"O the places we go" with Discovery

[DaveS]

After hearing the tales of the shenanigans on the "world wide web" of Dixie, I'm wondering if there is any significance to the presence of a Police Car stopped behind the yellow "get away" card that Dixie and JoAnn are next to?

[DaveS]

At first glance of the musician at Mallory Square, I thought it was our multi-talented Jim of Wild Blue......then I remembered that he was basking in the sun in Texas.

[Spike38]

Have been enjoying this thread and accompanying photos. Not to divert from the topic but consistent with the mentioned launching dilemma we've thought of trailering to Flamingo, exploring the Keys from there. I haven't looked at the ramp specifically with C-Dory launch in mind (it wasn't even a twinkle in my eye when there last) but it's modern and wide. There's a $5 fee for a 7 day launch permit which in the absence of additional posted fees may (?) cover parking for tow vehicle and trailer. The information I had on free slips and discontinued gasoline sales is likely outdated; my uncorroborated guess is that slip fees have been reinstated and gas sales resumed.

It sounds as though you voyagers won't be afloat in the vicinity of Punta Gorda but if you are there's a dock available if needed in Alligator Creek as mentioned in the Dock Space topic.

[JamesTXSD]

I just visited with Dixie on the phone. Without us there to report on what she is actually doing, you'll just have to go with the "filtered" version.

Yes, Dave, we are basking in the sun in the Tropical Tip. Our weather has been absolutely lovely. We miss our cruising buddies on Discovery, but are enjoying their posts here along with everyone else.

Keep the posts coming, Brent and Dixie.

Best wishes,
Jim & Joan

[Discovery]

We are still hanging loose in Key West—What a place! Dave, it was purely accidental that we were parked by the police car. You have to remember that I’m two years older than when we were here before and I’m trying to stay out of trouble. We have been back down on Duval street several times and this picture gives a whole new meaning to doing the Duval Crawl. For those of you that haven’t visited Key West, the Duval Crawl is what you do when you start at one end of the street and have a drink in every bar that you come to. I promise you most people wouldn’t make it very far. This dude made it into the ambulance with a police escort to the Stock Island Stockade (Jail). One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor!


We traded in the electric car for a real car—weather necessity. We had another tornado watch with several inches of rain and high winds on Sunday night. Glad we were in the harbor tied in a slip.

They really have lots of great restaurants here. We’ve been to Finnigan’s Wake (pub) for Irish food and beer and Dockside Bar and Grill for fish and chips and beer. We made a healthy donation to the economy buying t-shirts for those we left home. We also found an XM receiver to replace our old Roady that bit the dust on the bumpy ride here. Now we are back to Margaritaville on XM 55. You just shouldn’t be in Key West without Jimmy Buffet.

We will be leaving here Wednesday—weather permitting and working our way back to Marathon. Kurbit’s crew have decided they prefer the creature comforts of their motorhome to the CD22—I tell you it’s the porta-potty that is the deciding factor. They haven’t decided exactly what they are going to do. They want to get some more fishing in if we can work out the logistics. Discovery will continue “doing the keys” anyway.

[Discovery]

Wednesday came and we're still in Key West. The NOAA forcast was still for small craft advisorys this morning so we bagged the idea of leaving. Small craft advisorys are for winds from 20 to 33 kts. and seas 2-4 inside the reef and up to 7 feet offshore. Kurbits crew decided to drive the rental car back up to Marathon and pick up their motorhome and boat trailer and then bring them back down to Key West and take the boat out of the water here. They are off finding a campground-probably back in Marathon-- and we will catch up to them in a few days. We had a wonderful afternoon at the laundry. Much like other laundromats we've experienced-- about 50% of both the washers and dryers actually work. The funny part about here is that there were kids taking off most of their clothes to wash everything they owned. Lots of street people here but they say they aren't homeless, they just don't have a roof over their heads.

We'll probably leave tomorrow-- still got lots of places to see.

Brent and Dixie

[journey on]

We enjoyed Key West. Saw the Truman House, etc. Watched a couple walking down the street, the honey in a tight dress Oops, those are two guys holding hands. Touched the gold bar, had a drink in Hemmingway's saloon, the one with the tree. Took our picture at the furthest south point in the US.

And watched the fronts come through, and watched the fronts come through, etc. etc. A lot of weather in Florida.

Fun place

[Discovery]

On December 4th, we left Key West heading east in the Hawk Channel. The wind was still fairly stiff and the water lumpy. After an hour of travel, I expressed my feeling that “if it ain’t fun, we should change something”. Consequently we pulled into SaddleBunch Harbor by Pelican Key. We had only traveled about 10 miles. We got a very protected mooring on the hook and spent a lazy afternoon reading and enjoying the warm weather. We had sundowners and dinner and listened to our buddy Jimmy on the XM.

