What do you do all day?

I decided it was time to answer the question I get the most, What do you do all day?

·     Our mornings start anywhere between 7 and 8:30 and that is without an alarm clock.  The average wake time is 7:30.

·     I sit back and enjoy my limit of 2 cups of coffee a day.  If I drank anymore, I would have the shakes all day.

·     Now, while I’m enjoying my coffee, I scan through Facebook and play my daily games of Candy Crush, Candy Soda and Word Connect. If I’m doing really well I can play for at least an hour if not longer, I know what a waste of time, but that is not a problem because I have all day.

·     Grocery shopping, I love a grocery store, except on a rainy Saturday morning, that is when everyone else is shopping.   I think we have been in every grocery store on Key West including the little mom and pop shops.  Grocery shopping is great when you have a car, otherwise we have to lug the wagon and walk, yuck, but it helps for the 10,000 steps. Don’t forget whatever I buy has to fit in my tiny refrigerator.

·     Meal planning is time-consuming, I have to look at pretty pictures of food (I’m a Pinterest fan), make decisions about  eating in or going out, and I have to consider our budget, which we have been over every month since starting this excursion.

·     I make breakfast almost daily, depending on my mood, it could be cereal, oatmeal, omelets, French toast, pancakes, hard-boiled eggs, but mostly scrambled eggs with tomatoes and cheese. Sometimes he just gets a breakfast bar.

·      Of course dishes need to be done, Rob is my dishwasher. He has to wash and dry by hand. I should probably buy Palmolive so he can have nice soft hands.

·      Ice is a twice a day chore.  This includes emptying 2 ice-cube trays. The ice maker no longer makes ice cubes, but it still works as a freezer so I also make 4 bowls of block ice.  The block ice is for the cooler.  I know it would be easier to buy a bag of ice, but it helps with the budget.  The things  I do to make sure there is cold beer.

·      In the morning I drain the water out of the cooler and at night I stock with beer.  Of course draining the cooler consists of opening the floor and draining the water using a syphon via a special hose, very scientific.

·      On Thursdays while in Key West we walk to the farmers market, we stroll through the fruit and vegetable stands, there are 3 amazing Middle Eastern stands that offers free samples of their delicious food, and you could basically have lunch just by trying the samples. Oh, and the cheese lady is my favorite.

·      We walk at least 10,000 steps daily, some day’s way more others barely. We love exploring the back streets of Key West and seem to discover something new every day.

·      My work out routine which includes squats, Russian Kettlebell swing, the superman (On all four and extend left leg and right arm straight out) and the double leg crunch, funny thing is I haven’t noticed any change, maybe I have to work out for more than 5 minutes and once a week. I have a jump rope, but I haven’t been able to find it, I’m on a boat it shouldn’t be that hard.

·      Laundry day is different each time, sometimes I wait until I have several loads others when I only have 1 load.  My dilemma with laundry is I have to go through the pool area and up the steps to the laundry room.  But it is great to sit by the pool while waiting on laundry.

·      Rob has to empty the shi**er every other week, that is a dirty chore and I am so glad he takes charge of that one.

·      Reading, by the pool, on the fly bridge, while sitting out back, there are so many places, the decisions I have to make.  I am currently reading The Camel Club and Rob is reading Stone Cold both are by David Baldacci.

·      We occasionally go to the pool, it is very crowded on weekends.  Great place to people watch (lots of skimpy bathing suits), read, and wait for the laundry.

·      Riding bikes, we’ve done that once.  Same with our scooters only ridden once since Rob’s accident. Bike riding would be considered exercise and we already know how much I exercise.

·      Cleaning the inside of the boat takes me practically all day, I don’t understand why, since it is literally 2 rooms and a bathroom.  It’s not like I’m sitting and watching the soaps, we only have 3 channels. 

·      There is also the mundane stuff like going to the dentist for a root canal and cleanings, getting fingerprinted for our TSA pre check, and having to get a new pair of eyeglasses (can you believe I want to be able to see clearly).

