Good morning everyone I am headed to the Key West To meet our friends Ed and Claudia for breakfast. They are bringing a couple of friends with them who have a 43 foot boat for sale. We dinghied over to the Turtle Kraal and went to the resturaunt next door and ate breakfast. Then we went to the Publix to get some groceries with Ed and Claudia. Back to the boat and put up supplies getting ready to take off in the AM. We are going to Rodriguez key to anchor out then on to Miami.

Good morning from Key West, the most laid back  place in the states. We headed into town for some great breakfast and to explore key west. Steve took a shower while I waited at the dock stores area and watched 4-6 foot fish swimming around the boats. Daniel called and I talked to him for a long time, he is getting his kitchen fixed. I went into this little deli that served breakfast and had an English muffin and diet coke. Steve came in and got him something to ded explored a little and headed back to boat. By the way if something is misspelled it is because this stupid I ipad won’t let me put courser where I want it!!! To correct it. Spent the rest of the day chilling out on boat.

Yeah! Arrived in Key West around 2 PM and found a place to anchor the boat. We decided to anchor out due to the distance from the harbor to the mooring field. If you anchor in a mooring field there is a nightly charge and you have use of all the facilities, if you anchor the marina will let you use the facilities for a charge (laundromat, showers/restrooms, etc). We anchored out closer to the city unloaded the dink and got the boat cleaned up and headed into town to the city laundromat. I got the clothes started and Steve went to get some things we needed for the boat. It was in one of the older building in Key West and had high ceilings and plenty of folding tables to work with. The prices were good and i had a ton of laundry to wash. Blankets, linens, clothes, towels, and whatever else got dirty and wet. You would have thought i was moving in. 🙂 Steve had to go back to get the other bag of clothes out of the dinghy/dink. While i put in a wash Steve suggested we get something to eat, so we went to Turtle Kraal where our dinghy was tied up. (the dock costs 6 dollars and there were at least 30 dinghy”s tied up there). We sat down and the waiter gently put his hands on our shoulders and pushed us back inour chairs and said, “RELAX”. We were so tense from no rest and dodging crab pods we did not realize how tight we were. We leaned back and enjoyed our meal, headed back to laundromat and I finished clothes while Steve shopped. After we got back and got our clothes put up we got dressed and headed to see city. There are so many neat places in Key West but we stopped at one that had great music and a lot of people. Don’t even remember the head. Back to the dinghy and our ride through the huge yachts. There is one on the other side of the channel that has a helicopter on it. Back top sleep for one more day in key west.

Good morning everyone Steve and i got up and went to the island for some exercise and to watch the water ferry taxi come in from Key West. It travels really fast, what takes it 3 hours takes us 8-10 hours. I ran back down the 150 year old stairs to the moat area that meets the beach where there are hundreds of shells. I am looking for the shell that mom had when i was a kid that you hold up to your ear to hear the ocean! I found 3 little ones but no  big one yet. I have one small one Claudia gave to me when we went snorkeling. We checked the weather and looks like we can leave tomorrow or Tues. Whoo Hoo Back to civilization.

Got up this AM made pancakes for breakfast and continued to make bracelets from paracord. Steve ate and enjoyed the sunshine on the deck.I finished one bracelet and got ready for lunch we are going to eat on the ferry again today. We thought it would be as good as yesterday but it was not. We had a pitiful small frozen pizza and a hot dog and the crew was not as friendly today. So we went back to the boat for some real food. Took a wonderful nap got up Steve played guitar and i worked on the bracelets. I went back to the island for the exercise while Steve fished.

CAPTAINS LOG: Using raw chicken for bait works well here.

