Tuesday

January 31, 2017

Today we spent the day with Julie and Dennis Allard.  We drove to the famous Key West Island and enjoyed a wonderful day of sightseeing, eating, drinking and shopping. 

This was a 88 thousand lb steel sail boat that was hauled out, bottom painted and put back in...

Joell, Dennis and Julie at the end of the Marathon Marina dock having a cocktail...

Down in Key West the Hens and Roosters run wild....

The Famous Sloppy Joe"s Bar.....  We all stopped for a sloppy joe and beverage...

This is a Key West famous saloon started in 1933, the day Prohibition was repealed.  The bar went through two name changes and a change of location before it became sloppy Joe's.  Ernest Hemingway suggested the name to owner Joe Russell and it stuck.  Hemingway was a constant customer in his time.  His drink of preference was Scotch.

Another bar/restaurant along the way, see all the dollar bills plastered everywhere....

another restaurant on Duval Street (the main street in the Keys)

Interesting trees down here....

Look at this root system...

We took a tour of the Little White House.  We had a wonderful tour guide.  Did you know Harry Truman changed his suit and tie for a dress code of hawaiian shirts and kaki pants for himself and all his staff in the Keys.  It is said he got more work done here then at the actual White House.  

Very airy on the second floor wrap around porch...

Harry S. Truman "Little White House"

See the Palm trees on the right of the White House?  The gulf waters came up to these trees at one time and this was prime real estate.  Today there is a building that used to house naval officers beyond this point.  It now consists of condos that cost 1.5 million each.  Talk about prime real estate.  😀

another bar...

Key West Light House

The first Key West lighthouse was a 65 foot tower completed in 1825.  It had 15 lamps in 15 inch reflectors.  It was destroyed by a hurricane in 1846.  The above lighthouse was completed in 1848 and was 50 feet tall with 13 lamps in 21 inch reflectors and stood 15 feet above sea level.  Trees began to over grow the lighthouse and in 1894 it was raised twenty feet, placing the light about 100 feet above sea level.  It was decommissioned in 1969.

Colorful Rooster...

Made it to the bottom of the United States...

This marker designates our turnaround point.  We were at the furthest south point of the US and from now on will be heading back home.  Kind of weird.

Dennis and Julie...

We were there too...

One of the oldest homes in Key West...

Got a shirt from here....

Boat Update....

Happy to say that we don't currently have any transmission/engine problem..

Had a couple motor heads stop over and took the boat out for a ride running her through full operations..   sounds good!

Saturday

January 28th, 2017

Boat Cleaning Day

After getting the bottom of the boat power washed at the boat yard, we have to clean the top side, so today was the day....

We had a nice visitor....

They really like the fresh water run off...

Num, Num, Num...

Click on the play button in the center of screen...

Thursday

January 26th, 2017

Just hanging around...

Boat was supposed to get hauled out at 9 am, by Marathon Boat Yard, but they pushed us off until 11am...

Stayed overnight at the Sand Piper Motel which was so, so...

Next day the boat was finished, they splashed it and we drove away...

While Joell was driving I looked at their work...

We turned around and drove the boat back... the port drive shaft was "Wobbling", good thing we didn't bring her up to full speed...

Spent the night in our boat at Marathon boat yard and the next morning Joe (our mechanic) checked the coupling with a set of feeler gauges.... he then checked the four bolts that connect the coupler to the transmission flange and found them not to be fully tightened... problem fixed....

Out for another test drive....just putt'n along, put the boat in neutral, then reverse "Clunk" what was that...

Tried reversing again...no clunk... Ok back to Marathon Marina and our slip...

Got the boat tied up and just happened to look under the swim platform at the trim tabs...

The port trim tab (36" by 12" tab, dual ram) was totally disconnected from both rams,  hanging straight down and had slid out of its hinge by about 6 inches...

Turns out when we reversed the boat it put so much pressure on the trim tab that it ripped away from the rams because the threads were gone, not only on the threads of the bolts but in the plastic hinge located at the bottom of the ram..

Getting to work on Mikee Likes It...

Salt water "sucks"

Double Sucks.... it's hard on a boat...

Here's the Starboard trim tab showing only one black hydraulic ram in the picture...

So I've contacted Defender and gave them the part numbers for both the big 36" x 12" trim tab (hinge is ok) and the black colored hinge at the very bottom of the ram which attaches to the metal trim plate...

They'll be calling us back....

Now, let's talk transmissions...

There's something a clunking in the Starboard transmission when going slow... might be the damper plate.... still researching this issue...

Monday

January 23rd, 2017

Tomorrow morning the boat goes in for repairs... We'll be staying at the Sand Piper Hotel for the evening and Mikee Likes it should be done on Wednesday...with 2000 less in the bank account...

Just get'er'done...

Keys Fisheries has the famous Lobster Reuben sandwich...

Clair and Joell in a Comic Foreground at Keys Fisheries...

$2.00 Stone Crab legs at KF...

South of Marathon, over the 7 mile bridge is Old Bahia Honda Park where the remains of the railway that used to run all the way to Key West remains...

Railway in the distance...

A nice anchorage on the lee side of the island...

Right by the 7 mile bridge...

Overlooking the beach...

High tide and wind causing the water to pile up reduced beach access today...

Two dollars a foot with electric and water right inside the park...

Scuba diving boat in the park...

Protected beach on the lee side of the park...

Thanks to Shawn and Clair for driving down to the Keys to see Joell and I...

Friday

January 20th, 2017

Beautiful green critters running around here...

This is Jane and Patrick at the Pot Luck dinner.  

Patrick, Joell and Mike went out on their boat for a couple hour ride....Mike was driving most of the way.   A little different feeling driving a 50 foot, 40,000 lb. boat with diesels. 

Here's Jane and Patricks boat...

Another great sun set in the keys between the trees!

Everyone is finding a seat for the Marathon Marina Pot Luck event...It was a great time.  There were lots of laughs, great food and a game with prizes.

Joell looking especially good with a nice glass of Shiraz wine...

Walking back to the boat we always pass Lazy Daz restaurant...Tiki torches ablaze..

Out a couple miles on Patricks 50' Viking MY where the water was the most beautiful we've seen so far...

Lots of shadowing of tourquise color... 

What's this their selling at the Paradise Produce?

Rambutan

Wikipedia says:

"The rambutan is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae..."

Start peeling with your thumb nail..

and it comes off easily...

The fruit...

Do I want to try it or not....

The seed inside...

Makes a great hairy eye patch....don't know which patch I like best...

Elwood always has to try and steal the show....

Tuesday

January 17th, 2017

Pulled a Palm frond from off a tree to use for an up coming party...

This thing had some weight and windage...

Found a couple Manatee's hanging out in the Marathon Marina...

We think they were resting..

This sailboat was having a brand new engine dropped into his cabin today...

Off the crate, lifted by a large fork lift...

Sliding her in under this hard top...

Just over the hatch now...

Down she goes....