A few more assorted photos...

February 28, 2010
Hi 65 Lo 56
Lat/Lon 25 5.2 N, 80 26.8 W


As I mentioned earlier, we are on the downhill side of this leg of our journey. All of our guests have come and gone, and it's back to just the 4 of us, Sid, Bo, Gracie and I. We are currently in Key Largo. Yes, we returned to the scene of the biggest dinghy escape attempt. But that baby is lashed down, clipped on, strapped to, and clasped tightly. That sucker is going NOWHERE!


We have 11 days left on the boat. We are heading back through the Keys, and will go up the east coast of Florida to Indian Town. There, Quest will be taken out of the water, and strapped down on 'the hard'. We will have to take all the sails, canvas and most of the rigging off her, to prepare her for the next hurricane season. We will be back after the hurrican season has passed, to take her to the Bahamas.


Here are some more random photos from Key West:

Me showing off my best side, while doing some 'mining' for cold beer in the very bottom of the refridgerator. Boat refridgerators are made to be efficient, NOT convenient.


Linda, Sid, Apryl and Rob at Bo's Fish House in Key West.



I am soooo paintin' my car like this when I get back. And check it out, those bouys on the side are 3 dimentional, baby!

Also coming soon,... Dancing Dolphins and The Bird Nerd Chronicles.

A few assorted photos from the Dry Tortugas

February 28, 2010
Hi 65 Lo 56
Lat/Lon 24 44.0 N, 80 54.0 W

Here are a few pics from the Dry Tortugas, Garden Key and Fort Jefferson.

Fort Jefferson was started in 1846. Construction continued for 30 years. It was never fully completed, and it never saw battle, but it did house over 1,000 soldiers, and was used for a prison for a while too.

The salt air and the sea take a great toll on the bricks, and you can see where the fort is constanly crumbling.

The fort encompasses 17 acres. The architecture is beautiful.

The curved dome you see just beyond Apryl was the powder magazine for the cannons.

There is only one cannon left at the fort, all the others have been removed. This is one of the cannon ports, and some of the cannon balls they used.

The light house was added around 1900. It has been carefully maintained and is still used.

Sid and I ,... and Apryl and Rob,... having evening cocktails on our 'tropical' vacation.

Rob and Apryl ready to do some snorkeling.

Oh, and me too.

The beaches in the Dry Tortugas were absolutely 'chuck a block' with treasures. But because the area is a national monument, collecting was a no-no.

Look at this wonderful little piece,... 3 kinds of coral growing on a rock, with a perfect little shell, intact and open. Soooo cool!

Dry Tortugas is also a bird santuary. Many birds use it as a stop off during migration. It is the breeding ground for the many birds, including the Sooty Tern and the Magnificent Frigatebird, seen here soaring over the fort.

Fort Jefferson from the top of Quest's mast. (While we had Rob here, Sid went up and did the rest of the stuff that needed done up there.)

Here is a picture of Quest, and Sid's kneed, from 54 feet above the water.

Grace Under Fire

February 28, 2010
Lat/Lon 24 44.0 N, 80 54.0 W

Yesterday, we started heading back. east through the Keys. We are nearing the end of this initial shake-down cruise. 11 days left to get up to Indian Town where Quest will spend the summer.

But I still have several stories to tell about our trip to the Dry Tortugas, here is another one.

Grace under fire. I love that term. I guess because it’s something that is/can be very hard to achieve. I believe it to be a fairly rare quality. I doubt I will ever be able to pull it off! But when I see it, I recognize it and greatly admire it.

This is our friend Apryl, aka – 'Grace'. And aside from spelling her own name wrong, she is one of the coolest people I’ve ever met. She has a wonderful sense of humor. She’s eager to try new things. She’s generous, beautiful and incredibly optimistic.

On our way back from the Dry Tortugas, we got into some fairly heavy seas. Ok, that's putting it mildly. 8 of the 10 hours of the trip back to Key West were going head on into 7 to 10 foot swells with deep troughs. Easily the roughest water we’ve been in yet.

