And the Wind, She did blow, and blow and blow!!

We had about a week of high winds. Took refuge in Marsh Harbour. We actually got there before the winds piped up and got a good spot. For the second time this season, another boat came in late and anchored too close. Needless to say, it was not pleasant dealing with the other boat owner ---- he knew it all and wouldn't listen until almost too late. Justice was done however; he later ran aground and thinking it was low tide when in fact was high tide, did not take appropriate action. Angels watch over these folks; a power boat came to his rescue.

After the blow we eased over to Man-O-War Cay and hooked up with Mike and Harriet of m/v Dual Dreams. We first met Mike and Harriet four years ago on our first cruise to the Abacos. In the summer of 2010, Dual Dreams visited  Chattanooga by water -- we met them on the waterfront downtown and also at  Island Cove Marina. Unfortunately, Island Cove Marina was damaged by the same storm that recently drove the high winds here in the Bahamas. We walked the Atlantic beach on Man-o-War with Mike, Harriet, and their new puppy Bama Belle -- later had lunch with them at Dock and Dine Restuarant on the Man-O-War harbour.     

Mike, Harriet & Bama Belle of
m/v Dual Dreams

At Marsh Harbour and then at Man-O-War, we met Tom and Jan on m/v Laughter. We rafted the dinghys up at low tide and enjoyed the afternoon.

After several days at Man O War Cay and having had quite a nice time there, we moved on to Elbow Cay where we met up with Rick & Linda on s/v 'Sojourner', Lynn & Beth on s/v 'Coyote', Bob & Lorraine on s/v 'Scarmouche', Jerry on s/v 'Free Spirit' and Alan & Geri of s/v 'Civil Twilight'.  Although Civil Twilight only cruises every other year (because they take their boat back to Maine and God knows it's a long way up there), they were aboard 'Free Spirit as guests.  Had a great time with everyone.

This weekend is Barefoot Man weekend on Guana Cay.  Today was the first concert, which we opted out on.  Barefoot Man is the Bahamian version of Jimmy Buffett.  Wild time to be had by all!!  Nipper's Bar hosts this weekend event.  We are picking up my sister Mindy and Jeff's brother Carl, early tomorrow morning in Treasure Cay and will head over to Guana for the evening concert, along with Rake & Scrape, by Brown Tip & the Boys @ Grabber's.  Then we will do what's know as 'The Abaco Shuffle', where you move practically everyday to a new location, so you can show off the Abacos to your guests and make sure they see as much as they can.  That is provided the weather and wind cooperates, which is always iffy.

The view from the front of our boat @ Man O War Cay -
That little piece of land is the only thing between us and the great
Atlantic Ocean - at high tide we can se the spray from the
waves breaking over it!

Ok - you are up to date now.  No complaining.

Catching up with old friends!

Well.....here it is the last day of February and I've not kept you in the know!! Shame, shame on me!!

We've just been enjoying the sunshine and warmth, as well as catching up with friends we haven't seen since last year. We spent 10 days being lazy in Treasure Cay and never picked our anchor up - just enjoyed the sea turtles and dolphins swimming around the boat, as well as walking the gorgeous beach.

 Actually, a couple of nights before we left there was a dolphin that came in and 'played' with a fish. He could have caught it so easily, but just chased it around the boat in front of us for the longest time - over, under, around, and on and on and on! We don't know if he ever decided on that one for dinner or just moved on, but he did entertain us for quite awhile. We did finally decide it was time to move on and leave Treasure Cay, but only because someone came in and anchored on top of us. They just didn't get it!! One of us was gonna have to move and it was pretty obvious they felt they were in the right, although for the life of me I didn't understand that.

So..... we moved on to Guana Cay, which is not too far - approximately 9 miles - but, it was blowing 23 - 29 mph, and right on the nose!! We just bashed through and arrived with a very salt crusted boat - yuk! Had a couple of very enjoyable days there, as well as two evenings with Jerry from 'Free Spirit', Bill from 'Skylark', and Gayle & John from 'Siren's Call'. What a crazy group!!! And what a lot of good food we seemed to be able to put together for the evening. When we visit Guana Cay we anchor in Fisher's Bay and it is a long dinghy ride to the beach to 'Grabber's', where we must stop to quench our thirst before setting off on the trek to 'Nipper's'.

 On the walk we have to pass the Guana Cay Cemetery, where the people that don't make it to Nipper's are buried. After that we must crawl up the hill and on the way try to stay clear of the 'Poisionwood Trees' on the way, as they are way worse than poision ivy (so we've been told).

