Another New Year!

Dylan and Dee Dee have certainly been enjoying holiday time here at Stock Island Marina Village. Santa decided to drop off two toys for Christmas. We're not sure if it was one for Dylan and one for Dee Dee or if both were for Dylan (our good boy). Since Santa didn't leave any coal we gave Dee Dee the benefit of the doubt.

There was a long serpent that squeaks and a stuffed dolphin. Both were hits.

The serpent was perfect for tug-of-war.

While Dylan couldn't believe he was allowed to have his own dolphin onboard.

Of course, in the end Dee Dee ended up with both of them.

It's been a great year for the aCappella crew. Tonight we move into the new year. Dylan and Dee Dee look forward to more beaches, more dog parks, and many new adventures.

Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas!!

Dylan and Dee Dee are counting down to Christmas - there's less than 24 hours of being good. Dylan is hoping Dee Dee won't scare off Santa with a bark. Dee Dee is hoping Santa will give an allowance for being cute.

As for Mom and Dad, they think they have two of the best presents under their tree!

With Santa so near you'd think that being that good would come easy. You'd be wrong. That kind of good only comes from bribing with treats...

The entire crew of aCappella wishes you a very Merry Christmas!

Sans Kids

This morning we took the Stock Island Marina Village shuttle to downtown Key West - sans kids - for a day on our own. We walked Duval Street, looked in the shops, had lunch, and stopped at the Cuban coffee shop. There were two large cruise ships in port so the streets were bustling and all was decked out for a Key West Christmas.

The highlight for me was an early Christmas gift from Yours and Mayan, a free trade store that supports the Mayan Indians of Guatemala. I picked out two beautiful handcrafted birds - a chicken and a pelican.

They are smaller versions of a chicken I picked out ten years ago in Key West, the last time aCappella was here. Just to make it clear how much I loved the chicken, it was one of the few items that not only made the cut when we cleared the house, it actually made it onto the boat and rests on a ledge in the pilothouse. I think these two will go below in the stateroom to give cheer each morning and night.

As for the kids, they slept all day except for when they awoke at 4:00 pm starving until we returned just before 5:00. How do we know? Jeff set up a new webcam and we periodically peeked in on them. I'm pretty sure their sense of time is more accurate than an atomic clock.

Chill'n in Key West...

Dylan and Dee Dee have reached another milestone in their cruising adventures. They are now the farthest south they have ever been.

Dylan had previously been in Marathon but Dee Dee had only been as far south as Miami Beach last year where we waited for our Bahamas crossing.

Back in 2010, Dylan was in Marathon with Dyna. They had a great time swimming at Sombrero Beach every day. They romped with lots of other dogs including old friends Godiva and Cassie from September Song. Godiva has now joined Dyna in the huge dog park in the sky but Cassie and her people are currently docked kitty-corner to us here in Key West

We had a good run down with a combination of offshore days when it was nice and slipping along inside when it wasn't. The crew performed exemplary.

Daddy helped them spy dolphins and we had lots of them. Frankly, Daddy looks as excited as the crew...

Dee Dee loved being up on the flybridge offshore. It's something we haven't done too much with her because, well, it's a long jump down.

As the most seasoned crew member, Dylan helped show her the ropes.

For now we're safely tucked into Stock Island Marina Village in Key West. There's a dog park on site, dog friends nearby, and even some special dog treats from the staff. Dylan and Dee Dee think they're gonna like Key West just fine.

We plan to go even further south this winter as we travel to some of the southern Bahamas islands in the Exuma island chain ending up in George Town.

Seeing Triple!

Leaving Brunswick Landing we took advantage of a weather window to go offshore overnight to Jensen Beach and drop the hook. Our hope was to be able to quickly skip along outside until we got to Key West but mother nature had other ideas. So as a front came through with high winds and rain, we ducked into one of our favorite marinas, Old Port Cove Marina in North Palm Beach.

It's a beautiful marina with exceptional amenities. We love to walk the dogs along the docks to gawk at the mega-yachts docked there. It's the part of Florida where aCappella begins to looks rather modest, to put a finer point on it. We always enjoy being here.

This time was extra special though. Today Dylan and Dee Dee got to play with Mellow!

Mellow is Dee Dee's half-sister. They share Sarge as their papa. So that makes Dylan Mellow's great-step-uncle or great-half-uncle or - oh, it gets complicated.

We loaded them into Ken and Trudy's car (Ken and Trudy are Mellow's people) and headed off to a nearby dog park.

So did they have a good time? You can decide for yourself.

As for which dog is which, well, we were there and had a hard time telling.

I'm sure many of you are tiring of seeing pictures of the same yellow Labs. This is where I would usually show a picture of Dylan and Dee Dee exhausted after their afternoon romp.  But I've decide to mix it up a bit and finish with with something completely different.

Mellow dreaming of Dylan and Dee Dee...