Alive and well in Florida!

Its been a few weeks since the last update but..........

• When we are hanging out in Marathon taking care of "stuff" it just is not the most exciting time in the world and there is no need to write about it.
• The weather has been status quo until just recently.  Still basically the temp is too low to swim and the water is cold!

Now though, we have moved Nati and put together some nice days of action in the tropics........OK not tropics but I'm going to be optimistic.

Last Sunday we traveled to Miami as Bob, Steph & Teagan were coming south to escape the really cold weather up north.  They sure timed it well as the cold was really COLD!  With that in mind we departed Marathon with the hope we would be able to get north with some sailing.  Well, we did get more sailing than we thought and only ended up motoring a short part of the way.  We pulled into South Beach on Friday and got Nati ready for the gang.  As a side note.....Miami Yacht Club could not have been better!  We met Dave, the club manager and Teagan was in Miami for less than 15 minutes before she was swimming.  Note, I said "she" and not "us".  For the rest of us it was much too cold!  We also were able to run into Kenny & Dana at the club and had some good laughs.

yes, plenty of wind and clouds!

Captain Teagan

over 40 flowers this year!

One of the reasons B,S & T came down was to attend the Miami Boat Show.  The weather really didn't cooperate but we pulled through and perhaps the show was even better since the wind, cold and rain kept many people away.  We got to see plenty of boats, equipment and I think we all had fun.  It did however feel good to get back on board and away from the chill.

Taking the water taxi

On Tuesday we talked about sailing south but it was cold and "T" wanted to do the pool at the club again.  OK.......no problem!  We had a lay-day and we all ended up in the pool.  The pool is heated..........Yeehaw!

Teagan & Mom

Teagan & Dad

Teagan & Granny

On Wednesday we tried sailing south but the wind gods were not being too friendly so at the end we took the gang over to No Name Harbor in Key Biscayne.  The harbor is pretty cool, has a restaurant adjacent to it and one can easily make it to the ocean and nice beaches.  We all had a chance to check out the park, ride around on a rented buggy like the "Griswold's", bury Teagan in the sand and relax.  Fun was had by all and we ate like Kings & Queens.  Our biggest challenge was keeping fruit on the table as the "fruit mouse" was being very active!

Nati in No Name Harbor

95" high and 109 steps

Too high??!!

The beach looks way down.

It sure seemed higher........

Captain Teagan telling what is next on the agenda

The "boys" taking the buggy back......cute, huh?

The "salty" crew

The last breakfast....steak & eggs!

After we said our goodbyes we headed back south the next day and had a really good sail down Biscayne Bay.  Anne saw 9+kts of boat speed and it was one of our better sails in a long time.  We dropped anchor in Tarpon Basin, had a quiet night and headed south the next day.  This time we only sailed 15nm as we decided to rendezvous with sv Celest out in front of the Ocean View Hotel and Grill.  We had a lot of laughs while having a late lunch.  This place may be one our frequent stopovers!  Good food, reasonable prices and good holding at anchor.  In the morning Celest continued thei trip north and we elected to have a lay-day.  It is Sunday anyways!

Robie & Patsy

sv Celest......a Bristol 355 centerboard

We are going back to Marathon as we have a few more things to address.  The weather has to warm up sometime.......March is right around the corner!!