2003 Drive to the Keys
by Chris Canning, pictures Pascal Gademer

On Sunday, Oct 19^th, the SFJC held its first annual Blackened Seafood Tasting at Founders Park on Islamorada in the Florida Keys.  The coordinators of this event were Pascal Gademer and Roger and Gloria Seitz. These are some very adventuresome Jaguar folks and they wisely recruited Jeff and Tricia Hynes to drive from their nearby Tavernier home. Jeff, Roger and Gloria teamed up to create a number of gastronomic treats and Pascal Gademer provided his 53 foot Hatteras Yacht and transformed it into a magnificent floating restaurant.  

Our great cooks turned this event into a Florida Keys Splendid Blackened Seafood Tasting...with grilled veggies as well and other gastronomic wonders. Every participant had a hand in creating great things to eat, drink and to make this a wonderful party atmosphere.

SFJC members from the tri-county area met Sunday Oct 19^th-- at 9:00 AM at the Turnpike Mile Mark 66 (Pompano Beach Rest Area) just south of the Coconut Creek exit.  The Pompano group included Jenny and Ed Cirella’s fast XK8, Bob and Carmella Scibelli's sweet XK-120, Bob and Brenda Matzner’s superb

S-Type, Rick Hartwell’s vintage Daimler with Brad Cline and Steve Jaffe as passengers, Chris and Patsy Canning’s 2002 Platinum X-Type, Hilary and Richard Irving’s photogenic E Type and Miriam Connell’s Sable (from the Jaguar Parent Company)       

The day was sky blue. It was another beautiful fall day in South Florida.   We did hit a bit of light mist as we crossed into Dade County but the weather was perfect. For some reason our gang selected the Platinum X-Type to lead the group south.  All of our cars pulled out of the parking area and we headed down the Pike at 9:30 AM…. except for Richard Irving’s car. Richard called Brad on the cell phone and told him that his car had been overheating on the way down to Pompano and they he wanted to let it cool down before heading south.  Later we found out that Richard had engine trouble and had to retire for the day.

As we headed south nearing the Homestead exit, The Platinum X-Type seemed to develop a mind of its own and instead of taking the turnoff to the Keys, we were heading toward Pro Player Stadium.   Normally this error would not be too bad, except the Miami Dolphins were playing a game and we wound up in the middle of hundreds of early arriving tailgaters. In true NASCAR fashion, we dove low and like Dale Junior made a highly illegal and very rapid U Turn in front of East Parking Lot gate with all 6 cars in our procession. This smooth move quickly got us untangled from all those crazy Dol-fans in their flag draped SUV’s. Once again we were going south on the Turnpike towards Homestead.    

After dodging an FHP “radarless” Speed Trap, we zoomed into the Kendall Snapper Creek service area and rendezvoused with Roger and Gloria in their green XK-120 DHC, Bill Smail and Elaine in their great 1997 XJS and Sara Warren in her super X-Type.   Going south again, we linked up with Pascal and his XKR at the Card Sound drawbridge. Pascal had pulled off the side of the road and shot photos of our cars as we zoomed by. We had a beautiful drive through the upper Keys as Bob Scibelli and Roger raced each other to see who had America’s fastest XK-120.  Are there really Crocodiles in the upper Keys or is that sign there to fool the touristas??   We arrived at Founders Park (mile mark 87) and discovered that this park is an absolutely great place to have a picnic…and it’s even better if you can move your picnic aboard a 53 foot Hatteras.

The photos don’t really tell the story as to how nice this boat is. Pascal also worked some magic with the park attendant and we did not have to pay any parking fees. Jeff and Tricia brought their very cool vintage Ford Truck loaded with fresh fish (dolphin and grouper) and everything one needs to cook them. Whatever cooking items Jeff did not bring, Roger and Gloria had packed away in their XK. It was better than “Emeril meets The Iron Chef”. Pascal’s great kids, Brittany and Pierre, were kind enough to give every one tours of the boat.   The yacht’s flying bridge offered a superb view of the sea birds and the boats going in and out of the marina.     

Gloria and Roger prepared some wonderful grilled shrimp skewers and roasted veggies. Jeff was on grill number two with half of his fish grilled and half were blackened. Our Jaguar driving cooks were in full view of a throng a SFJC folks hanging over the transom of the big boat and cheering loudly as margaritaville masterpieces from the sea were being created. Jeff was giving cooking lessons in how to prepare the perfect blackened grouper.  The entire afternoon was lots and lots of fun. Thanks go out to everyone who attended this great event, not only for participating but for bringing food, helping with the preparation, serving and in so many ways making this a great afternoon. Thank you one and all!!!                

As we drove back north a lot of us were thinking the same thing…it does not get any better than this.

Picture Gallery
see notes below