Where do I start?????

Well, I guess I should start where I left off last. Oh, ya, Cabbage Key where they don't grow cabbage. We left our anchorage at Pelican Bay to a beautiful cruise on the Gulf to Sarasota (party central) at first light and arrived in Sarasota late monday afternoon. Tuesday Stephanie and I worked on the boat, her cleaning and me doing maintanance. Wednesday Steve Koch came over in the morning and we started to install a back-up inverter and he finished Thursday. (hurry up Steve, the party is going to begin) You can never have enough spare parts and back-up systems when you travel out of the country, and we will be in the Islands Mon in a couple of weeks. Can't wait! Thank's Steve for getting it done so we could leave Monday morning to get back to Marathon to see my brother and his family for a couple of days before they head back to Ilinois. All work and no play, well, you know our group. We didn't let a little work get in the way of our fun with all our cruising buddies together in Sarasota. From Wednesday through Sunday night we partied hard with our old, and some new cruising buddies. We didn't get to bed till after midnight any night and it was a blast to say the least. I think I said enough in the pictures that follow to give you an idea of how much fun it was. It was also great that Doug and Tammy drove down to join in the fun (didn't take much to convince them) and stay on September Song, and Todd and Brenda came down from St. Pete on Lifes2Short to join in the fun. Todd and Brenda are going back to work in about six months and it was great to have them here with the rest of the wild and crazy group for one last time.
Oh, the rendezvous. The rendezvous was a success, Cassie and Godiva did a good job with their presentation, "A dogs eye view of the Bahamas" and it was fun to see about 130 of our fellow Defever Cruisers, attend the seminars (even though we were out till after midnight every night) and enjoy those early evening parties. What a great group!
I'm posting this while we are in the Gulf on a calm, warm, beautiful day with the pointy end headed South and Stephanie is at the helm. I needed to get this done in the peace and quiet now, because I know when we get into Marathon (FLAKEYS, a new term by Susan Connelly) Wednesday, our group of cruising friends there, along with my brother and his family will be ready to do something I'm sure. (is there any doubt in your mind!)
Ok, I know, you want to get to the pictures.

September Song (two days of needed rest) out
Bob