·      Spending time with all our family and friends, there have been so many along our travels, it is almost like never leaving Maryland.  We have also made some new friends along the way.

·      Happy hour and watching the sunset go hand and hand and both are great to do in Key West. Where to go for happy hour our all-time favorite place in Key West is the Boathouse and our second favorite place is Ka’ Why Knot’s fly bridge (cheaper and helps with that non-existent budget). 
·           Naps, I was informed I forgot to include naps, you know why? One of us could lay down and nap for 10 to 15 minutes and be raring to go.  If I were to nap, I however would just be falling asleep as he is waking up. I also feel absolutely useless the rest of the day when I do fall asleep.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I do lay down while he naps, my back needs a break from all the walking.

Well, I hope this answers the question what do you do all day but more importantly, what you really want to know is if I am bored, HELL NO.

Key West - Week 1

Key West! It took us a little over an hour to make the short trip from Boca Chica Naval Air Station Marina to Conch Harbor Marina. The Conch Republic will be our home for the next two months. This is also the end of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway where we have traveled 1243.8 statute miles. Conch Harbor Marina is located right in front of Dantes with a pool and two tiki bars. Dantes is part of the marina!

Cruise ships are a daily occurrence unloading thousands of tourists.
Sometimes there are two in port at the same time but the must be underway before sunset.

The Galleon Resort - we have been coming here for years.

We were originally planning on cruising the Florida Keys for the month of January and going to the Bahamas February and March. Once in Islamorada, we decided, "Why not just spend Feb/Mar in Key West!?!" So we started making phone calls to marinas in Marathon, Boca Chica and Key West to get weekly slips in the first two and monthly availability in Key West. The first two marinas we called in Key West were already full but we lucked out and found Conch Harbor and we're glad we did! We are five slips from the boardwalk!

Sunset from the fly bridge

Conch Republic courtesy flag

This is a daily occurrence - pelicans and tarpon patiently waiting for scraps.

We went to the Dirty Pig for the Superbowl. They had an awesome bar-b-que buffet and ALL drafts (including craft brews) were only $2. Somehow we managed to snag the last two bar stools which were right in front of one of the TVs! We were missing our friends from back home... Especially since we had hosted a Superbowl party for the last 10+ years.

Rainy day project -- installing new LED lights in the forward V-berth.

Finally! All interior lights are now LED.

 Pumpout right in our slip. Love having a tank monitor and new 50 gallon holding tank!

There are a lot of boats anchored out that need a place to land their dinghies. So far we've met two trawler owners anchored off Fleming Key. For about $100/month, you can tie your dinghy up here.

Pepe's! Our favorite breakfast dives!!!

Outside dining at Pepe's. Note the small bar and cat (employee of the year) sleeping in the box.

After breakfast we headed to the Galleon since their Bloody Mary happy hour runs from 10-12. After that, to the pool for a nap!

Willie T's. We have a dollar bill here from years ago. No clue where it is but it's there!
This is a great place to listen to music.

We can't think of a better way to spend winter. Of course there is no shortage of bars and restaurants but we also enjoy people watching (and there is no shortage of that when the cruise ships are in), relaxing by the pool, walking the back streets and looking at some of the most preserved period architecture in America. It's a mixture of locals, tourists, sport fishermen and long-distance cruisers. And there seems to be an endless stream of friends and acquaintances from back 'home'.

Boca Chica

It took us about 4 1/2 hours to travel from Marathon to Boca Chica down Hawk Channel. Hawk Channel parallels the Keys and is semi-protected from the Atlantic by a reef. It's also littered with hundreds of floats from lobster traps! Sharon called the marina for our slip assignment and we were told we were going into S10. S10? If you look at the marina in Google Maps, there are only three docks. As in, A, B, C. Given it's the Navy, an "S" dock somehow made sense. We followed the channel in, went through a mooring field and asked a guy traveling in a dinghy where "S" dock was. He had no idea but sped ahead to find out. Turned out to be on the beach side (not near the three docks we saw on Google) and there were two dinghies in our slip. The slip appeared to be next to impossible for us to get into. We tied up in front of the office and, Barb, the dock master, told us to stay put while they figured out where to put us. Naturally, they were having a staff meeting so we 'stayed put' and waited. Fortunately, the laundry room was right there, so Sharon took advantage of that and did two loads of laundry. Everyone was very friendly and we were even invited to have some beers at the tiki bar steps from our boat. We politely declined until we got settled in. 

