3/1 - 3/7/10 - Marathon, Florida

Pat's cousin, Steve . . .

his wife, Chris, and their daughter, Stephanie.


A subdued evening at Sloppy Joe's Bar.

Are we having fun yet?

Pat Dailey singing his greatest hits, including: "I Might Be Your Daddy", "Nymphomaniac", "Never Pass Up a Chance to Get Laid", and many, many more.

Our neighbor, Blossom

Blossom working on her tan.

.

Steve, Chris, and Stephanie adjusted well to sleeping on the boat, and spent the morning getting some sun at the pool. We then took them out on "Reflection" for a 3 hour tour of the Gulf and Boot Key Harbor. The water levels were lower than normal due to the moon tides, and when we got to our turn-around point in front of Sombrero Dockside Lounge, we spotted a familiar-looking sailboat hard aground in the middle of the channel - it was "Flawless D", our British friends, Kathrine and Jim!

We hailed them on the boat radio to see if they needed any help, but they said that someone else had already tried to pull them off, but to no avail, so they would simply wait there till the tide rose, and then float off. George maneuvered our boat around them, which was tricky in the narrow channel, and we kicked up some sand ourselves in doing so. Our depth sounder displayed 4.1' to the bottom, and we draw 4', which was cutting it a little close, but "Flawless D" drew 5', so they had quite a wait ahead of them. At least they weren't far from the bar, both literally and figuratively speaking! That evening we went to "Cabana Breezes" for dinner, and the "girls" enjoyed dancing to the music of the Caribbean steel drum player.

Despite temperatures in the high 60s, Steve continued to work- out/swim at the pool each day, while Chris and Stephanie went shopping or just relaxed, and they also went on a walking tour of Crane Point Hammock. We had dinner at the Marathon Yacht Club on Tuesday, and at the Key Colony Inn on Wednesday and could always count on having interesting and often amusing conversations with 18 year old college girl, Stephanie, about her views on life, her career goals, and the "difficulties" of being young, beautiful, talented, and smart! She is truly a tribute to her wonderful, caring parents who have done a terrific job raising her.

On Thursday we decided that a trip to Key West would be a fitting finale to their visit with us here in the Keys. We also knew that Pat Dailey would still be performing at "Sloppy Joe's" that evening, and despite the fact that Stephanie spent her "Spring Break" here with her parents and relatives instead of her friends, we could all let our hair down a little as she was now old enough to enjoy observing the adult bar scene at "Sloppy Joe's" and to hear Pat's outrageous songs.

Though the show wasn't coming on until 7:30 p.m., George and Pat went to "Sloppy's" at 4:45 p.m. to procure seats because we knew that the place would be jammed. After making several quick table-hopping moves while enjoying the music of "Barry Cuda and the Sharks", we finally got two tables in close proximity to the stage, and our guests joined us after their shopping tour of Duval Street. We ate "dinner" at Sloppy Joes before the show began, and the "people watching" opportunities in the bar were also a show in themselves! Pat Dailey did his usual great job of entertaining, and the gals who danced while balancing full beer cups on their heads added to the ambiance. We were just smart to stay out of their way! It was a fun evening!

We said good-bye to Steve, Chris, and Stephanie on Friday morning after a truly enjoyable visit with them, and then later on our neighbors from home, Charlie and Pat Haws, came onboard. They had arrived yesterday at Banana Bay while we were in Key West, and they were staying here at the resort for several days. We had them over for cocktails that evening, followed by a Fish Fry Dinner at the Marathon Yacht Club.

Our canine next-boat neighbor, Blossom, joined us on the boat on Saturday while her owners, Ed and Susie, were away for a few hours. Blossom is a cute two-year old Westie with lots of energy, and we love dog-sitting for her and giving her treats.

On Sunday we decided to have a lobster and shrimp barbecue under the tiki huts at the marina with Charlie, Pat, and their friend, Bruce, who was also staying in Marathon and who had given the guys a dinghy tour of some lesser-known areas and coves earlier in the day. While George and Charlie went off to Keys Fisheries to purchase the seafood for dinner, Pat and Pat were on board the boat catching up on family and neighborhood news. Just then there was a knock on the door, and when Pat opened it she was greeted by Ken Farthing, an AGLCA member and hilarious speaker at our organization's Rendezvous last October.

