Groundhog day

Since it's groundhog day, I took Phil out to my secret trout spot to do some fishing and check if we would see our shadows.  I didn't worry about Phil seeing his shadow on the way to my secret spot--what with that blindfold I made him wear.  And besides, when you're in the keys, who cares if there's 6 more weeks of winter.  It's 80 degrees here today--again.

My secret spot came through once again.  We caught about a hundert trout.

 

And an occasional ladyfish just to keep things interesting.

 

The trip back across the bay was the same bumpy ride as always.  Phil rode home on his knees.  He said it was because he has a bad back and couldn't stand the pounding, but I have a hunch he might have been praying.

 

Moon?

Beth and Tracy stayed a few days just down the road from us at Pelican Cove Inn.  Their room was a little bigger than the one in Key West, and the view was a little better--unless you count the "optional" views in KW.

 

We actually left the dock on Sunday.  I disconnected the power cord, water hose, cable TV and internet cable, as well as the spider web of docklines.  We took B & T out through Tavernier Creek, out near the reef, back through Snake Creek, and down to the Islamorada Fish Company for a great lunch.

On the way up to Tavernier, we passed through the "toilet bowl."  People have decorated toilet seats, and put them on pvc pipes along a pass.

 

I can't remember how I felt at 50, but 66 isn't all that much fun.

 

B & T left Tuesday morning to head up to St Pete Beach for a couple of months.  Before they left, we had breakfast at the Green Turtle Inn.  Best breakfast on the Keys. (Along with the hundert other places that claim to be the best.)

I keep going across the bay to fish.  It's always pleasant going across, and I always catch a few mangrove snapper, and a bunch of nice trout.

 

And the wind always picks up and swings around from the south while I'm out, making the ride home very wet and uncomfortable.

I have a granddaughter named Marley. Hard to believe this shop doesn't have one item with "Gnarly Marley" on it.

 

This afternoon, a woman walked out to our boat, and asked "Were you here last year?"  And then she said something involving the word "moon."  (Not the first time I've been accused of some unseemly activity.)  I gave my usual response of  "That wasn't me and you can't prove it."
She went on to say she had met us last year, liked our boat, and went home to Cape Cod and bought a Rosborough named "Moon Dog."

Death by Dinghy

It was dead calm smooth this morning so I went out fishing (an annual tradition on this date.)  Since Pam didn't go, I was able to fly out to the islands. Got there in less than 15 minutes.  Right away, I caught a lot of very nice trout.  Probably about 66 of them.

Then, another boat came by.  I usually don't see many boats out there.  This one had 3 or 4  women and 3 or 4 men.  They stopped not too far away for about 15 minutes, then they left.  I thought they weren't very patient fishermen.  Soon, the fish stopped biting, so I had lunch.

As I was enjoying lunch, I saw some flowers drift by my dinghy.  Nice red and white tropical flowers.  The islands here are all mangroves, so I didn't think the flowers fell from trees on the islands.  I tried fishing again, but the bite was off.  Don't know what happened--the fish were really biting before that other boat stopped nearby.  Finally, it hit me.  The people on the other boat were scattering someone's ashes and threw those flowers out on the water.   I always thought that when the time comes, that was what I wanted for my remains.  But now, I'm not so sure--I wouldn't want to ruin someone else's fishing day.

Later, I moved to another spot, and caught a ton of Jacks about 14 or 15 inches long.  If you don't know Jack about salt water fishing, I can tell you that ounce for ounce, not many fish fight harder than Jacks.  I must have caught 66 Jacks.

Then it was time to head back.  I hadn't noticed while I was behind the islands that the wind had picked up.  It was blowing 15 to 20 and as usual, right on the nose.  My 15 minute trip out there turned into almost an hour coming back.  The dinghy was bouncing so much that I couldn't stay on the seat, so I sat down on the floor.  This shallow bay has got to be the choppiest place on the planet.  I was pounding into the waves so hard, that I started thinking about the headlines when I washed up somewhere. "Old Man from Indiana Beaten to Death by his Own Dinghy."

