A Trip to Bahia Honda

Last week, Dan and Biddi took a gaggle of pirates and wenches on their boat on a voyage to Bahia Honda State Park where Dan took us all ashore (five trips in his dinghy) to have a cookout on the beach. I made this video on the way.

 Captain Dan at the helm, watching for crab pot markers with Don's help.

 The man in his element.

The wake shimmers in the morning sun.

A group of tourists waved us to glory as we passed through the opening in the 100 year old railroad bridge.

Once ashore, we filled our "Red Solo Cups" then we hoisted them up, and proceeded to par-tay, oh yes we par-tayed.

 Captain Dan with his boat, Biddi and the Beast, in the background.

 The shelter house where Biddi and Karyn cooked delicious poor-boys.

A view of Biddi and the Beast from atop the old railroad bridge.

 Introducing the crew.

 Above Biddi, Captain Dan, Captain Donny. Below, Captain Donny and First Mate Karyn. Sorry, I don't have a good photo of "Life Saver Don" who is in the photo with Dan at the helm. (Don recently saved two boaters whose boat had sunk from beneath them)



News from the Keys

The lazy days drift by as we try not to get a bad case of the 'Keys Disease' which is nothing more than laziness. We try to walk at least a mile every day but some days we find ourselves hanging loose at the tiki bar with friends and guests of Banana Bay.

We did have a fun trip to Key West for our anniversary. We got a room at the Casa Marina Resort. It was built in 1910 for guests of Henry Flagler who built the railroad from Miami to Key West. The first time I saw it in 1976, it was closed and condemned. It's operated now by the Waldorf-Astoria.

The view from our room

We visited a wild bird sanctuary on Islamorada and took these photos.

Wood Stork

White Heron

Pelicans Gone Wild

Manatees visit our marina every week or so to nibble on the vegetation that grows on the bottoms of the boats.

Our friend, Kimmi, who has a place here and in Boca Raton invited us to Boca to spend a couple days and gawk at the Kardashian wnanna-beez with their overdone plastic surgeries and silicone boobs. I didn't take any pictures. You know what they look like.

Our friends, Dan and Biddi (her Irish nick name) invited us on their boat for a trip to a local dockside restaurant and out to the reef at Sombrero Light Tower.

A close view of the Sombrero Light

We plan to start sailing back to the Chesapeake in mid March and hope to be back in Columbus by mid May. We miss our friends and family back home but we'll miss our marina friends here after we leave.

We'll especially miss Molly, the beagle next door.





A Taste of Key West

A couple weeks ago, we visited Key Wierd. Here is Smather's Beach.

We went to the rooftop dining room of the La Concha Hotel to get a view of the town.

After three weeks in the Keys

We arrived in Marathon on December 11 after spending a few days with Daughter-in-law, Janet and the grandkids, Julia and Taylor. We also stopped in Jacksonville and Merritt Island and Marco to visit Rich, Judy, Jim, Vicki, Jack, and Beth.

The boat had sat in the boatyard through the summer and I expected muchas mildew but when I went below for the first time upon arrival all was well. It came through the rainy summer just fine. There was no mildew. Last spring, I had put out several dishes of a powder called "Home Zone" before we left. The suff (made by the Seminole Indians who can declare themselves a foreign nation and sidestep the FDA) is so toxic that I had to exit the boat hastily to avoid sudden death after I put out the dishes .

Before launch, I waxed the topsides (the sides of the hull, not the top deck) and cleaned the interior. We launched on Tuesday, December 14. The chartplotter, autohelm, and depth sounder didn't work so we navigated the old fashioned way, by dead reckoning (plotting and following compass courses).

We had to motor the boat against tide and 25 mph wind. We slammed into wave after wave. The mirror in the head flew from the wall and broke on the floor. The cabin was disheveled by the time we reached our marina an hour later.

Over the next two weeks, I fixed the malfunctioning hardware. The refridgerator fuse had corroded, the chartplotter and depthsounder needed a new switch, the leaky toilet needed to be replaced, the broken mirror had to be replaced, a leak in the water system needed to be fixed, the engine oil needed to be changed, and the batteries needed to be watered, etc, etc, etc.

