August 19

We live on an island where fish fly, birds dive, palm trees reach for the sky and key limes fall from it, the water is turquoise blue and crystal clear, music dances across the breeze carrying with it the smell of freshly caught fish grilling at the waterfront restaurants, and the sunsets are like no other. We’ve been in Key West for three weeks now, we love it, and it feels like home. It didn’t take us long to make the decision to stay a little longer than planned – that seems to happen to people when they come to Key West. Our decision, however, was not only based on the fact that we love it here, it’s beautiful, and the fishing and diving is great, but also that although Gypsy Wind has an engine that will get us anywhere, we really want to sail, and we admittedly don’t have enough experience sailing. So, we will stay in Key West at least until the end of next year, and sail as often as the wind allows, in order to gain the trust in ourselves to sail anywhere we want to go. I say as often as the wind allows, because of course, we do need wind to be able to sail. However, here in Key West, the forecast for the next ten days shows the winds at a whopping 3 mph, increasing to a gusty 5 mph. But if we ever get enough wind to push Gypsy Wind along, there are plenty of great destinations from Key West: the Bahamas, the Marquesas, the Dry Tortugas, and any island in the string of Florida Keys. So for now, we have found our home.

These past two weeks have been great. We've settled in and now call ourselves local's, we've done a little of this and a little of that, like getting the throttle fixed – well, functioning anyway. Figuring it out was a team effort, but we have the new cable connected and working. It will need to be adjusted, but by someone who knows what the hell they are doing. At least for now it will get the job done. Harry jumped in the water and cleaned the bottom of the boat - a much more pleasant job in a marina with nice clear water. I finally applied for a job at Schooner’s Wharf. I should probably make my way around the other bars in Key West, but Schooner’s is where I’d really like to be – so we’ll see. Getting behind the bar is something I’ve always wanted to do and I believe I will have a blast doing it, wherever it may be. Harry is going to apply for a job as a Conch Train Tour Guide. Our friend Annie, on SV Carpe Diem, did it for two years and loved it. I'm sure Harry will as well because the job involves talking into a microphone all day. Pretty sure he can handle that!

We’ve gotten to know our way around a little better, now that we have transportation – Harry went up to Tampa on Wednesday, August 19th to bring the car and our bikes down. We have, however, found that parking can be a challenge in Key West. We knew this, but I don’t think we realized how much of a challenge it would be. Parking is not offered to the marina guests here at the Galleon, unless the resort is not full. We have to check with them weekly and, if they are full, we have to find somewhere else to park. Prior to getting our weekly permit at the Galleon, we parked near houseboat row, where Eric, a friend of ours, lives. We had our bikes in the back of the car, but the tires were low and the chain on Harry’s bike was discombobulated. So, we spent about an hour fixing the bikes, with Eric’s help. Once we they were back together, Eric gave us assurance that he’d keep an eye on the car, and we biked back to the marina. The next day we had our one week permit to park at the Galleon, and Harry biked back over to the car to get it. The nice thing about living on an island is just about everything is in biking distance, and a bike is really the better way to get around on land.

Our water transportation, the dinghy, has gotten it’s share of use as well. We’ve taken it out several times to explore the anchorages in the area again. We definitely know where we do NOT want to be. We have concluded that we will go to the mooring field at Fleming Key once we leave the Galleon. It seems to be the best deal, with amenities such as parking, laundry, pump out and dinghy dock, included in the mooring fee, and it is one of the nicer mooring fields in the area. We also searched around for possible lobster holes, and found an area, which turns out to be where our friend Dale told us to go, which we hope return there this week to strike lobster gold! After all the exploring, we needed some fuel and fortunately Conch Harbor Marina, which is right near the Galleon, has ethanol free gasoline – which is perfect for our 15hp Yamaha. We will pay the extra for non-ethanol, as the gasoline with ethanol seems to turn to tarnish rather quickly. We also decided, that since we will use the dink for our diving, fishing and lobstering around the Keys, we are gonna need a bigger tank. We currently have a three gallon tank on the boat and it limits us as far as where we can go. So a six gallon tank has been added to the “we need this” list.