But......it's so worth it to make the trek! Whata place!! And whata view!!!
What a crowd Nipper's draws! AND the music is great as well! It was Sunday when we finally got there and Sunday is the Pig Roast!! I know --- you're thinking pig in the ground, apple in the pig's mouth, the whole thing - not happening! That's what we thought the first time we ever went too. It's just pork pig BBQ in a pan, with & without the sauce, along with all kinds of fixin's - Bahamian mac & cheese, coleslaw that is a cross with chow-chow, potato salad, corn, peas 'n rice, fruit & cake. But it was good! But it ought to be for $20/person! Plus $30 for drinks!! Paradise ain't cheap! After several hours at Nipper's and being fully fed & hydrated, we decided we needed to make our way back in the direction of the anchorage ..........

so we roll down the hill, being ever so careful to again stay clear of the poisionwood and continue on til we get sidetracked at 'Milo's Produce & Shell Jewelry stand, where we purchase 3 tomatoes for $4.

We eventually make it to Grabber's, where we need more hydration before we can make it to the beach and the dinghy and then onto the boat, where we rested for a while before getting back together with Jerry, Bill, Gayle & John, for more sustenance and nourishment, as well as more laughs! Back to 'Salty Dog' for a well deserved night of sleep! The dog's were absolutely worn out!!! Now you know what our days consist of. This is a hard life that we are living here - don't ever question that! It's ok though - we think we can make it a few more months. I guess it depends on how many more 'treks' we have to make to Nipper's. 

We had a restful day today and sailed down to 'Tahiti Beach'. Don't you love the name? We are the only boat here. There are several other sailboats within site, but nobody else right here. Tahiti Beach is really only attractive at low tide - otherwise it's just a little piece of land sticking out in the water, but at low tide there is all kinds of sand and 'island' to roam - kinda like Dissappearing Island in NSB. The pups had a wonderful time running all over the place. We'll probably stay here for a couple of days or until the wind shifts again and makes it uncomfortable to be here. I guess we'll have to make another decision about where to go then. All these decisions ......

Salty Dog's Dogs are Surely Salty!!

The long wait is over!!!  We've finally crossed over 'to the other side'!  We had a crappy crossing, as usual, but we're no worse for the wear.  We left Government Cut in Miami @ 5am and got anchored at Great Sale Cay @ midnight thirty - long day!!  Then on to Manjack Cay the following day when our engine turned over 5000 hours (we both knocked on wood that the 32 year old Perkins will keep on keepin' on - stills runs great). Finally into Black Sound at Green Turtle Cay on Friday morning, which is where we will sit until Tuesday when the wind slacks off and goes to a more favorable direction, at which time we'll move back to Manjack Cay.  When we went ashore to pay for our mooring ball (@Donnie's Boat Rentals), Donnie asked if we wanted our tomatoes now or later.  What?!  Didn't know we got tomatoes with that!!  He went up to the house and picked them and brought them back down to us - wow, what a treat!

We took the pups on a beach walk yesterday afternoon and I believe I heard both of them say, at least once, that it was worth 2 days of rough riding to get on the beach.  Man-O-Man did they get sandy and salty!!  They're deck dogs now! Bad news for them - today is not a beach day - the wind is blowing 22knots (25+ mph) and chilly.  And it's going to feel like winter here for the next couple days - only 64* for a high.  Salty Dog is sailing all over the harbour with these winds, but so are all the other boats, and as long as we all swing together we'll be fine.

We're looking forward to meeting up some of our cruising friends from years past and have already run into several.  They are our family down here and we are theirs - a nice feeling. But not for a week or two since we are staying North of the Whale to take in Manjack.

We will endeavor to meet expectations on the blogging front, but don't keep your hopes up too high - you know from last year that we are 'slackers'.

Beyond NSB



Met this guy on our way out of Ft. Lauderdale.
English Rose in front of us.



