I’m just hanging out in Key West waiting for the return of my wife. As of tomorrow, it will be two weeks without her. She is providing needed support to her mother and father. I’m thankful she gets to spend this quality time with them. So, what have I been doing?

Key West Sunrise

The Sun Rises over Stock Island Marina

Yesterday, I became “Advanced Open Water Scuba Diving Certified.” I learned a few things and, perhaps, most importantly, I feel much more comfortable diving at this point. I’m a little tempted to go for the next level, Rescue Diver Certification. 🙂 We’ll see. Following are some additional photos on the reef that I took yesterday:

One of the world’s largest single-celled organisms – an algae known as “sailors’ eyeballs.”

French Angelfish

I love these Squirrelfish

The well disguised ray here is a Yellow Ray ( I think).

Elliptical Star Coral

Do you see the fish here? It is a scorpionfish. Some species of scorpionfish are among the most venomous fishes.

This lobster was not too happy with our visit.

I’ve been doing a little boat work. I repaired the navigation lights on the bow. It turned out to be a bad bulb. I ran 12-volt wiring down to our owner’s hull and placed a new 12-volt outlet for the freezer. The new freezer now sits in the floor of the port hull… perhaps not ideal, but not bad. I don’t mind it there at all. It works great and is quite convenient in that location. I installed shelves in the cabinet where the old freezer resided. It now serves as food and beverage storage. I washed Beatitude. I replaced the now-tattered Old Glory on our stern with a nice bright new one.

Cutting Shelves

Working on changing the wiring for the new fridge

The new storage cabinet.

The 12-volt Outlet placed for the Freezer

The New Freezer

I’ve watched Bulldog games at Jack Flatt’s on each of the past three Saturdays. They know me by name now and go out of their way to accommodate me. 🙂 I’ve attended church at St Paul’s Episcopal Church and The Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea. I’ve eaten at a few decent restaurants. I’ve grilled my own delicious seafood, caught by me, fresh from the sea, paired with some wonderful white wine. As you may remember, I visited Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas and snorkeled the waters surrounding it. I’ve watched a few movies aboard Beatitude (last evening’s feature film was Amadeus). I’ve met a few folks at the Marina. As I write this, I’m watching Texas A&M vs. Arkansas with as avid a Texas A&M fan as you can imagine (and they are losing, which means there are a multiple exhibitions of disgust.).

Grilled Blackfin Tuna with a Spicy Mustard Sauce and a New Zealand Savignon Blanc. (I traded a little bit of my Wahoo for some Blackfin Tuna).

Hogfish Bar and Grill is an old style Key West restaurant on Stock Island, complete with cats and roosters walking through the restaurant. This little guy sat on the railing next to my table and watched me eat hogfish.

Stock Island Marina is really nice. It has the best wifi of any marina I’ve been in. It has the nicest laundry facilities of any marina I’ve been in. It has the best boaters/captains lounge of any marina I’ve been in. The docks are concrete, floating docks, and are basically new. The people are nice and the staff is helpful. The only negative is that it is directly adjacent to a boat yard which provides an ample supply of noise which doesn’t completely die down at night. Another negative (or positive, depending on how you look at it) is that it is 4-5 miles from all the activities in Key West. That has been easily negated by the economical rental of my new Honda scooter.

Stock Island Marina

The Captain’s Lounge at Stock Island

Guess what kind of fowl this is? (The one unusual thing about this marina is that I’ve seen no pelicans, herons, or other typical Florida waterfowl.) This by the way is a peacock sitting on the railing of C-dock. How many marinas have peacocks?

Many marinas frown upon “houseboats” which aren’t designed for or in condition to be moved. At least this one, a couple of slips down from Beatitude, is well done. 🙂