Back Home... For Now!

Location: Jacksonville Beach, FL


Well, we are back home… and back to reality. But, we had a great time our last week in Key West. So, we hope you will enjoy reading about our last week.

Southernmost Donor
Captain Jim took the time to do a good thing and donate blood. Out of appreciation for his blood donation, he got a Southernmost Donor t-shirt.

I was so proud of Captain Jim, I gave him kisses:

This is the Southernmost Donor t-shirt:

Just Another Sunset…
Just another beautiful sunset in Key West. We never get tired of them.

Reunion in Key West
While Admiral Sandy was putting our previous blog post on Facebook, she saw that her friend Denise from New Hampshire had posted: “Here we go… Blue Heaven for lunch… and of course… cool refreshing beverages.” So, Admiral Sandy got in touch with Denise and arranged to meet up with her at the Schooner Wharf Bar!


It had been almost 10 years since Admiral Sandy and Captain Jim had seen Denise, so it was great to see her again!

Girls night out with Denise and her friends (l to r: Julie, Denise, Sandy, Jen and Shelly):

Filling Up with the Octane Crew
We had fun spending the evening at the Turtle Kraals Tower Bar with Captain Scott and First Mate Abby from Octane. Octane is an 80 foot power yacht docked across from our boat that has 5 guest rooms, 2 crew rooms, 7 bathrooms, a hot tub, a kitchen with all the luxuries, a living room and dining room.

(l to r:  Captain Scott, First Mate Abby, Admiral Sandy, me and Captain Jim):

Captain Scott on Octane:

Octane:

Here Comes the Sun…
Key West may be famous for its sunsets, but it also has some beautiful sunrises:

We Thought We Were Getting Away From the Cold
Unfortunately, Key West could not escape the cold weather that descended on the United States after the first of the year. For nearly two weeks, Key West experienced lower than average temperatures. Some of the days, the temperatures were nearly 20 degrees below average. And on January 11th, the low in Key West hit 42 degrees, almost breaking the record low of 41 degrees was set in Key West was in 1889. Admiral Sandy and Captain Jim didn’t enjoy having to bundle up, but I loved the cold weather!


Sadly, the tropical fish and turtles in the Keys cannot bundle up to protect themselves from the cold. The turtle hospital had to rescue many turtles and place them in their hospital in Marathon to warm them up. In Key West, we saw many tropical fish that were struggling and dying from the cold. It was so sad to see parrotfish, yellowtail snapper, puffer fish and trunk fish that were dying or dead.

At least some people in Key West have a good sense of humor about the weather. On one of my morning walks, we found these snow shoes for rent by Southernmost Snow Shoe Rental:

You gotta love it!


Kelly’s Happy Hour
The cold weather wasn’t going to keep us from enjoying Kelly’s happy hour: $2 beer, $2.50 well drinks, $3 margaritas and $4 wings. Yummy! If you are ever in Key West, you must go to Kelly’s from 4-7pm for their great happy hour: http://www.kellyskeywest.com/.

While enjoying happy hour, we met some newlyweds:

Lots of Dolphins
Captain Ken on Dreamchaser took Admiral Sandy and Captain Jim out for a ride on his runabout.

While they were out, they found a group of dolphins playing near the anchorage off Fleming Key.

The dolphins love to surf in the boat’s wake:

The dolphins also like to swim in the bow wake just below the bow:

Here’s a baby dolphin:

Time for Race Week
The racing sail boats have started coming to the Key West marinas in preparation for Race Week (Jan. 18-24).  Here are some of the race boats at the Historic Seaport:

The bigger race boats are at the Westin marina.  Check out the wheel on this one:

We found this boat that is named after one of Admiral Sandy’s favorite drinks: a Goombay Smash:

This boat is from the Isle of Man near England:

The crews are busily getting their boats ready:

It’s a busy day with the race boats and the two cruise ships that are in port!

Fame and Paparazzi
Well, I guess my blog has made me famous! While hanging out at the Schooner Wharf Bar, one of my adoring fans came up to Admiral Sandy and asked her “Is this Coconut?” Admiral Sandy confirmed that I was indeed Coconut. That’s when the excited fan told us that he and his wife were from Virginia and had been following our blog. As we chatted with Captain Woody and Admiral Brenda, we learned that my blog inspired them to bring their 26 foot McGregor to Key West and to blog about their adventures. So, be sure to check out their blog at: http://www.go-where-its-warm.blogspot.com/ and you can see the photo of all of us at the Schooner Wharf Bar.