We finally managed to pull ourselves away from New Smyrna Beach on January 19.  Headed down to Palm Beach for our exit to the Abacos on Monday, but that weather window deteriorated faster than it appeared!  We had a good trip down to Palm Beach, although we had to fight our way through the weekend idiots on the waterway between Vero Beach and Palm Beach.  Shortly after anchoring in Palm Beach 'English Rose' pulled in.  We met Bob & Janet four years ago and saw them again last year.  They are such a delightful couple to spend time with.  Janet is from England and has that beautiful english accent that I could listen to forever - they have been cruising for about 7 years.  Bob is very sensible and like Jeff, does all his own work on their boat and he and Jeff have lots to talk about.  Bob and Janet are planning to go the Exumas and were planning to leave on the day we were leaving for the Abacos, so were stuck in Palm Beach as well.  The four of us decided to head down the inside passage and slug through 22 draw bridges to get to Ft. Lauderdale and then went outside to get to Miami.  I thought Palm Beach was the land of the rich and famous, but it only gets richer and famouser the farther south you go!!!  The whole way to Ft. Lauderdale I was oohing and aahing over houses and boats.  The trip on the outside to Miami was pretty bumpy - things came out of their place that have never moved before - books jumped out of the bookcase behind our bed and food jumped out of closed cabinets!  We surfed through the inlet to Miami with opposing tide.  WOW! What a ride!!

We've never been to Miami before and were excited to see what everyone talks about.  Miami harbour was obviously dredged and perfectly shaped islands were made and built on years ago when that was allowed - very interesting.  There is a road with little bridged connecting all these islands.  We are anchored with 'English Rose' between Palm Island and Hibiscus Island.  We are the only two boats anchored in here and it is very protected, at least so far.  But, we are definately fishes in a bowl here!  The first afternoon we were here we went over to Monument Island to meet up with some other cruisers we had met in previous years, Jesse & Ginny on 'Wind Dust', and Mike & Barb on 'Goose Bumps', as well as some other cruisers we hadn't met before.  There are many places to anchor in this area and boats everywhere, but Monument Island is pretty much in the middle of the area.

Bob & Janet took us ashore yesterday to see South Beach and the surrounding area, as they've been here many times before and are old hat at finding the hot spots.  Sad to say, we were unimpressed with South Beach itself - not as pretty a beach as we expected at all, especially since it is such a famous beach.  The road that runs along the beach is totally consumed with restaurants/bars/hotels.  I've never seen so many restaurants!!!  And you must walk through each one as the sidewalk runs right through them.  And every one has at least one or two people hussling you to stop for drinks, lunch or breakfast.  Unbelievable!  We did stop at one for lunch and promptly left when we found out the 'happy hour' 2 for 1drinks were going to cost us $12 each.  They flash you cards showing $9 and $10 for lunch, but don't tell you how high the drinks are.  We ate at a place on Lincoln Ave, which is an area leading up to South Beach that is closed off to traffic and just one store and restaurant after the other.  Quite interesting.  In the middle of what at one time was the street, there was a raised beautiful grassy area and Quaker parakeets would fly down out of the palm trees to pick up tidbits that passersby would throw out there.


Quaker Parakeets



Chart of the Miami area - see the perfectly shaped islands?!



The video below is us coming into Miami.

Till next time!!

Happy New Year!!

I know, I know, I’m a really bad blogger!!! I haven’t posted a single thing since we left home Nov. 20th and I’m not going to try and fool you into thinking I’ll do better in 2012 because you wouldn’t believe me anyway.

Some of the boats in our marina dressed up for Christmas



Salty Dog



Downtown New Smyrna Beach

We are in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where we left the boat for the summer. We do so love it here! The Christmas decorations were beautiful, on the water as well as downtown.

Waiting for the Christmas Parade to start - can you tell it was a chilly day?

Jeff finished the watermaker for the boat – yippee!!! We are really excited to try it out, but have to wait until we are in a place where we can see the bottom – you’re not supposed to use it in dirty water. The basic principle of a watermaker is that it takes clean salt water and takes the salt out and cleans it up and makes fresh water – it works by reverse osmosis. We should be able to make about 16 gallons an hour when the generator is running and that is most mornings for about one hour to top off the charge on our batteries. Since we use about 12 gallons a day we will have a few extra gallons a day to spare. And when you have to carry your water with you on the boat you learn to be very frugal with it.  Here in the USA it's not a big deal to fill your water tanks when you stop to get diesel fuel - it's free, BUT in the Bahamas it is anywhere from 20 - 50 cents a gallon! Think about how often you turn the faucet on at home and how long you leave it on and the amount of water that is coming out each time. Do you think you use more than 6 gallons per person? That includes showering every day and washing dishes. I bet I wash my hands a dozen times a day under a trickle of water, but then everything is done under a trickle!!

