Bobby - Mike's Brother - Comes for a Visit

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Bobby, Mike's brother, came to visit and spent two weeks here in the Florida Keys. He's from the State of Washington so it was nice that temperatures stayed in the mid 70's during his visit. The pictures in this post are taken by Bobby (except when they are with a dolphin).

He arrived just in time for New Year's and enjoyed Mike's famous Rum Punches. Cheers Swabby Bobby (our nickname for him)!!

The sunsets in the Florida area are amazing and it is very hard to capture just how beautiful they are but we think Bobby did a great job - he is a great photographer. He was very diligent about taking the sunset picture every evening here are just a few of them.

That is a sunken boat that the birds are perched on this is right off the stern of Ka'imi.

These colors are incredible!! How is this for a view? The great thing about living on a boat is you can choose your backyards.

Bobby and Mike spent a day at the Dolphin Research Center when I was working. They both took a swim with the Dolphins and had a great time. Here Bobby is swimming with Aleta.

They both got kisses from Aleta also, Aleta really liked Bobby and didn't want to stop kissing him!

Here they are swimming with Tanner.

Two of our dolphins at the Research Center had babies recently, to the left is Merina and her calf and to the right is Tursi and her calf. Both calves are male but names have not been selected yet.




To the left is Kilo, a sea lion who makes his home at Dolphin Research Center (DRC) and to the left is the gorgeous Gypsi.





To the left is Iggy the Iguana who lives at DRC and to the left is Kim hard at work observing baby dolphins :)








Sincemike and I had to work much of the time that Bobby was here, he adventures of his own. He walked down the old seven mile bridge to Pigeon Key, which is a very long walk!




Here we are at one of our favorite restaurants, Burdines!!!

Bobby tooks some awesome shots of Pelicans, these are just a few! Did you know that Pelicans can hold more in their beaks than they can in their stomachs.








These are burrowing owls that live in the Florida Keys, they live underground and are active in the day rather than the night. I am not sure what the bird on the right is, but it is beautiful.





Of course we took a trip to Key West and had our picture taken at the famous Hog's Breath Saloon.









Thanks for visiting Swabby Bobby, we had a blast!! Cheers for now Kim and Mike on Ka'imi

Still in the Keys

We are still here in the Florida Keys, Marathon to be exact. Michael was working for Coca Cola, but they had him working 12-14 hours a day, and that's no way to live :) He is now driving for the Marathon Garbage Company for 5-6 hours a day at about the same pay, that's a better way to live! Kim is working for the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key. Just recently she had a swim with her department, the video is below, it was awesome!!!!

We have completed several projects on the boat, most recently we replaced the galley sink and are finishing up installing the new counter tops and trim. Will post pictures when we are all finished. We also finished the v-berth, restoring it to the two bunk beds that were originally in place. We rebuilt the forward head, the floor was dry rotted and Mike tore it up and rebuilt it. We have installed our new wind generator, the other one died and happened to be the model they don't make parts for any more. We are changing most of the lights with LED lighting to save on battery power.

We have moved over to the Marathon Marina which is really nice with both of us working. It has a gym and will have a pool someday. Our view is now a sunset view across the Atlantic Ocean.

Cheers for now Mike and Kim

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!