We only have three inflatable harnesses on board, so Sid, Rob and I wore those because we were ‘working’ the boat and could be tethered to the boat with them. Apryl got stuck wearing one of the ugly orange life preservers. And because it can’t be tethered to the boat, she had to stay below during the roughest part. She was such a good sport about it.

However, being below made her over heat and become very seasick. Before long, she was stripped down to her little turquoise bikini, spread eagle on the bed, and barfing into a garbage can. jWhen I went below to try to give her some Dramamine, she smiled and apologized for being a wimp! But believe me, Apryl is NO wimp! She wasn't able to keep the dramamine down. She HAD to come up above, which is helpful when seasick. So she put on the ugly orange life preserver, some warmer clothes, and her best smile, and came up to the cockpit to try to feel better.

At this point, a lot of people would have been grumpy, angry, pitiful, and pathetic, not Apryl. Bless her heart, the first thing she did was give us a big smile, and apologize again for ‘being a wimp.’ (I'm tellin' ya, the girl is a stud!) Then she sat there, watched the horizon, which helps, and cracked jokes about the rough water. And all the while, her hair looked cute, her eyes sparkled and she smiled. I told her, with all honesty, I have never seen anybody look so radiant while being that shade of ‘green’. What a trooper!

And the next day, she was not only willing, but enthusiastic about going back out on the ocean to go snorkeling.

Apryl is just the type of person to ‘find the pony in the pile of horse shit’.
You rock, Apryl!

February 24, 2010
Hi 70 Lo 58
Lat/Lon 24 38.3 N, 82 52.4 W (Tortugas)

We’re back from the Dry Tortugas. (In Key West) We were at Garden Key where Fort Jefferson is located. We left Key West on the 19th at first light, and arrived there about 4pm. The trip out was the first time I’ve been completely out of sight of land on something smaller than a massive cruise ship. I though it would freak me out a little, but I was totally cool with it.

The Dry Totugas are an amazing place. It’s a bird-nerds paradise! And if you’re into civil war history, the Fort, and the stories surrounding it, are fantastic! There was also white sandy beaches, easy snorkeling.

The best part is, there were very few people out there. No road or airport, combined with shallow waters, means you can only get here by fairly small boats. So it greatly reduces the traffic. There were only been 2 other boats anchored there most of the time. A few fishing boats come and go, and there is a commercial shuttle catamaran that brings people out for a brief day trip, but that’s about it.

This has really been the highlight of our trip. I’m soooo glad we made it out there. Rob and Apryl are really fun to have along.

That was probably the best Birthday I’ve ever had!

Lots more to say about the Tortugas, and the trip back, but that and photos will have to follow later.

February 18, 2010
Hi 69 Lo 64
Lat/Lon 24 33.3 N, 81 47.0 W

Yesterday, I went up the mast in the boson’s chair to put a new line through a small block on the spreader. Sid put the spare halyard on a winch and winched me up!

I always wanted to be a trapeze artist, one of those pretty ladies with the fancy sparkly costumes. Well, I never quite made it to the circus, but this felt pretty close! It was so cool! The view was lovely. It got a little spooky when a boat when by and the wake caused Quest to rock. I did some real swinging! Yeehaw! Actually, I had a death grip on the stanchions that hold the mast in place, so I really wasn’t going too far!

I didn’t go all the way to the top of the mast this time, only to the spreader which you see above me in the photo. But I will need to go all the way up at some point. We need to replace the colored light at the very top of the mast to a white one. Colored is for being underway at night, which we don’t do much. The white one signifies that you are anchored out, which we do a lot.

Our friends Rob and Apryl are here. They’re our neighbors in Anacortes. Great people, very fun!. We’re excited to have them here on the boat.

Tomorrow, we are going to the Dry Tortugas. We have a good weather window, so now’s the time. The next few days are all supposed to be in the 70’s. Yipppeeee!!!

We probably won’t have internet access until we get back from the Tortugas. But when we get back, I’ll try to go in to town to access WiFi, so that I can post lots of pictures.

