The key to my smile

I love being a keys girl (albeit newly keysy)! I have never smiled so much, so openly, so freely. Of course, I have never lived in such a fun & beautiful place before (except possibly Charleston). Not to mention the killer year round tan (natural tanning, no tanning beds for us of course)! About the only thing that irks me (or more aptly, really freaking pisses me off!!) is the mosquito bastard-asses! Oh well, better than the pests we dealt with back on the mainland.
Happiness, ahh! Welcome!

Wild nights

It is rough out here on the hook because of the storms... Which makes enjoying Pirates of the Caribbean 3 feel like we are watching it in 4D while the boat rock & rolls tonite. We've moved past 3D on the Miss Betty!

Sometimes

So tonite I worked out on the back of this behemoth, ya know, under the stars, the sea breeze gently cooling me off... But truth be told, it was still work. My muscles are quite angry at me, regardless of the gorgeous ocean view & the regular sounds of marine life breeching. So it seems, some things are still the same- i.e. working out still sucks even on the back of a badass boat in the Keys. Ouch! ;) Love to you all who take the time to read my missives, thanks!

My ever elusive Keysy musings

   What a difference a few months, a few states, a few changes in latitude can make. My, oh my, that is trite... but true in this girl's case.
   At night, the rocking of the boat lulls me into tranquil bliss; & then the sweetest dreams have become my inheritance aboard this vessel.  I dream of landing huge bull dolphin (Mahi), or reeling in a huge shark, once I even dreamt I landed both on the same cast! And upon waking, I find my daily life is as charmed as my dream state because I have a job I actually, ahem, ahem, ENJOY. That's correct, the words enjoy (denoting a "do", as in "do enjoy") & the word job are hereby being used conjunctively for me. Yay!!  Three days ago, on our way out to the reef we encountered two Loggerhead turtles mating... on my way to work!! Such a wonderous sight, & all while jamming out on the catamaran headed to Sombrero Reef for a little snorkeling. As they say, life is good!
  So I have been distracted; hopefully I'll be more apt to keep up with my wordy, wandering wonderings now. Til next time, y'all!

Praise for our little slice of Paradise

  In our travels down the coast we have fallen in love with, if not at least become smitten with, most of the locales in which we have made land.  Charleston gets first nod seeing as we originally planned to be there for a month, maybe a month and a half... & we stayed for about 5 months (also, I wrote countless blogs posts about the area)!  St. Augustine stole my heart, I wholeheartedly believe I am meant to live there for a few months during a summer (some summer, not sure when we'll be heading back up the coast... there's a whole lotta traveling south and adventuring we need to embark upon before we head back where we've already been).  Fort Pierce gets a mention because of the crazy kiteboarders & one lovely blonde lady we had the pleasure of hanging with while enjoying some of the world's best kiteboarding talents.  But Marathon... in Marathon we've encountered a keys-y culture inculcated with misfits and characters who have made this little island town home for us.  So to all our new friends, we love y'all & feel so blessed to have fallen into your lives.

"It' strange/ how I'm taken and guided/ where I end up right I'm needed to be"
(that really is how the lyric is written, I know it sounds a bit lacking in the grammar department, but it's the sentiment I enjoy) - "Quiet Your Mind"  Zac Brown Band

mimosas & fishing... I heart the keys

   We are fishing in our backyard today. Yes, we are fishing from our backyard, in our backyard, soaking up the rays & enjoying the best mimosas we've ever had.  Another perk of living on a boat; your backyard isn't just a playground, it's a marine wonderland of fun. 