Ken had contacted Pat a few weeks ago for marina suggestions in Marathon and had just arrived that day at Blackfin Resort, the marina next to us, so he had decided to look us up. He was accompanied by a friend who often cruises with him and is a fellow Gulfstream pilot, along with the owner of another boat doing the "Loop", "Splendido" from Canada. Ken and his wife are from Georgia, and she was flying home the next day to return to work for a few weeks while he minds the boat. He is the author of several humorous cookbooks: one about Pig Roasts (which Pat would like to get her hands on) and "The Manly Man's Guide to Cooking". Since they are staying in Marathon for the month, we are looking forward to getting together during our time here. George and Charlie were wonderful chefs that evening, as we all feasted on steaks, lobsters, shrimp, baked potatoes, and salad under the stars!

2/22 - 2/28 - Marathon, Florida

Sombrero Light off Marathon sits atop Sombrero Reef Wild Life Refuge - an excellent snorkel and dive spot.

Ernie and Casper relaxing aboard "Reflection"

Paddock and starting gate at the pig races.

The contenders

. . . and they're off

One of the losers. He was delicious.

After race dining in the "club house" - sort of.

.

On Monday our friends and next-door neighbors, Ernie and Kay Giordano, along with our favorite dog, Casper, arrived for a visit. We had cocktails and dinner aboard that evening, and on Tuesday we took them out for a 4 hour tour on "Reflection" to Sombrero Light on the ocean side and around and through Boot Key Harbor. The waters' colors were magnificent with shades of blue and aquamarine that were almost surreal in their beauty.

On our return to the gulf side, we couldn't believe it, but a fog bank came in! Because we were used to foggy conditions from our years of boating experience on northern waters, it was not a big deal to us (though a bit unusual for Florida!), but when we returned to the marina, many of our boating neighbors expressed that they had been concerned about us and were awaiting our return. Though there have been a number of transient boats in our marina, there are also numerous boats who also have never moved since they arrived here. We are one of the few boats to make frequent day trips in and out.

That evening we went to "Cabana Breezes" on the ocean in Key Colony Beach for dinner. Even Casper joined us! Florida allows dogs to accompany restaurant patrons as long as they dine at an out-door venue. So, we all had a great time as we ate at a table beneath the tiki torches accompanied by the sound of the surf lapping only a few feet away.

On Wednesday the weather began to deteriorate as another cold front was forecast to come through with lots of wind and heavy rain. After lunch at "Burdine's" where we enjoyed terrific burgers and fries (yes, even Casper!), Ernie and Kay decided to beat the bad weather and returned to their winter residence in Naples before conditions went down-hill.

On Thursday while doing laundry, Pat met Kathrine and Jim aboard "Flawless 'D'", a Hunter 45 sailboat from the United Kingdom. They had arrived yesterday with engine problems, and had spent a horrible night at their dock near the marina entrance bouncing in the waves produced by the cold front that had come through. When Pat found out that they were also out of food and supplies, she volunteered to take them to the local supermarket, as their bike baskets were not nearly big enough to handle the amount of purchases they needed to make. When they returned from the store with a completely full car trunk and more, they invited us to come aboard later for cocktails, but since their boat was still rocking, Pat invited them to visit "Reflection" later on instead.

We had a hilarious evening with them, and found out that they were actually fairly new sailors who had taken some sailing lessons in Gibraltar, and then decided to buy a boat here in the U.S. She owns a jewelry enterprise in London, and he was a drummer and back-up singer for punk rock bands who is now an aspiring comedian. According to them, they are "bopping around" Florida and will stay here until the conditions calm down.

