The Music Continues

But first I must tell you that we have finally become a two scooter family!!!! We just got the paperwork (so yes it's all legal now - for awhile there we were afraid the scooter had fallen off a truck somewhere and we'd never be able to register it....if you knew the players involved you'd question it too!) which enabled us to pick up Doug's new 150cc screaming yellow scooter!! So we are actually mobile now on more than our bikes and occasionally borrowing Brett and Jill's van (thanks guys!!) - watch out Key West!! It was a great lesson in how things get done down here on Bone Island - you hear about things from a friend of a friend, nothing happens fast or on your timetable, and everything is just a little bit out of the ordinary, funky or downright weird but eventually stuff works itself out. We may not be in the Caribbean but we are still definitely on island time mon - so just chill out, have a cold one and things will take care of themselves!!!

Our Two Scooters

We've been busy looking for jobs and think we may have some good news to share with everyone soon but for now enough said so we don't jinx it - you'll know when we do. Just wanted you all to know that not all we do is play and have fun!! Although we are certainly doing that too!! The other day we went with Brett and Jill out on Captain Ron's gorgeous CT 54 foot sailboat - would have been more fun with a little wind (of course it picked up right when we were coming into the dock!!) but we had a great day on the water anyways!!

Captain Ron Raises the Sails

Brett and Ron in the Cockpit

Doug Enjoys Being a Passenger With No Responsibilities

The sun was stoking, the beers were cold (it's great when you can actually have a beer out on the water - we never drink when we are out on Gypsies since we have to dock - but when someone else is doing the work, the beers seem to go down a little smoother than normal!!) and the water was a sparkling turquoise!! Oh to be down in the Keys!!! Capt Ron took us for a leisurely sail into Key West Harbor, past Fort Zachary Taylor and down past Mallory Square and the Sunset Pier where Scott and Dave play most evenings - what a different perspective it is from out on the water!!!

Sunset Pier from the Water

We dodged some topless paddle boarders (yes right in KW Harbor - hope she had sunscreen on!!!)

and the local tourist sailboats

as well as a number of race boats leaving after the end of race week - seemed like everyone was out on the water!!

One of the Race Boats Headed Home

It was sure the perfect day for it!! On our way back to Boca Chica Key where Capt Ron keeps his boat at the Naval Air Station marina, the sky started to darken but we beat the storm and were closely watched by a gorgeous bald eagle who was guarding the entrance to the channel. Thanks Capt Ron for a great day out on the water!!!

The Bad Eagle Watches Us Pass By

Last weekend was the Key West Harbor King Mackerel Fishing Tournament so we had about 100 go fast fishing boats in here all weekend with their bait nets and accompanying gear. Despite our misgivings, they were pretty well behaved and didn't even wake us up when they thundered out of their slips at 0 dark hundred with their 3 or 4 300+ hp motors revving in search of those king mackerel beasts! We watched the final weigh-in which was fun - boy do these guys and gals take this stuff seriously!!!

Sunday was you guessed it football day so we joined our dockmates Shawna, John and Jim down at the Shanna Key Bar (a great little Irish dive - yes we've scoped out a new hangout) for the second half of the Colts/Jets game. I really can't stand either team but I found myself routing for Indy because as a Bostonian I hate all NY sports teams even more than I despise Peyton Manning (and that's really saying something but I won't go there...) Besides I kept telling myself that I was only cheering for them so the Saints could beat them up and humiliate them in the Super Bowl. The game we all really cared about was the Saints/Vikings - John being from LA and the rest of us recently on the bandwagon with our teams out of the running. Brett and Jill joined us so it was a full on party and best of all the Saints pulled it out - go Saints!!!! While I felt bad for Brett, he really ought to have known better than to throw that ball - I mean really!!!! So anyways - the party is on down here in Southern FL for Super Bowl weekend - we haven't planned it out yet (after all it is 2 weeks away) but I'm sure it will be rocking!!

A grand bar scheme was hatched about a week ago when we were out at the Sunset Pier and Hogs Breath to have a party on Gypsies (yes I know, another one) by Brooke and myself - Brooke wasn't able to come to the last one we had so we figured we needed to remedy that!! Originally we had scheduled it for Sunday not thinking about football - this came about around midnight after key lime shooters after all - but it got rescheduled to Monday evening. The weather had been beautiful so we planned it for upstairs on the flybridge - unfortunately mother nature decided this was not to be as she served up a cold and rainy Monday. Oh well - the party moved inside and turned out to be one of those just awesome evenings (so good in fact that I completely forgot to get any pictures - not even a one!!!) We had lots of dockmates over including our new friends Greg and Karan who had a just arrived on their Sea Ray (yes we hang out with go fasts too - we just usually don't publicize that!) after spending a month up in Stuart with all our DeFever friends - Bob and Stephanie on September Song told them about our marina and voila, here we all are!!! It seemed somehow fitting that we had a party on their first night - welcome to the dock guys! Also at the party was the KW music contingent in Scott, his wife Michelle, Brooke and their friend Laura. No sooner had the party gotten started than Bob and Nancy (dockmates on a beautiful catamaran Sun Luvr) strolled by with none other than Freebo, the long time bass player for Bonnie Raitt. They came on board, joined the party and we wound up being treated to an impromptu concert in our pilothouse when Freebo asked if he could play us a few tunes!!!! WOW - how cool was that!! For anyone who isn't familiar with Freebo, check out his music on his website www.freebomusic.com - he is an amazing musician and really interesting guy - his music is just awesome!!! Not sure how these kinds of things happen to us all the time - just lucky I guess - but it made for one kickbutt party!

The last couple days have been pretty windy and cold as a front moves through but today is looking up a bit - hopefully it will warm up because we are all headed first to a party at Nancy and Bob's house (yes they have a real house here as well as the boat) and then we are off to a concert at Fort Zachary Taylor. But not just any concert - it is the kickoff of Los Van Van's 70 city US tour. Grammy winning Los Van Van is Cuba's hottest band - they are a 14 piece jazz and dance band who have garnered worldwide acclaim. Add in the fact that they are playing on Cuban national hero Jose Marti's birthday and it should just rock out the house (or the fort so to speak)!!!