And now for something different

So much time is spent fixing things, cleaning things and shopping to fix and clean with.  It is about a 10 minute dinghy ride to the dock.  How hard the wind is blowing and which direction it's coming from determine how wet you'll be at the end.  We have started using our lifejackets to block the worst of the splash and it seems to work well.  Then we ride our bikes to whichever store has what we need.  They are always in opposite directions but never more than a few miles apart.  It's good exercise anyway.  We also get to meet so many interesting people along the way, checking the mail, doing laundry or just hanging out.  It's not always an easy life but it's never boring!

Since we are not on a dock, getting water is a bit of an effort.  There is a spigot at the marina
but you have to get the water from the spigot to your tanks.  David found a 20 gallon water bladder
that fits in the bottom of the dinghy.  He fills it then pumps it from the bladder to the tanks.
So much easier than lifting 5 gallon jugs over our rails.

The deckside apparatus.  One tube goes to the bladder then to the pump
and the second tube goes from the pump to the tank.  We have 3 water tanks so
it's easy to more around.  We get about 80 gallons a week.

This condo faced the worst of Hurricane Irma.  Even 18 months later
was still under repair.

This is a boat wreck at low tide off the place we went for Valentine's Day.

These bubbles are freestanding and really bring the air down into the boat.

The super moon was gorgeous.  The sky was clear and it seemed to fill
the harbor with bright light for hours.

It's hard to miss a sunset like this!

Another project up the mast.

A bird's eye view from the mizzen mast spreader.  You can see how much stuff
we attach to the mast.  Horn, antennas, radar and wind generator. 
Second masts are handy.

You can see our wind bubbles and 3 portable solar panels.

The bird's eye view of the harbor.

The small mushroom antenna was the purpose for the climb.  It is
our XM radio antenna.  A bonus was getting the bottom of the spreaders
clean and checking that the wind generator blades are all still
solidly attached. 

Key West-Second Time

We wanted to see our friends Demaris and Kelly again before we all left the keys so hopped on the bus for the ride to Key West.  There was a 5%  chance of rain so we had planned on visiting gardens.  That slight chance poured so instead we relaxed, visited and stayed inside a lot.  It did clear up enough for us to visit this unique and totally cool restaurant and marina.  I have included some other pictures in this post simply because it shows the unique flavor of south Florida.

All over Marathon and most of South Florida there are canals that
have houses along their banks.  In one of the more hidden canals, we found this
trailer with a different idea of patio decor.  Zoom in to look at the dog.
He's just watching the world go by.

At the marina, this is a popular spot.  It is shady and has a bench underneath it.
Supposedly all knowledge is found on the bench but leaves you want you
get up.

This huge sandcastle was in a park in Miami.  We were in the lot near
it when we went up to the boat show.

This owner has a fertile imagination and lots of time.  We spent a good bit of
time just gawking at all the stuff he had managed to attached to the truck.  Barbie, Ken
smurfs were all part of the tableau.

Click in just to see what all is there.

David want s a shark mirror too.

The artwork was very well done.

There won't be another one like this!

Sister's and Whiskey Creek

We are in Boot Key harbor but since Boot Key is uninhabited and cannot be accessed but by small boat, it is not as popular with tourists as is Marathon and the nearby small keys.  It is now completely covered in mangroves but at one point in time was home to a military installation and there was a bridge from Marathon over to Boot Key.  The center span is now long gone so it's easy for sailboats to enter the harbor.  With projects and chores caught up we went exploring.

A kayaker let us take a picture of her map provided by the rental place.
We were exploring Sister's Creek then Whiskey Creek.  We were hoping to make it to
Big Lake but the boat didn't have the clearance to get there.  We did make it to
Silver Lake and it was so peaceful.

Boats that choose to anchor outside the harbor often choose this anchorage
in Sister's Creek.  David met this guy back in Freeport when he was working
on a buddy's boat.  It is a huge wooden schooner lovingly maintained.

The row of boats in the creek.

These are the Voice Of America towers or Radio Marti.  They broadcast
news and apparently Tella Novelas to Cuba.

The mouth of Sister's creek where it feeds into the Atlantic.  If the tide is high
we can make it out this way if we're heading north.  Saves over an hour.

Tons of these little jelly fish all over the area.  Not making me want to go swimming!

The patience of these birds is amazing to watch.  Those big, spread out toes
allow them to walk on the mat of seagrass along the shore.

It was a sunny day so the shade of large old mangroves was appreciated.

Some of the mangroves were huge!

We went as far up Whiskey Creek as we could go.  It was a long, low
tunnel for quite some way but then the branches became too low
and threatened to burst our "bubble boat" so we turned around.