<--- See my little tiny Bo dog down there? He had his first birthday yesterday! He's not zero anymore! Now he's 1! No more puppy chow for the DUDE!

Looe Key is fantastic!

February 15, 2010
SUNNY! WARM!
Hi 74 Lo 54
Lat/Lon 24 32.9 N, 81 24.4 W

Yipeeee! A sunny day! Today, we spent a couple of hours at Bahia State Park and enjoyed some beach time. Sean and I did a little snorkeling there. I wore my wet suit because, no, the water is not warm here. Especially when the air is 68 to 70 degrees, the wind is blowing 20 knots. (We are too far away from the Gulf Stream. So the water is about 68 here. )
After a couple of hours at Bahia Honda, we went out to Looe Key, which is supposed to be really good snorkeling. It’s right on the reef. No land there, just a tiny bit of reef that sits above the surface, and a whole bunch of reef that sits below. It’s closer to the Gulf Stream, so the water is a few degrees warmer.

W.O.W. !!! Looe Key was fantastic! We had a beautiful, sunny day, and the water was soooo clear! Great visibility!

You can’t imagine how many fish there were! Lots of different species and varieties! And fan coral and brain coral. We all had such a great time. Sid and Diane wore wet suit jackets, but Sean and I just wore our swimsuits. We would have loved to stay there all day, but we had to get back to an anchorage before dark. I'm fairly sure we'll be back at some point before we leave for the season.

We didn’t get much in the way of photos at Looe Key because we were all in the water, and that dumb dog doesn’t know how to use a camera! I did take a couple from the deck of the boat. Look at those fish! That's just off the deck, you can imagine what it was like down under the surface!


Sean and Diane are leaving early in the morning. We hate to see them go. They have been such fun to have here. Sean is an awesome deck hand! And Diane is just the funniest person ever! I have really enjoyed getting to know Sid’s kids better.


Note: I'm not able to post many pictures because my internet is 'dial up' and it takes about 15 minutes per photo to download. (Which can easily make it take over an hour to do 1 post.) If I ever get to REAL internet access again, I'll try to post a whole bunch of photos.

Renaming Ceremony for Quest

February 14, 2010
Lat/Lon 24 40.0 N, 81 15.8 W


Last night we did the renaming ceremony for Quest.


Sailing lore says that it’s bad luck to rename a vessel without making a proper sacrifice to Nepture, God of the Sea. (Maybe that’s why we’ve had such crappy weather!) So last night, just before sunset, we did it.

I wrote a little poem (which specifically asks Nepture for better weather), and Sid broke a bottle of Champaign on Quest’s bow. Sean and Diane took pictures.


'Kristina' served her owners well,
But in a different way.
She now takes on a whole new task.
That journey starts today.

She’ll take us all across these seas,
Exploring far and wide.
She’ll carry us all safely.
We’ll care for her with pride.

We now ask good King Neptune,
Lord of all the Seas,
For sunshine and nice weather,
Safe passage and good breeze.

So we and this fine vessel,
Pledge to share our very best.
And for her new identity,
We give the name of “Quest”.



Then the four of us shared another bottle of champaign.



This was the resulting response:

"Red sky at night, sailor's delight."

Happy Valentines Day!

February 14, 2010
Cloudy Hi 68 Lo 57
Lat/Lon 24 33.3 N, 81 47.0 W

Happy Valentines Day!

The winds have died down so we are heading out to sail and snorkel.

Sid’s daughter Jess, and her boyfriend Padraig chose not to go along. They decided to stay in Key West and get a hotel room. It was fun having them aboard while they were here. :o)

Sean and Diane are heading out with us. We are going to go back to Bahia Honda, where we had lunch one day. It’s a very small harbor, nicely sheltered, with shore access to the state park. We’ll anchor there tonight. Then tomorrow (Monday), we plan to sail out to Looe Key for the day to do some snorkeling and then to Niles Channel to anchor there for Monday night. On Tuesday, Sean and Diane have to leave. :o(

But we won’t be lonesome for long, because Wednesday, our friends Rob and Apryl from Anacortes are coming to spend a week. Yeah, another chance to go to the Dry Tortugas!