Last weekend Rob and Michele came by the boat and presented us with our “welcome to Key West” gift – a pineapple corer! YAY! Pineapple rum drinks for everyone! I had said we HAD to get us one of those, and now that we have one, it will probably be the most used tool on the boat! The four of us had a cocktail onboard and then walked over to the Conch Farm (Conch Republic) for 2 for 1 rum drinks and some cracked conch. We met Todd, who is a friend of theirs and works as a bartender at the Conch Farm. He gave me some good advice on applying to be a bartender, and I will put my application in at the Conch Farm after Labor Day, which is what he suggested since it’s the start of season, which is when things will pick up here in Key West. After we enjoyed our drinks and conch, we all went our separate ways. Harry and I went back to the boat, made another rum drink, and headed off to Mallory Square to watch the sunset.

Harry’s daughter, Kelly, her boyfriend Nate, and her friend Alexa drove down this past Friday from Ft. Lauderdale for a weekend visit. We welcomed them aboard with pineapple rum drinks – which they loved. Making them is as fun as drinking them and they each cored their own pineapple. We took our pineapple drinks and walked down the dock to show the kids the tarpon that swim around the marina. Fortunately, one of the light tackle charter boats had just returned and was getting ready to clean fish. If you feed them they will come! The kids were amazed at the size of the tarpon. As the people from the charter boat fed the tarpon, the huge fish gave quite a show as they circled and jumped at the fish parts being fed to them. A small shark even joined in for a short time. Following the feeding frenzy, we took Kelly, Nate and Alexa out on the dinghy for a short water tour toward Mallory Square. Upon returning to the Gypsy Wind, the Sheriff’s boat was hovering around the area and looking in our direction. We knew they’d pull us over, having five people on this little dink – and they did. I believe they were sure they’d catch us without enough life jackets, as he said with doubt “OK, show me five live jackets”. Everyone in the boat lifted their jacket and he was definitely surprised. We showed our registration and learned we need our registration numbers on both sides of the boat. The officers were very nice, and we introduced ourselves, shook hands and headed back to Gypsy Wind. We gathered our things and walked over to Mallory Square to see the street performers at sunset. Will, the high wire walker, is one of the most entertaining on the square, (as well as providing a great silhouette for sunset photos). We've seen him a couple of times, but this time he decided to pull me in as a “volunteer” for his show. He’s a nice guy, originally from the Chicago area – he grew up in Lincoln Park – so I obliged and had a lot of fun with it. He crowned me “Miss Sunset” (for a whole 3 minutes) during his act. We watched one other street performer, then took a stroll down Duval to Angelina’s for a slice of pizza (I think pineapple drinks, sunsets and Angelina’s are going to become a tradition for our guests). We needed to finished our pizza and head back to the boat early, because Saturday we planned to go fishing with Rob and Michele up in Little Torch Key. Early ended up being about 9:30. We quickly packed what we needed and headed to Rob and Michele's so we could get up bright and early Saturday for the morning bite. Bright and early kind of worked. We had planned on being on the water by 6:30 a.m.. However, I think I climbed out of bed at about 6:30. I got up and made pancakes and bacon for everyone. As the smell permeated through the house, one by one everyone got up. I think we were on the water two hours later. Needless to say, we misse d the morning bite. It was a beautiful day on the water, although it took us a while to find the fish. We searched for weeds, debris, and birds, but there wasn’t much to be found. For those who don’t saltwater fish, large patches of weeds and weed lines usually have bait fish hiding in the shade of the weeds, which attract bigger fish – usually dolphin (the fish, not the porpoise). Debris in the water does the same thing, so we look for cardboard, styrofoam, or just about anything floating on the water hoping to find fish below it. Birds are usually following or circling above fish. A frigate bird will almost always lead you to a nice catch – tuna, dolphin, even marlin and sailfish. If you see birds diving, you’ll look to the water and see bait fish, tuna or mackerel jumping and that is where you want to be. We did go by a couple of nice weed patches but there was nothing underneath them. We finally spotted a couple of birds circling, then I saw a frigate making a b-line in that direction and within seconds several birds were diving as the tuna jumped from the water. We all got excited and the kids were thrilled to see this activity. Harry and Rob quickly put some tuna feathers out for bait and Michele steered the boat in the direction of the tuna. Kelly, Nate and Alexa were wide eyed and ready to reel in a big one…but as we passed by, nothing bit. Then, just like that, the birds were gone. It wasn’t long before we spotted another group of birds diving, so we headed there way and BAM, a strike. Kelly grabbed the rod and started to fight the fish when suddenly there was nothing there – the leader broke. She took the next strike was this time reeled in a barracuda – which we released. Once again, the birds were quickly gone so we