Key West Christmas

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So after being woken up by the drunken drowned rats at midnight—and assuring the kids that the noise outside wasn’t Santa, but that he’d be coming as soon as they were gone—the kids managed to get back to sleep until our normal six a.m. When they came out it was … Read More

Christmas Karma

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We’re starting to realize that the Garrison Bight mooring field here in Key West is just one disaster after another waiting to happen. With gale force winds predicted, we knew there would be some fireworks around here, so it wasn’t much surprise to wake up one morning to find a … Read More

Niner

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The day before Ouest’s birthday Lowe woke with sores in his mouth and bumps on his hands. It didn’t take Ali long to figure out he had hand foot and mouth disease. Not a big deal, but really contagious, and enough to knock him down for a day or two. … Read More

Key West Lighthouse

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Went to see the Nutcracker. In all my years I’d never seen it, and somehow I didn’t even know it was a ballet, which I figure really establishes my credentials as a total rube. Good show, and both kids enjoyed it. That night when we talked about our favorite parts, … Read More

Candy Parade

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Working on Christmas cards. There is a distinct set of locals living out on the hook in Key West, and it isn’t hard to pick out their dinghies at the dock. Every time we spend time in the States I get the distinct feeling that children have fallen down to … Read More

Hemingway

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If you’ve never owned a boat you might not understand just how great a feeling washing your boat while at anchor is. If you have, then you know the immense difference between having salt on every surface, and a freshwater cleanse. The single best upgrade to a boat has to … Read More

Keys Sail

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Always fun to come across Wyland paintings while traveling. If you’re looking for a “hook” for your travel blog I offer you up the Wyland Whaling Walls Tour. One of the great things about our lifestyle is that we have friends wherever we go. Key West seems to be a … Read More

The Christmas Lists

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Right now Key West is home while we wait for weather to get to Mexico. This is a pretty crucial weather window that we need to get right, since in addition to the normal weather to deal with, we’ve got the Gulf Stream ripping right up in our face. If … Read More

Key West

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From the murky waters of the 10,000 Islands it was time to aim for some blue again. We caught a nice day of weather and took off for a quick 80-mile hop straight on down to Key West. I have to say, trip planning with a 8.5 knot average speed … Read More

Thanksgiving Cruising

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We’ve seen so many dolphins through the years, but I don’t think they’ve ever been so plentiful as they are on the west coast of Florida. We see them every time we move the boat, in every anchorage, and even in the marinas. They never fail to come and join … Read More

Fort Myers Beach

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It was only about 20 miles or so down to Fort Myers Beach. There is a mooring field there just on the inside of the island, and only a couple blocks walk across to the beach. Kind of a weird group that hangs out on those moorings, but it wasn’t … Read More

A Season of Prep

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The final two weeks before shoving off is always crazy. The marina here was likely getting very tired of the Amazon delivery person, otherwise known as UPS. The boat is feeling better than ever. If we’d just kept right on cruising last year, we would have been just fine, but … Read More