On Friday we attended the "Pig Races" at the "Stuffed Pig". In honor of "National Pig Day" on 2/28, this restaurant was hosting a week-end of activities and food to benefit the Grace Jones Day-Care Center in Marathon, that had been demolished in Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

They are in the process of re-building, and needed to raise money to obtain a grant to finish this endeavor. The races were held at an area with bleachers and a track set up behind the restaurant, and there were 3 heats for the races which were held several times each day. Bets were taken on your favorite pig in each heat: Baby Pigs (60 lbs.), Adult Pigs (250 lbs.), and Potbelly Pigs (300+ lbs.). We had loads of laughs, bet on the winning pig in the second heat, and enjoyed a great sparerib meal surrounded by everything "pig" - mascots, stuffed toys, T-shirts, etc. We even saw some human "pigs"!

After attending Sunday Mass at San Pablo Church where we had a conversation with the pastor, Father Gerry Morris, who is also a sailor and fellow member of the Marathon Yacht Club, about Pat's church music activities and her brother, Father Tony, we had breakfast for the second Sunday in a row at the Marathon American Legion Hall. Their members offer 6 platter selections that are not only delicious and generous in size, but are very reasonably priced, thus, it is always crowded with locals and boaters alike.

Today we also awaited the arrival from New Jersey of Pat's cousin, Steve, his wife, Chris, and their daughter, Stephanie. Though not boaters, they accepted our invitation to visit us aboard "Reflection" during our stay here in the Keys. This coming week is Stephanie's "Spring Break" from Villanova University, where she is a freshman, and a member of the school's Dance Team, so this was a perfect time for them to join us. We're anxious to see how they handle the "boating life"!

The cousins arrived in the early afternoon, and after lunch they unpacked, made themselves comfortable, and headed for the pool. They told us that all they want to do this week is to relax and to get some sun. Despite the cooler than normal temperatures, it always seems to be warm at the pool here, which is very sheltered, so they should get their wish. Later on, after cocktails aboard, we headed to "Sparky's" in Key Colony Beach for dinner and then back to the boat for their first night aboard.

2/14 - 2/21 - Marathon, Florida

Valentine's Day aboard "Reflection"
.

After a lovely Valentine's Dinner at the Key Colony Inn on Sunday evening, we spent most of this week preparing for the American Great Loop Cruisers Association "Sunset Celebration" that we had organized and were hosting at the beach pavilion here at Banana Bay. Through radio announcements on the "Marathon Cruiser's Net" and postings on our association's daily digest on the internet we received responses from 25 boats in the Marathon area that their owners and some guests would be attending this event!

We did take time out on Thursday to drive down to "Sloppy Joe's" bar in Key West to see one of our all-time favorite Keys performers, Pat Dailey. We hadn't seen him in about 20 years, but we own several of his tapes and know many of his raucous songs. Pat is well known in the Great Lakes area, and especially in Put-In Bay, Ohio on Lake Erie. He sings up north in the summer months and for several weeks in the winter in Key West, so we were delighted to get the chance to see him. To say the least, his show was everything we remembered, and the place was jammed with his fans, who know all of his songs by heart, and who interact with him throughout. We had a fabulous time laughing and singing and George even got hugged by a gigantic drunk guy from Texas while Pat got kissed during the patriotic finale by a young G.I. who had just returned from Iraq!

On Friday evening, despite temperatures in the low 60s and a 15 knot northeast wind, 61 people were in attendance at our "Sunset Celebration". Everyone was asked to bring an appetizer to share, and their own beverage of choice, but mixed drinks were also available at the tiki bar at the pool area. We brought hot dogs cooked by George on our boat grill which we moved to the pavilion for the evening. They were a huge hit, and there was lots of great food contributed by everyone. It was great to see some people with whom we had already traveled on our "Loop" adventure, as well as to have the opportunity to meet and make some new AGLCA acquaintances. Attendees at our get-together were on boats from New Jersey, New York, Minnesota, Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Nebraska, and Ontario, Canada. It was a terrific evening!

2/7 - 2/13/10 - Marathon, Florida

Are we having fun yet?

Cousin Ed and Karen waiting for the launch to take us to Little Palm Island

Lunch on the veranda at Little Palm Island
.

