bendywendy

The BirdMan boogie is still on... Jari will not be with us but he is sending LouDiamond to take his place. So come on out, the weather's been great, no hurricanes on the immediate horizon.

The registration form is on line - if you send me all the info that is requested on that form in an email - that's good enough for me. wendy@skydiveseb.com I have a very limited quantity of flotation devices for rent for the weekend. Other than that people need to find their own. I've loaned out my personal ones every year and hey guess what two of them are still with the last people they were loaned to. If anyone sees Christopher Irwin - hit him up for my aquabouy. I can't remember who has the other one. We will rent the few we have for $20.00. $40.00 down - 20.00 to be returned when the flotation is returned. I don't know about the rest of you but I'm getting excited. The registrations are rolling in. Roger Ponce will be there for big ways. I haven't gotten the final word on whether Derek Thomas is coming or not yet. Cisco says that he will be there for freefly organizing. There is a possibility that Drew from Z-hills will be doing some 4 way organizing. Harry Parker might be doing MelonHead jumps if we can get him pinned down to whether he is coming or not. Of course, Norman Kent will be there taking video along with Tony Hathaway and Dano. Dano is going to be putting together the boogie video. If you haven't seen his work go find one from the Puerto Rico boogie. I'm forgetting people and things - I'm sure of it but I've got to rush off - physical therapy time for the elbow so that I can jump while we are there.

If anyone needs more information on hotels or anything just let me know. There is some information on www.skydiveseb.com but we've also sent out emails with details on other hotels - I found one I liked better - campgrounds, etc.

If you aren't going to jump or party with us then I wouldn't take your money but what kind of nutcase would come to the keys and not do a few jumps? Oh wait, that was me last year...

Back to normal...mostly.... No more power trucks on the runway, no more busing to catch the plane. We had a nice weekend and the tiki bar was open. Next weekend we are supposed to be having a BirdMan event. Last time I spoke with Jari he said he'd be here with his suits ready to fly. I heard rumour that LouDiamond may be coming as well.

yup, oldies but goodies..

If you are a USPA member you really need a C license to jump with us at Marathon. If you are one of dem dare foreign types... you need the equivilent from your country. If you don't have the jumps though you are more than welcome to still come down and hang out with us. It's a great vacation and there is plenty of other things to do - fishing, beaches, snorkeling, diving. We've had newly licensed jumpers come down and they want to jump so bad they've resorted to doing tandems just to see the island from the air. (We give licensed skydivers who chose this angle the barebones discount because we feel just as bad as you do that you can't jump there).

Ok, I've got a whole bunch more information on the Keys for everyone... Hello! I just got back from a trip down to Marathon to check on our Keys Boogie arrangements. I found some other great accommodations and fun tiki bars to hang out after a hard day of jumping. (It’s a tough job but somebody’s got to do it)! As you probably already know we have rooms held at both the Coconut Cay (www.coconutcay.com 1-877-354-7356 or 305-289-7672 at mm 50.5 prices started at $69) and the Holiday Inn (305-743-5376 at mm 54.0 prices started at $75). They have discounted rates for us however, while scoping out the area I found that there were other very nice are resorts and hotels that had similar pricing, if not lower and some even accepted pets – so if you were worried about what to do with fido – worry no more! The Coconut Cay had clean rooms that varied a great deal, some seemed quite roomy and some were pretty tight but cute in that island way. They have two pools and nice grounds. Yes, they use those strange Florida colors on the outside of the hotel – kind of garish – but when in Rome.... Our party Saturday night will be at the Coconut Cay. They have a beautiful spot near the back of the property. There is a small point jutting out into the gulf side with picnic tables and a covered area. We will have dinner catered there and a local musician to play for us. The Coconut Cay is within walking distance to the airport – it is directly across the street. One resort that we found was very nice and had comparable prices even without our discount was The Sombrero Resort & Lighthouse Marina. Their standard motel rooms ranged from 65 – 70 a room and they had 1 & 2 Bdrm efficiencies ranging from $85 – 150 a night. They also accepted pets with a one time $25.00 fee. They also had condos available (no pets) for $125 per night. They had a very nice pool area with tiki bar, tennis courts, kayak rentals, game room, and rooms overlooking the Marina. You could take a walk from this resort down the dock along the marina to the Sombrero Marina Dockside Lounge which was an island type of indoor/outdoor bar & grill. They have entertainment nightly there. I’m trying to work out a skydiver discount with them right now. I know several people are flying their own airplanes down – wish I was! You can also look into flying in on Florida Coastal Airlines. They have a website www.flyfca.com and fly from Ft. Lauderdale to Marathon – one flight a day and no Tuesdays or Wednesdays. I have no idea what their rates are. There are rental cars available at the airport. There is also a place called Wheels 2 Go that rents scooters. I rented one back in July and drove around the island – since the speed limit is higher than the scooter can go, it can be a bit scary but you’re in the keys! It was fun for zipping back and forth from the airport to the beach & hotels. Don’t forget to send your registration to us or at least call soon to let us know you are coming!