On a humorous note – we brought our RV down here to stay in for the first few weeks since we had some projects going on that made it hard to get around inside the boat. We parked the RV at a campground 3 miles from the marina, which was quite convenient. We had extremely hard rain all evening and night one particular day while we were staying there and when we woke the following morning and looked out the windows we thought we were on the boat! We were totally surrounded by water - some places were 8 inches deep. We were storing our empty gas jugs (for the dinghy) under the RV. They were floating all over the campground. Luckily the campground has pumps that are set up to drain the water away pretty quick, so by the end of the day we didn’t have to wade to the door.


This was after the water had receded some.

We drove back to Alabama to spend Christmas with Brian, Melanie, Kate & John. I am so glad we went!! We so enjoyed watching their excitement. And when we arrived we learned that Santa now sends an Elf to each house with children. The elf sits on a shelf (or somewhere else) and he/she watches the children for Santa by day and flies to the North Pole at night to report in, then back to the childrens houses before morning. But not before he gets into some kind of mischief at the house. And he always seems to be in a different place each morning. It is quite magical! And the mischief Kate & John’s elf got into was funny. One night he rolled the Christmas tree in toilet paper and was sitting in the tree; another night he dressed up in Kate’s Barbie clothes and was found in the bathroom reading a book to three of her Barbies. I guess the elf must have reported that Kate & John were pretty good, because they sure did haul in the presents on Christmas!!! I’ve never seen anything like it! They sure did enjoy themselves. As did the rest of us just watching them.


The New Year is here and we need to get ourselves in gear, finish up some small projects, and get moving farther south. The weather here has been wonderful. It is New Year’s Day and we took a dinghy ride in bathing suits! We have tried to enjoy every bit of it because we know it’s going to get really cold tomorrow night – 34* with a high of 50* on Tuesday - bbbrrrrrrrrr!! But it will be back in the low 70’s by the end of the week. The cold comes and goes.  Since the marina we’re in is right on the ICW we get to watch the parade of boats heading south. We thought we would be the very last one heading out, but I guess not.



She was instructed to stand guard while I went to get the next load!



HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!  May 2012 be a wonderful year!

The Sun She Is Arisin'! On another cruisin season that is!

The hummingbirds left and the canada geese have arrived.  We need to follow the birds and head 'souther'!  Since we live in the south it doesn't make sense to say we will head south, so 'souther' it is!!  We are down to12 days and counting.  Our housesitters will show up next week and then we're gone! 

It's hard to believe it is time to go again - the summer flew by and we didn't get much accomplished that's for sure.  Jeff has worked all summer and is feeling the pressure of what needs to be done before we leave.  His biggest project is building a new watermaker for the boat.  The parts and pieces are piling up in the garage, with UPS and FEDX making daily deliveries to us for that project as well as others.  He could've purchased a watermaker already assembled and ready to install, but he decided he wanted to build it himself.  Besides being less expensive, I think he just wanted the challenge.  Looks like he got his wish!

And so, another cruising season is about to begin.  We are looking forward to meeting up with old friends as well as meeting new ones this season.  Follow along with us as we get underway.

The Sun has set on another cruising season

Well....................... we're back home in Tennessee and I feel like we've just moved!!  What with all the packing up, loading, driving, unloading, unpacking  ..............   we have waaaaaayyyyy too much 'stuff' ..........everywhere!!!!!  It's time to start sifting through it all and thinning it out.  We lived without alot of this 'stuff' for the last 8 months, surely we can live without some of it forever!!!!  It is good to be home though - life is easier here in many ways.  Neither of us is counting the amps we use or the water either, which equates to not running into walls in the dark and being able to take a shower without having to worry whether all the soap and shampoo are rinsed off.  You laugh, but try walking around your house without lights at night or better yet with a miner's lamp on your forehead and then try taking a shower like this:

• Get under the showerhead and turn the water on without letting it heat up and only turn on a little bit and just let it run long enough to get you semi-wet.
• Turn off water.
• Lather up you and all your parts, as well as your head.
• Turn on the water just enough so that you can quickly rinse you, your parts, and your head - don't take too long cause the water tank is not very big and if you take too long you won't have water for other things like brushing your teeth, making coffee, washing dishes tomorrow, shower tomorrow, the next day and the next day.  Get the picture??!!  You'll get used to it!

The pups are adjusting as well as we are - there are plenty of squirrels and lizards to chase to keep them busy and as long as we are close by they are quite happy.  They still let us know when it is 4:00, which is a good thing cause we may miss happy hour otherwise ........... not likely though. 