Good morning its 7:30 in paradise and we are up. Cooked breakfast for Steve and i had a cereal bar. We are headed to the fort this morning for some exercise and more exploring. Steve talked weather with the Ranger while i ran the mote walls with the water splashing up over the sides and onto the top. After that i ran up the stairs and ran around the top of the fort.There are no rails so it is exciting and exhilarating! We went over to the part of the moat the saltwater crocodile lives and checked him out, he had his head sticking out of the pipe he backs up in. Yesterday we got to see him really good. He is about 8-10 foot in length. I thought he was smaller because all we saw was his nose sticking out. After we checked him out we walked the moat walls together with the wind blowing and the waves crashing against the walls behind us and in front of us as we walked sending spray as high as 4-6 foot in the air. Beautiful! 🙂 As we walked back we saw a black lab digging a hole in the sand, you could tell it was deep because all you could see was his hindquarters sticking up with a fast wagging tail. The owner said he likes to dig for crabs on the beach and his name is Baylee. He is so shiny and his owner said he used to shed until he started putting salmon oil in his dog food! We met one of the staff on the Key West Express ferry that arrives no matter what. He let us throw our garbage in his bin and we ate lunch aboard the ferry. They sold us two twelve packs of soda and believe me when you dont have access to them it was like Christmas to us. We are stuck here until weather gets better which is probably another week. We just heard a call for a sea tow near key west for the boat that left this morning. You just cant mess with the mistress sea. Back to the ferry lunch – we had a hamburger and it was delicious even though it was microwave. we hadnt had one in a while. The crew was really nice to us. We are the only sailboat left in the harbor. Everyone else left yesterday but it is still too rough for us. We have to cross and area called Rebekah shoals and all i know is that lady must have been bad news to have that area named after her!! Steve and i dinghied back to the boat with our “booty” from the ferry. Steve went to help the fisherman get to shore and get ice from the ferry. A big “ketch” pulled up next to us, that is a sailboat with 2 masts. We are going to kick back grill some chicken and maybe take another beach walk later. We have enjoyed this windy day! 🙂

WOW! What ugly weather today! The wind is kicking up at the stern and it is raining on and off (great for dock but not out here in gulf). Add rain and wind together out here and it is rough! Even in rough weather the scenery is beautiful with the sea green water white capping. The bird continuously fly over Bush Key it is their mating season so that part of the island is closed. They chirp (have a shrill cry 24-7) all day and night but you get used to it and really dont even hear it. It is just part of the charm of this place. As we looked out over the ocean we see the shrimp boats are all close in to the ke. y. which means that the ocean is too rough for them so we know we have to stay put. The seas have 7 foot waves out there today. The sailboat next to us is leaving in AM and there will still be big waves. He has a 42 foot sailboat, but he still may not have a good time out there. I learned today that the Dry Tortugas are a right of passage for sailors. If you make it there and back you did great. So we await a good weather window to head to Key West. Steve and i are staying dry for the time being and trying to rest as the boat pitches from side to side. Steve had to go out and help our neighbor with his dinghy, the motor had quit and Steve towed him to shore so he could work on it. We watched a movie afterwords took a nap and woke up cooked lobster and corn cakes. I found a great seafood seasoning called, “Chef Paul Prudhomes Magic Seasoning Blend” called “Seafood Magic”. Very good! Well we are stuffed and sleepy so good night everyone!

CAPTAINS LOG: Make sure you have a single side band radio if you are going out to far away islands.

Good morning everyone! Steve and I are hitting the shore for exercise around the fort and more exploring.Jumped into our swimsuits and shorts and into the dinghy. Winds are rough today and the waves are too. We went over to see if our TN friends are going snorkeling today. They informed us they are taking a small weather window and heading to Boca Chica, ( they are both retired military). I didnt know Boca Chica was a military base. They told us they would see us on the beach later before they left. We proceeded to steer our dink toward the shore with the high waves splashing us, though we dont mind the water is azure blue/green and feels good! I went to the top of the fort and explored and Steve came up not long after to watch our friends Ed and d Claudia sail away to Boca Chicago. Steve and me and only one other boat left in harbor, and he is leaving tomorrow. Steve took a fisherman back to his boat and in return we received 15 lobster tails. I guess we are having lobster tonight. We gave Ed and Claudia some for taking us snorkeling. This barter system is great. Very good for my first time cooking lobster. We are staying here and looking for another weather window so we can leave, which will probably be Mon or Tues. another week in paradise!

