Busy here in Marathon!

Beautiful sunset - view from our boat

Another day - another beautiful sky

I think I found a job for Mike

You know you're in the Keys when.......

View of the old bridge when we were in the dinghy

Enjoying the sunshine at Salty's

Guys went out fishing one morning
What a motley crew

A little steel drums put you in the Island mood!

Fred was in charge of carving the turkey
Did a find job!

Gathered around the table

Obviously no one went away hungry!

Dessert anyone? 

NautiNell all lit up!

Conched Out Too and NautiNell
standing proud!

Sunset and Christmas lights
Can't get any better!

Boys taking a break on the balcony
at Flint and Leslie's.

Our mode of transportation
Not bad!
 

Beautiful day at Sombrero Beach

Tall Ship - Rover II coming in to
Dockside - for Grand Opening

This is a daily sight
This girl takes these dogs out every day
to the island for a break

Funky Christmas Tree at
the American Legion
Funny!

One of the boats all lit up in the parade

This won first prize
It's a sailboat decorated using the theme
of A Christmas Story
That's the"leg lamp"!
Very cool!!

Sherry photo bombing us!

Standing guard or maybe working
on his tan?

Dinkin' around!

Flying high and proud!

It's a race! 

We’ve been busy here in Marathon since we arrived almost a month ago.  Time does fly when you’re having rum – uh, I mean fun!  The weather has been typical Florida weather.  The first few days were great then it turned really windy and rained a lot.  In fact, on Thanksgiving morning it was 55 degrees!  Now I know to my Missouri friends that isn’t cold but in Florida it is almost freezing!  The cold snap didn’t last long and before we knew it - it was back in the 80s and sunny again.  Now it’s beautiful with highs in the high 70s and lows in the low 70s.  Now doesn’t that sound boring….  NOT!

I’ve been hitting the stores some – what there is here in Marathon anyway.  Actually there aren’t that many stores here in this little town other than the local Kmart.  So I mostly have hit the local church bazaars, art and craft shows and a few little boutiques. 

We spent Thanksgiving with all our boating friends here.  It was rather windy that day so rather than have it at the dock we gathered at Karen’s condo.  Karen is a former “boater” that has moved into a really nice condo.  She opened her home to all of us and we had a really great “traditional” holiday.  In other words we ate too much, watched football, and visited with good friends.  I think everyone really enjoyed it.

A couple of weeks ago – we had a girls’ night out.  We all went out to dinner and then to a play at the Community Theater.  It was entitled “Mama Don’t Fly”.  A quirky little play.  In fact, the theater itself is quite “quirky” too.  At intermission they served beer or wine and homemade brownies.  It’s the Keys!  Anyway we all had a great time!  First play I had been to in a very long time. We may try to go again in a few months. 

There’s a couple here – Mike and Sherry – that we met when we were in Cocoa the summer before last.  We hadn’t seen them since but they were here when we pulled in to the marina.  The cruiser community is a small world – all our paths have a tendency to cross time after time.  They are from Kansas City.  We’ve had dinner together a few times now – it’s fun visiting with them about “home”.

One day last week we all got together at another couple’s condo.  Flint and Leslie were here on their boat last winter.  However they have sold their boat and are now traveling the country in their RV.  They said they have put 22,000 miles on it since last April!  Now that’s doing some traveling!

Oh and last Saturday was the lighted boat parade here in Boot Key Harbor.  It was a great night on the dock. We all brought out snacks and had cocktails while we enjoyed the boats all decorated and lit up for Christmas.  And as they say here in the Keys – the boats aren’t the only thing lit at the boat parade! J

Since it’s been such nice weather we’ve been able to spend a lot of time either on the water or on the beach.  In fact, we were able to go “dinkin’ and drinkin’” yesterday.  That’s where we all get out the dinghies and go for a ride and maybe stop in somewhere for a drink and snack.  We had a great ride and stopped in at Castaways.  Nice place that serves jello shots when the Miami Dolphins score.  They chose to score several times that day – good thing we didn’t stay for the whole game!  It looked like rain so we decided to get going.  Rain was getting a little closer so we stopped in at Burdines.  Another local hangout that has the best French fries!  Anyway finally we made it back to the boat without getting wet.  That’s a good day!  Looking forward to doing that again soon!