Coming up next: Pictures from Bahia Honda, Looe Key, and our Renaming Ceremony for Quest.

We're not getting much cooperation from the weather!

February 12 and 13, 2010
Cloudy, very windy, scattered downpours
(Notice I did not say ‘scattered showers’.)
Lat/Lon 24 33.3 N, 81 47.0 W

Friday and Saturday we were holed up back at the Gallion Marina in Key West. We spent 2 days just wandering around Key West, eating, drinking, and trying to stay busy until the weather cleared up.

We did take a brief 3 hour sail Friday morning, just to test Quest’s sailing ability in heavier winds. Most of our sailing has been in about 10 to 15 knot winds. That morning they were higher, about 18 to 25 knots, (appx. 17 t0 23 mph.) Quest did great, but the crew did not fair as well. Quest was heeled over pretty good going out, and it was very bouncy coming back in. We had a couple of green faces. Ooops!

During the night, the winds got up to about 50 to 60 knots! We would have been anchored out in the open in that if we'd gone to the Tortugas. Not fun! We were all glad we didn't go.

Snork!

February 11, 2010
Partly cloudy, in the 70’s
Lat/Lon 24 28.5 N, 81 57.3 W

Today we did a nice little day sail out to Sand Key.

We were hoping to leave for the Dry Tortugas today, but because of some nasty weather coming in, we had to cancel it.

It’s a 3 day trip to go out to the Dry Tortugas. It’s 70 miles out, so it would be a day of sailing to get there, then one day of snorkeling and exploring, then one day to sail back. But 2 of those 3 days were going to be high winds, rain and thunder and lightening. So Sid and I decided it wasn’t a good idea to take a boat load of unskilled sailors into an area we don’t know and are not familiar with, knowing that bad weather is coming. The kids all agreed with our decision. We were all disappointed, but better safe than sorry.

So we went for a 'day sail' out to Sand Key. We couldn't figure out why it was called Sand Key, because there wasn't any - well, not above water. It was Just a shoal marker towering out of the blue water.

Sid decided to try some snorkeling out there.

Then Diane put on my wet suit and went snorkeling too!















They saw blue parrot fish, and another fish that I think someone told us was a yellow jack??.
















Sean and Padraig jumped in, just to test the water and swim a little.

Miscellaneous Photos...

Sid tired of the 3.5 mile hikes to stores that are "1 mile up the road".
So he purchased one of those nifty folding bicycles for the boat.

I used it to go get a mop and cleaning supplies.

Here is Sid's "Jihad Bicycle Bomb".

(I wonder if the government will shut down this blog for using that phrase.)

*Note to CIA: Sid was just going to refill our LP tank!

A few examples of the money in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami area:

This is all one house!

This is all one boat!
Seriously? Who needs a 120 ft. long, 2 story speed boat???

This house was actually pretty cool.

The Dinghy ride from hell...

February 10, 2010
Sunny Hi 70 Lo 59
Lat/Lon 24 33.3 N, 81 47.0 W

They’re here!

Sid’s son, Sean, and his girlfriend, Diane, are here from Bellingham, WA.

His daughter, Jessica, and her boyfriend, Padraig, are here from Dublin, Ireland.

Our time at the marina ran out at noon, so Sid and I moved the boat back out to the anchorage off Wisteria Key. The kids all stayed ashore and waited for us to dinghy back. Then we all spent the day wandering around Old Towne Key West together. It was fun. But by early afternoon, the wind really started picking up, and the temperature dropped. It became quite chilly. We all agreed to go back to the boat where it was warmer….

“ Day 29 of my captivity...
Those Fools!
Last night, my captors brought cohorts,(actually their offspring!), onboard the Mother Ship. Then today, for some strange, unknown reason, they left their offspring on shore and moved the Mother Ship away. Then they forced me to carry them back to the same shore they had just left. (I’m sure this futile exercise was just an attempt to humiliate me.) They left me all alone for several hours. During that time, the weather turned nasty, the water became rough, and I had plenty of time to plot some revenge...

