2010 - 4-7 - 4-9 - Party time in the Dry Tortugas

Wednesday, April 7th - Continued… We waited at the fort for Brian (pix on right) to return from Loggerhead Key to pick us up. We waited and waited - no Brian. It was after 3pm, and both Ferries left for Key West. We were out of drinking water, had no sunscreen and burning up. I watched the dinghy beach for some poor, unsuspecting soul to pounce on and plead for a ride. Prayers were answered, Lori
                                                                 Lori & Gary

and Gary floated up and returned us to the ‘mother ship’. The sailing group decided to do a ‘progressive’ drinking tour which involves BYOB and snack to pass We travel from one boat to the other with the hope of getting a tour - and drink, of course. Mickey chose to stay ‘home.’ ?? We began the tour on TESSA, Gary and Lori’s boat. Lori made a luscious dip using a can of chicken, blue cheese dressing and Hooter’s hot sauce (can substitute). Slowly, everyone else arrived bringing goodies. Mickey changed his mind and called to beg a ride to join us. Next stop, Bret and Jill’s boat delicious fish dip.

Brett & Mickey

Take note that I don’t remember the names of all theboats, but I do remember what was served. On to Steve and Carol’s boat, TANDEM; and most impressive vessel - a 52’ Formosa, the same type of boat used to film “Captain Ron”. WOW- almost made me want to sell the cottage and git me one- I said almost. Her name was Shawna but at this point I can hardly remember much of anything. BLUE MAX was the final stop on the itinerary. It was about 10pm - you can imagine the state everyone was in -                          Kate, Wayne, Brian, Christie, Carol and Steve

John & Bart

John and Bart - not gay but they are happy. As you can see, a great time was had by all.

Thursday, April 8th The morning after everyone was sooo quiet.Wonder why ??

We finally rallied ‘round’ about mid day. You could tell everyone was tired, hung over and bored because there was a steady stream of people looking for munchies in the fridge and cupboards.

We, or I should say, Captain Wayne, decided to move the boat from the rockin & rollin anchorage to the west side of the fort. Once relocated, we put the dinghy on board since it was no good to us now. Shame, we wanted to return to the fort and take the 'girls'; we wanted to explore Loggerhead Key; we wanted to snorkel a bit but the water was still too cold for us. Crappy fishing here so we moved again, this time to the spot we anchored in on the first night – we knew fish were there as well as huge Jew Fish, at least 50lbs worth, that hung out under the boat. We caught a few little snappers and fed them to the monsters below - WOW what a sight. Just for shits & giggles, I held one of the fish by the tail with pliers then hung him out over the water. I could see the grouper watching me thru the slats in the swim

platform – don’t laugh, I KNOW he was watching. We thought these monster fish were slow moving…well I’m happy to still be here to tell you otherwise. In a flash – a miniscule of a second - this fish came flying out of the water, grabbed that fish and thankfully left the pliers and my arm in tact! Remember the scene from “JAWS”? I turned to the group with a shocked look on my face, laughing like crazy and said; “we need a bigger boat”. Unfortunately, it happened so quickly, there are no pictures of the event. I managed to take this picture by putting my hand in the water and blindly pointing it towards the monster. This was such fun we kept feeding them. The momma let the baby get some too. Some may say it’s a great fish story - I say I’m glad I still have all my body parts.

Wayne went in search of why water was flowing under a drawer and into the aft cabin. This only happens in rough seas and we thought we had fixed it in 2007 by installing a new exhaust hose. I can’t believe this…more bad news. A thru-hole failed and is also leaking sea water; the boat must be hauled out to repair it. When will this stop??!
Friday, April 9th We left the Tortugas @ 8:15 AM; Sunny, hot, seas a bit choppy but then became relatively calm. Since we couldn’t go ashore on Boca Grande, Captain Wayne decided to go all the way to Key West. And, since we didn’t have a dinghy, we couldn’t anchor out - we had to get a slip. We called KW City Marina – despite the fact that the marina was filling up fast for a sailfish tournament, we managed to get a slip -but for $3.50/foot/night. (YIKES!) We took it anyway. Showered, dressed and headed for Duval St. Wayne wanted a burger so we went to Caroline’s, a quaint little outdoor restaurant on Duval. Wayne wound up getting a Cuban sandwich instead! He’s trying to be good about his lethal LDL level of 193!!!!