Key West Lighthouse

14 Comments

Went to see the Nutcracker. In all my years I’d never seen it, and somehow I didn’t even know it was a ballet, which I figure really establishes my credentials as a total rube. Good show, and both kids enjoyed it. That night when we talked about our favorite parts, … Read More

Candy Parade

7 Comments

Working on Christmas cards. There is a distinct set of locals living out on the hook in Key West, and it isn’t hard to pick out their dinghies at the dock. Every time we spend time in the States I get the distinct feeling that children have fallen down to … Read More

Hemingway

7 Comments

If you’ve never owned a boat you might not understand just how great a feeling washing your boat while at anchor is. If you have, then you know the immense difference between having salt on every surface, and a freshwater cleanse. The single best upgrade to a boat has to … Read More

Keys Sail

6 Comments

Always fun to come across Wyland paintings while traveling. If you’re looking for a “hook” for your travel blog I offer you up the Wyland Whaling Walls Tour. One of the great things about our lifestyle is that we have friends wherever we go. Key West seems to be a … Read More

The Christmas Lists

23 Comments

Right now Key West is home while we wait for weather to get to Mexico. This is a pretty crucial weather window that we need to get right, since in addition to the normal weather to deal with, we’ve got the Gulf Stream ripping right up in our face. If … Read More

Key West

14 Comments

From the murky waters of the 10,000 Islands it was time to aim for some blue again. We caught a nice day of weather and took off for a quick 80-mile hop straight on down to Key West. I have to say, trip planning with a 8.5 knot average speed … Read More

Thanksgiving Cruising

26 Comments

We’ve seen so many dolphins through the years, but I don’t think they’ve ever been so plentiful as they are on the west coast of Florida. We see them every time we move the boat, in every anchorage, and even in the marinas. They never fail to come and join … Read More

Fort Myers Beach

16 Comments

It was only about 20 miles or so down to Fort Myers Beach. There is a mooring field there just on the inside of the island, and only a couple blocks walk across to the beach. Kind of a weird group that hangs out on those moorings, but it wasn’t … Read More

A Season of Prep

15 Comments

The final two weeks before shoving off is always crazy. The marina here was likely getting very tired of the Amazon delivery person, otherwise known as UPS. The boat is feeling better than ever. If we’d just kept right on cruising last year, we would have been just fine, but … Read More

Life Around Fort Myers

16 Comments

The morning after Halloween looks exactly the same now as it did forty years ago. Even the candy is largely the same. I mean, plain Hershey bars? Do they even make those things the rest of the year. Who buys those? Our kids crack us up, too. These buckets of … Read More

Halloween

18 Comments

People ask us about our kids’ schooling a lot. This is a pretty good example of “school” for them. The Edison and Ford winter estates are practically next door to us here. They walk around, see a bunch of cool stuff, listen to a bunch of random facts about two … Read More

Florida Family Fun

17 Comments

Sanibel Island is just a few miles away. Always a fun spot for a few hours on the beach and some shell hunting. I love the look on this little girl’s face. The Sanibel Island Lighthouse, lighting the way since 1884. Hard for her to get her nose out of … Read More