On Sunday we attended two art shows here in Marathon. The one held at the Community Park was the Pigeon Key Art Festival, a large show made up of the works of 200 invited juried artists from around the country. This show benefited Pigeon Key, the historic island off of the Seven Mile Bridge, which is a museum made up of buildings that served as the workers' campsite during the building of Henry Flagler's railroad to Key West in the early 1900s. The second smaller show, affectionately known as "Pigeon Poop", featured the work of local Keys artists and was held in the Kmart parking lot.

The talent demonstrated at both events in various media was wonderful, and Pat purchased a lovely silver and stone pendant at the larger show. When we returned to the boat, we made preparations for our Super Bowl celebration of various snacks and drinks followed by a pre-game grilled sparerib dinner. George and Ed enjoyed watching the game with an ice cream break at half-time, while Pat and Karen read.

We received an exciting phone call on Monday morning from our friend, Helen Dambroski, to tell us that her daughter and Pat's god-daughter, Lori Lacks, had given birth to a healthy baby boy, Jon Charles Lacks. Thankfully everything went well, and we look forward to meeting this new little sailor soon.

At lunch-time we headed to "Cabana Breezes" in Key Colony Beach. Our meal was delicious and the table side view on the Atlantic Ocean was lovely on this beautiful sunny day. Later on, we took Ed and Karen on a 3 hour tour of the Gulf, Atlantic Ocean shoreline, and Boot Key Harbor here in Marathon aboard "Reflection". In the evening we went to dinner at the "Key Colony Inn" where we feasted on Italian food in their piano bar. The piano player eventually stopped and chatted with us, and we learned that he, too, had been a music educator like Pat, and that he lived aboard his sailboat in the harbor.

Little Palm Island was our destination on Tuesday for a lunch celebrating Ed's retirement last Fall from his sales job at MBIA. We had a lovely afternoon there, but we did not see any Key deer as we had on previous occasions, probably because the winds had picked up and the deer couldn't swim there or were hiding. When we returned to the boat, George and Ed started to watch the first episodes from the complete "MASH" T.V. series DVD collection the Pat had given George for Christmas. Dinner that evening was fried chicken, spareribs, and salads on our back deck accompanied by cocktails and lots of jokes, laughs, and stories.

The Weather Channel got a work-out on our T.V. and computer on Wednesday as we tracked the snow-storm that was hitting the Mid-Atlantic States since Ed and Karen were scheduled on a flight from Miami to Newark tomorrow morning.

This storm was predicted to dump a lot more snow on our home in Brick which already had experienced a large storm only a few days before. Ed kept in touch by phone with friends up north between watching the computer and T.V. reports and additional "MASH" episodes with George. Their last dinner here was at "Porky's" for ribs and shrimp accompanied by Keys tunes performed by local musician, "Rocketman".

We all got up at 5 a.m. and were on our way to Miami Airport at 5:45 a.m., but the drive there took us 3 hours because of the heavy morning traffic going into Miami. We said quick good-byes to Ed and Karen when we dropped them off with hopes that their flight would actually go off on time.

Since we had made a 120 mile trip up there, we decided to take advantage of the fact that there was a Costco and a Walmart in the Kendall area. We had breakfast and then did some shopping for items at those stores that are not available in the Keys, since these stores are not located down here at all.

While driving back down to Marathon, we were glad to receive a phone call from Ed saying that they had arrived in Newark safely and on time. Upon our return here in the afternoon we had a late lunch at "Herbie's", followed by a quiet night aboard.

Friday and Saturday found us catching up on laundry, mail, lots of boat chores, locating and filling out tax information, making many phone calls, and working on the details of a American Great Loop Cruisers Association "Sunset Celebration" party that we are hosting here at Banana Bay on Friday, 2/19. We also heard from our down-the-street neighbor from home, Charlie Haws, who was making plans to come to Banana Bay in early March. We'll be delighted to see him and his lovely wife, Pat, as well as Lou and Judy Ianniello, who called to tell us that they will also be returning to see us here later on that month!

Life is good!!!