Christmas came and we wrapped our cabin compression post with lights. I strung lights around the outside of the boat too. All of we boaters gathered for Christmas dinner. We held hands and sang Christmas carols (bull: we bitched about the lame field of republican candidates).

We created new verses to the New Christie Minstral song, We Need a little Christmas Right this Very Minute.

We need a little Regan, right this very minute,
An actor in the Whitehouse, a man who doesn't cheat on his spouse,
Need a little Regan, right this very minute,
We need a little Regan now (ding dong ding dong)

Write off Rick Perry,
He's not ready and he,
Can't get his answers right,
Write off Michelle Bachman,
Because she scares me and she scares,
Everybody else tooooooooo,

Cause we need a little Regan, right this very minute,
An actor in the Whitehouse, a man who doesn't cheat on his spouse,
Need a little Regan, right this very minute,
We need a little Regan now (ding dong ding dong)


Write off  Mr. Pizza,
cause he can't keep his pepperoni,
In his underware,
Write off Newt Gingrich,
Cause he can't keep his pepperoni,
In his underware,
Eitherrrrrrrrrrrr,

Cause we need a little Regan, right this very minute,
An actor in the Whitehouse, a man who doesn't cheat on his spouse,
Need a little Regan, right this very minute,
We need a little Regan now (ding dong ding dong)


You get the idea

Next came New Years Eve. We re-opened the defunct tiki bar by the waterfront and everybody brought food and booze. We shot fireworks at the boat anchored in Florida Bay. At eleven o'clock, we went to bed and slept through midnight.

Manatees have been visiting our marina on a regular basis. You can see Mandy petting one in the photos below.

Also, our neighbor's boat sank at the dock. You can see how the divers recovered it in the photos below.

Mandy with a young manatee. He likes to roll on his back like a dog to get his belly rubbed.

Our boat in the foreground with Florida Bay in the background.

Our neighbor's boat sank.

The diver is preparing to attach inflatable bags to the boat.

The bag (on the left) raised the port side.

1500 gallon per hour pump removed the water.

More soon.

Happy New Year

Max & Mandy

The Old West (Again)

Last September we drove to the Badlands, Yellowstone, Arches, and Canyonlands National Parks. This year we planned to do a September drive to the New England area but excessive rain from late summer hurricanes would have made the camping soggy while many of the motels of the area have closed due to rising water. So we went west again.

 We camped in the Badlands of South Dakota. We had heard that driving through the park at night under a full moon was like driving on the moon. We had a full moon so we did it. We even got out of the van and walked on the lunar surface. Awsome. Sorry, the pictures didn't turn out.

 We stopped in Rapid City where a statue of a famous person stands on every corner. I think this was Thomas Jefferson.

 Instead of going to Mt Rushmore again, we drove the Iron Mountain Road which is 17 miles long and has 314 curves, 14 switchbacks, 3 pigtails (270 turn over an underpass), and 3 tunnels (which frame the four presidents on Rushmore as you drive through). The presidents were visible as I took this picture which bleached out on the photo. (I need to resurrect my 35mm)







 If you enlarge this, you can see the four presidents as seen from the iron Mountain Road.

 In Custer State Park, we saw hundreds of Bison (same as buffalo). We were able to get close to them in relative safety because we were separated from them by a cattle guard (look it up).

 We made it to Yellowstone but this year we went to different parts of the park. We found this water falls on the eastern part of the lower loop.

 We visited Old Faithful but I took this photo of "The Bee Hive" geyser which is next to Old Faithful and steals the show these days.

 In the upper loop, we visited the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

 After the long drive from Yellowstone through a corner of Montana and Idaho, we spent the night in Salt Lake City. We saw the tabernacle but didn't bother with a photo. The next day we drove through Brice Canyon. The  totem pole like structures are called "who-doos".

 The afternoon light penetrates some of the thinner who-doos. The scene is very cathedral-like.

 After Brice Canyon, we continued on to Zion National Park where petrified sand dunes, so large that we couldn't see the tops of many of them, dominate the view.

