January 2019

January 1

I've often heard that what you do on New Year's day, you will repeat the rest of the year!

I would very much like that to be the case.

Today is our version of the Polar Plunge here at Sigsbee.

I had just come in from sailing and my boat was still on the beach

Before the "plunge", I took the sailboat out for an hour or so.  Although I purchased the sailing kayak last year while we were here, I've never really gotten used to sailing it.  So now I have the perfect conditions to experiment and see what it can do.

Overall, I'm very pleased.  It doesn't "go to the wind" very well, but it's good on a broad reach.  I'm experimenting with different sail configurations (it has a  roller furling so I can reef the sail in stronger winds) and different wind speeds to see how far I  can push it.  I don't know if it will capsize with the outriggers on it.  I've got a feeling it can.

After the morning sail, we did the Polar Plunge.  Well over 100 people participate.  And it's fun.  Some people are afraid to go in the water, but over 70 of us do.  It's nothing like the challenges of polar plunges in colder climates.  I've been swimming several times here without a wet suit.  It's comfortable.

After the plunge, I swim for a while, the get back on the kayak for so more sailing.  Overall, a great day.

January 2

We've been working diligently to try and get our reservations extended beyond Feb 29.  We've worked every angle.  We visit the RV Office a couple times a day just hoping.

We've made reservations at other places in Florida for February, but we really want to stay here.

Well, today we got the break we've been hoping for and we are not reserved until April 1. 

We're happy it worked out.

Another day of sailing and swimming.

January 3

We're now beginning to do the little task that we'd been putting off because we weren't sure we'd be here long enough.

It seems that we keep finding little things to do, but we're getting caught up and hopefully, we can begin to relax and just enjoy rather than feeling rushed to enjoy our time here.

This morning Clara and 3 friends drove up to Big Pine Key to go shopping.  I'll never understand!

Vince, Gene, Jim and I drive up mid-afternoon to meet the girls and we revisit one of our favorite restaurants - The Bucktooth Rooster.

January 4- 13

We've settled into a nice routine.

The weather has been great, warm temperatures and little wind.

Typically, every day I get the sail kayak out on the water.  I'm learning a lot about the handling of the kayak under different conditions.

One day, as I was testing the limits on how much wind it can handle, I reached the limit and finally capsized.  It turns out that it was easy to "right" the boat and climb back in.  I don't really think it was the wind, but a combination of wind, waves and poor technique.  Anyway, I've done it and now I know I can recover easily.

Usually, after sailing, I'll go to the heated pool at the community college and swim.  They saved my sheet from last year when I signed up for the120 miles of swimming.  I didn't make it last year - got around 85 miles, but will make it this year.

The waters are crystal clear when the wind isn't too strong.

And of course, the parties continue.

A group of friends organized a "shuffler" party.  Three couples got together and we "shuffled" from appetizers, to dinner, to dessert, ending in a band playing on the beach until late in the evening.

"Shuffling"

Eating and drinking

Shuffling

Party on the beach

January 13

Part of the fun of being here is the "shuffling".

There are about 400 RV sites here and only 90 of them are full hookup.  To be fair to everyone, you can only stay in full hookup two weeks and then rotate to "dry" camping (no hookups).  It's a great system because it encourages a lot of interaction and meeting new folks all the time.

Clara decided to move the "honey bucket" to our new site by hooking up to the bicycle.

Our initial "dry" camping (at one of the best dry sites - 326 - came to an end of Sunday, January 13, so now we are moving to what is probably the best waterfront lot in the entire park - Site 57 in the part of the park called Hollywood.

Site 57 Hollywood, the best site in the park

While I'm out kayaking today, Clara is enjoying her eno chair

It is great to wake in the morning and enjoy coffee and breakfast looking over the ocean (which is about 50 feet away).

Views from the motorcoach at our new site

Unfortunately, Monday, January 14 the weather cools down and it turns cooler, with highs only reaching into the low 70's and the wind picks up.  But it's a great time to be in full hookup.

Sunday, January 20

Nicer weather returned by Wednesday and we're again enjoying the water.

Several evenings (in fact every evening, we go out to dinner with friends at the various restaurants.

