Full moon is a rising!

We decided not to bore you with another "perfect" sunset this evening, even if it was another beauty.........instead, right after the sun went down we looked around and this moon rise was coming over the island.

Now if only Bob can figure out how to send me a cold Blue through Skype I know we'd be sitting really pretty!!

An early morning departure

As luck would have it, the wind shifted from the forecasted light east to a more northeasterly direction.  Sooo we had a pretty bumpy night.   Needless to say we were both up early waiting for daybreak so we could make tracks!  Although we didn't get a ton of good sleep we saw the most spectacular sunrise to have our coffee with! 

So, after we were all secure....

We celebrated with Grey Hound, Neptune and all our friends!!!

Thanks Jim.......14 Years ago we got this bottle!!!!!!!!!!

Indian Key...

WOW,  what a fabulous sail we had today!!!!    Grey Hound had a bone in her teeth!!!!!  We sailed down through the Straits of Florida  from Largo Sound past Alligator Reef.....just 34 nm but we raised mainsail at noon and we were here at 3:30........that's  tied up and sitting pretty!!  Just wish I had the words to describe how the helm felt and how beautiful Grey Hound is!  We have a short video of our sail (will download soon)...... 

We came to Indian Key because they say this is where the pirates used to come........and we are here now !!!!!!!

Day 2 in Largo Sound

We had a good day in the Sound and it is just really nice to visit the park and the surrounding area.  Another coursing with our dolphin tonight and the moon is getting  better and better.  Tomorrow we head south and back to the Bay side to meet up with Kismet and the Roxy crew next week.

Stay tuned.......good night!

Grey Hound had some guests this morining

We had a cold front blow through last night but that is one of the reasons why we decided to come into Largo Sound at this time.  Good mooring with protection from the west and NW.  It was cool when we got up but it's getting nice again so we're happy.

When I got up and looked out the ports I found that we had guests on the port float.  The guys are Ruddy Turnstones and I guess they thought Grey Hound's snow white paint looked like their summer habitat which is in the high Arctic tundra.  Now we have a tundra and it's white but that is in Melbourne so theses guys are mixed up!  Early this morning before sunrise we kept hearing a strange noise we couldn't ID it but now we think the noise came these guys.......

Through Snake Creek to Largo Sound...Atlantic side

We took the cut at Snake Creek today and found out that sometimes 3 feet isn't 3 feet!  There was shoaling at the bayside entrance and guess who managed to find it?  :-)  No big deal though, all we had to do is lift the board another 6 inches and off we went (besides we didn't want Roxy to be the only one to run aground there).   ;-)    After a nice 27 mile sail we arrived at the entrance of Largo Sound ...........another interesting narrow entrance and are now sitting on a mooring ball waiting for a cold front to come through..........if you want to call 64 degrees cold!!   

The sail was really cool and we couldn't get over the beautiful colors of the water.........it runs from about 11 feet to around 18 and you can see the bottom and the diferences in depth!  Just hope our pix do justice to it! 

Oh yeah,

Another beautiful sunset..............

Lignumvitae Key

Yesterday we had a fabulous sail from Tarpon Basin to Lignumvitae Key. Lignumvitae is actually one of the last remnants of what the explorer's saw when they first made landfall  in Florida. The only thing that saved this island is the tree that the island is named for .........the wood from the lignumvitae tree is so dense it won't float!!!!    Grey Hound was coursing well and she found her friend Comocean!... since we met up again with Dottie and Irwin we have no pictures of the island! .........But we had a nice dinner aboard Grey Hound and we feel those guys can teach us so much!!!!

sitting at anchor

Just sitting at anchor and having breakfast, this gorgeous yacht motors through...........we think she could be one of the old Presidential yachts from days gone by.  What do you think? 

And THEN.......

We walked into Publix.............I was looking for flowers for Donna, (those guys were soo nice!) and I here "Anne,  Anne is that you?............It's Kathy Kulkowski from our old Hobie racing days....Man!  Who would have thunk it!?!   With any luck we'll be able to connect with them...........it sure brought back the "good  'ol days".

WOW....look at these guys!

We needed to re-provison today and we gave it a try in Tarpon Basin.  The live-a-boards have turned many of the areas against boats in general and it's amazing how many "no trespassing" signs there are in the place.  We went over to one suggested location and it was fenced in, but a couple of guys were trying to get a pontoon boat into the boat launch and Anne asked if they knew of any place we could tie up and run and get groceries.....well, we helped them get the boat into the slip and Jim said "follow me".  So the end result was that we docked at Donna and Jim's on a canal.  They were so nice and one of their pets included these guys.......what a riot watching them drink in the fresh water....

It was soooo nice to meet kind and nice people....so there is still hope!!  Thanks to Mike & Donna!!

ps. Ed & Becky, no turtles yet but we think we're getting close...........

Tarpon Basin today

For some peace and quiet we pulled up the hook and went down to Tarpon Basin today.  Tomorrow we hope to get provisions nearby.  And yes........ANOTHER RATHER NICE SUNSET!!

and then when you think you have seen it all.....!!

Ok, we have given you a ton of  "nature" over the last few weeks......so now it's "night life" instead.  Yes....more pirates!

We have decided the only real pirates are those that do not fly the flag....Alley Cat and our friends from Indiana do not fly the flag and yes, they are pretty crazy and wild!

Part 1:  Richard on his Privilege 39 just picked her up earlier this fall just north of Ft Lauderdale.  On route to Key Largo he managed to win two $10,000 lottery picks and has the paperwork to prove it.  He also went under the 56 foot bridge in Miami when his mast is 56 feet....yep the mast head light and antenna is history..  He had the bar in stitches one night, in his Austrian accent when he was bitten by a pitbull when everyone thought he was saying "poodle"!  His boat is a 1992 and has everything in the world on it.....he does not know how to sail and has NEVER even seen his mainsail!  He wants to sail around the world  but insists he won't do the Panama Canal as its for sissies...  So it's the Horn for this guy!!  We have a bet the boat will be in the same place a year from now.

Part 2:  Brandon and Kelsey from Indiana....we don't know the boat name as it's too small to have a name.  They trailered a Buccaneer 21 from Indiana down to Florida and have been in Key Largo for a few weeks.  Brandon customized the interior and cleaned her up and she looks great.  Problem one:  because the boat is  very small he decided to take out the walls to make more room.....yep.....they now have no bulkheads so the boat may implode someday.  They also have a compass but it's broken and no charts.  But he does have Irwin's cap given to him (our pirate friend from Elliott Key).  It's a good thing they are both working at Gilbert's.....they don't have to sail!!

New Year's eve at Gilbert's

Gilbert's would be the joint for dinner on New Years..... It's pretty much a pirate pub but the food is VERY good.  Note the "house wine" on the sign..... We therefore put on some decent clothes and headed to the beach.  Even before we landed we knew it would be fun as a couple were getting married on the beach at sunset.  They were having a lot of fun!  Then off to the "raw bar"!  Pablo and his dad, Oscar made great dishes and they gave us some great oysters, crab claws, and scallops rockafeller (OK, the spelling is strange ....maybe it's the rum).  We listened to some music and made it back to the boat early.  

2009.....is here!!