Here is a photo of us all on Morgan Glory (l to r:  Capt. Woody, Admiral Brenda, Admiral Sandy, me and Capt. Jim):

Captain Dennis
While visiting Key West this past summer, we met Captain Dennis who is a Captain for Danger Charters. Since we have been back, we have had a lot of fun chatting with Captain Dennis when he stops by the boat on his dinghy.

The Danger Charters boats are beautiful traditional American sailing boats called “Skipjacks”. Since we had only seen the boats from a distance when we were sailing, we decided to go to the Westin marina to see Captain Dennis and the Danger Charters boats.

Here are Sarah and Danger’s Prize:

Captain Dennis preparing to leave on a charter:

Captain Dennis leaving the harbor with Sarah:

If you ever want to sail, snorkel or do a sunset “wind and wine” trip, you should check out Danger Charters: http://www.dangercharters.com/


They Call This Art?
One day while walking around Key West, we came across a strange site: a guy painting some nude women!

I wonder if I can get in this painting:

Now this is art:

On Your Mark, Get Set, Shuck…
During our stay in Key West, Admiral Sandy has been pretty lucky and has won two chances to pick a key at the Pepe’s Oyster Races. Both times, the emcee offered her $20 shucking dollars in exchange for her key and Admiral Sandy took the deal both times. So we have enjoyed spending the $40 shucking dollars on breakfast at Pepe’s.  Taking the deal was the right thing to do because neither key opened the lock.

A few days before we left Key West, the prize pot for Pepe’s Oyster Race was up to $500 so we decided to see if we could win the money! Once again, Admiral Sandy won a chance to pick a key and she chose key #6. Our friends Pat on Homeward Bound and Larry on Banana Wind also won a chance to pick a key. So, we were hopeful that someone would walk away with the $500.

Pat tried her key and it didn’t open the lock. Bummer!

Larry tried his key and it didn’t open the lock. Bummer!

When Admiral Sandy stepped up to try her key, the emcee sat her in a chair and told her he would make a deal with her AFTER everyone else had tried their keys. Admiral Sandy was pretty excited because there might be a good chance that she had the key.

The emcee tried to convince Admiral Sandy to give up her key in exchange for $30 shucking dollars, what was behind “door #3” and what was behind the “other door #3”. Captain Jim urged Admiral Sandy to try the key, so Admiral Sandy refused the deal.  Admiral Sandy tried her key and it didn’t open the lock. Big bummer!

Oh well. Captain Jim said that we came in with nothing and we left with nothing. So, it’s not so bad. By the way, the emcee told everyone that the winning key was #8… so Admiral Sandy’s key #6 was really close!


So Long Homeward Bound
Captain Randy and Pat were making plans to leave Key West on Sunday to start their 3-day ocean voyage to Isla Mujeres. So, we all got together for one last time to toast our new friendship and wish them a safe and wonderful trip.

I found my favorite bunk and took a nap:

Nancy and Brian on the sail boat Four Points had just arrived in Key West from Mexico, so they joined us to share their experiences with Randy and Pat:

We are so glad we met Captain Randy and Pat. We had lots of fun times together in Key West and look forward to the day when we can get together again. In the meantime, we wish them favorable winds and gentle seas as they continue their adventures on Homeward Bound. You can follow their blog at: http://www.hbsailing.com/.

Note from Admiral Sandy: We have spoken to Captain Randy and Pat and they have arrived safely in Isla Mujeres.


We’ll Be Back…
We had to move Morgan Glory from the marina slip to make room for all the race boats, so we put Morgan Glory on a mooring. We will plan to return to Key West when it is warmer to bring her back to Jacksonville Beach. So we packed the car and headed back to Jacksonville Beach.


We look forward to going back to Key West when it is warmer. Until then, I am going to try to find places in Jacksonville Beach that will give me bacon until I can get back to key West!




We hope you have enjoyed following our Key West adventure! Be sure to watch for our blog update when we go back to Key West to bring Morgan Glory back.


Coconut and Crew



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