Leslie & Dennis come to Ka'imi

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Michael picks them up in our stylin' keys cruiser..boy were they impressed! Mike had to play the part by putting in some fake rotten teeth (or are they?) and acting normal :).. To the left they are all standing on the old 7 mile bridge.












They quickly made themselves at home and WE had to ask permission to come aboard....I don't think there going to leave Mike...uh oh....well we finally got them back on land.









Here's Mike and Dennis having a beer on board Ka'imi. Leslie and Dennis both thought the boat was bigger than the pictures made them look. They brought awful big suitcases for a week......I really don't think there gonna leave.











This is one of our favorites places to eat, Burdines. Leslie and Dennis enjoyed it too.














This is the old 7 mile bridge, it runs right along side the new bridge. The view from here is incredible. Most of the time you will see turtles, Eagle Rays and even sharks.










You can see a Eagle Ray in the picture on the left. To the right at the end of this road is Pigeon Key. This road used to be just railroad tracks and Pigeon Key is where the workers for the railroad lived. Leslie and Dennis took a bike ride down this road.














We took Ka'imi out to Sombrero Light of some scuba diving. It was a great day to sail, but a little rough out at the dive sight. Here is Dennis & Leslie riding the bow of the boat.









Here they are taking their turn at the wheel. Now we've done it, they're never going to leave!
















We got lucky and had a pod of dolphins ride our bow on the way back from Sombrero Light.

















Back in the harbor we are treated to a beautiful sunset and a dolphin cruising by.













We don't have pictures of everything but we did a lot of exploring in the dinghy and ate out at almost all the good restaurants, we ran out of time a week is just too short. Here they are in Key West at the famous Hog Breath Saloon. They also visited the Dolphin Research Center on their way out! We had a great visit and can't wait for you guys to come back!

Sunset Bar & Grill, Keys Fisheries, Marathon, FL

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CLICK HERE FOR LIVE WEBCAM OF KEYS FISHERIES




This is the Sunset Bar & Grill at Keys Fisheries, a restaurant in Marathon, FL. We love to hang out here to watch the sunset and eat Stone Crab claws and drink ice cold beer.







The Stone Crab claws are AWESOME with there special mustard sauce for dipping. They are a buck a piece so we usually get a couple dozen.










These are our new friends Philomena & Eamon. They are from Ireland and now live in Ohio part of the year and Marathon the other part. We had a great time with them Sunday night, watching the sunset and drinking some beers!







Can you figure out who the Birthday boy is? It's not Henri to pooch. Puppers are welcome at the Sunset Bar & Grill. Scarfs are optional.












Okay close your eyes and say cheese!! I think it's time to go home :). Cheers Mike and Kim on Ka'imi

Storm in Boot Key Harbor

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Click here for a local news story on the storm.

On Wednesday, November 25th we got a huge wake up call from a storm passing through Boot Key Harbor. At 3:00 AM we hear a loud noise and the boat healed about 30 degrees to starboard and then 30 degrees to port. Whooaaa...we rushed to the companionway and all we could see was the tarp (the big white one you see in the pic laying in the cockpit) blown off and hanging from the lifelines. We were able to save it later when the rain let up. The rain was coming down hard and the wind was howling. The wind was clocked at about 60 MPH sustained with the highest gusts at 117 and 120 MPH.
The picture on the right shows where the awning used to be, one of it's bars is still standing. Oh well I think I can fix it. Later we were listening to people in the harbor on the VHF radio and some of them fared much worse. One broke loose from it's mooring (the boats line broke not the mooring ball line) and no one was aboard. It was a 3o foot boat loose in the anchorage and had already hit one boat. It was still raining but a couple boats spotted it and got in their dinghies to get it under control and back on a mooring ball. GOOD JOB to them! We also heard some people got hit by lighting. The lightning storm was so bad it actually looked like daylight right before it hit. It looked like somebody left a flood light on and it was flickering. Somebody got on the radio and said they were watching their solar panels hanging by a thread. It was at that point that we looked at each other and said 'what about our solar panel?' So we go look and sure enough...gone. The picture shows where it used to be.

When dawn broke it was raining like crazy and rained most of the day. We got pretty wet, but at least the winds died a bit.





So although our life is mostly pleasure and fun there are those moments of SHEER TERROR...the pics below show a calm day and our view of the golf course and a nice sunset. That's how we like to remember it! Cheers and Happy Holidays to all Mike and Kim on Ka'imi

Dog and House Sitting in Boot Key Harbor

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Here we are at the private dock in Marathon where we have spent the summer. We will be leaving the dock in a couple of days to go back on a mooring ball. The weather should start to cool down (although right now it is still in the low 90's) so we won't need the air conditioner. The dock and the apartments belong to Gale and Mary, the nicest people you could ever meet. The lived here when they first came to the Keys from California. They have since built a bigger house on Sister Creek and are now living there. They have a dog, Rocky, and we have had the privilege of watching him while they are away - what fun!

These are pictures of the studio apartment that comes with the dock. You are not allowed to live aboard on private docks, so you have to have a room.

This is Rocky, the dog, an Australian Terrier and our friend :)

If we watch Rocky for just a couple of days we get to stay in this apartment (which is above the studio). It has a doggy door, this is where Gale and Mary used to live.

Here is a picture of the anchorage where we will be mooring and of Ka'imi. This is the top of the apartments where we are docked.

We watched Rocky for 10 days when those guys went on vacation and got to stay in their new house it's beautiful as you can see. We weren't hurting much.


A swim and sundowner's on the patio - life is rough!

This is the room we stayed in, check out that view, NIIICE.

Kim's big 50th Birthday came while we were staying here - OUCHHH! Mike is making the customary birthday breakfast of Egg's Benedict with avocado, tomato and Bearnaise Sauce - yummy! We went out for Mexican Dinner and Margaritas later.

A little sunset view and Mike using his 50 block suntan lotion that he got from his sister Robin for his Birthday.





One of Rocky's and our favorite things to do - go to the beach. He was a maniac and so covered with sand when we left, from his mouth to his tail. That was a fun cleanup.




Here he is trying to look innocent, but we can see the blue flowers all over his little body, wonder what the yard looks like - yikes.





Well that brings us up to date for now. Michael has gotten a real J-O-B. This is his second week and they are working his butt off. He is a driver for Coca-Cola servicing the coke machines from Islamorada to Key West. He likes it but it's taking time to get the machines back up to par, they were not serviced very well while they searched for the new driver. Kim is looking for a J-O-B and hopefully will find something just as exciting. In the meantime she is doing boat chores! We will keep posting pictures of the area and follow up with some things we may have left out from our past travels. Cheers for now, Kim and Mike