Marathon - on Vaca Key

Sunset in Marathon on Boot Key Harbor

Beautiful sunset while on a mooring ball



Marathon sunset



Do you hear the conchs?



Captain Jack

Anyone seen my bicycle??



 We got to Marathon on Vaca Key on Saturday afternoon and found a nice home on a mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor. We plan to stay here for a week while looking for a slip. Everything is pretty full now until March 1. Over 225 mooring balls here – quite a little community! When we got here there was an auction going on for "Relay for Life". We just weren't able to get docked and over to it before the good stuff was all gone – much to Capt. Chappy's dismay! From morning to night there are dinghies buzzing all around heading to shore or back to their boats. Busy Busy! Also, every morning at 9:00 on Channel 68 on VHF there is Cruisers Net. Everyone gets on and discusses problems and solutions – all goings on - things for sale, buy or giveaway. It's pretty interesting listening.

We took a dinghy ride to Burdines Marina for dinner – food good – server not so good. She just wasn't a happy camper – and I thought everyone was happy here in the Keys. Even Mike couldn't get here to warm up. Oh well….. Hope she had a better tomorrow. Coming back in the dark was fun. All the boats' anchor lights on and the stars in the sky – wow – what a view!

On Sunday we hung out on the boat most of the day. Mike went over to visit with At Last. They had pulled in just behind us on Saturday. We did take a dinghy ride around the boats to see if we knew anyone. We were doing a "Looper search"! It is so cool here at sunset. As the sun hits the water you hear several boaters blowing their conch shells and even a guy on a little bitty sailboat named "Dragon" plays the bagpipes. That's at every sunset!

Monday morning we decided to take NautiNell over to the docks so we could unload our bikes. We thought about trying to put them in the dinghy to take them over but decided against it. Someone was probably going to end up in the water – and I didn't want it to be me. Ha! It turned out to be pretty easy after all moving NautiNell back and forth – and a lot less trouble!

We rode out bikes up and down US 1 and had brunch at Cracked Conch Café – they serve breakfast there till 4 pm. Yea! I finally got to have breakfast out! Mike had his first conch burger on this trip. They were pounding out the conch in the back – it sounded like a full blown construction crew back there! Oh, and at tonight's sunset someone played taps on their trumpet. How cool!

Tuesday I woke up with a full blown cold and slept most of the day. Mike went fishing in the morning. We made a lot of calls to marinas but most of them wouldn't have anything until after March 1. We did find a pretty good deal at the Coral Bay Marina in Islamorada. The owners at Carrabelle had told us to give them a call when we got here so we did. It looks like we'll probably head there Friday morning. We want to find a marina and get settled in before our company arrives. We have friends (Mike and Doots) coming from home. It's so good to have company from home!

Wednesday morning Mike went fishing – again. I then spent some time doing laundry. I met Mary and Bill of Southern Vectis at the laundry. They have a sailboat moored just a few down from us – a really nice couple from Toronto. We met them for late lunch at the Key Fisheries. We also met Captain Jack. He's quite a colorful fellow who lives on his sailboat here at the marina. I think he said that he's lived here for over 15 years. He's in his nineties! I'm sure he has lots of stories to tell. He does some "painting" so I had to buy a coffee mug he painted. Shrewd ol' man, he is!

Every Wednesday evening at 5:30 there is a "meet 'n greet" at the marina. Everyone brings munchies and their drinks. We ran into Gemini there. We hadn't seen them for a long time. They had come by and stayed a night at Marker 4 in Venice while I was in Dallas. Gemini is staying here for a while then they are moving on to Islamorada also. I'm sure we'll see each other again soon. Southern Vectis is leaving for Key West in the morning. Wish we had met them sooner!

Tonight I heard a quote that pretty much sums up our lives now –
"We're doing with less and enjoying it more"
I like that.  

On Thursday we decided that we would go ahead and move to a marina. Mike and Doots would be showing up here a little earlier than we expected and we were ready to get a slip anyway. We found one at Poncho's Fuel Dock. Nothing fancy but the location is good and the rates are fair. We pulled in to only find that they had made a mistake and there wasn't a slip here until tomorrow. We tied up to the fuel dock where we could stay the night. Later they decided that we could move over a bit to a slip that would be open until Saturday - by then our original slip would be available. It turned out fine  –  the view was great - we could see all the boats coming in and out of Boot Key Harbor.

Our friends, Mike and Doots showed up Thursday afternoon – perfect timing!

Till next time!

Admiral "C"