Next morning we continued our move towards Marathon but found conditions to be still windy. We pulled into the Bahia Honda Channel and anchored under the old railroad bridge and fished for a few hours. We caught plenty of fish for dinner. The wind was still out of the east so we went to the bay side of Bahia Honda Key to anchor. This was not as good of protection as the previous night and we sloshed and bobbed all night. We had two anchors out and stayed put, but didn’t get much sleep.

On Saturday morning we ran at good speed in the ICW channel and crossed under the 7 mile bridge at the Mosher Channel. The Kurbit crew had rented a slip and RV space at the Knights Key RV Park. Knight’s Key is at the east end of the 7 mile bridge. The whole island (key) is an RV park with a small harbor and just a few private homes. People from all over come here to spend the winter because of the excellent fishing accessibility for both the Atlantic and Florida Bay, and the terrific weather. You can moor your boat 10 feet away from your RV. However, as a sign at one of the guest’s RVs says, “Living in Paradise Ain’t Cheap.” An RV space and boat slip runs about $2000 per month, with the discount.

We pick up Jeff and Jo and headed out past the Sombrero Key Light into the gulf stream. The gulf stream actually varies it’s course and that day it was only three miles south of the light. We trolled and caught dorado and king mackerel.




We used the side tie slip at Knights Key Harbor and spent the night. We had fresh fish tacos for dinner and Key Lime Pie. Life just doesn’t get any better! The next day we headed back out to the big water to fish but didn’t have the same luck. Brent fought a four foot wahoo for a few jumps before it threw the hook and got off. It was still a good day. We came back in through Sister’s Creek and gave the Kurbit crew a tour through Boot Key Harbor. It brought back lots of memories of our last trip here.

We stayed again in the Knight’s Key Harbor. After another delicious fish dinner, we watched the newly released DVD "Step Brothers" with Will Ferrell. It was the worst, most stupid movie I have ever seen. It was so bad that Jeff played Frisbee with the DVD. Don’t waste your time with this one.

Sunday was a day of boat switching. We launched Kurbit and retrieved Discovery. We need to do a good wash down to get rid of the barnacles that are starting to form. I sure wish we had bottom paint—it just doesn’t seem that important for a Utah boat.

We are having a great time and we love our boat! Life is good.

Dixie

[sportner]

Brent & Dixie,

What a wonderful trip, thanks for sharing.

[JamesTXSD]

We have had gorgeous weather in the Tropical Tip of Texas: yesterday was in the 80s, sunny, breezy. I sat out on the deck for a while in just shorts, taking in the sunshine. Then Dixie publicly announces they are heading to Texas... today, the temp is in the 40s , the wind is out of the north at about a million miles per hour, and it's spitting drizzle.

We look forward to seeing our friends again... but could you keep it under wraps so Mother Nature doesn't find out about it?

Travel safe.

Best wishes,
Jim & Joan

[Pat Anderson]

Brent and Dixie and Jeff and Jo - we are with you vicariously as we sit here contemplating a boating trip on Lake Washington on Saturday that looks more and more like a goner due to snow...get me retired, and we are OUT OF HERE, at least in this part of the year!!!

[Pandy Girl]

Hi,
Really enjoyed keeping up with your boating adventures, around the Keys and all of the pictures of fishing and everything.
Hope you all have a good Christmas and a safe one.
Jim J

[Discovery]

The last few days in the keys were great. We spent one day getting Discovery cleaned up and ready for travel. Cleaning the barnacles weren't as bad as last trip here, but they had started to form and required a through scrubbing.

We also got Brent cleaned up and ready for travel--Jeff said he looked twenty year younger!

We spent a day fishing on Kurbit and finally got the touch with the spanish mackerel.

We also got to have a final encounter with our favorite manatees.

We traveled up the middle of Florida and got to Wefings in just two days. We left Kurbit there for work on the motors. On to Gulf Breeze for our last night with the Kurbit crew for a few weeks. We are moving on toward Texas (sorry Jim) and they will be along about Christmas. We are looking forward to getting Discovery back in the water there and maybe cruising down to see our friends from Wild Blue. Hope they will have a mooring place for us.
Thanks to everyone for reading along--we'll keep you posted about our experiences in Texas.

Merry Christmas everyone!
Brent and Dixie

[Wefings]

Good to read of your travels [ glad you left us a few fish in the water]and see the caravan show up in Apalachicola again . We will get Jeff's motors and trailer back in tip top shape and see about your "missing part" as well . Have fun in Tx. with the Blue Crew . We are not having snow or extreme winds but the weather is not paradise like at this point here either . Travel safe and we will talk to you this week and see where we can get the Honda part and you together .
Marc

[JamesTXSD]

Hi Brent and Dixie,

I'll be calling you. No problem finding dock space for Discovery. What's your time frame? Steph and Dan are coming for Christmas, but we're wide open any other time. We look forward to seeing you.

Best wishes,
Jim & Joan