Key West

So yesterday, we drove down to Key West to visit with Beth & Tracy. I was suspect of his stories about topless women in the pool at his hotel.  The flag out front was a clue as to what to expect.  B & T's room was on the third floor just to the right of the single window.

 

I think there's more space on our boat than there is in their room. I had to stand out in the hall to take this photo.

Pearl's is a "gay friendly" resort.  In fact, gay women are their main business.  Tracy did swear that there had been several topless women couples in the pool.  I guess it's all the same equipment--as long as we're just looking at them.  So, Tracy and I put on our speedo's and sat by the pool holding hands waiting for a show.  I even practiced talking photos with my cell phone while pretending to be talking.  Unfortunately, all for naught.



We walked around the usual spots in Key West, and had lunch at Pepe's.

That painting on the wall in Pepe's is the only "clothing optional" I saw while in Key West. 



After lunch, we walked around Fort Zachery Taylor.  Here's a photo of Tracy trying to get a photo of this large iguana.  I think the iguana had thoughts of having Tracy for lunch. 

Warp Speed

Tried to get an early start this morning, and I was at the bait shop by 8 am.  They had already sold out of shrimp.  So I drive on down the way to a bait shop right next door to the Pelican Cove Resort.  Nice guy there, and the shrimp were bigger than the first place. (When they have them.)  The only shortage I might encounter at the new bait shop is when the guests at the Pelican Cove order shrimp for dinner. 


So, we went out in the dinghy this morning with my shrimp.  The wind was blowing from the south, so the trip out there was great.  (Not so great on the return trip--pretty bumpy.) 
We went around behind one of the islands--mostly to get out of the wind.  I told Pam that there probably wouldn't be any fish there.  I only caught Jacks, Ladyfish, Mackerel, Catfish, Sharks, Lizardfish, and about a dozen really nice trout like these two.

 

The new motor is really fast.  I took the GPS back out again to see what the top speed might be, but I always black out over 20 mph.

Looks like some guy out the dock from us had a little more serious problem this afternoon.  There were 10 paramedics taking him out on the gurney.

Tracy keeps sending me emails from the "clothing optional" place where they're staying in Key West. I guess his camera is broken, because he only describes in words what he's seeing in the pool.  I'll be driving down there tomorrow to see for myself.

New motor

Our new motor arrived today. 
Thanks to Beth and Tracy for delivering it.
And thanks to Wayne for selling it to us. 
It started right up, and runs great.  It makes less noise at idle than our 2 hp does.
The 2 hp motor would propel us along at about 6 mph.  I took the GPS out with me today, and got up over 20 mph with the new motor.  I think Pam and I are going to take the dinghy up to Ft Myers for lunch tomorrow.

Today, we took Beth and Tracy to the Island Grill for lunch.  We started out with their world famous Tuna Nachos.   Good stuff.

Beth and Tracy went on down to Key West for few days.  They're staying at a place called Pearl's Key West Hotel.  I looked it up online, and it says it's a "clothing optional" resort.  I'm guessing Tracy booked that place.  We're going to drive down to KW on Thursday to hang out with them for the day. (I mean that in the "visiting" way--not the "clothing optional" way of "hanging out".)

More truck

After thinking about my wonderful Ford truck all night, I decided to pull out the EGR valve this morning.  It was new in March, the turbo was new in July.  I found a couple of pieces of crud about the size of a pea inside the EGR.  Hopefully, the crud was holding the EGR open when it should have been closed.  If that doesn't solve the problem, I've got the phone number of the guy who works on diesel engines in boats.  "Diesel Dan"  Most people who work on boats in Florida have names like that......"Rigger Rick"  "Canvas Cathie"   "Diver Dave"  One of the best, was the diver guy who we had clean the bottom of our sailboat in Burnt Store Marina.  His name is Bill Fell.  His business card read "Bill Fell in the water."

There was a free concert here in the park yesterday.

The marina is really filling up.  I'm sure there's more boats here this year than last year.  There's so many bigger boats here, that the only way to see out is go up on the observation deck.