2/1 - 2/6/10 - Marathon, Florida

After lunch on Monday we said "goodbye" to Ernie, Kay, and our favorite dog, Casper, and made our way through heavy rain showers back to Marathon, a trip of almost 4 hours. On Tuesday and Wednesday we cleaned the boat both outside and inside and installed a new hatch in our guest shower.

George's cousin, Ed Rajsteter, and his wife, Karen, arrived on Thursday from New Hampshire for a one week visit, and we were delighted to see them. George and Ed are like brothers, and we can always count on lots of jokes and laughs when they're around each other. We took them on a driving tour after lunch, and then relaxed later with sunset cocktails on our back deck followed by a Chinese food dinner.

On Friday we took a very informative tram tour of Crane Point Hammock here in Marathon. This area is an ecological and cultural preserve which promotes and protects the heritage of the Florida Keys. Later on in the evening we took Ed and Karen to Friday Grill Night at the Marathon Yacht Club, where we also saw Werner and Grace Lohmann and some boat neighbors from our marina.

On Saturday we had a late lunch at "Burdine's" and had fun phoning some friends and family in New Jersey and Virginia to find out how they were faring in the blizzard they were having up there. We then drove down to Key West where we walked around Duval Street, had a drink at "Captain Tony's" Saloon, and then headed to Mallory Square to see the street performers entertaining there near sunset. When we got back to the boat, we couldn't decide what we wanted for dinner, so we raided the boat's freezer, and ended up having pizza, Buffalo wings, and other snacks while watching a "Charlie Chan" DVD.

1/30 - 1/31/10 - Naples, Florida

On Saturday we called Pat's Mom to wish her a Happy 94th Birthday! She is back in her apartment, and her health seems to be improving again, so she is indeed happy! We also headed out this morning for a week-end visit in Naples with our good friends and next-door neighbors from New Jersey, Ernie and Kay Giordano. They have a beautiful home there, and we always have an enjoyable time with them. Of course, Kay welcomed us with a wonderful lunch, and then that evening we were all invited to dinner to see our other New Jersey friends and neighbors, Tony and Evelyn Christiano, at their winter condo. Again, the dinner was delicious, and we all had a great time being together away from the cold weather up north.

On Sunday we had brunch with Ernie and Kay and their friends, Carl and Etta, at the Vanderbilt Country Club following an especially moving Sunday Mass with spectacular music at St. Agnes Catholic Church. That evening we were invited for cocktails to Carl and Etta's home, and then we all returned to the Giordanos' for a wonderful Italian dinner. Kay is a fabulous cook who always makes all her entertaining seem effortless, and Ernie is ever the great bartender and host. What a terrific couple they are!

1/24 - 1/29/10 - Marathon, Florida

Our days pass very quickly here at Banana Bay and we have had many activities of both the work and fun variety that have kept us busy. On Sunday evening we attended the first "Get Together" of the marina occupants on the beach at sunset. On that evening we met up with Jim and Mary of "Sales and Nails", who had arrived at Banana Bay that day.
Though we had gone through a number of locks with them on the Tenn- Tombigbee Waterway, we never had had the opportunity to meet them face to face before. The next day we gave them a driving tour of Marathon with a lunch stop at the "Hurricane".

Tuesday and Wednesday were consumed with some toilet issues which we were finally able to "dissolve" after hours of work and sweat on George's part! On Thursday Pat attended the Marathon Yacht Club Auxiliary's Fashion Show with Sallyann. It was a fabulous event with Grace Lohmann as one of the models. Pat also met old friends, Joan Shields and Claire Angermann by coincidence there and immediately was able to catch up on old times with them. Grace also gave Pat the guest card for the Marathon Yacht Club which we can use until our formal application for membership is approved at the end of February. That afternoon we also received an invitation to a wine and cheese party on the dock from "Young America" for that evening. They were celebrating their completion of the "Loop" and we were glad to toast them at their burgee change from white to gold to symbolize this accomplishment. Later that same evening Werner, Grace, and Joan joined us aboard "Reflection" for cocktails, and then we all went to the yacht club for a fish dinner. This special dinner was made up of fish caught by members in their Fish Tournament that day, but prepared by the club's chef in various ways. It was outstanding!