started searching again. Everyone had their eyes peeled when suddenly off in the distance I saw a large circle of birds diving at the fish jumping like crazy below them. This group wasn’t moving – there was definitely some good activity under those birds and we were sure we’d get some bites there. Harry and Rob prepared all of the lines for what we hoped to be numerous tuna strikes. As we circled around them we could see at least 8 frigate birds amongst the smaller gulls diving and circling the fish below them. It’s unusual to see so many frigates in one spot – at least for us it was. We passed to the right of the frenzy and got a strike. Nate grabbed the pole and within seconds, another strike. Double hook up! Alexa grabbed the other pole and as she and Nate fought their fish, Rob and Harry pulled in the other lines. Nate’s fish neared the boat and Michele and I could see the silver sparkle under the water. We simultaneously said “It’s a tuna!” Rob ran over to pull the fish on board as Alexa continued to fight hers. We still hadn’t seen what she had hooked up, but hoped it too was a tuna. This was Alexa’s first fish ever, so it was very exciting, but she needed a little guidance to bring it in, so Harry helped her reel…and yes, that silver flash in the water told us once again that we had tuna. Not many people get a tuna as the first catch of their life, so we consider Alexa pretty damn lucky. All of the kids caught a fish and you couldn’t wipe the smiles off of their faces. It was already a great day, and it just kept getting better. We circled the birds a few more times and got two more strikes, but lost each fish – so we decided we had a nice meal on board and it was time to head to Looe Key for a little cool off in the water. There is a reef sanctuary off of Looe Key that is a beautiful dive and/or snorkel. So we headed there to moor up to the reef and check it out. It was gorgeous and perfectly clear. A school of purple fish swam right in front of me. The sunlight shining through the water onto the purple coral made a perfect backdrop for these fish swimming past, and at that moment I realized an underwater housing for one of our cameras must move up on the “we need this” list. We snorkeled around the reef for about an hour and then headed back the boat. We had a sandwich and watched the schools of yellowtail swim around the boat. It was now time to call it a day, so we headed back to Rob and Michele’s for tuna dinner. After cleaning our gear, ourselves, and the fish, none of us were motivated to prepare any food and were too exhausted to eat. The kids passed out almost immediately, the adults stayed up and partied a little longer – after all, as I reminded them, Jimmy Buffett was at Alpine Valley that night (which is in East Troy Wisconsin, where I saw all of the Buffett concerts after Poplar Creek in Chicago shut down) and we’d be able to listen live on Radio Margaritaville. Rob and Michele are huge Parrot Heads. In fact, they met through the Tampa Bay Parrot Head club, and they listen to the Buffett concerts on Radio Margaritaville all the time, so we certainly couldn’t pass up the Alpine Valley show. It almost made me miss the concerts there – until Jimmy repeatedly talked about how crappy the weather was and I was glad to be where the weather is great! Michele and Harry didn’t make it to the end of the concert, but Rob and I held out. Once the concert ended, I headed to bed. We slept until about 10:00 Sunday morning and Harry took the kids back to Key West to get Kelly’s car, as they were ready to head back to Ft. Lauderdale. They spent a little time in Key West having lunch and walking around Duval Street, and came back up to Little Torch to say their thank you's and goodbye’s. We put a little tuna in a cooler for them, since we didn’t eat it the night before, and they were on their way – vowing to be back as often as they could. We hope they keep their promise, because we absolutely love having them here.

After the kids left, Rob, Harry, Michele and I grabbed our snorkel gear and headed across the street to search the channel for lobster. We found several – but most of which were too short. They look so much bigger under water – and some where only short by an eighth of an inch…ugh! We were able to keep four, so we decided that was fine for the night, since we’d be adding some seared tuna to the night’s menu. What a meal we had. It’s funny since we started our adventure, we often find ourselves saying “it doesn’t get any better than this” and then, it does.

Today, Monday, August 31, our new friends, Scott and Annie from the CSY Carpe Diem, came by the boat to visit. Tomorrow they head to Marathon. We talked with them a little more about the mooring field at Fleming Key, where they have been moored for two years, and have decided that we will moor there as well, probably beginning October 1. Scott and Harry talked electronics and fishing while Annie and I talked about everything. We then walked over to Harpoon Harry’s (great local’s restaurant) for lunch. We have eaten there a few times since we’ve been here, but Scott and Annie are regulars and know the staff, so they introduced us as their “replacements”. We headed back to Gypsy Wind, exchanged a few more CSY boating tips, and then wished them well on their trip up to Marathon. They promised to come back and visit and we all promised to stay in touch. Once again, I have to say that we are truly blessed with the life we live and the friends and family we have. As Harry would say, “It’s all good”.