Monday Feb. 10 – Sunday Feb. 23

0 miles

Tuesday the 11^th we went to Key West to get our Local Boaters Option cards at the Border & Customs office. This card allows us easier access back into the USA when we go to the Bahamas. We met with a Customs officer, answered a few questions, and got fingerprinted. After finding out neither of us is wanted for anything (whew!) we received our cards.

Key West looking south at the Atlantic.

 

 Sea Cucumber in 2 foot of water.

 

Randy’s rear bike tire gave out (of course half way back from the grocery store) and the front one is not looking very good so we bought 2 new ones for him. He also needed a new seat so now he feels like he has a new bike.

Thursday the 13^th some friends from MI drove down from Marco Island where they are vacationing for 2 weeks to visit for the day. They own a sister boat to Priorities only it’s a year newer.

Randy, Sherri, Sheri, & Mike.

 

Saturday the 15^th we got a call that Randy’s sister Sherry passed away. Sunday we picked up a rental car and drove to Michigan. This trip back was bitter sweet. It was not easy going home for this reason but we had a chance to see all the kids and grandkids. On our way back to the boat we stopped by Sanibel Island and visited with Sherri’s dad. 

Channel at Holland State Park.

 

 Ice fishing on Lake Macatawa.

 

 Looking at our dock across Pigeon Lake.

 

 Sanibel Island playing tennis. Sherri's dad & Randy.

 

 Deb (Sherri's sister) & Sherri

White Ibis 

 

Black Swan

 

Monday Feb. 3 – Sunday Feb. 9

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Monday we took a drive to Islamorada (a Key north of us) to visit Robbies. Robbies is a must see here in the Keys. It consists of an open air market (selling art, jewelry, clothing, and even hermit crabs), charter boat rentals, and a restaurant. But the reason we went there was to feed the tarpon fish. There are 50 to 100 tarpons that hang out around the docks waiting to be fed. If you hang baitfish over the water they jump out of the water and eat right from your hand. Kind of scary but we had to try. What they forgot to tell us was that pelicans hang out there too and they are sneaky. Twice while trying to feed the tarpons the pelicans were hiding under the docks and grabbed the baitfish from our hands.

 

 

 The bigger fish are Tarpons and the smaller are Jacks.

 

While on Islamorada we stopped at the World Wide Sportsman (Bass Pro Shop). Did a little shopping and boarded a 28 foot wooden boat, which is a sister ship to the one Earnest Hemmingway owned.

 

 Randy, Mike, & Ed checking out some new boats for fishing.

 

Randy, Mike, and Ed got to go fishing 3 times during the week. The first 2 times they did not have very good luck, but threes a charm so now there will be fresh fish to eat.

 

 Sand Shark

Puffer fish (had to throw back but it puffed to the size of a

soccer ball before they got it back in the water).

 

 

 Nassau Grouper (had to throw back).

 

 Hog Fish

 

Monday Jan. 27 – Sunday Feb. 2

0 miles

This past week was a fun and eventful one. To start the week some good friends, Mark and Anna Roth came down to visit from MI for a few days. While they were here we took them to a couple of our favorite restaurants and had several rides in our dinghy. During one ride in the dinghy we saw several manatees and with an underwater camera Mark had we got an awesome video of them. Tuesday we took a ride out to the Atlantic Ocean and stopped at Sombrero Beach and spend some time in the sun and water. According to Mark “a day in the sun is hard work”.

 

Mark & Anna

 

 Manatees

 

 Stingray

 

 Garfish

 

Wednesday morning we said goodbye to Mark and Anna, and hello to Mike, Elaine, Ed, and Pat.

The four of them are renting a house near us for a couple of months. Randy and Mike used to work (and I use that term loosely) together. They picked us up and we took a road trip to Big Pine Key. This Key is known for Key deer which is an endangered deer that lives only in the Florida Keys. It is a subspecies of the white-tailed deer and is the smallest North American deer. We hiked through a national park to what’s called the “Blue Hole”. This is an old quarry dug out for road bed material for local roads during the 1930’s and 40’s. It now contains fresh water collected from rainfall. Because freshwater is lighter then saltwater, it floats on top of the underlying saltwater, forming a lens which gives the area wildlife fresh water to drink.

Black Hole

 

 Anhinga

 

 Green Heron (trying to hide)

 

 Key Deer

 

 

 

 

From there it was time for lunch so we went to the No Name Pub. This pub is the oldest bar on Big Pine Key, was built in 1963 and has a long history. Originally a general store, the business expanded into an upstairs brothel in the late 1930’s. By the 1940’s, the brothel closed and a bait and tackle shop was added to the general store. The 1950’s brought a restaurant addition and the No Name Pub was born.

 

Ed (front), Randy, Pat, Mike, Sherri, Elaine

 

 

Inside No Name Pub, (estimate 150,000 one dollar bills)