Loopers go Fishing

Brian/K-Plan, Poncho/Bobcat, Alan/Gooder Days, Harald/Warbler, Mark/Knot Working, Mark/Plan Sea

A bunch of loopers got together today to go on a charter fishing trip. Six guys got together on a 26' center console with a local guide and went out to sea. We caught a mess of fish, but they were small. Only one big one was boated, a Grouper, but out of season so we had to throw it back. We caught a bunch of Lane's, Jacks, Grunts, and some strawberry grouper along with one trigger fish. We grilled them up tonight and had a mini feast, not a big feast, but it was yummy and we had a lot of fun. The weather was great,  mid to upper 70's and the ocean behaved. Just as we got back the cold front hit and clouds turned dark. Must. be the stuff that went through the mainland, now hitting the islands. Temps dropping into the low 60's to upper 50's. Brrrrrrrr! Jacket weather here in the keys.

Looper Snorkel Trip

Today several loopers went on a snorkel trip. We took our boat Gooder Days and 7 of us headed out around 9:30am to Sand Cay. We spent a couple hours on a mooring ball while everyone got to jump in and explore the reef. Water was in the 70's but very comfy without a wetsuit. It was a bit rolly on the way back, so we put it up on plan and plowed through it. All had a wonderful time and we made it back by 2pm for the Ice Cream Social at Stock Island Tiki hut. I headed to the pool after washing down the boat and getting things put away. Sunny and 70's is my kind of living poolside by the bar. 

Looper Docktails

 

Loopers docktails at the Dock house in KW

Today, the first day solo on the boat without my Yoli, I met up with some fellow loopers in Key West on the docks at "The Dock House" for docktails. 

Looper Boats Attending: Roam, Assisted Living, Dirty Laundry, Otter, M&A, Spirit of Adventure, Gooder Days, Never EZ, Warbler, and MoonShine

I biked in with Harald and kathy on Warbler from Stock Island Marina, 6.5 miles out and back. We also caught the sunset at Mallory Square once again with thousands of others, and then finished the night at Willie T's with Grouper Bites, 2 for 1 margaritas and live music. Friday night and KW was rock'n it. We donned our lights and made the 6.5 mile ride back home in the dark.

Dinner and Drinks at Willie T's

Cindi Visit & More Key West

Cindi came to visit for the week, we explored Key West, and go for a boat ride. Cindi and Yoli tour Hemingway house, stroll Duvall street, and do some power shopping. We have dinner at Conch Republic where we got the best ever Royal Red Shrimp, we ate 2 lbs worth, best shrimp ever! The military also put on a constant air show this week, must have seen 10 different flying machines flying right over our heads daily. Cindi cooked ups some yummy food which we will be eating left overs in style this next week. But, sad day today as Yoli and Cindi both went home to the winter wonderland in store for this weekend. Alan stays back at Key West to install a new Washing machine and suffer through this menacing 75 degree heat and sunshine. Today Jan. 22 is AlanYoli's 6yr meetup-aversary. 6yrs ago we met online starting this wonderful adventure. Wow, 6 years, :) Life is Gooder.

Cindi enjoying last day in the sun

:( Yoli going home for a week

New Washer/Dryer Combo

The tear out begins

Old washer gone

out with the old

In with the new :)

Cooking up some burgers in the flybridge

Conch Republic for Dinner

Groceries and Projects

 

Today was a random day in paradise, nothing planned but grocery shopping. We squeezed in a power shop at TJ Maxx and finished strong at Publix loading down our bike bags with 50lbs of grub. It was a slog back to the boat pushing the limits of our little 20" tires for the 3 mile city ride home. A couple days ago, I sealed the edges of the Teak decking as water was getting under it, and I only re-caulked the seams and not the edges. The seams I did in black and did not want to do the edges the same so I used white 5200 to seal them. Now, two days later the decking was ready for cleaning and fresh teak oil. So that is what I did before we went power shopping. The decks look great with the new seal on the edges and fresh oil.

White Seal around edges of Teak

The finishing touch

Looking good again :)

Jimmy Buffet Hour

 

Yoli did Yoga with the looper gang, I researched washer/dryer combo's as we need a new replacement, then we biked up with a bunch of loopers into town to see the Jimmy Buffet Band. We just did the tailgate party at Ram's head, had some dinner and headed back to the boat. Everyone else stayed for the Jimmy Buffet Band concert at Coffee Butler amphitheater. It was dark at 6:30 so we biked back to the boat with head lights and tail lights full tilt. It was only 68 degrees, but with no sun and a breeze, it felt cold as we bundled up with all we had with us for the 6.5 mile ride back to the boat.

Boat Projects in Paradise

 Yesterday I worked on the Teak Deck to finish it up. I still had to seal the edges of the Teak as water was getting underneath the wood. I decided to use white 5200 and glad I did, Black wouild not have looked to good on the edges as it was hard to get it cleanly in the crack. After 48 hours to cure, I will then clean the teak and oil it to bring it back to life as the swim platform that gets full sun and salt water, faded pretty quick. The cockpit area still looked pretty good. We finished of the day yesterday with a Looper meetup at the clubhouse and we talked all things boats, looping, and anything and everything.

Today, I worked on the v-birth AC unit as it was throwing a High Pressure Error. The resolution was a simple wire connector that had gone bad on the high pressure switch that was basically not allowing the switch to do its job and defaulted to closed condition thus high pressure. So glad that was not big deal, but I did spend several hours chasing it down and researching on line so that pretty much took up my day from noon to 5pm. We had a very windy day so we did not go to the grocery store today. Winds were 30-40mph this afternoon. Tonight, some were going downtown on bikes to an art gallery walk on white street. We opted not to go, and so without the grocery run, we will need to figure out dinner with what we have. So today was not a Gooder day, but it was sure good to bet the AC working, and Yoli got the laundry done. So a Good day it was in paradise.