You shouldn't miss the Keys Boogie in Marathon, FL - half way down through the Keys. It's November 11 - 14. Skydive Sebastian has the best view in Florida as it is but when we go take over the Marathon Airport it is spectacular!

Yeah, sorry - with all the stuff happening here I haven't been very good at keeping up with posting. I spoke to Jari the other day and it was still a go so please come out and make it worth his while. I've done a few jumps in a BirdMan suit here and it is amazing. It is amazing to jump the suit anyways but here you fly out towards the ocean, zip around over the river and fly back to the dz - or like me you get sidetracked and keep flying towards the ocean and then have that sudden - oh shit - got to get back attack!

Yeah, but you got a nice ride on the charter bus one time! Most of them should be gone early this week. They are winding down. There were between 800 and 1,000 trucks here and over 2,000 people. I think some of them are jumping tomorrow with us actually. They said some of the crews would be finished up tomorrow and pulling out.

The registrations are rolling in! There are a lot of people though who spoke to me personally about coming that I haven't seen your registrations yet. Don't wait to last minute - there is a limited number of slots available. I don't know about the rest of you but after the last two months in Florida battling hurricanes I need a vacation - even if it is a working one. If you haven't jumped at Marathon Key - you don't know what you are missing. Maybe I'll have to dig out some of those pictures...

Yeah, we finally got to jump! Ok, everyone but me got to jump - I'm still a gimp. It was pretty amazing with all the electric trucks set up around the airport. We had to do some creative loading for the airplane since we couldn't taxi around the airport - there were golf cart rides, van rides and one really nice trip on a charter bus! I'm told by next weekend that FPL should be out of there and we can be back to pretty much normal. The ZooBar is still being cleaned up but we should have the tiki bar up and running! We've also been getting lots of registrations for the Keys Boogie so if you haven't sent yours in yet - hurry up - We all need a nice break down on Marathon Key to forget about the past two months!

A little bit of good news! We will be open for jumping starting tomorrow - still no power but we've got a couple of killer generators. The really good news is that the curfew has been pushed back to 11 pm and they will sell liquor in the county again - I know a lot of you were worried about that! The gas lines are shorter and it's more plentiful already.

Yeah, you let me know how you make out on that. I'll be waiting.

I think CrossKeys would have something to say about that since they are still using them! I'm all for it though. Oh and by the way - anyone know a damn orthopedic surgeon that I could actually see before my arm completely heals into this shitty position! My OS has rescheduled me three times now because of the storms - which I understand it's tough right now - but come on we were supposed to figure out if I had to have surgery back on September 7th and now he's put me off another week or two. I can't jump and if I smack this elbow into something one more time I think I might go postal.

Yes, we are ok - you can read all about the damage in the other thread in the Bonfire but we are going to be open this Saturday with or without electricity. The Keys Boogie is completely unaffected by the last couple storms since it missed them and slapped us in the face instead. The registrations are starting to roll in so get them in as soon as possible and get your rooms too! Coconut Cay or Holiday Inn - the Holiday Inn has been telling people that they are working with us on prices but that we haven't finalized it yet. That's because I haven't been able to fax them back the damn paper yet. As soon as I get power and phone line I will do that. I've asked them to just take the reservations at the price but they are being twits - can't think outside the box - got to have that signed paper in their hot little hands...

Ok, still no power but guess what? We will be open for skydiving starting Saturday so come on out. If you come though, keep this in mind - no alcohol can be sold right now in Indian River County - so bring it with you although, it is only a few miles from Brevard county and they don't have any such restrictions. Also, fill your fuel tank because you never know how long the gas line will be or how far you will have to drive to find gas right now. But think how fun it will be to survey all the damage from altitude!