  Recently, I have come to understand my favorite thing about living on the hook. Out here with the gentle rocking, the peace & quiet I am not just fond of but completely dependent on for a good night's sleep, we are a boat ride away from land.  Every day we wish to go to land (or have to go to land depending on the reason, for example, say we are out of wine...), we take a boat ride on one of our dinghies (oh yeah, we got a new addition to Miss Betty's fleet, but more on that at a later date, when I can upload a pic of the 24' walk around, cuddy cabin Jay bought me!).  See, we love boating, not just living on a boat.  The whole appeal really, for us, is going on a ride, not just sitting at the dock, or hanging on the hook.  We wanna ride, man!  Pack a cooler & let's crank that engine, I've already got a bikini on, you know it!  So we are good to go! And we get to go, every single day, on a boat ride... twice in fact, because we come home to the big girl every night (well, usually... that cuddy cabin is awfully comfy & we've been enjoying the apartment away from home, we named her Apartment Sea).  I love boating... on damn near all boats (even that time Jay & our new friend had to gondola style paddle our new friend's dinghy to his other friend's boat, so we could borrow his RIB to get to the big boat... at like 2 am! Still, loved it!)  Boating is in our blood, I do believe.

   Gotta go, we got a fish on the line & our mimosas need refilling!  Life in the keys at it's finest.

Bikini birthday in December?! Yes, I think that'll work!

   This is my first warm weather birthday, ever (December birthdays tend to have that effect)!  It's 80 degrees here in Marathon, & we are loving it!  Birthday in paradise, I could get used to this!
Cheers, friends!

Hooked on Boot Key

   Living on the hook (as in on an anchor, as opposed to a dock) means we don't have power unless we run our generator... which we don't do everyday, because let's face it, that costs money & we enjoy being frugal.  So at night we open up our doors and enjoy this incredible breeze out here on the mouth of the harbor; nature's air conditioning.  It is cool enough all night long & well into the morning that we have to bundle up under two sheets, not just one (no blanket required so far)! 
   When we want to go up on the hill (go to land, just fyi, so you can become accustom to the mariner jargon), we take our dinghy to the city marina & use their dinghy dock.  We keep our bikes up on the hill, there at the marina's bike rack all locked up safe and sound for the night.  I love my new beach cruiser!  A few years ago, I used to rather not enjoy biking, but now find I do not much want to disengage myself from Harold, my bike (we named Jay's bike Gerald, both are men's bikes).  We tool around the island day and night stopping when we see a cool new tiki bar we have yet to try and of course sticking by our favorite for happy hour, Porky's (from 3-6 $1.25 domestic drafts and some killer $5 dishes... but since we've been adopted by the happy hour crew as locals, we get an extended happy hour to 7!).
   Yesterday, while we were disembarking from the dink, we were told by another man on the dock to look to our starboard (our right)... and directly beside us was this huge, adorable blob of a manatee, as long and almost as wide as our dink!  "She's an old gal, been around for awhile" the guy mused.  Though I, myself, don't quite know how to distinquish this information yet... except that she was a mountain of a manatee, so old enough to get that big!  Earlier we saw some of the most active dolphins either of us had ever seen (they were jumping and rolling around on their backs, it was wild)! So all in all, another amazing day we enjoyed together on Boot Key. 

   Today has started out pretty spectacularly as well, but I must depart from you all now.  The sunshine is calling my name, and who am I to ignore such a calling!  And it's $1 tacos today down at Sombrero Reef... catch y'all later!

Me too!

   I've got 2 jobs now as well!  We are working together on sunset cruises & afternoon sails on a schooner! For as much boating as I've done, I've only sailed a hand full of times... & just enjoying the ride at that, not as a deckhand.  I am quite excited to learn the ins & outs firsthand on the Pirate's Lady, a 71' Gaff-rigged Trade Rover Schooner! 
   We are toasting our good fortune with a bottle of avocado wine. Just another day in paradise!

The Conch Republic

   So we now reside in Marathon, FL, Boot Key ... it is gorgeous, sunny & warm! We've made new friends with the local salties & some local manatees... & we both have jobs already! Jay has two places of employment- both boating type jobs of course!  & we just ate a conch pizza.... life is good!

Life on the hook

Living on the hook means a lack of battery charge for my computer... hence the lack of updates about our wily adventure.  We don't run the generator everyday, so we don't get to charge the computer much... because I sure don't want to transfer the comp to the dinghy & hope for the best along the often wet ride to shore. Best to just wait to unleash my more indepth thoughts til I recharge the battery... good things come to those who wait, so they say! Patience, grasshopper-son!