Hawk Channel. Somehow this pic had NO lobster trap floats.

Nebo didn't cooperate on this trip so I don't have a
chart that shows our route.

Slip S10 where I had NO idea how I was getting into.

Barb returned and told us she had a slip on B dock for us. Yes! The wind was picking up and I was getting anxious to get in our slip but had to wait for laundry to dry. Anyway, we got in our slip just fine. Time to check out the tiki bar. It was the one and only time we went there. We had a couple beers and headed back to the boat for dinner. 

The marina at Boca Chica is pretty nice. AND it's cheap! Only $1/foot and that included electric all tax free. There is a laundry room, bath house, bar, restaurant and beach. It's also in the middle of nowhere and a two mile walk to the main gate/mini mart. AND there is a perpetual air show. You HAVE to love jet noise and the sound of freedom all day long! 

Our friends, Terry and Sheila, (we mentioned them in a previous blog article) drive their RV and stay at Boyd's Campground on Stock Island (next island south from Boca Chica) every year. We also had friends from Herrington Harbour South: Rich and Pam, Dave and Kathy, and Jay and Kelly, that were staying at an AirBnB on an 82' Hatteras on Stock Island. We tried taking our dinghy over to Stock Island but it was a little too far for out electric outboard. On our way there, Terry called to offer us their Jeep for the week! Wow! Suddenly being in the 'middle of nowhere' wasn't so bad! We turned the dinghy around, took them up on their offer and got to check out their RV (which is HUGE!). We spent Saturday afternoon at Key West Harbor Marina on a yacht with our friends from Herrington Harbour and a group of us headed to Hogfish Bar & Grill for food and drinks.

Sharon and Pam on the fly bridge.

View from the galley into the saloon

Four couples were staying on this yacht.

Keeping the PBR cool!

Terry and Sheila gave us a phone number of their 'driver', Jeff. Jeff drives as a free-lancer, 954-268-0048. Wayyyy cheaper than a cab, Uber or Lyft! We took advantage of Jeff Sunday and hooked up with our Herrington Harbour friends at Southern Most Point. We hit the town and had a blast in Key West!

There was a 'onesie' bar crawl on Duval. It did not disappoint.

Um kay...

Pam got a chip at the Sunset Tiki!

Get a quarter in the fish -- good luck will follow you until you leave the island

Monday Sharon had a tooth ache (for lack of a better explanation). She was able to get an appointment several miles north. She had an infected tooth and had two options: get it pulled or a root canal/crown. She chose the latter. That will involve two more trips north. Good thing we will be in Key West for two months!

Summerland Dental on Summerland Key

Saturday, we had also ran into friends, Tony and Michelle, we had met in St. Augustine at the Thanksgiving potluck dinner. They were staying at Boca Chica too. We had really hit it off with them and had a good time at the marina. Ironically, they were leaving Vero Beach City Marina as we were pulling in AND they pulled into the same slip we were in at Cooley's Landing in Ft. Lauderdale the same day we left. We did several beach happy hours and took them into Key West to a farmer's market Thursday.

Sunset from the beach at Boca Chica Marina

We had several boat projects planned since we figured we'd be 'stranded' in Boca Chica. None of the projects were even started although we did clean the boat inside and out -- very much needed.

Beach at Boca Chica

Sharon made a Banh Mi Ramen Noodle Bowl - YUM! 

Our ride for the week

Tony, Michelle and Sharon

We were originally scheduled to arrive in Key West Saturday, February 1st. The weather was not looking good so we left a day early for Conch Harbor Marina. They were very accommodating and let us check in a day early. We returned Terry and Sheila's Jeep Friday morning and got underway around 10:30. Now it's time for two months in Key West where we'll be right down town!!!