We had Kate and John (the grandkids) with us last week and had a great time!  It was so good to hold them and snuggle up with them again.  I've missed them and they are growing up so fast!

This will more than likely be our last post til next fall since we have no current plans to go anywhere til then.  We do plan to cruise again next winter/spring and would like to go further south in the Bahamas........we'll see.

Hope you enjoyed the trip this season!!

Time to head back to Tennessee

Wellllllllll...................the time has come to head back home to Tennessee.

We got the boat back in the water last Friday evening and made the trip back to our slip in New Smyrna Beach on Saturday.  We were even able to back it in, thanks to our new bow thruster - YEAH!!!!!!!!!  We love our new addition!!!  Why didn't we part with that money before??!!  It was pretty scary watching that big hole being drilled through the bottom of the boat, but the installation was very professional and smooth going - only took 2 1/2 days .  We can't say enough positive things about FloridaBowThruster.com and our experience with them.

Cutting the hole for the thruster



The finished thing!!!!


We are in the process of off-loading 'stuff' from the boat to the camper and will start home next Sunday. 

Can't wait to see Kate and John!!!!!!!!!

Back to the Land of Plenty!!

We've arrived safe and sound in New Smyrna Beach - actually got here a week ago last Friday.  We had a good crossing from the Abacos on the previous Tuesday, spent a couple of days in Vero Beach to catch up on our lost night of sleep(during the crossing) as well as clear back through customs into the USA.  We caught no fish, NADA, NOTHING, ZIP coming back across and that did not sit too well with either of us so we decided to contribute to the local economy in Vero and bought another rod and reel and more tackle for the next trip.  Our logic was that two poles in the water would be much better than one and it was fresh on our minds and we would undoubtedly forget come next fall, plus we'd just been at the bar next door talking about how disappointed we were.  But I'm sure the alcohol consumption had nothing to with that purchase!

We are so spoiled living in the US (the land of plenty) - we so take it for granted that we can get whatever we want/need whenever we want to.  Went to Publix a couple of days ago and I normally hate grocery shopping, but I actually did not mind this trip.  It was quite pleasant to see everything marked with a price (instead of guessing how much it was going to cost) and the prices were so cheap compared with what we've been paying for the last 5 months.  The last loaf of bread I bought in the Bahamas was $4.75 and I paid $2.99 PLUS it was Buy One Get One Free!!!  Bought two porterhouse steaks for $7.99/lb instead of $14.99; crackers were $3.69/pkg instead of $5.99.  I'm sure it won't take long to get used to these prices and I'll be among those bellyaching about the high prices here, but right now I'm happy to pay them!!!

As I said we're back in NSB and feeling quite comfortable and at home here.  We made it here in time for the classic car show and have been to Maloney's (one of our favorite hang-outs) to guzzle down a few Blue Moon Drafts .............. and they were oh so good!!!  Been missing them!  Tuesday nights are another Maloney's night, as Jason and Matt play then and we only have so many opportunities to hear them.

  We do so love NSB - there are all kinds of places within a short walk and the beach itself is only a little farther and if we were really ambitious we could walk there, but we are slugs and drive when we want to go.

Jeff is already ordering new equipment and making plans for work to be done on the boat in the very near timeframe.  We are fortunate in that we know a couple of guys here in NSB that are very good at pretty much anything we need them to do.  One is a diesel mechanic and the other does everything else.  Jeff usually fixes/repairs/installs everything on the boat, but there are some things even he doesn't want to do so that is when we call TR or Diesel Rick.  The new stove/oven came in Thursday and Jeff helped TR install it on Friday.  The installation went very smooth - no name calling, no screaming.

Jeff had his semi-annual haircut a few days ago.

We don't know how long we're going to be in NSB or where we're going to leave the boat for the summer.  We're looking at Jacksonville, Fl. and Brunswick, Ga, but who knows what we will decide.  In the near term we are having the boat hauled in Cape Canaveral Tuesday for some work and will then bring it back to NSB.

Since it is so stinking hot here we naturally have the a/c on and that means we have two streams of water coming out of the side of the boat all the time.  Check out the picture below and see what that attracts.

That would be a Manatee

Till next time!

