Christmas Video

A good friend of mine sent me an elfme video so being the perfect father that I am, I had to make one of our kids, Michelle, Rachel, and Nef (Rachel's husband).

Well Christmas is Almost Here

It's Christmas Eve and it is 80 and sunny outside. I have all the windows open, but there is no breeze right now so it is hot. We have a few friends coming over tomorrow for a barbecue. It does not seem like Christmas, but it is. Rachel is in Mexico and Michelle is in California. Once the kids leave home Christmas never seems the same. Although Jesus is the reason for the season family makes it even more special if that is possible. As the girls were growing up we always made a birthday cake for Jesus to make sure the girls (and us) would remember what we were really celebrating. I guess since the girls are gone we just need to really focus on what we were supposed to be focusing on all along, the birth of our savior.

We went kayaking the other day and had a really good time. Lots of different activities going on here to keep one busy. The harbor is filling up fast. Usually in January there is a waiting list to get a mooring ball. We plan on staying here at least another month and then may go anchor somewhere for awhile.

Headed for the mangroves.

Sharon looking at the map trying figure out where we are.

Clear lake in the middle of the mangroves.

 

Sunrise this morning.

Busy Time

I have been busy lately, hence not much blogging. I had to complete 24 hours of continuing education in order to renew my insurance adjusters license. Ye ha that was fun. I am glad it is over. I did it on line, which is better than sitting in a boring class but still just about as much fun as going to the dentist. At least I won't have to worry about it for another two years now.

There was a Christmas boat parade through the harbor tonight. It was pretty good. My favorite boat though was a sailboat with lights in the shape of the leg lamp from "A Christmas Story". That is my favorite Christmas movie of all time. We watched it the other night. I can not get into the Christmas spirit until I watch it.

We decorated the boat today. It is hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it is 80 degrees outside. It is like the four years we lived in Australia. We would go to the mall and sit in the AC and look at the Christmas decorations to try and make it feel like Christmas. Oh well, I guess we will suffer through it.

Island Queen decorated for Christmas.

More Pics

Kayaking through the mangroves near our mooring.

Kayaking through the mangroves near our mooring.

Harvey snorkeling.

Me snorkeling.

Sombreo reef.

Sombreo reef.

Great Visit

We had a great visit with Harvey and Linda. They left today to return to Australia. We had a great time of catching up and doing fun things. I even got to act like a tourist for a week and do all sorts of things I hadn't done before including parasailing. Another great thing about having Harvey aboard is that he is alot better photographer than I am, and he always has his camera in hand. Here are some pics from this week.

I am having trouble uploading pics tonight. I will try to upload more tomorrow.

Snorkeling at Sombreo reef.

Snorkeling at Sombreo reef.

Sunset in the harbor.

Sunset in the harbor.

Sunset at Sombreo beach.

Enjoying Marathon

We have been back in Marathon for a week now and are really enjoying it. It is so nice not have have another boat literally 4 feet away from your boat. That is exactly the way it was in the marina. Now the closest boat is about 200 to 250 feet away. It is nice to feel the boat move in the wind and swing around giving you an ever changing view.

It has been pretty windy here this past week making a bit of a wet dingy ride from the dock to Island Queen. It is starting to calm down now though. I have been busy working on the boat as usual. Just small projects though. This week I rebuilt both the toilets and converted them over to fresh water instead of saltwater. We can already tell the difference. I also fixed our anchor light. Even though this is a mooring field you still have to display an anchor light at night. I also installed a new depth sounder. We have never had a good working one on Queeny even though this is the forth one. I could not find one that would read through the hull. I would have to hang the transducer over the side to get them to work semi-consistently. This time I bought a more expensive model that is stronger and it reads through the hull fine. Time will tell if it is a long term solution.

Fixing the anchor light.

New depth sounder.

The numbers are even big enough for me.

Living aboard in Boot Key Harbor

The following is a video I made aboat living aboard in Boot Key.