Saturday, we took the bikes and head to the annual Key West Seafood Festival.  And now we have some more hanging chairs.  EZ Hang hommocks are at most festivals and events we attend and Clara found a newly designed hanging chair she likes, so why not get two.

Clara enjoying her "new" new swinging chairs.  I think that this addition will bring the total between the two houses and the motorhome to about 15 swinging chairs.  She does love them.

The Sunset Lounge is the center of social activities here on base.  It is a relatively dumpy place sitting in one of the most spectacular locations in the Keys.  And they serve a great cheeseburger.

The parrots come with the band.  The band is composed of campers here at Sigsbee and they're pretty good.  They're great fun and add a lot to the community.

As a result of the numerous shopping trips the ladies go on, Clara shows off one of her recent purchases.

Nancy, ????? and Clara spent one day doing an "Old Homes Tour".  The guys met them for supper at Two Friends Restaurant

I enjoy my mornings sitting in the driver's chair with my cup of coffee and reading the Wall Street Journal online.

Sunday morning (Jan 20), one of those nasty cold fronts that are left over from freezing the Eastern US blows through about 6:30 am.  Now the winds are blowing 25 knots and we can feel the gust in the coach.  The temperatures will fall into the 60's for a day or so.  We'll suffer through and by mid week we'll be back to normal.

January 31

It's becoming increasingly more difficult to keep this blog up to date.

It seems that every day there is something going on nearly all the time.  We've had a series of cold fronts moving through.  Each front comes blowing in, sometimes with rain, sometimes not.  But always wind.  Not the best time to be on the front row only feet from the water and nothing to break the wind.

And as luck would have it, after our two week stay on the front row in Hollywood, we find ourselves in Sigsbee, dry camping, and again, on the front row.  In all the years we've been coming here, it is very unusual for us to get a front row spot, and here we've had two (and almost three) consecutive front row sites.  We're not complaining, but we have to plan for the wind.

We move to our current site (439) on Sunday, the 27th.  We moved early in the morning because no one was in this site.  After getting set up, there was an outrageous wine tasting event, which because of threatening weather, was held under to front entrance to the school here on base (the weather stayed nice for the event).

Then Sunday evening, we went to the Tennessee Williams Theater on the campus of Keys Community College for the Paradise Big Band show (the band is composed of local musicians and was great).  While at the show, the threatening cold front blasted in.  By the time we got back to the coach around 10:30 pm, the winds were howling (around 40 mph).  We had not brought the slides in because the weather forecast was for the winds to hit 12 hours later.  Before we could do anything, the canvas slide topper on the big slide had ballooned up and "wham", the whole thing blew off the tracks.  We got it under control, brought the slide in, and went to bed to a moving coach.  Almost like being on the sailboat.

Monday morning I quickly surveyed the damage, and luckily, there wasn't anything too serious.  Butch came down, and we spent a good part of the day getting the topper back in place and secure.

Lesson Learned!  Bring in the slides when a cold front is threatening and we're going to be gone.  No harm done!

Butch and Linda (who went sailing with us in the BVI last year) arrived Friday the 25th.  We've been out to dinner several times since their arrival with them and other friends.

I'm helping Butch get is Hobie kayak (which is just like mine) rigged for sailing.  It'll be fun having someone sailing with me.  It should be ready in a day or two.

THE REALLY BIG NEWS!  ANNA RECEIVED AN ACCEPTANCE LETTER FROM N C STATE UNIVERSITY.  Her father and mother, as well as me are all NCSU graduates.  It's a lot tuffer to get in today than it was in our day.  Now, she has big decisions to make.  She applied to 6 universities, was accepted at all 6, and with scholarships to four.

Tonight, Jan 31, we had tickets to a new theater to us - the  Key West Theater downtown.  Our Airbnb host, Dawn had recommended that we try to see David Blomberg.  Although initially, it was a soldout show, we managed to get two tickets.

But, we almost forgot we had tickets.  At 7:50, up pops a reminder on both of our computers that the show starts in 10 minutes.  We made it a few minutes late and are really glad we didn't miss the show.  It was great.