Traditional Music Festival

This weekend there was a Tradition Music Festival. The pictures are from Sunday afternoon (the last of 4 concerts). (1) The annoncement (2) The t-shirt (3) Playing on. It seems that it was sucessful with half the "profits" going to the Dolphin Research Center. There was a baby dolphin born yesterday at the center.

Successful Doctor's Visit & a great meal

Dixie's knees were not improving so she visited the only orthopedic doctor from Key Largo to Key West. He has a excellent reputation. There are some treatments that can be done well short of surgury, starting with an anti-inflamatory drug that seems to work well. Then we went on to a great restaurant in Key Largo, the Fishhouse, for a very good lunch. Some pictures (1) another Keysy image; the doctor's office in Key Largo. No medical grand edifice here.(2) The outside of the Fishhouse entrance (3) a shot of the lights covering the ceiling of the restaurant (4) which inspired the lights strung across the aft cockpit of the Dixie IV, shown here (did this last year).

A successful day.

Chet

Wednesday

1/27/10

4:25PM

Big Pine Key Flea Market

Every weekend a big flea market is held on Big Pine Key about 19 miles south of Marathon; Saturday and Sunday 8-2PM. There are lots of vendors and literally thousands of visitors. The picture shows one of the five passageways between vendors. Its good to visit 2-3 times in the season. You can imagine the traffic given there is only one through road running east and west (US1/Overseas Hwy).

Chet
Saturday
1/23/10
4:15PM

Working Hard

Samson and Delilah are working so hard as demonstarted by these two shots. Samson running the boat from his perch on top of the sofa and Delilah managing things from the the back of the afterdeck chair. At 17 years of age they sleep a lot.

Chet

Friday

1/22/10

4:07PM

Finally warm enough to eat outside

Located on the channel coming into Boot Key Harbor, Burdine's is a perfect example of a "Keysy" restaurant. The food is very good but we had not been there this trip because its entirely open in Tiki Hut style. Its been too cold to eat outside. A beautiful day today; looks like things are returning to normal. A couple of pictures:(1) a shot of the Tiki Hut arrangement with the name on top (2) The outside dining area; that's Dixie at the first table.

Chet

Wednesday

1/20/10

4:19 PM

Key West Seafood Festival

We first stopped to pick up fresh produce from the Saturday morning truck that is run for charity; fresh strawberries were there as well as lots of other really fresh produce. We then attended the fifth annual Key West Seafood Festival. Lots of people there and a lot of good seafood (pink Key West shrimp is the best shrimp). All of the revenue goes to a fisherman's scholorship fund and various local charities.The weather was beautiful finally. It turns out that the cold weather streak was the longest and coldest in recorded history in the Keys. The Turtle Hospital in the three days after we were there took in 162 turtles suffering from the cold; more than they usually move through in a year. It is expected that as the Florida Bay water temp rises back to normal that they can all be returned to the Bay (another new record; the Bay water average temp was 5-6 degrees colder than had ever been recorded). Some pictures (1) The entrance Festival sign at Bayside Park in downtown Key West (2) Lots of people there and more coming all the time (3) A local dance group led a congo line with many participants (4) Keepsake beer mugs (5) A really nice colorful jacket for Dixie (6) An event t- shirt for Chet.

A Cold but Nice Visit

Leslie, Chris and the kids left early this morning to spend some time at the Space Center in Titusville. Even though the weather was within 1 degree of as bad as has ever been recorded we enjoyed their visit.

Strange things happening around here. The dockmaster was fired by the new owners for unknown reasons and the Resort is soon to be renamed to some as yet unrevealed name. A lot needs to be done here to bring the infrastructure up to average.

The weather is supposed to warm up but the process has not started.

Chet
Tuesday
1/12/10
4:33PM

Dolphin Reserch Center

Went to the Dolphin Research Center today. Still cold but better than yesterday. Some pictures (1) The entrance sign for the Center (2) Frolicking dolphin (many of them) (3)Kilo, the resident 8 year old sealion (4) Dixie on Sombrero Beach; the markers in the background mark the entrance to Sisters Creek, the oceanside entrance to Boot Key Harbor (5) Spencer and Kendall playing hard on the plyground at Sombrero Beach (6) Chris and Leslie wearing the 4 layers of clothing required for this cold snap in the Keys Tropical Paradise.

Chet
Monday
1/11/10
4:57 PM

A cold visit to Key West

The cold continues. The Keys are seeing the coldest or near coldest weather ever recorded in the Keys and its lasting longer. Last night snow fell in Homestead (south of Miami) for the first time since 1977. We remember that because we lived in Miami at the time. We visited Key West yesterday and it was cold. As we left in the late afternoon the wind was blowing gale force across the harbor. Some merchants commented that there was NO warm clothing left for sale south of Homestead. The highlight for the day was the kids visit to the City Aquarium. We had our normal excellent late lunch at the Half Shell Grill. Some pictures (1) The entrance to the Aquarium (2) the entrance sign at the landmark Hog's Breath Saloon (3) & (4) Two cruise ships were in. If there had not been thousands of passengers roaming the streets the city would have been almost deserted.

