Happy new year! This coming year promises to be a good one for the Blue Heaven. We will not be going to St Thomas this year. But It looks like we may do mexico and the Bahamas instead. Either way the new boat will be a pleasure to have as a means to get us to the fish.
After we got the boat out of the yard where it was painted, we brought the boat to Key West and left it there the day before Christmas. We flew home for the holiday, but now we are back in Key West. Todd and I arrived Sunday. Just in time for New Years. By Monday, the entire island was flooded with tourists. Apparently  New Years is the second busiest week of the year after Fantasy Fest.

Blue Heaven sitting ready

In New York they drop the ball at midnight, in Atlanta they drop a big peach, but here in Key west the drop a few things. On Duval street at Sloppy Joes they drop a giant conch shell. At the "other end" of Duval street where the gay bars are at, they drop a big slipper with a transvestite in it. Its quite the event. or so I am told. Hell even CNN covers it.  Here in the harbor near A and B marina where the boat is docked there is a bar called Schooner Wharf. It is where the historic old tall ships sail from. They celebrate by dropping a Pirates Wench from the top of the rigging of one of the old tall ship sailing schooners. Only in Key West!  Now I am not big on wading through big crowds . I thought about walking over to see the conch shell drop. But the crowds of unwashed humanity and drunks was overwhelming. So we sat on the dock and had a few adult beverages. Man am I a old fart. by 9:30 I was fading. by 10 pm I threw in the towel and hit my bunk. Todd did the same. It was short lived though. about 11:20 the Schooner Wharf turned the music up to a deafening level. Seeing as there was no way to sleep I figured I would stay up and watch the Wench drop. Todd and I sat on the bridge of the boat and watched as a crowd gathered to wait for midnight. At about 11:40 they raised the scantily clad young lady to the top of the mast of the Schooner " America" which had just arrived from New York. I focused the spot light of the Blue Heaven on the Wench as she dangled in the wind. As the new near was rung in, they lowered her to the cheers of the crowd. The crowd was soon drowned out from the bellow of every yacht and boat in the harbor blowing their ships horns. . The coast guard station even let all their horns blare. It took about 2 more hours for the music and noise to settle enough for us to be able to sleep.
So that was my wild and crazy new years eve. I think funniest thing of the evening was the two women that stumbled down our dock at 12:30 looking for their boat. They were smashed. Not only could the not walk or find their boat but they were not even at the correct marina. I think the finally made it home.

The Blue Heaven is ready to fish as of today. Todd and I spent the past two day tweaking the boat a bit and making it ready to fish. The winds of the past week are subsiding and the next few days look to be perfect for plying the waters past the reef. I look forward to posting a blog with some pics and tales of good fishing.