Woke up and cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast and put on our bathing suits. Weather is beautiful, sun is shining and wind is whipping with the beautiful sparkling ocean all around us.We have some sailing neighbors actually from Tn, can u believe it! She said she heard my voice and told her husband i was from back home! Whoo Hoo!! They came by and said they were going to go snorkeling would we want to go? Well it took us all of one second to say “YES”. So we ate lunch and awaited our new friends to come by in their dinghy to take us to their boat and sail over to Loggerhead Key to snorkel. The water was calm and we had a ball saw some Barracuda and lots of different fish. Saw some brain coral, looks just like a brain. This island has a light house and it is solar powered and runs by computer control. The sea shells are different too. I collect shells from every island i go to and they all have different characteristics. We rode our dinghy into the beach, or should i say the waves shoved us up on to the beach. We pulled it further onto the beach and walked to the other side of the island past an old building on boards someone had put down and then onto the beach! Into the water cold at first so we just fell in to get over it. lol I loved the snorkeling and we really enjoyed the company of fellow Tennesseans!! I love the “LSU” fish it is bright yellow and bright purple. (could be a “Lakers” fish i don’t know). Plenty of bumblebee fish, grouper and zebra fish. All kinds of sea creatures!! Steve and I had a wonderful time and we all headed back to the beach to the dinghy. Waves were kicking up pretty high and Steve and Ed had to push it out into the ocean Claudy could start it and get us out into the water, where we rode those waves like the Ocoee rapids! Back to their boat (it is just three miles but takes us 30 minutes to sail it). The name of their boat is “Door into Summer, and had crackers and cheese. She encouraged me to take a shower at her boat since it has a stand up shower and they have a watermaker also. The shower was a standup tub soooo nice after my mini shower. Did i turn her down with unlimited hot water “NOT”. Loving the bigger sailboats.  We are having so much fun and seeing all the beautiful things makes you appreciate life even more :-). Here at the Tortugas we have met people who have sailed from all over the world. Germany, Venezuela, and Taiwan just to name a few. After our time with our new friends Steve and I went back to our boat and had marinated chicken and wild rice for supper.Watched a movie called Savages and fell asleep to the sound of the whistling winds!!

CAPTAINS LOG:

Good morning everyone! Today is our first full day at Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas. We had breakfast bars for breakfast and Steve fished while we waited on the ferry from Key West to arrive so that we can go on the Fort tour with them. We paid 10 dollars for the week stay at the park and the ranger said we could go on a tour with the KW group. 🙂 We grabbed our cameras and headed to Ft Jefferson. It was a fascinating tour and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The fort has 3 levels and was never completed due to the fact that it created 8 foot thick concrete walls and before they completed it a gun had been created that could shoot through 8 foot walls. O well they quit building because they could not use it to protect the inside anymore. After the tour we wandered around and then headed back to the boat. I had to stand up to keep from getting wet in dinghy and hold on to rope, it looked like i had hold of an underwater animal pulling me back to boat 🙂 Steve went back to fishing and caught two bonefish and a couple of blue stripe i think. I had to cut up one for baitfish and i had not skinned a fish in years so it looked like a wild animal had torn apart this fish (still good for bait). We are keeping track of our catches for Kayla she is doing research on the types of fish and how many in the area. Our grouper stays under the boat and looks like a huge dark shadow lurking around us just waiting to try to steal a fish off the line. Steve had to jerk one up fast due to the fact the grouper was coming up fast and almost had it. That fish would just pull our boat over if we caught it. The ranger informed us one of those grouper ate a pelican a few days ago right off the water.  Well we are going to hang out on boat for a while just tanning and fishing. No TV No cell phones. Just the wind and grilled chicken!