Birthday boat ride

      Tomorrow is Cap'n Jay's birthday and we will be at sea, so no crazy partying, just sunshine into a moonlit night upon the great wide open blue, and surely plenty of dolphins to frolic with us on our way.  We will experience our third overnight passage upon Miss Betty, where the darkness of the swells is our constant companion.  The fishfinder lights up with fish, looking more like a map of the stars above than a menu of what's for dinner below.  And the stars themselves, well they will take your breath away when out at sea; no city lights to crowd the view, just pure constellations to guide us and hopefully a bright moon to light us.
   Jay says he is extremely excited to be spending a birthday on our boat, out on the ocean; a birthday wish come true!  I'm so pleased to be a part of this dream come true; to be able to give the gift of us together out at sea (& the 6 pack of Carlsberg Elephant Beer he requested).  I think I'll stick a candle in a honeybun tomorrow though, just so he'll have something to make a wish on... even if he feels completely fulfilled at the time, it couldn't hurt to wish for some solar panels as well!
   So today we've been celebrating some up on the hill; partaking in some adult beverages & cheersing to this wonderful man... I pretty much cheers him everyday though!  Hip hip hooray, happy birthday, you old salty dog! Happy birthday, Jib!!
   Well, folks, I've got to be getting back to the Cap'n & me thinks we needs a refill.  Til tomorrow, friends!

Our mermaid bottleopener atop our storm anchor's line

Grog blog

To make the perfect grog you will need:
1 part sour
2 part sweet
3 part strong
4 part weak
(Ye be warned, this is not for the faint of heart!) & enjoy (if ye dare)!

St. Augustine days; a photo blog

Good morning! This was an AMAZING morning actually!
I also have a killer video of these guys, but I can't get it to upload, sorry!

Pretty dolphin off our bow, gorgeous blue water,
 this is my kind of day!

Coming into St. Augustine, by far our nastiest inlet approach,
with 15 foot seas against the current,
 as steep as the walls of a cathedral.
Pictures never do it justice...
plus taking photos, not exactly top priority
 when in these conditions!

St. Augustine Lighthouse viewed from our mooring ball.

Coming into St. Augustine, seriously gorgeous city!!
Kind of want to move here.

Stepping onto St. George Street can feel like stepping back into time.
Check out the Textiles & Colonial Goods Merchant, our friends run this
store, & it is definitely worth a browse about.  They sell gorgeous
period clothing & the guys are a wealth of knowledge.

Very good advice, as any seafaring soul can tell ya!

At the Taberna del Gallo, our favorite bar, Ever (see
the bartender, Bill, in period costume, so cool)!
I would post a video of the Bilge Rats performing here
but I seemed to have forgotten my vocals would also be
on the video, closer & thereby louder... alas, no video of the
phenomenally fun Bilge Rats shantying it up.

Haha. Almost every time we sat down at the Tavern
 I would have a moment of panic,
 thinking I needed cash, then relief! Letters of credit, indeed!

Dinner with new friends, Katherine & Alan; met them
at their Bilge Rats rehearsal.  We ate at Madre's, a yummy
little taco spot which most importantly was still open
after the late night of shanties, sangria and grog.

 Fort Matanzas

The Lightner Museum

Flagler College, and viewed in the next picture as well.

And what's a great vacation without a little face painting at a bar!

This was one of my faces for Halloween! 
Happy times in St. Augustine!

All in all, St. Augustine totally fulfilled the fun quota of a fantastic vacation, one I will never forget... even after all the grog!

A pirate gathering

   We made it to St. Augustine in time for The Pirate Gathering, a festival of sorts, celebrating the pirate way of life.  It coincided with Halloween, so the streets were abuzz with feather plumes and tight bodices... a lot of women dressed up as well.  I sure did!

   I was able to finagle a costume out of my closet; for Jay's we patroned a nice little thrift store & coughed up a whopping $6.00 for his threads.  After making our purchases, we asked the little old ladies who run the shop if we could borrow their scissors, & got to shredding his new pants.  They got a kick out of watching us transform from  nicely dressed kids, to a couple of wayward buccaneers.