Pigeon Key

Pigeon Key is a must-do for us in the Keys.  It is a nice ferry ride over and back plus it is so full of history and amazing engineering feats.  Pigeon Key was the staging ground for construction of the famous 7 mile bridge and now houses a museum, day camp as well as an environmental camp for ages 8-16.  Students come from all over the world to learn about the flora and fauna of the Florida Keys.  We take so much for granted now but in the late 1800s, Henry Flagler was considered a truly nutty old man who wanted to build this railroad from Miami to Key West.  Being a true genius, the more he was told how impossible it was, the more determined he was to make it happen.  He found the engineer who had the vision to make it happen, people willing to endure the hardships of south Florida before AC and logistical folks to pull it all together.  There are several good books on the entire road and hopefully some of you will find the time to read one.     In the meantime, welcome to Pigeon Key 2019.

Our group coming off the ferry and passing one of the bridge keeper cottages.
It is now used as living quarters for the instructors.

The original 7 mile bridge runs through the island.  The concrete was imported from
Germany and is so strong that structural engineers predict these pillars to outlast
any in the new bridge.  Another cottage is in the background, now the museum.

Architecture typical of the day.

The sign out side of the house tells it's age.

This is the original cook house for the building camp.  It is now the dorms for
the students.

More views of the museum and to the left is the old mess hall now
primary classrooms.

View between the bridges.

All water for the keys comes from Miami via the aqueduct.  Until the new bridge was
built in the 60s, it all came through this pipe! 

One of the rooms in the museum.  Flagler insisted that all rooms be painted
yellow since it was considered a "happy" color. He knew he was asking a lot
of his workers and did whatever he could to make life better.  

Not sure where this huge fisherman's anchor came from but I thought this was
a cool view of the bridges.

The chow hall now classroom.  The building is bright and cool thanks to
the high pitched roof, openings above the doors and windows and being
situated to take advantage of the breezes.  All the windows are original which
seems an amazing feat considering all the hurricanes this island has seen.  Not bad for an
all wood building!

One of the excursions for the students is beach clean-up.  Each year, the
class saves the old fishing buoys then decorate and autograph them.
They are hung from the rafters in chronological order.

A scale model of one of the train depots along the route.  The hurricane
of 1935 destroyed a large section of the railroad and it was never rebuilt.
However, since people were missing the relatively easy access to the Keys,
the government bought the right of ways and turned it into a highway.  Stretches of
the old road can be seen all throughout the keys.

Hurricane Irma hit in 2017 and caused quite a bit of damage to the island.
Many of the large trees were killed by the salt water inundation and all
of them were stripped of leaves.  These bushes along the shore show
various stages of recovery.

These 2 buildings were knocked off their foundations.  The large trees
saved them from being blown over completely.  The foundation has
received a grant to restore them.

Once the island was no longer needed to build the bridge or collect tolls,
it was purchased and developed into a fishing camp.  They used the existing
buildings but added this saltwater pool.  It is now used for research.

This ramp is under renovation.  It was the way off or onto the island from
the old roadway.  This area used to have a variety of large trees before Irma.

The row of palm trees used to extend all the way to the base of the ramp.

Happy man after a great tour with a knowledgeable tour guide.  You can see all the
bracing required to make the road expand from a narrow gauge 1-way track to a 2 lane highway.

This and That

These pictures were deemed blogworthy but didn't really have a category.  Part of living aboard.

I made several hatch covers for rainy days.  We had tested them for fit but never
have used them until now.  This one is over the forward hatch and works well
as long as the rain is not blowing hard straight at us.  This allows us to  keep the hatch
open and let air in while it's raining.  Especially important on hot days.

New bike trunk loaded with groceries and mail.  The side pockets fold out.  Yes, I did
adjust the load to keep the panniers off the wheels.

Ouchy!  We had very strong head winds headed to Mass on Sunday and I was
drafting (following very close behind another bike) off of David.  I got a bit too close
and my front wheel kissed his rear wheel and down I went.  Could have been worse
but this one one of my favorite pair of capris.

This restaurant is on the way home from church.  It is always filled to
capacity.  The food is so good we wait.  I love all the signs spread throughout
the dining area and bathrooms.  I'll never think of bacon the same way again! 

More humor from Stout's.  You have to follow government edicts to stay in
business but the law doesn't say you can't make fun of them!

Always wanted to be train robbers!  This is a historic train dining car.  It
used to be a visitors center for Pigeon Key.  Now it's waiting restoration from
Hurricane Irma damage by Crane Point Nature Center.  We started wearing more
protection for our faces and seemed like a good place to pose as bandits.

We wanted to inspect one of our water tanks so we moved all the cushions and
I thought I show you some of what gets hidden away usually.  This is one side and
the compartments are deep enough to stow quite a bit of food and gear with easy
access to the cabin.

We had to move the piece of wood that the cushions rest on to gain access
to the water tank access panels.  The piece of wood moves out towards the  center
of the cabin to make a narrow bunk  We use it to watch movies.  Just wide enough
and long enough to hold us.