An awesome week with the Romanos

The Romanos just left... They are great boat guests... easy, helpful, flexible.  It all went like a charm.  They left Agave better than they found it. We had an amazing week together and the one person missing of course was Avi. 

Let's recap the week in pictures:

On & nearby the water:

A manatee drinking fresh water dripping from the dock

By the water:

A ceremony for Opa, the kids'grandfather, ....

...whose ashes are to be disbursed to where ever Natasha travels

 

At the Marine Turtle's Hospital:

Yep, a turtle's ER... http://www.turtlehospital.org/blog/

A turtle with big tumors...

.... now removed.

How can one help these endangered animals?  Click on http://www.turtlehospital.org/

Around the dinner table:

Kids'favorite: chicken wings at Lazy Days..

Onboard:

Board games are popular

Yoga anyway one can...

You can't expect to come on Agave and not do some work...

Kehan fixing our flag

The Romano Family is coming...

You could feel the excitement on Agave: the whole day, we were at it scrubbing, cleaning, tidying up in anticipation of the arrival of the Romano family.

They made it by 6pm.  Next morning, Kehan and Isabella prepared breakfast for the 8 of us!  What a treat: delicious warm multi-grain waffles with nutella in the middle, strawberries all around, and the whole thing drizzled with maple syrup...

Recipe elaborated by Kehan.

 

We then headed for Key West where I had an appointment with a US Customs and Border Protection Officer to get our Small Vessel Registration System card which allows us to telephonically report the arrival of Agave and to make customs declarations, and be cleared without a face-to-face inspection.  After dealing with that (which was a long story not fun to recount), we went to the beach north and south of Key West.

Got back to Agave, had a nice dinner and we made the whole family watch Captain Ron, the movie... that is the fee you gotta pay to be on Agave....

An evening in Miami at the American Airlines Arena

Saturday Dec 14: end of the Miami Heat/Cleveland Cavaliers Basketball game-Score: 114/107 Hence the happy face of the fans!

A day in Marathon

Up by 6:30-7am when the sun comes up.  Check on the lines (holding the boat to the dock), batteries, cleaning up if it rained at night, weather and tide check, kids get up; breakfast; 9am cruisers' net on the VHF radio; boatschool; repairs and errands; lunch; finish some boatschool & boat work; then we head off to the City Marina to join all the other kids by 3 or 4pm....

Back around 6-6:30; cooking dinner with the boys help; we put on a movie - lately Hatari! with John Wayne -- or the boys go to the marina's Captain's Lounge to watch a sport game on TV.  Blog update; boat accessories/parts research on the internet; home/business affairs; and by 10-10:30 pm we'll call it a day.

Most long-timers liveaboard kids always walk around barefoot.

1st Week in Marathon, Florida

Well, Avi flew back to DC last Friday to finish some work in winter weather.  Here, the days have been long working on boat related repairs and preparations, getting into a routine with boatschool, and getting around town sometimes walking for a while which I enjoy.  Last Sunday, the boys and I went to see a community play here in town, which was really good and funny: "Mama Won't Fly". We also have become acquainted with several cruisers here. There is such a big community of cruisers that we have a cruisers' net on the VHF radio every morning at 9 during which new boats in the area introduce themselves, the ones leaving bid farewell, events and what's around town are listed, help needed and offered expressed, "trade, sell or give away" marine stuff take place, etc... So we now know all the cruising kids around, and Sayan and Kehan get to play with them every afternoon in a marina nearby. They are really cool kids. People are so friendly here: for instance, our neighbors Mary and Howard lend us their car when they can. Another couple from the City Marina where most kids are, give us a ride when we need to get back in the evening. The boys said: "People are just so nice. We have yet to meet one mean person here!".
The weather has been great: 75 to 80 deg F. everyday. Today it's been raining on and off for the first time.

Docked at Marathon Marina

View from the cockpit

Facing west so sunset every night.

Howard and Mary on m/v Nazdar came to dock alongside us.

Yep, the rope made it around the piling.

Boat work to attend to: Leak of coolant in port engine; broken wind display instrument at the helm; broken hot water heater; head valve to be replaced; a head light is coming off the ceiling; get spare navigation light bulbs; port rudder steering issue; etc. and getting the boat ready for the Romano family to join us next week and have some good time!

Fort Lauderdale to Marathon, Florida Keys

Well, Papa is a trooper: he made it through yet one more time, and is now home from the hospital. He now needs to recuperate so he and Mum can join us on Agave in the spring.

In the meantime, after checking on his condition several times a day, we carried along and are now safely docked at Marathon Marina in the Florida Keys. Total of about 150 nautical miles.

An imminent departure tainted by bad news.

We're heading back to Florida to -probably- start the journey tomorrow.  However, it's with my heart in my throat, a tension headache, and a lot of anxiety that I prepare our departure because my father's health is not good back in France; he is in a great deal of suffering.  So hanging by the phone and emails, I am on alert in case I need to jump in an airplane suddenly.  I'll tell you: these life events put things right back into perspective; indeed, the whole stress of embarking on such a huge endeavor seems very trivial now.