This is more like it

Les and Gerry at coffee, Chris and I went to the beach.

Zorba's for breakfast.

Snorkeling and sailing to Peterson's Cay.

Are we having fun yet?

Les and Chris have arrived. Now what could be more fun than shopping on your vacation? First stop the bottling plant to buy cases of cola (aka mix).



Then it's on to a costco type store to buy a case of orange juice (aka mix).



Then to buy the necessities (aka booze).











We did get real groceries too - here Chris is attempting to buy a loaf of bread but they seem to be out of it. Good thing we were really after hamburger buns, which they did have.


Les decided to let the 3 of us decide what to eat so didn't go into the grocery store, but I hope you noticed he was keen on going into the other stores.

On the Road Again, actually, in the Air Again

Left the sunny south for the far north to visit Sally, Abby and Sam for a week. Gary, Dave and Ben were on the same flight to Toronto and since they didn't check in together they were scattered throughout the plane. Ben lucked out and got to sit with me. Ben is on the right, taken at the last "happy hour" which was less than happy.


My connections between planes (Freeport to Toronto to Calgary to Saskatoon) were tight and I was slightly detained at immigration because I wrote $0 on my declaration but also admitted I had a baggie of trail mix on me (horrors). "Where did you buy it? What's it worth? Why didn't you write in a dollar amount? Don't you see it says right here (and he points out the spot with his pen) that you have to declare EVERYTHING? Even if you bought it in Canada, took it with you, and brought it back you have to declare it. Even if you took a firearm with you and brought it back you'd have to declare it." Now how he made the jump from trail mix to weapons I don't know.

Now in Saskatoon spending quality time with my adorable granddaughter and family; dancing the night away on my birthday at Diva's.

Jeep

Thanks to Jimmy, vehicles in the compound at Harry's Hideaway have been successfully repaired (red car, blue jeep, white jeep, motorcycle). The white jeep took the most time to get back on the road and apparently there's a pool on how long it will take Gerry to wreck it. We took it out for a little spin to scope out launching ramps in undeveloped neighbourhoods (not sure why). As you can see Gerry likes to take the road less traveled.

Night life

You can enjoy the quietness of the canal or




go to the Sand Bar bar and dance on the sand floor to Stevie's great music.

Hollywood, Miami and North Palm Beach and the Keys

Fantasy Fest 2009

Alice in Wonderland

Lots of silver paint

Rick, Jean, Gerry, Sophia, Ginny, Norm

Is he supposed to be Adam?

Great paint job.

My favourite

Johnny Depp no doubt

Silver Surfer

There is a dog under there.

 

Lobster dog

No Name Pub

Listened to a book on tape on the drive home last spring titled "Torpedo Juice" which took place in the Florida Keys. It was hilarious and mentioned the No Name Pub so I had to go. It's famous for its pizza and decor - walls and ceiling lined with dollar bills. Built in 1935, originally a general store it expanded with an upstairs brothel, which closed in the '40s and a bait and tackle shop was added. The restaurant was added in the late '50s. So here we are back in the Florida Keys after 2 weeks of fixing this and that on the fleet in Port Lucaya.

Great pizza.

Spent a few days visiting Lerry in Hollywood and dragged poor Missy boat shopping down to the keys. Came up empty handed but Gerry finally bought a boat - 18 hours before we were to leave with Richard (on his boat). It's a Macgregor 22 which will be used in the Bahamas for short jaunts here and there, just for fun since it has a swing keel, shallow draft and you can get close to shore.

Gerry's new toy

Richard's boat

Setting out from North Palm, passing the casino boat. A short time later was excited to see dolphins!









Such serious business, towing. Apparently more serious than keeping watch at night. I came on deck to take my turn on watch and found both Gerry and Richard sound asleep!

My 4th voyage with a hitch hiking bird (this one a finch). Saw another kind of flying creature - flying fish, such a funny thing to see but unfortunately when you see them they are no doubt trying to get away from bigger fish.








No, it's not a mistake, took this hanging upside down off the side of the boat, just for a different perspective. Guess I'm easily amused.

Sunset through the life ring.

Almost there, you can tell by the shade of the water.








Finally got to Port Lucaya where the guys had to deal with a real bitch in customs and immigration. I wasn't allowed off the boat so spent over 2 hours (a hot and sticky 2 hours after virtually no sleep the night before) waiting for them. They only got approved for a 7 day visit because she thinks they're here looking for work and also doesn't understand why anyone with a boat already here would want another one and then had the nerve to charge overtime because of her lengthy interrogation. Gerry's little boat is still at the customs dock - they have to assess the value so they know how much duty to charge. Of course they're taking their sweet time. For a country dependent upon tourism they sure go out of their way to make you not want to ever come back. It's not the first time they've treated tourists like criminals.


Towing the boat certainly slowed us down and with the wind coming right on our nose it took 24 hours to get to GB. Oh, I got the 20 days I asked for, I'm going to miss them LOL.

Travelling South

Loaded up the car and set out for Florida October 1. First stop Pennsylvania to pick up an anchor from Richard's shop. Just what we needed to add to the trunk which already had: Jeep transfer case, transmission, drive shaft, clutch & flywheel; 2 suitcases; 5 bottles of rum; 2 propane tanks; box of cleaning supplies; electric tire pump and other misc. small items. Bear in mind this is a convertible and they are not known for large trunks. Needless to say the back seat was also full, so full the passenger seat wouldn't recline even an inch and was in the most forward position. I wish I had taken a picture.

Second stop Annapolis MD for 2 nights. This is Middleton's Tavern - oldest continuous operating tavern in the US.
Inside Middleton's - steam is from cooking oysters. For $1 you get a 3 oz beer and an oyster in sauce.










Chick and Ruth Delly's, the governor of Maryland has his own booth there - it's always reserved.
Inside the Delly (yes, that's how they spell it), taken from the 2nd floor where we ate breakfast.