Thursday, September 05, 2013

Mike & Kim Get Married

Sunday, August 25, 2013 we got married.... barefoot...on Smather's Beach in Key West, Florida.  It was an exceptional day!!!  Nothing fancy, nobody even knew except a few family members, it was just Mike and I and those performing the ceremony.  It was a picture perfect day :).   We made our way over to Schooner Wharf Bar immediately afterwards for some celebratory Bloody Marys.  We were married through Surprise in Paradise they performed a really beautiful ceremony.


 We are quitting our jobs at the end of September and will finish up the projects to the boat.  We should be ready to sail by February. 






Mike and I are ecstatically happy and looking forward to resuming our travels....now as Mr. and Mrs. Leonard.

Cheers Mike and Kim

Friday, August 30, 2013

Soon the Adventure Resumes

Dolphins in Sister Creek, Marathon, FL
We have been working, playing and doing boat projects in the Florida Keys since 2009.  We are completing the last few projects and getting ourselves ready to start cruising again!  FINALLY :).  If all goes well this is our last summer season here in the Keys.










We've enjoyed our stay but are so ready to set sail again.  This time Ka'imi will be in tip top shape.  Some of the improvements we have made include:

New pulpit
Sister Creek, Marathon, FL


New radar
Refrigerator overhaul
New ports
New water maker
New rear window
New hatches
Shower re-glassed
Lifelines redone
New water heater
New heat exchanger
Re-wire windlass
55 lb Rocna Anchor :)
and many, many, more!






Egret sitting on our Dinghy while on the Mooring Ball
So very soon we will set sail and head to the Western Caribbean. 


Cheers and fair weather,

Mike and Kim

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

The Beginning

Making videos of our first trip around the Caribbean, this is the beginning starting in St. Martin.

 
 
 
 




Sunday, September 18, 2011

Mom Pitteroff's Visit 2011

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Mom's visit, this is her trip to the Dolphin Research Center where she had Merina paint a T-shirt for her. Merina is a new mom her calves name is Flagler. Merina is the Dominate female in the maternity pod, in other words she is the head hancho. She is very beautiful as you can see and does not have a scratch on her. She has 3 daughters Pandora, Calusa and Cayo all very individual and spirted ladies in their own right. Flagler is her first son.






Merina painted mom a T-shirt.

















Besides the Dolphin Research Center we also had a great time relaxing and sailing. We took mom out to Sombrero light for some snorkeling and were very lucky to actually see some wild dolphins on the bow. Videos are posted below.



Below, Mom at anchor :)



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Saturday, February 26, 2011

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



Saturday, November 06, 2010

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


Saturday, June 26, 2010

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!
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