Bahamas Billfish Tournament

The billfish tournament went from Thursday through Saturday and we watched from the boat as they came right past our stern for the flags they fly (click on the picture below and you can see the flags) indicating the kind of billfish caught that day. The flags are colored to signify the particular kind of fish caught - white flag with a blue fish is a blue marlin; blue flag with a white fish is a white marlin; white flag with blue fish with large top fin is a sailfish; and don't know what the flag looks like for a spearfish because no one caught one.

 There were 36 boats in the tournament and there are five tournament segments in the Bahamas Billfish Championship with each 'week-long' segment/tournament in a different location and they all accumulate for the grand champion of the overall billfish tournament. It's all based on points and they get points for fish other than billfish, just not as many. Here's the website for this year's Championship  http://www.bahamasbillfish.com/bbc_results/2011_results/
in case you're interested in more info. It's pretty exciting just to walk the docks after they come in and see what else they've caught. 

We also like to check out the names of the boats as well as where they come in from.  The best name this year has to be 'Chasin Tail' out of Ft. Pierce, Fl.

This year's winner for this first segment of the tournament went to 'Bear Trap' out of none other than Lookout Mountain, Tn. 

We met the owner on Friday - John Stout.  Obviously this is a very rich man's sport.  We were told the big gold reels on the fishing poles cost about $10K each!!!!!! 

 Entry for each segment of the tournament is about $3K and if you are lucky enough to win the overall championship the prize money is $10K.  Sounds like a lot, but when you factor in that they use in the neighborhood of $2K diesel fuel each day it's not even enough to begin to cover your cost!  Some of these numbers can be verified on the tournament website, but the others were given to us by one of the boat owners.  When you figure that diesel fuel was $5.62/gal at the start of the tournament and they use several hundred gallons or more each day it's not hard to see it add up.  OUCH!!!!

Brian & Mel's Visit was toooooo short!!!

The week came and went so fast!!!  Brian & Melanie left us this morning - we hated to see it end - we had such a good time - even if we did have a little nasty weather in the middle!  We didn't get to take them everywhere we wanted to but they got a pretty good feel for the area and the hard life we are enduring. 

We were able to go to Guana Cay for a day and believe it or not they both (as well as us) got nipped (at Nipper's) and grabbed (at Grabber's).  We dinghied over to Shell Island so Brian and Jeff could snorkle and Melanie & I could look for shells.  Lots of shells to be had and Brian found numerous conchs, although we didn't keep any of them.  He found two Helmet Conchs that were not smelling very good but sure are beautiful!  We are dragging them behind the boat in a net bag to see if the small fish will eat the remains out of them so we can take them home.  Man O man do they smell bad!!!! 

Off to Hopetown, which they really liked.  They found sea glass on the beach along with numerous sea beans; climbed to the top of the lighthouse; got to see Rake & Scrape while we were there, although it was a mid-day show and very sedate, quite unlike the night time Rake & Scrape, which can get pretty wild and rowdy - but we had a good time anyway.  Went on down to Tahiti Beach for more snorkeling and sandbar walking, along with cleaning a coconut that was oh so good.  It is beautiful there, hence the name!

On to Man O War where the anchorage looks over a little piece of land that is nothing more than a golf cart path on top of the rocks, and then on the other side is the Atlantic Ocean.  Absolutely gorgeous to watch the waves crash in and over the rocks.

Over to Mermaid Reef yesterday morning for more snorkeling.  This is a small reef/coral area outside of Marsh Harbour and you wouldn't expect to really see anything there if you looked at the surroundings, but it is a very nice place to snorkel.  We saw lots and lots of different kinds of fish and some that we had not seen on the ocean side reefs, but we didn't have the barracudas to deal with. 

Back to Treasure Cay yesterday late afternoon, just in time to watch the parade of sport fishing boats coming in from the first day of the billfish tournament.  We'll post more on that after the tournament is over.
 
AND...............somewhere along the way Brian managed to catch a couple of fish, one was a BAF which we couldn't get up to the boat and the other wasn't near as big and we released it.

Lastly - Melanie tried to get off the boat this morning with Chloe in her backpack but got caught!!!!  We struggled but got her back ................ it was close!!

That about sums up our week!!  Any questions??

Dogs mostly............

Just a few pictures of the silly dogs and some of the things they do.

And last but not least ......

Here is last night's sunset - right before the rising full moon

The rising full moon last night

One more last random item...

Our air plants seem to be happy on the boat, just like everything else, and are blooming for the first time, or at least a couple of them are.  We're pretty excited about that!  You'll have to click on the pictures so you can see the blooms.