Sunday, January 15, 2017

2017 and Beyond

November 2017

We DID actually return to Key Largo on schedule.  Darrell went back to work as a captain at Pennekamp State Park and Ann continued to work on the boat.  She sanded and applied multiple coats of varnish to the teak and took Roxy for long walks every day.  Once the summer heat began to set in, all boat projects came to a screeching halt!

Early in the year, Ann had two impromptu trips back to Amarillo for surgeries on her 89 year-old dad.  He made it through the surgeries with flying colors and she returned to FL without much delay.

In July, she began getting tired of being cooped up on the boat so she went to talk to Michael (owner of Island Ventures) about some part time work.  She went back to work as a dive boat captain within one day of receiving her first social security check - lol!!  The best part of going back to work THERE is getting to see divers who have been coming there for several years!!  So she FAILED retirement!

In September, we had the misfortune of having Hurricane Irma pay south FL a visit.  After evaluating the possible options, we decided we wanted to tie Alibi up in the mangrove creek and go stay with our fantastic friends, Wayne & Sherry.  Their house was so well insulated that we barely heard the wind and the only damage they incurred was to the wood fence.  Alibi was safe and sound when we launched the dinghy to go check on her.  Some tied up near us were not as lucky - they were broken in to by looters!!  We spent the next several weeks helping out our friends in the Keys with clean up.  At two months post storm, there is still repair and clean up being done on the island.

The plan now is to cross to the Bahamas once again and spend the next several months in the beautiful waters there.  We are trying to stay in FL long enough to be joined by S/V Celtic Rover but they haven't made it this far south yet.  We hope to get to spend some time with them in the Bahamas.  We met in the Turks & Caicos Islands just before crossing to the Dominican Republic in 2012.