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The dogs have taken to their new environment quite nicely but we
have to get up early and get out walking around 6:30 am because
it is so hot in the morning! However, after the first week, we
are all settled in, love our quiet very “Keys” life style and
are pretty sure we could live here all the time! The flavor of
the neighborhood is so very different from Cape Coral – all
homes are on stilts, all landscaping is “white crushed coral and
shells” with lots of palm trees and tropical vegetation. An
interesting thing in the neighborhood is that there are so many
houses and lots with “POSTED – NO TRESPASSING” signs on them. We
have to wonder, why would people rope off their homes or lots
and not allow anyone to step foot (even the dogs) on their
precious property? It was very refreshing one morning when we
walked by several of these No Trespassing signs to see a
“Welcome” sign on someone’s door! I was lucky enough to have
found a great place at the end of the major Street – Spanish
Main where I could take the dogs in the morning on our walk.
There is a Million Dollar house for sale – Vacant – along with
two empty lots and no “Posted” signs! Well, I thought no one
would mind if I let the dogs off their leash and they could run
around the vacant lots and ultimately, Salty would sneak over to
the “little” beach at the vacant house and be able to get in the
water and walk/swim the way he loved to do when we were in the
Bahamas. Every day we go to this place and every day, he would
run to the water on the little beach and Mali would jump and
leap and run around until he got out. On our walk back to the
cottage, we go up and down the various little streets – all
named with very Nautical names: Sailfish Lane, Captain Kidd
Street, Blackbeard Dr., Grouper Road and so on. There are AT
LEAST 2-3 houses for sale on each street, so that tells you the
Real Estate market is just as bad down here as back home.
We’ve been out several times on our “little boat” Salty Too
and you really have to know where you are going and make sure
you don’t veer out of the markers because it is very shallow and
the coral bottom is not forgiving. Even though Barry had new
trim tabs installed on Salty Too before we left Cape
Coral, we were still like a little bobbing top out on the
Atlantic waters. It wouldn’t be so bad with just the two of us,
but the dogs really don’t like all that movement (well Mali
didn’t like it) so we mostly stuck to the back Bay in between
the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. We’ve learned that if
the palms are swaying – we are staying! (IN that is). We told
ourselves that we would take the first week off and just play
and relax, then get into our studies the second week. Barry had
actually finished his course before we got there and only had to
review, whereas, I had most of the course to complete and I have
to admit that being at a cottage in The Keys is not conducive to
“hitting the books” or “internet” in our case. We were busy with
Real Estate business, as well and were very fortunate to have
the joys of technology at our disposal because conducting
business “virtually” is quite easy with all the tools we brought
with us. We put one of our listings under Contract with the help
of email, cell phones, scanner and E-fax – very impressive! We
also had our trusty Assistant back in Cape Coral should we need
help with anything we could not do from here. The second week
was also pretty busy with “work” and so by the time we got
settled enough to start our studies, we had another reason not
to do it. Our “Sailor friends” from Texas – Jackie and Bill came
to visit for the weekend and even though we were “off our boats”
it was still great to hang out again. They have two little dogs
“Buster and Biskey Lou” and we were a little concerned as to how
all four dogs would get along. However, all was good and
everyone got along – bonus! In our past adventures in the
Bahamas, we would meet up with them, hang out “on hook”, dingy
around and always had a great time. Bill always ended up in the
engine room with Barry fixing “whatever” on Salty Old Dog,
so he probably thought this visit was much better not having to
fix anything. We traveled around together by land also – up to
Marathon, Big Pine and down to Key West for lunches and
cocktails. Maybe next week, we’ll get down to studying.
Traveling by car to Key West is quite an eye opener – we’ve
always just walked around whatever Marina we were docked at in
the past, so seeing all there is to see by car is enlightening.
The architecture is old Southern style, everything is built very
close together and all homes are very expensive, no matter what
the size or age. We thought we found a “dog beach” in Key West
that we could bring the “kids” to, but when we finally did get
there with them, it was horrible! Small and stinky and dogs
weren’t allowed off leash – what good is that? Obviously, that
wasn’t good enough for our kids so we just headed back toward
the cottage and stopped at a couple of places along the way
where you could see a bit of beach and a little room to run. Of
course these places were chained off with “No Trespassing” signs
across the road but at this point in time, we couldn’t care
less. It’s much easier on a boat where you can anchor off and
dingy into a nice private beach where there aren’t as many rules
and signs! It’s strange when you think of your location – in the
Florida Keys – and there aren’t any real beaches or good access
to the water.
It has been hot as Hades here, pretty windy with typical summer
storms every day. Not really conducive to taking the boat out
any further than the Bay area. This Coast is meant for a much
larger boat than a 21’ ProLine – at least for the dogs and I.
Barry ended up going out on his own most of the time – that way
the three of us weren’t bouncing around the bow like little
jumping beans. We actually left the dogs at home in the air
conditioning several times and beetled around on our own – much
easier on everyone. So, for most of the time, it seemed, we were
“on vacation”, not doing much of anything, not taking too many
pictures and just happy to be “away. While sitting out on the
patio furniture that we dragged down with us, we noticed these
big “Blimps” in the sky and wondered what they were used for.
Apparently, there are lots of stories but Barry found an article
in the paper that said they were called “Fat Albert Balloons”.
They are operated by the Air Force and carry sophisticated radar
systems used to track weather patterns and air/boat traffic.
They also broadcast pro-American messages to Cuba – I wonder how
successful that is!?
Well, before we knew it, our mini Mali-and-Me vacation was over
and we had to pack ALL that stuff up again and head back to Cape
Coral, home and work. We didn’t get as much studying done as we
had planned on, didn’t get out on the boat as much as we wanted,
didn’t see as many sights as we should have BUT we had a
relaxing, fun time and….ate, drank and slept too much. So, with
that said, I guess our little adventure was a success after all
and we are ready to do it all again next year!
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