, including Al and Sue on "Wind Dancer". The weather's been lovely, and I just got home from the post office, where I was the only customer! I DO love this little town of Marathon!! Good pal, JoEllen, on a Marine Trader 34 (like the one we had 15 yrs!) and I went for crab claws Monday and stopped by the Purr-fect Thrift store, which is ALWAYS closed, it seems. A nice man opened it up for us, having just arrived to take care of the cats. Cats were everywhere, and JoEllen and I are, well, dog people, but we found some real treasures: small sea-life paintings and a mint-condition spritz cookie press, with all 12 templates, including the camel and dog! Funny the things that make your day! Yesterday, I baked cookies all day, but because of the heat or humidity or lack of enough flour, all the shapes looked a lot alike! But they tasted great and it was a fun project while listening to Christmas music! Daren had to go back to work last Saturday, and we drove up to Miami Friday night and stayed at a really nice Motel 6 in Cutler Ridge. We got to see good friends Don and Cheryl while Daren was home and stayed with them at their lovely time share on the beach. Libby was invited to stay here on our friends' boat, No Mas, a 41' Morgan with 2 kids and 2 dogs. She had a blast and we had a nice worry-free visit! We went to a fabulous French restaurant, Chez Paul. It was a wonderful farewell dinner before we parted ways. They went back to Missouri and we drove back to Marathon. Daren'll be home Christmas Eve, and then he's off until Jan. 10th! It's very tempting to take the boat to the Bahamas, but so much easier to stay here, and Marathon has everything! Our nearby church (New Life AG) is renting the Conch Train in Key West Dec. 18th to go caroling. There are lots of kids at that church, since they run a day-care, and it's always fun when they sing...too cute! Tomorrow night, the youth group is having a Christmas program, so there's plenty going on around here. The boat parade was last Saturday night, and JoEllen and I had ringside seats from her trawler's flying bridge. I can't believe she wants to sell that great boat, but she's a sailor at heart! Hope you have a wonderful Christmas season, too!