To be honest there really isn't much to do. Well that isn't entirely true we need to tear apart the Skydive U building and put it in a pile for the town to take away but other than that - the DZ is clean - no debris laying around it's really ready to go we just don't know when they are going to allow us to use the runways. They are using the airport for the staging area for all the power trucks and I don't know what else but I guess they figure it should be no alcohol, no firearms and no skydiving. We are anxious to get going again but it is really difficult to get through town right now. As soon as a gas station gets in gas the line forms and is usually over a mile long. Tiffany & Ian waited in line for almost two hours today. I took gas I bought for the generator and just kept driving north until I found gas stations with fuel and slightly shorter lines. Now anytime I start complaining to much - like at night when I have no a/c just remind me that I could have been living in Haiti - with over 1,500 dead I don't think we have to much to really complain about. Now the Hurricane Party - we actually had a mini one Friday night when we thought Jeanne was still a little bitty hurricane of no consequence and were making the decision on where to all gather the next day. I however went to the dz the next morning and checked on the storm which was looking pretty scary so then I went to a friends house with cable tv and a local official basically freaked me out saying that the storm was serious and people weren't taking it serious maybe because they were tired or because Frances while bad wasn't all that bad. He started to scare the crap out of me. I ran home grabbed my dog and a few things and if we hadn't stayed up all damn night I would have driven up to the Carolinas again but I was too freaking tired and barely made it the two hours to my parents house in Lake Placid. (Which the hurricane also struck there but it was a mere 1.5 or 2 by then). They are in a new house in the Highlands so I wasn't too too worried. (I fear hurricanes about as much as alligator - which is a lot - or maybe it's just a very health respect for things way beyond my control). There place was fine. I stayed up all night and watched the news with all the shots of Sebastian, Melbourne and Vero Beach just saying oh, shit over and over. I snuck out three times and measured the wind in my pjs with an anonometer - did I spell that right? I don't think I went out during the worse of the storm I was tired of changing out of wet pjs but I clocked it at 74 mph. OK, back to bed...

I hope you don't have a Nextel - they aren't working in the area at all. Or at least they haven't been the last few days.

I have plenty of tequila at the house - cabo wabo, patron & damn, I forget the other one.... When the Russians come out they bring a whole suitcase of vodka - the airlines never bother them!

Bring your alcohol with you - you can't get it here until they restore most of the power. Which they say can be up to 3 weeks!

Ok, here's the deal! The main hangar & team room building are fine as is the store. The ZooBar lost a good portion of its roof and the old Skydive U building is now laying on its side. The plane is fine but the airport is under emergency use only at the moment and they can't tell me when they'll lift that. When they do we are good to go. The town itself took another hard hit. It is extremely hard to find fuel each day and some of the bridges are out. My five mile ride to work has turned into a thirty mile ride since a bridge right down the street is out. Power lines are down everywhere, there is a liquor ban & and an early curfew. The phones from the dz are forwarded to my cell phone - however, I have to leave town to get a signal with Nextel. Evidently towers are down and they are restricting use since all the emergency people use Nextel - isn't that nice? Personally I'm hating life, my Ford Explorer is still abandoned on Route 60 after I attempted to drive through a flooded area that was over a mile long and at one point (I didn't know this when I started through it) the water was well above my wheel wells. I sucked quite a bit into the intake and seized the engine. I had a lot of fun swimming in the alligator, snake, fire ant infested water under the vehicle to attach the tow rope to the front end. I'm nursing those fire ant bites right now - the alligators left me alone fortunately. If you are one of the five zillion people who have called over the last few days I am trying to return calls. I had the problem of locating fuel today so that I could get out of town. I'm going to find somewhere to settle in for a couple of days to answer phone calls and emails while the airport is closed. The Keys Boogie is still on for everyone who has called to ask about that. I swear I'll call everyone back - please just be patient. It really is crazy here right now. If they can get the power restored a little quicker this time - we are actually in good shape and ready to get back to skydiving!

Just to let everyone know - we have battened down everything we can and are preparing to take another hurricane head on! So if you are trying to reach us and can't it's because we are all cowering in our hidey holes! I will forward the dz phone to my cell but service sucks since the last one. If power goes down again they are telling us we will be without if for awhile - like two weeks for the dz and almost three for me weren't a long time! I still don't have a phone at home. So everyone take care - we are going into hiding as soon as I send a newsletter out to our mailing list telling them what's up. This time whether we have power or not we should be up and running right away as long as our buildings stay up. We've got generators this time! We are keeping the plane closer at hand - not my idea - so if something happens to it don't blame me - we don't own it. Everyone from the dz (the people I called knuckleheads) who rode it out last time are doing it again - and they almost have me convinced just because I'm too tired to go anywhere at this point. So just incase they talk me into such a stupid thing - wish me luck. It could turn away, right? It could happen...

Shit, I'd never have my license. I usually get the next ticket before the last one is paid. I've never heard of a state doing that before.