The male captor forced me to make multiple trips across windy and very choppy water to shuttle them all back to the Mother Ship. On the first trip, I attempted to dig my bow into the choppy waves and splash the male captor and his offspring as much as I could. I managed to do a fairly good job of soaking their clothes. I showed them!

After seeing what I am capable of, the male captor thought he would try to outsmart me. Upon returning for the second load, he bagged up raingear for the remaining offspring and the female captor. They put on all the raingear,… pants, coats, and hoods. But then, the fools,… again thinking they’d outsmart me, loaded the 2 offspring into my bow, having them sit low, down on my floor, rather than up on the inflated sides.

They quickly learned that this simply made my bow sit lower in the water, and I was better able to dive my nose down into those choppy waves. In fact, I was able to HOLD my bow so low that water flowed up over the heads and shoulders of the offspring! Man, I was totally covering them in water! (My dinghy brethren would be proud!) I DRENCHED them!

As I filled with water, I sat even lower and even more water came in. I tried to hold in as much water as I possibly could. One of the offspring attempted to bail water as we went, but it was completely futile. I had perfected taking on water by this point! I filled up! It was like they were sitting in a bathtub! The water went up their pantlegs, inside their coats and down the inside their pants. HA! I may not be able to escape, but I can make them sorry they messed with me! WOW did I show them!”


As soon as we reached the boat, I had to rig up a couple of clothes lines in the cockpit, and everyone pretty much stripped right there before going below. (Thank god everyone took their Mother’s advice and wore clean underwear without holes!) We’d have been better off if Sid had brought us all swim suits rather than rain gear. But bless his sweet heart for trying!

Sean, who was in the first dinghy load, got some good pictures of the second dinghy load coming in. (But I can’t post them until he gets back to Bellingham to download them.) But they’re pretty funny. All you see is a white wall of foam, with a few bright colored hoods sticking out of it. You can’t even tell we were in a dinghy. There is NO sight of it! I will post those pics next week sometime.

Bo enjoyed Margaritaville

February 8, 2010
Sunny in the 70’s
Lat/Lon 24 33.3 N, 81 47.0 W

Last leg of the trip! We arrived at Key West about 3pm. We anchored off Wisteria Key, a short dinghy ride to the Old Towne Key West.

We dingyied in and had fun strolling around through all the cute shops, restaurants, and outdoor bars. We went to Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffets restaurant, and had a margarita and I bought a tank top, and a cute little plush Manatee for my granddaughter, Koby.


Bo got a LOT of attention walking around town. We should have hung a tin can around his neck to see how much money we could make off him. I’m dead serious here, people were asking to have their pictures take with him. He is soooo social, he LOVES the attention, and does his ‘sit and shake’ for all the kids, young and old. He’s such a ham.

Super Bowl Time in Florida!

February 7, 2010
Sunny, cooler
Lat/Lon 24 40.0 N, 81 17.9 W

We saw the Goodyear Blimp! You know it's Super Bowl time when you see that! Gee, where should we go to watch the Super Bowl? We gotta watch the Super Bowl! How about in Big Pine Key.

We stopped at Bahia Honda Key on the way down the next leg of the trip. Had a nice lunch in a peaceful little cove, which are rare down here. Bahia Honda is a state park. It has close dinghy access and hiking trails.

We got to Big Pine Key and dropped anchor in New Found Harbor about 4:30pm. We took the dinghy almost a mile to the Dolphin Marina where we left the dinghy tied to a dock. There was nobody around, so we just hoped it was ok to leave it there.

We caught a cab to Rob’s Island Grill where we got the LAST table available. We had dinner and drinks and watched the Super Bowl. It was very fun.

When we got back to the dinghy, about 10:30 pm, we realized we’d forgotten to bring any sort of light. So we had to dingy back, 1 mile across a big harbor, in the pitch dark. We were just hoping that we didn’t hit anything, and that nothing hit us! Boy, Officer Guererro would have had a hay day with us that night!

She's got her name!

