Well, one of our visiting group has left the building, or anchorage, as it were. Yesterday our friends on Fine Line were nice enough to ferry us out to their boat anchored a good 10 minutes from the dinghy dock. They had to take us in 3 shifts, so it was 20 minutes per trip. We really appreciate their efforts. First up was me - dinghy ride - wheeeeee!
The others were running late, getting "trapped" on the conch train, so I had some quiet time to reflect on the last time I was on their boat (back when I had one too) and appreciate their view. There were a surprising number of boats out there and I even saw a dolphin.
Then the rest of the gang came, and we celebrated the fact that no one fell into the water getting on/off the dock or the boat.
I'm not sure what to say we're doing exactly. My family has been just winging it and spending lots of time detoxing from work or routines and being glad they're not home where it's cold. They make plans and then may or may not actually implement them. There are no schedules. Probably the most active member of the crew is Andres, who's gone scuba diving a couple of times.
Earlier in the week, we got a wonderful surprise when some boater pals of ours, Anne & Steve, sailed in on their catamaran, Fine Line. We met them 7 years ago in the Bahamas when we were just starting out on our sailing adventure. We knew we'd be good friends when we had a potluck and they brought popcorn. While we ended up on St. Kitts eventually, they kept sailing around the Eastern Caribbean, past Venezuela, and up the Western Caribbean. They've been cruising for 7 years
So how was everyone's Mother's Day? Michael & I spent Saturday afternoon at Sunset Pier listening to some reggae music while we waited for word that my mom, uncle, and cousins were on-island. While we were waiting, this guy came into the harbor looking like some kind of super hero. It looked cool from our vantage point, but we couldn't really see the draw of actually doing the activity (well, unless you thought it would be cool to look like a super hero).
Then we got the call. Wahoo! My mom was here. So was my uncle and his two "kids." One, I've never really spent a lot of time with (I'm much older), and the other, I haven't seen since she was engaged to her Colombian other half years ago. He's a fun guy (and is just two weeks away from becoming a US citizen), the two are now married (with vows said in Key West, no less), and we just learned that they are also going to have a baby. Congrats! We headed over to the house
Anyone suffering from tequila hang overs? I'm happy to say we avoided them, but that's mainly because the Cinco de Mayo activities didn't get started until later here yesterday. We did go to the Custom House for locals day and enjoyed it. This building is huge and can seen from just about anywhere in Old Town.
I thought this pic of the statues was funny because it looks like the little girl is staring at me.
Because we've been to a couple of other associated museums, we already had some background on many of the displays, but there was more of everything here. They had lots of stuff from Mario Sanchez, a Cuban who documented a lot of Key West life through his intricate, brightly colored, wood "paintings" and sculptures. That first painting
Wanna know what you're toasting today? A little history: While I was aware that the day in Mexico isn't celebrated as exuberantly as it is in the US, I hadn't realized our country's (eventual) involvement in the historical event being honored. Napoleon III had sent his French troops into Mexico (led by Maximilian) thinking he would expand his empire there, but didn't count on Mexico's skilled horsemen, determined locals, and Indians armed with machetes and stampeding cattle kicking their French ass. The Mexicans beat the French in 1862, inadvertently keeping them out of the US while we battled our Civil War and allowing the Union army to grow nice and strong. Of course, undeterred, the French came back a year later and caused problems for both Mexico and the US for 3 years, but with our own war winding down, we provided weapons and ammo and sent some fighters down (who joined as Mexican soldiers) to help dislodge the French forces once and for all (which was sort of ironic since Mexico had fought off a US invasion just 14 years prior - we do like our wars). All's well that ends well, and how better to celebrate than guacamole and tequila? We may or may not seek out a margarita or two.
I have to admit we haven't done much in the way of the song writer's festival. We have wandered past a few places where some of the singers are performing, but as the official website says, they're strumming "informal adaptations of Nashville's signature." Nashville = country which means we'll be doing something else. Many of the bars here play country music or various versions of Jimmy Buffet twang regularly, which we tend to avoid (sorry!). Next Saturday (May 11), the Sunset Pier is going to have a tribute to Bob Marley concert, which is more up our alley, so we'll go and jam to that.
The weather this weekend has been great. We jumped on our mopeds for every little reason Saturday just to enjoy the breeze blowing through our hair (kind of like I used to get into the dinghy and let loose when I had a need for speed).
It's free local's first Sunday, and the Custom House is open this time. We haven't seen that yet, so will check it out. This is the place with the huge statues out front, and you'll recall that last time we were there with our friends Tina & Ron, Tina had a little accident. Maybe it'll be safer inside.
It wasn't as bad as yesterday, we had more blue patches than intermittent rain/thunder this morning. I wasn't the only one looking forward to the sun. Yesterday, the rain got inside the Florida SPCA,
and here was a good pic of water slopping at Sloppy Joe's doors.
Photo by: Cody White
The wet streets looked pretty cool at night though. If you just can't get enough photos, here are plenty.
Photo by: Tyler Van Nash
Wahoo - a clearing! Three loads of laundry getting done! The machines are outside and if I drop anything, a lot of cursing ensues, but so far so good.
Remember when I said Wednesday and Thursday were going to be iffy? Well, Wednesday we enjoyed lightning and thunder from about 10:30am to 2pm, but the rain was more drizzle than downpour (and boy was it humid). We got clipped by the bottom of the storm cells that went by, and it was the upper Keys and the mainland that got walloped most of the day. Thursday the rain started around the same time, but we've had much more lightning, much louder thunder, and much heavier rain. It's been pretty darn windy at times too (where are my sweat pants?). Laundry day has officially been moved to Friday. You can see we have our own little waterfall where the gutter is broken.
Here's a good example of what I'm talking about. I can't believe this couple was so determined to have a beach wedding - sheesh (video). Turn up your volume if you really want to get the full affect.
The streets here flood pretty easily (even going into the bars), but I'd say the latest deluge would have tested any city. I guess we'll take it over the snow that just powdered Minnesota and Wisconsin and the fires burning in California though. When I checked the rainfall at the Weather Underground at about 4pm, we were almost at 5 inches (the airport says 4.14" which is a record for May 2).
We have wandered past a few places where some of the singers are performing, but as the official website says, they're strumming "informal adaptations of Nashville's signature." Nashville = country which means we'll be doing something else. Many of the bars here play country music or various versions of Jimmy Buffet twang regularly, which we tend to avoid (sorry!). Next Saturday (May 11), the Sunset Pier is going to have a tribute to Bob Marley concert, which is more up our alley, so we'll go and jam to that.
Among other things, I'm a blogger. My last one was Island Babble about our life in the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. We (me, my husband and our two kitties) moved to Key West in September 2012 and figured we'd embarrass ourselves some more by posting our antics in a new blog.
Any of you sailors, wanna-be-sailors, or dreamers out there might be interested in A Sail of Two Idiots, a fun and informational book about our sailing adventures prior to landing in St. Kitts. It's available in all major brick & mortar stores around the world as well as from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and their associated e-books.