   On St. George Street, there is a little dark bar called the Taberna del Gallo, or the Rooster Tavern.  If you are ever in St. Augustine, FL, GO to the Tavern!! It is hands down the best bar experience I have ever had.  They serve beer, wine, and sangria.  Get the sangria (3 different kinds, a red, a white, and a blush.  All are yummy!).  The joint has no electricity, the bartenders dress in period costumes and have a ridiculous amount of knowledge about St. Augustine.  Then, the coolest thing happened... we got to participate in the Bilge Rats' rehearsal.  The Bilge Rats are a group of awesome men and women who sing sea shanties at the Tavern.  A shanty is a shipboard work song, a lead singer will start the tune and the fellow crooners will call back to the lead.  It Was So Fun!  The Bilge Rats sound great (their lead, Katherine Younger is fantastic!!), and they let us sing along, so they must have a lovely sense of humor. 

   We are headed back to the Tavern tonight, stopping by a pizza place first with 2 for 1 beers and a free slice of pizza for happy hour. Loving St. Augustine!!  And leaving her tomorrow for our next destination, Fort Pierce... but we will definitely return to this amazing city; let the winds return us to the St. Augustine shores (just when it is warmer!).

A Salty Night to Remember

  

   We drove through the night in shifts to get to St. Augustine, FL from Charleston, SC. At some points it was rather grueling (like when I had to drive), but mostly it was a dream come true (every moment I was not driving!). We caravanned with an amazing couple, following behind their gorgeous and extremely capable catamaran. I felt as though I knew these people by the end of the 32 hours we spent behind the Leap Of Faith (and I hope to get to know these people better in the future... as in, let's do it again, guys!).  We were anywhere between 30 and 50 miles off the coast, without Internet connection or phone service... which was all very foreign for people so used to being "connected."  Other than the intermittent radio interaction with the Leap of Faith, we were just two kids, three dogs (still have my parent's scallywag of a mutt), and a pissed off cat, traipsing through the great blue beyond.

The Leap of Faith, a 44' 2007 catamaran, fully loaded! She was one
of our favorite boats on St. John's Yacht Harbor, it was a privilege to
see her in action!

Told you she was a capable vessel! Check out those
 waves coming into St. Augustine!!  It was kind of fun!

  The Bridge of Lions coming into St. Augustine,
opening for us and our caravan catamaran, the Leap of Faith.

   While we were out on the wilds of the ocean, we both got to thinkin'... Jay pondered the other sailors who had traveled these waters before us; I let my mind wander to the depths below and the creatures lurking beneath us. Jay thought of the conquistadors and the explorers, while I considered the Kraken and the Megalodon.  All very profound and mostly sea worthy thoughts... but I prefer Jay's line of thinking!  Especially when I was out there, driving this monster of a boat, alone (or what felt like alone, as Jay was getting a few mo's of shut eye... not nearly enough might I add, he's a beast himself!  He's a great captain, truth be told, me hearties!), thinking of the beasties stalking us from below.... well, it was a freaky place to let the mind wander!  But wander it did!  I would see a splash in the inky night, the caribbean blue waters suddenly like black pillows for the soul, deep and dark... what is usually so bright and lovely becomes sinister in the pitch of night.  The splash would translate in my mind's eye to watered down disturbia, I would become jumpy and frightened.  Well, the only thing to be done was to change my mind's course just as I would do with me vessel.  I adjusted my heading, and thought of the rarity of the moment, the beauty of the dark of the night, and the serenity of the sea.  I found this ponderance much more to my liking!  I believe it to be a right of passage for a green captain to get spooked on his or her first nighttime ocean voyage, but it takes a captain worth his (or her) weight in salt to shake the spooks and get the job done!  I got the job done, folks.  Though, never will I pretend to be anything more than first mate, when Captain Jay handles Miss Betty with such aplomb.

   The night ride turned into our first sunrise while out to sea, and I believe us both to be hooked!

I was awakened by the captain in order to join him
for this most spectacular a view... I was not cross with
him for this request!