February 7, 2010
Sunny, cooler
Lat/Lon 24 40.2 N, 81 21.2 W

Leaving Marathon, heading to Big Pine Key today.

We got Quest’s name put on her transom this morning!

She no longer has a bare butt! Yeahhhhh!!!!

TA DAAAA!!!

Anniversary and the Dinghy Patrol!

February 6, 2010
Hi 78 Lo 69
Sunny and warm!
Lat/Lon 24 42.8 N, 81 5.4 W

Yesterday was our 1 year anniversary! It was 1 year ago that Sid and I met each other face to face. I flew to Seattle and he met me at the airport. 1 whole year and we haven’t killed each other yet! I think that’s a pretty good sign, don’t you?


We are in Marathon, on Vaca Key. Yesterday, we took the dinghy down to the end of Boot Key Harbor so that we could do some grocery shopping. On the way back from the store, we got pulled over by the Dinghy Police. I shit you not. And we almost went to prison for multiple dinghy violations!

We were cruising along through the harbor with the dinghy full of food, when we look behind us and there’s this big flat, kinda tug looking, boat with an official looking seal on the side of the pilot house. The driver and a uniformed officer were both waving at us. So we smiled and waved back. Then they hollered at us, so we slowed down and they motioned to us to come over to them.

“We saw you just fly through that prohibited area back there!” Officer Attitude yelled at us. It was hard to hear over the dinghy motor, so I said, “I’m sorry,… what did we do?” He repeated it. “You just flew through that shallow area and you were just churning up mud the whole way!” (That was total crap, but we weren’t going to argue.)

Sid drove us over to the boat and I grabbed a rail. Officer Attitude looked down on us in the dinghy. Standing with his feet far apart, and his hands on his belt, he said dryly, ”Lets see the safety equipment for this vessel. You got life jackets in there? I don’t see any. How about your registration? Have you got that in the vessel?”

“Not with us. It’s back at our boat.” Sid told him.

Officer Attitude wandered to the other side of the deck, spoke to someone on the radio on his shoulder. He came back quickly and informed us that our dinghy was not even registered. He said he called in the VIN number and it came back registered to someone else. The problem was, he couldn’t see the VIN number from where he was. It’s very tiny on the transom, UNDER the motor. Sid told him the dinghy WAS registered to us, but that we were in error in not having the new sticker on it.

He pointed a finger at Sid and squinted his eyes, and said, “This vessel is not registered to you. You’ve been in the state of Florida more than 60 days and you haven’t registered it! You know more than you are letting on here.”
Sid and I looked at each other… Is this guy for real???

The he announced, “I’m Officer Guererro, and I’m not usually on a Poop Boat. I’m usually out there.” And he pointed out toward town, I guess. (Hmmm, I’m starting to pick up on something here…)

He continued with, “ I don’t appreciate you coming here and tearing through the protected sea grass. You could have killed a manatee.”

(I’m sorry, but after seeing one, I’m pretty sure that hitting a manatee with a little dinghy would have killed US. And we weren’t ‘tearing’ any where, these harbors are ‘no wake’ zones.)

Then he says, “You committed several serious offenses here today.” And he crossed his arms at the wrist in the motion of hand cuffs! “You don’t have the proper safety equipment on board, you are supposed to have the stickers on the side, and the paper registration on board at all times. But I’m gonna let you off with a stern warning this time. You’d better get this stuff taken care of TODAY!”

Officer Guerero allowed us to leave and return to our boat with our groceries.

Ok, now I’m a huge supporter of Law Enforcement. I have a lot of respect for those guys, but it was sooo obvious that this guy had a nasty attitude and wanted someone to take it out on. Yes, we should have had life jackets. But the damn dingy IS registered, and we just needed to put the stickers on it. (Which we have done by now.) And where in a dinghy are you supposed to keep a piece of paper! It’s always wet inside the dinghy, and the wind blows stuff around. Geez!

A POOP BOAT? LOL! No wonder he was so bent outta shape!

“I’m not usually on a Poop Boat – I’m usually a real cop. But since I got caught with the Chief’s wife, I got busted down to dinghy patrol.”