Chet

Monday, 1/11/10

9:10AM

First Visitors of the season

Leslie, Chris and the kids, Spencer and Kendall arrived yesterday afternoon in a caravan of two cars, They brought our car down with them. The weather yesterday was beautiful but the cold front that is sweeping the East Coast arrived here this morning; 25-30 knot winds, cold rain and rapidly falling temperatures. We visited the Turtle Hospital this morning and had planned to go to the Dolphin Research Center this afternoon but the weather is just not right for a visit to the dolphins. Some pictures (1) all of us at lunch today at LazyDays Restaurant at Marathon Marina; very good food (2)The sunset Thursday evening; a really pretty sky.

Current plan is to drive down to Key West tomorrow.

Chet

Saturday

1/10/10

1:13 PM

Saw Old Friends from Kincardine

For years while cruising on Lake Huron we always stopped in Kincardine on the Canadian coast. We were there so often and knew so many folks that we were honorary members of their yacht club. We were in Kincardine for the last time in 1995 as we took the DIXIE III south to North Carolina, but saw some Kincardine friends in the Bahamas in later years. Two couples, Steve and Rae Mason who we spent a lot of time with in the Exumas in 2000, and George and Marylou Tout who now live on their boat but spent the last 12 years in South Bend, joined us for cocktails last night. A delightful visit. Good to see old friends.

The sun is shining but it is cold

The longest running cold spell continues on. A wind chill in the 30's last night. Some pictures (1) a small bird, exact species undetermined but we think it is a type of sandpiper, huddles on a swim platform away from the wind (2) Business at the Dockside grill with outside sitting has been very slow but with bright sunshine and lots of wind barrier curtains, business today was brisk. The manager was waiting tables since he had not called in the usual day waitress assuming that business would continue to be slow.

Chet

Wednesday

1/6/10

1:45 PM

So Much for Global Warming

A new record cold period is developing. A new cold front tonight and another one Friday. The mid Keys have NEVER seen a continuing cold condition like this. Supposed to be a wind chill near freezing tonight. So much for global warming.

Chet
Tuesday
1/5/10
6:00 PM

Boot Key Harbor

A major attraction for Marathon vs other Keys is Boot Key Harbor. This is the only totally enclosed, protected harbor south of key Largo. In earlier years the harbor was a disgrace; derilict boats, uncontrolled anchorage and no pumpout facilities. In 1981 Marathon, formally just homes and businesses with no government other than the county, was allowed to incorporate and take control of the harbor. Today it has at least 150 boat moorings with more planned to eliminate the remaining anchorages. A pumpout boat handles the holding tank pumpouts weekly. This is a favorite holding spot awaiting decent weather to cross the Gulfstream. This picture was taken from the northeast corner of the harbor toward the southwest entrance. Sombrero Marina, where we stayed last year, and Sombrero Resort Marina are located in a channel running northeast behind where this picture was taken.

Speaking of decent weather, in Keys terms its still not. High north winds and very unseasonable low temperatures ensure that there will be no crossing of the Gulfstream for at least a week.

Unusual Weather

Most of the time when a cold front comes through the Keys its gone in 24 hours or less. Not this one; low fifties lows and low sixties highs with 20 knot winds are forecasted through Thursday night when it will finally warm up. Those stuck in snow drifts up north will not sympathize with this weather but the locals are dressed like we are in the middle of a blizzard. Tourists paying hundreds of dollars for unheated hotel rooms to huddle in are not happy either.

The picture is of a large blue heron standing on a dock piling. Its a little fuzy since I had to take it from the pilot house through the sun screen. It flew away as soon as I opened the door to get a better shot.

Chet

Sunday

1/3/10

2:29 PM

Iguana Sighting on the Pier as it cools down

There are igaunas all around. This one climbed up our stern piling and then exited down the mooring line before dropping in the water. Not much sun as a cold front approaches so the skin color does not show up here .

A cold front came through last night. Its blowing 30 knots and the temperature in Marathon is 57 degrees this morning. That would be warm up north but it sure seems cold in the Florida Keys.

Chet

Saturday

1/2/10

2:11 PM

New Year Day, 2010

Couple of pictures (1)The Key West Conch Republic flag is flying from the DIXIE IV.

The Conch Republic was briefly formed in 1858 in disgust over the Federal Government. Probably time to do it again. (2) The shot of the DIXIE IV published yesterday did not properly show the name plaque mounted on the pulpit. We got the plaque at the Marathon Sea Food Fair last winter.

Happy New Year!

Chet

New Years Day

1/1/10

10:25 AM