June 18 & 19

June 18, 2012  Day three

Today Chelsea is 26.  Hard to believe, but its true. 

And today is the day we head to Key West from Jacksonville. 

The drive was LONG….almost 10 hours.  Uneventful.  We joked around, tried to make the trip as interesting as possible.  I bet Olivia would say that the worst part of the trip, other than the length of time it took to GET to Key West, was my corny jokes! 

At one point the song Seminole Wind went through my head and I put it on the IPOD. Tom made some comment about wishing he could feel the Seminole Wind and I told him to just stick his head out of the window.  This caused some mirth and chuckles…..  I didn’t have any other “good ones”. 

Such is life. 

We arrived safe and sound…..had a tough time finding the Navy base…small island ya wouldn’t think it would be difficult. But it has been several years since Tom has been here, and I”ve only been here once so it makes a difference.

We found the base, and I asked Tom if we had a sticker on the wagon. NOPE.  Hmmmm.  Well, a lot of bases have relaxed their standards in the recent years….but not Key West.

So the gate guard asked for ID”s which we had and then car registration and current insurance card.  WEEEEELLLLL, here’s where it gets interesting!  So Tom has an insurance card..for the blue truck.  He does not have a card for the focus wagon.  The gate guard did allow us through, however, he stated that we needed to get to the decal office first thing tomorrow and get  a temporary pass.  And, they may not accept the insurance card.

So, I call our insurance guy and yes, he can fax it. Well, we don’t have a fax number, yet.  So I said I would call and leave a number.

We go inside, check in, and start to talk this through.  We decided to go up to the room and work through this.  We had a real problem on our hands.  We had to be at the boat by 7:15 a.m.  for boarding and launch is at 8 a.m. 

Problem:  allstate does not open til 8 a.m. CENTRAL STANDARD TIME>  we are on EASTERN STANDARD TIME HERE.  By the time that the allstate office opens and he faxes the information, we will be out to sea heading to the Dry Tortugas. Cannot reschedule the trip either.

What to do. What to do.  We opt to get a hotel out in town, and cancel our navy lodge reservations.  We cannot risk leaving base and not being able to get back on  base to get to our stuff.  Nor do I want to risk not having a place to sleep .  For those who are not military, this might sound extreme, but it could happen. 

So we pay the $7.95 internet fee that the navy lodge charges and find a reasonably priced Days Inn around the corner.

We checked out, explained and headed out.  We drove around and found the dock and the parking garage for the next  morning, and at dinner .  By this time we were over tired and frazzled!  TGIFridays hit the spot!

I wish I could say we slept well, however, it was a late evening. In our discussions, we figured out that Tom had not booked our Panama city rooms for the right dates.  He had us arriving on Sunday when in fact we were scheduled (per our agenda) to arrive on Saturday.  He spent some time trying to correct this, but was not successful before I just had to go to sleep.

Thus ends the night.  Tomorrow will be better!

Tuesday June 19, 2012  Day four

Let me tell you, I did not sleep well.  Nor did Tom. We were both very stressed regarding last night, and the fear of oversleeping was present.

The alarm went off at an evil 5:20 A.M.  grrrrrrrr.  We were up and moving and ready to walk out the door just before six.  Thankfully there is a waffle house right on the same property as the Days Inn and so we grabbed a light breakfast.  And in the sounds of Key West category:  roosters!   They are walking around like they own the place.  Now, mind you we can’t have chickens in our part of Davidson Co. back home, but they roam free in Key West.  I guess anything goes, eh?  Lol.

We also took Dramamine.  The weather forecast did not look promising.  60% chance of rain and winds were up.

We arrived at the dock just prior to 7:15.  The captain of the boat was out giving the facts about the day. Although the weather was not “bad” enough to cancel the launch and trip, it was going to be quite rough.  If people wanted to reschedule, then they would waive the fee.

We opted, along with about 70 other people to go ahead.

We left the dock roughly at 8 a.m.  The sailing out wasn’t too bad.  The water was a bit choppy and the skies were gray and overcast which made for chilly sailing. 

The Yankee Freedom II was our boat.  It was a catamaran.  It could hold up to 150 passengers, so it was a good size. 

The trip out went okay. We were able to sit on the bow where there were benches, or stand at the front.  We did both, but finally settled into the bench.  Olivia had a jacket on and I wrapped a towel around me.  Although the weather was warm, the winds made it feel quite chilly.  Laughing, huh, a wind chill in the south keys. 

The waters were still pretty even though the sun was hidden.  That lovely turquoise color just has a grip on me.  The skies were overcast and we watched some storm clouds as they moved to the port side.  At one point, we actually saw a wall cloud and watched for a funnel, but never saw one.

Our arrival at the Dry Tortugas was welcomed.  The rocking of the boat had lulled me into a very sleepy state.  However, the weather was no better there than at the keys.  Sometimes they say it can be completely different.  Not today.

We started out by poking around Fort Jefferson.  I would have been much more interested if I wasn’t hungry.  And then, during our brief exploration, it started to pour.  We waited out the worst of it and finally just found our way back through the most dry means. We did hear thunder and saw explosive lightning, bright and sharp.  The thunder sounded different, I suppose nothing for the sound to reverberate off of.

Lunch on the boat was good, several different breads, meats and cheese to choose from along with the old standby peanut butter and jelly.  It was create your own sandwich, had chips, drinks, all included in the trip.  I was just glad to eat.  My morning two eggs over medium and toast had long worn off!

We waited on the boat for nearly an hour waiting for the next band of heavy rain to move through, then it was darn it we came to snorkel, let’s snorkel.  So with that and a mind set if I don’t mind, it doesn’t matter, we set off to get our gear.

The water was warm, but given the weather, still felt cool.  It was that lovely aqua and purple….and I did look forward to getting in. 

Given the conditions, it did rain some while we were in the water, but we were already wet so it didn’t matter.

We were able to see some fish, corrals, a sand dollar and Livvy saw a crab.  At first she was nervous and we held hands.  As she relaxed in she finally swam unattached to me.

I did have problems, as did Tom with the mask fogging up.  Not sure about how to remedy that completely, but dealt with it because the view, despite the weather was still enchanting to me.   

It was a great experience and I would do it again in a heart beat.  There is something wonderful about swimming so close to these creatures.  You can just hang there in the  water, hover over an area and watch, not bothering anything…..it is truly Magickal. 

After a bit though, my calves started cramping up and I knew it was time for me to stop. 

We returned our gear, changed clothes, and returned to the Yankee II.  It was already 2 p.m. 

We left the dock probably close to 3, and we warned to finish drinks, hit the bathroom now as its going to be rough.  They weren’t just whistling Dixie!  Wow.  At first, the first 10 min or so, people were laughing and squealing, like a Disney Ride.  THEN the sea sickness set in and people were retching and vomiting.  I have to say, the crew was so prepared. 
We could not get up and move to the outside of the boat, we were being tossed up into the air.  I saw Tom fly about 18 off his seat at one point and then we landed down, hard.  The waves were coming over the bow and smacking the window in front of us.  It was intense. 

We made it through the ride, that part lasted close to an hour or just over.  Then it settled down and we had a choppy ride back to the dock.

I think everyone was glad to see land again.  Although I did not get sick, Livvy did qet queasy and Tom had a nasty bout of sea sickness.  He was plain green.  Livvy never did vomit, but I had her to focus on the horizon and that seemed to help her out.

After coming to the room and cleaning up, a quick dinner at the Waffle house.  They have nice salads and a small tour around the island at sunset.

We were all in bed early, and no alarms were set for Wednesday….sleep in day!!!!!!!!!!!!

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