Our third week in Key Largo

Not much to say about this week other than lots of rain and large tide fluctuations due to the full moon.  Getting on and off the boat at times was a bit challenging.  There was one silver lining in all the clouds, two gold Loopers, Ron & Jan from Jolly Tolly and Ed & Lucy from I love Lucy who were staying at Pilot House Marina invited all the Loopers here at Marina Del Mar over for a Friday night shrimp & margarita fest.  We were there with the crews from Brandy IV and Boras and a great time.

One of the many cloudy days, with just a touch of sun.

What a difference 6 hours can make.

With all the rain we decided to rent a car for the weekend just to get out of the boat for a while.  We already have a car reserved for next weekend when Kelly and Family arrive and were going to stock up with provisions for the Bahamas before picking them up.  As it turned out renting  a car early was a good idea as we spent all of Saturday in Homestead shopping.  Sunday morning it was quite cold, and first time for jeans since leaving Tarpon Springs in early January.  We drove down to Islamorada and stopped by Plantation Marina to see some of the Loppers staying there.  The only ones home were Sid and Evelyn on Something Special, we had a nice visit and made some tentative plans for a Bahamas crossing.  We then continued on to Matacumbe Key to have dinner with Chris and Kerm from Southern Belle.  We did stop at a few shops along the way.  There was one large clothing / outdoor shop that had the sister boat to Hemmingway’s Pillar.  The story on this boat is that Hemmingway was on it for a fishing trip and was so impressed that he had one built for himself, the only difference is his is four feet shorter.

Grandp's new friend.

In addition to Chris and Kerm, Chris’s sister Linda was there as well as Al and Julie from Harem.  Al and Julie are originally from the Chicago area and now live in Holland Michigan.  We last saw them at the Tall Timbers marina in Havana, IL which is where we first met up with Southern Belle.  It was a nice dinner and even nicer catching up with everyone.

Southern Belle hopes to leave for the Bahamas in the next few days.  We won't be leaving for there for a couple of weeks but are hoping to meet up with them along the way.

Dinner with the crews form Passport, Southern Belle and Harem.

The new week started out still cool on Monday, another day of jeans.  However, Valentines day was nearly perfect, warm and not a cloud in the sky.  We took a long dinghy ride, then a nice dip in the pool to cool off.  We had a nice dinner dining alfresco on the lower aft deck.

We are looking forward to a grandkid fix when Kelly and family arrive on Saturday for a week long stay.  We can hardly wait.

John and Mary