 We spent a night in Las Vegas right on the strip. We walked to the Encore hotel where we had a drink in the Sinatra Lounge. ($33 for one martini and one scotch). We only lost $10 which we won back in New Mexico.

 Then we buzzed down to Kingman, Arizona where we picked up old Route 66.

 After dozens of twists and turns on 66's norrow mountain pass with no guard rails, we reached the ghost town of Oatman. Years later, artists squatted on the abandoned properties and is now a thriving tourist trap.This is the Oatman Hotel.

 In Williams Arizona, also on 66, we stopped to see the Gas Station Museum.

 From William we drove to the real Grand Canyon in northern Arizona.

 We continued on to the old west town of Durango Colorado. Above is the Strater Hotel.

 East of Durango we found the Sand Dunes National Park. They are hundreds of feet high. If you enlarge the photo, you might be able to see tiny specs on the dunes. Those are people.

We made a stop in Gallup New Mexico where the whisky flows and Indians who can't handle it drink in copious amounts.

 This old hotel (no longer in operation) on route 66 was built entirely of stone from the nearby petrified forest.

 Mandy is sitting next to a tree that was turned to stone 225 million years ago by the invasion of sediment materials that flowed over it after it fell.

 One of the many painted deserts of the West are near the petrified forest.

We finally reached Arkansas where we camped next to the Arkansa River. The following morning, we enjoyed a visit from a couple local fellows, Billy Bob Thornton (look-alike) and his drinking pal, Stacy. They started drinking at 6:00 am.

BillyBob told us stories about his life on the river. He told us that he had jumped off of the Arkansas River Bridge (visible in the background) four times and dove off of it once. The time he dove from it was a Sunday and he needed some liquid encouragement. The liquor stores were closed so he stole a bottle from the judge's house. Stacy asked, "why didn't you go down to the evidence room at the police station? They have everything there."
"Because if I walked into the police station they wouldn't let me walk out."

Below are elk in Yellowstone

Singlehanding

I took the boat out for a sail the other day to brush up on my skills of sailing alone. It started out badly when a gust of wind sent my boat into my neighbor's boat on the way out of the marina. No harm done (I hope). Here's a video of the sail on Florida Bay.

Key West Quiz

Here are some Key West photos.

 This Key West landmark has been reduced to a novelty shop. What was it before it closed? It was the Strand Theater.

 This bartender is singing show tunes. What bar are we patronizing? It's the Aqua Lounge on Duval Street and she is a he.

 This monkey is on the door of what Key West bar? The owner loves monkeys. It's Bobby's Monkey Bar.

Who is this singer? Mandy's favorite. It's Raven Cooper performing at Schooner Wharf.

 This mausoleum is the most famous in Key West. What does the inscription say? (I erased it in the photo). It says "TOLD YOU I WAS SICK"

 This couple is dancing in front of what Key West landmark? It's formerly the customs house, nowadays it's the Arts and Historical Society.

This is a mural of a postcard. On what business is it painted? (full credit) Or what part of town could you see it? (half credit) It's the Cuban Coffee Queen in the Seaport District.

Did Don incorrectly punctuate the spelling of his name or not and why? Two guys, both named Don, started this bar and by the convention of proper punctuation the name of the place is Dons'.

This sponge monster guards which Key West establishment? It's Mac's Sea Garden, otherwise known as, The Woolworth of the South.

This building is part of what Key West landmark? This is the Truman White House

This roof is part of what Key West landmark and why are metal tracks built into the stone? These are the gun tracks on which the cannons used to pivot on the roof of Fort Zachary Taylor.

What's the name of this funky outdoor restaurant at Caroline and William street? It's Bo's Fish Wagon.

 Mandy is standing at this famous intersection. Name the cross streets? US 1 ends at the corner of Whitehead and Fleming Streets.

This bar is famous for the sign somewhere in this photo. Name the bar. The "NO SNIVELING" sign is the slogan for the Green Parrot Bar.

I'll begin posting the next time we take a trip. We're planning to drive FB (which doesn't really stand for Fun Bus) through new England to the Maritime Provinces of Canada.