Still Finding New Things To Do In Key West

In February, Cynthia and Jimmy came to visit. We proved there are still new places to see in Key West....including visiting Fort Zachery Taylor and mugging for the camera at Hog's Breath Saloon.



We took our obligatory company sail. Right now, we are merely live-aboards and day sailors, but the day sails are fun. We put Cynthia in charge and she proved to have the right touch. Later, we had our last dinner together on the boat.

Mike and Debbie Leave Again

This morning we bid farewell to Mike and Debbie. As with the departure of all long time residents, they were sent off with the same conch blowing that accompanies the farewell to the sun each day. But with a departure, the conch seems to take on a meloncholy tone that says, I wish I could go with you or we will miss you here in Boca Chica. Watching the boat sail a way makes you long for adventure in new places and diminishes our community by the departure of a member. But, Mike and Debbie's leave takings are unique here. They have left 17 times. Four times they returned within hours. Sometimes they returned in days. Once they went to Marathon, 45 miles to the north, and stayed for a month before returning, and one time, they made it all the way to the Bahamas. Time will tell.

Last week Terry and Cindy left...again. They left last year for South America, stopping overnight 70 miles away in the Dry Tortugas. Wild winds running counter to the Gulf Stream, snapped their boom as they left the Dry Tortugas. So they limped into a Florida port for repairs. While there, a massive storm battered their boat against the docks causing $60,000 in damage. This year they tried again, stopping once more in the Dry Tortugas. When they left, heavy winds crashed over the bow, slowing their progrss and soaking them, Terry fell ill, and they decided to return to Boca Chica to regroup. They left again Monday, and yesterday we received an e-mail from Mexico. They were victorious. They claimed that bands played, parades were held, and people applauded wildly as they sailed into Mexico at last!
Each departure is a small victory over stagnation that can too easily dull our lives, and each new port an even bigger one.

The Peters Visit Key West

Our second set of visitors, Vern and Pauletta Peters came with restaurant reccomendations and after testing them out, we have added Michael's restaurant and Sarabeth's for breakfast to our must do in Key West list. There is way too much to do, so they have to come back to finish seeing Key West, but they left with an armload of T-shirts and a conch shell, which they promised to blow on their DC balcony.



We discovered a new way to have a great time in Key West...the annual "Wrecker's Cup". The race began as a simulation of the origins of Key West as a thriving community. Back in the 1800s, ships often ran aground on the unmarked Florida reefs. Salvage companies set up in Key West in great numbers, to rescue passengers and to salvage the cargos. Tall lookout towers were built and the call, "Ship ashore" rang out across the island sending slavage crews aboard schooners racing to claim the floundering ship as "theirs", oh, and to rescue passengers and crew. The Wrecker's Cup" still has a 1/2 dozen local schooners racing from the port of Key West to a part of the Reef, Sand Key, which is mostly basically under water. In addition to the schooner's about 30 other boats race. There are no rules, except the rule that you can't whine and there are no protests allowed. Boats heckle each other on the radio, etc. It's a fun day. So we raced the boat (which I swore we'd never do) with friends Vern and Pauletta and fellow sailors and friends Luke and Jan Sands. Perfect day with winds of 15 knots. The race was all down wind, which was a disappointment to Pauletta, so we treated her to a close hauled screaming upwind tack, all sails flying, on the way homee, and she loved it. At the end of the race, while dousing the code 0 sail, we even performed a rescue of our own, as Rick's beloved Mt Gay Rum, Chicago to Mackinac race hat blew overboard. We saved the day with that rescue.