**************

And a sneak peak of the upcoming edition of Boating Off the Beaten Path~

Nothing says "Good Morning" like a pod of dolphins playing off our bow.

At first light

   I am going to miss Charleston madly, and it is hitting me hard right now.  I think because the departure continued to be postponed, I almost believed it was on a permanent delay.  Or rather, I was able to lull myself into a dazed denial of leaving this most precious city.  I will miss everything about my new favorite hometown (except for the mosquitoes and the no-see-ums, but that is it!  Everything else is totally and completely "missable."  I am forlorn.).  I will miss our dock neighbor's funny, little dog, Rocket.  This crazy terrier climbs trees and barks at the water hose when it is being used.  And I have grown more than accustomed to his little ticks, I have become fond of them.  I am going to miss the frequency of our dolphin encounters.  The Food!  I am so going to miss the food.  The live music here is incredible, not just the big acts that are drawn to the various venues, but the local artists are out of this world good!  I heart the Low Country and I am definitely going to miss getting to use the term Low Country so often.
  
   There is a safeness and a security as well, that I will miss.  The security of knowing where your home is, as my home will be traveling down the coast.  The security of having a vehicle to get to the store if I really can not fathom eating another bowl of macaroni and cheese (but who are we kidding?  If past experience has taught me anything about mac-n-cheese and me, it's that we get along just fine!).  At least Jay has a bike, I need to pick one up in St. Augustine.  Anybody selling a beach cruiser for a decent (like $20) price?
  
   Most heartbreaking, every time we leave a town, is saying goodbye to our new friends.  It doesn't get any easier either!  We have met the most wonderful people in Charleston!  I am truly going to miss our dock neighbors, Nelson and Ruth.  Two of the kindest, most thoughtful people we have ever had the fortune to come across!  And the guys that work at that marina are great fellas!  I hope they all stay in touch.  It was difficult leaving Mooresville, NC when we decided to delve into the shrimp boat conversion adventure, to leave friends I'd had for years.  But I trust in the longevity to make the friendship continue despite the distance.  It is even more difficult to make new friendships and leave the people with no reassurances as to the strength of the connection other than a few months of interactions.  But even if we never come across one another's path ever again, the enrichment I incurred in my life through getting to know these folks in our short time together, is priceless.

   Goodbye Charleston!  Hello warm weather winter!!

Make way

   The final preparations are made, and the weather is on our side.  The time has come.  We are pulling out of our beloved Charleston marina, St. John's Yacht Harbor, at first light.  We are excited as hell for the departure and as ready as we'll ever be.  It's a voyage of preparedness and the unknown.  Preparedness through preparations includes, but is not limited to:  we tested our lights, batteries, battery charger, GPS system, VHF radio, wine opener, and anything else we needed checked; we have stock piled food, water & wine; we watched Captain Ron again.  The unknown inculcates us with "wheres":  where we are going to make anchor (don't know yet), where the dinghy docks/public ramps will be (couldn't tell ya) & how close the food markets will be to where we make land (have to wait and see).  All the unknown is, at times, what I find most titillating... and at other times, the unknown is what I find most daunting.

   We plan to cruise towards the ocean and navigate on the outside (as opposed to the inside, as in the Intracoastal).  But, again, we'll see.  With no definitive plan other than a directional requirement of South, all we can say until we get under way is, we'll see! We'll see!

Guest quarters

Two pictures I thought might be of interest:

Inside the fish hold.  Eventually,this will be guest accommodations...
 aren't you all so excited about that??

There was still ice inside the fish hold when we bought the boat!
If the boat had not been purchased, she would have gone back to work
during the shrimpin' season.  But that was not to be her fate!

Amendments

Amendment #1) another killer good pizza in Charleston hails from Athens Restaurant.  Their crust and sauce is really quite tasty. We had a mushroom, sausage, & olive pie... I don't usually like mushrooms (these were good, not the gnarly canned variety) nor do I even like olives at all (these I have no excuse for liking other than I was feeling froggy & took a leap... it was fun, and worth it!).

Amendment #2)  We are leaving Charleston Sunday, October 23, 2011.  I am almost certain of it this time!