Year: 2012

Hayden and J. B., Marathon, FL

Our good friend and fellow teacher, Dr. J. B. Smith, visited Team Island Spirit for a few days on his college semester break from IUP, Indiana University of PA. He is an aquatics director and senior seminar professor in the Health and Human Services department. J.B. or “Doc” as I call him, has been a great friend going back to the early 90s when we shared lunch at PVHS.

J.B. is also our diving instructor who certified me and pushed me through the fears of diving associated with a previous poor diving instructor who treated us like Navy Seals and freaked me out under water….Luckily, D0c got me over that challenge. Thank you, J.B.!

The Doc came to FLA to visit and dive with us and to watch his son swim in a college competition meet up in Orlando. We are so glad J.B. took the time to visit us and looked over us as we re-entered the diving world. It was a great dive spot – we saw a large sea turtle, a 5 foot long shark and a truly amazing number and variety of tropical fish. It was really fun!

Radeen and Hayden heading out on the dive boat

Dive #1 completed…look how excited Radeen is…..she loves this!

We survived….we did it…Thank you J.B.

Got to love the DIVE HAIR thing….heading back in after two dives

Happy rookie divers, Radeen and Hayden

Good boat buddies, Chuck and Stuart, we met them at Thanksgiving in GA

Heading back from Sombrero Reef on the dive boat…beautiful day!

The reef is about 4 miles off Marathon

Sombrero Reef Lighthouse (Google images)

Living in the Florida Keys is very interesting and the weather has been fantastic. Typical day temps are 75 degrees and night temps are about 65 here in January 2012. Every week to 10 days a north cold front passes over and the temps drop to 60-65 during the day but they usually only last a day or two and then it is back to normal. We can see why so many people have migrated to the Florida Keys….a beautiful place with lots to see and do.

We plan on one more week here before heading off to the West Coast of Florida and living on the hook once again…..

Typical sunset from out Tiki Hut at 5:30pm

Life is so easy, so peaceful, so simple, and so WONDERFUL at Harbor Cay Club here in Marathon, Florida. We have now spent another week living here and we love it. Here is how the days go…

1. Wake around 5-6am
2. Breakfast onboard around 8am
3. Bike ride to store and around town before lunch
4. Lunch out or on board
5. Boat projects or visits in the afternoon
6. Tiki hut cocktails at 5:00pm
7. Sunset at 5:30pm
8. Dinner out or on board
9. Relax, read, write til bedtime
10. Start over at #1 above….

This is way tooooo easy living here at dock, we need to set sail and get back to work soon! We are getting soft, we are getting lazy, this is way too easy, and we recognize this. That is why we planned one month only here at dock, and we plan to move on Jan 17th to Ft. Myers, FL for a west coast exploration.

For now, we are living a dream and we know it, and everyday we wake up and reflect on this accomplishment of the dream. Lucky we are, and appreciative we are. Thank you!

New 65 Watt solar added outside our other solar panels

This week we installed two 65 watt solar panels on the roof and this takes our solar array up from 220 watts to 350 watts. We were getting about 75 amp hours per day before and we need 100 amp hours per day, so this should do it, we hope. Next task is defrost the freezer and run to the US Customs office in Key West to obtain our “local boaters” customs registration. This will allow us to check back into the USA via phone call when returning from the Bahamas.

Here are some random photos of the past week…

Sunset Grill, pool at sunset with a great band

Hayden, Carey, and Ron at sunset grill

New65 watt solar panels added outside our existing 110 watt panels Now with a total of 350 watts solar!

Hayden and Radeen on New Years Eve 2011

Radeen at the Tiki Hut for sunset….life is beautiful…

This week we have a good friend Dr. J. B. Smith arriving Thur-Mon for some reefing diving, snorkeling trips and good visits. We look forward to the visit….until then….