It’s a Small World

 

Wesley Chapel, Fl

Our recent short trip to the Keys was to pick up our boat and also to reconnect with my long lost cousin Anne.

We accomplished both of those tasks and I posted some pictures of Anne and Jan on my last blog post.  If you missed it, you can click Here

One of the comments I got on the last post was from Gin and Syl,  long time fulltimers and regular bloggers in the past.  Many of you will remember them.  It turned out that Syl saw the picture of Anne and Jan and recognized them from their past lives in North Carolina.    Small world, isn’t it?   Gin and Syl wanted to reconnect with Anne and Jan, so I passed along their email address.  I’m sure by now, they have reconnected as well. It always amazes me how small of a world it is sometimes. 

We are happy to have our boat here, and safe and snug in its new home in the marina.  We kept our boats in the high and dry marina years ago, so we knew the drill, but had forgotten how very nice it is to have someone else do all the work for you. I think we are getting spoiled.

Once you arrive, the forklift driver is notified and in minutes your boat is in the water waiting for you. The deck hand secures the boat, assists you getting in, and must wait until you leave before he can resume his duties.  When you get back, he is there waiting at the dock to catch the boat, assist you in getting out and then guides it onto the forklift.  How nice!  They put the boat on the outside rack so that you can unload your stuff, rinse the motor and wash the boat.  Once you are done the boat is then put back in the storage building.  We had forgotten how nice that was!

We’ve been out a few times now but haven’t ventured too far. 

We’ve seen two sunken sailboats.

We assume they were moored offshore and for whatever reason filled with water and turned over.

 

There are plenty of osprey nests this time of year and you can hear the babies screaming for food.

 

Yesterday we parked  away from all the other boats, just offshore near the Anclote Key lighthouse.

We were all by ourselves until some idiot decided we needed neighbors.  He made all kinds of waves, anchored right next to us with his loud music, and then proceeded to smoke their stinky cigarettes.  We finished our lunch and moved.  Grrrr…a big ocean and he had to park right by us.

We found a nicer spot right along the sandbar at Anclote Key.  Boy has that island changed in the 15 years since we’ve been there.  It was not recognizable and we had spend many hours there relaxing after morning scuba diving or spending the entire day there if it was too windy to go offshore to dive. 

In the past, we would usually be the only ones on the island during the weekdays.  It’s certainly not that way anymore.  This was a Tuesday.  I would hate to see a Saturday.

 

They even have big charter boats from Tarpon Springs loaded with people to spend time on “our island.” 

 

 

We anchored just offshore, read our books, napped and watched dolphin hunting for food.

 

We have had other issues that have been keeping us landlocked.  Sometimes when it rains, it pours.  More next time.