We’ve rode our scooters to the beach and just about everywhere on this Island.  We haven’t picked up our car yet.  It’s still in Bradenton.  That hasn’t slowed us down much though. We really don’t NEED it here but it would be nice to have.  Especially for a trip to Key West.  Not crazy about taking the local bus.  Been there, done that!  We’ll probably get it when things settle down after the holidays. In the meantime we’ll keep riding the scooters, catching rides or taking the cab.  No problem here!

More and more boats are coming in.  Several this past few days in fact.  We know of a few more that will be coming in after the holidays.  The place is filling up fast!  The restaurant (Dockside) is open now but they really do have a few kinks to work out yet.  Food is good when you can get it – staff hasn’t quite figured out how to make that happen.  Hopefully they will get it worked out soon.  It’s really nice and convenient to have a restaurant/bar right here at the marina.  BUT we can go other places.  Are you listening Dockside??

Mike went fishing yesterday while I went to lunch with some of the girls.  I was hoping for a nice fish dinner last night.  We had pork chops.  Maybe next time.  J  I’m not sure it’s about the “catching” anyway.  He just enjoys being out in the water in the Whaler.  If he brings home fish it’s a bonus!

I hear them gathering outside the boat for Happy Hour.  Guess I better check it out.  I don’t want to miss anything!

Till next time!

Admiral “C”

 

 

 

 

Our Trek South to City of Marathon on Vaca Key

Beautiful night in Venice FL
The full moon along with the clouds
reflected on the water........

One of the marinas we passed along the way

Passing Cabbage Key
Wishin' we could have one of
their cheeseburgers!

Beautiful sky - trying to get to anchor
before sunset!

Sanibel Lighthouse

Coming into Everglades City

Historic Rod & Gun Club

Rod & Gun Club Restaurant and Motel

Checking in - this place was amazing

Lots of decor

Just a few of the mounts that were on the walls

Taking a dinghy ride along the river

Just a few of the airboats that travel these rivers

The Captain's Lighthouse - another airboat facility

sights along the river

Bet the gators are watching us...

There was a sign here that said
"Caution - Airboat Entrance"
We were a little cautious....

Another sight along the river
Beautiful fan palm

NautiNell sitting proud at the
Rod & Gun Club

Entrance by land

Slowly working our way back out
to the Gulf  - not much water even
in the channel

The river twists and turns along the way

Sunset at Little Shark River
on anchorage

It just kept getting better

Even after the sun went down
it still continued to light the waters

Taken in direction away from the sunset
Still lighting up the waters

We’ve been traveling on NautiNell down the west coast of Florida for 6 days and 5 nights heading down to the City of Marathon on Vaca Key where we’ll be spending the winter – the next four months or so.

Here’s a short synopsis on our trip south:

Sunday – November 17 

We left Bradenton about 9:15 a.m. after spending the summer months here at Twin Dolphin Marina in Bradenton.  This marina is up the Manatee River and a good place to hide out during hurricane season.  Although we had a very uneventful season weather-wise this year – you never know.   It was a pretty nice ride down the GIWW (Gulf Intercoastal Waterway).  In about six hours we were tied up to the City Dock in Venice just around the bend from Snake Island.  Our friends, Jeff and Linda, who live there met us in their dinghy and ferried us over to the Island where they hang out  - especially on Sunday.  Good timing on our part!  We visited with everyone and took advantage of a huge bounty of food. It turned out to be a great day for travel and an even better one to be out on anchor.  The full moon was absolutely breathtaking along with its reflection and the reflection of the clouds in the water.  I wish we could have taken a picture but it wouldn’t have done it justice.  I must say it was one of the most beautiful sights we have seen since we’ve been on the water.

Monday – November 18 

We were up early this morning.  We saw the local police bring in what we assume was an injured sea turtle.  This guy was huge!  We took it easy this morning and didn’t leave until about 9:30.  It seems no matter how early we get up - we still can’t seem to get around and get moving!  As it turns out we should have gotten an earlier start.  With the “short daylight” now – we found ourselves in Ft Myers trying to secure a mooring ball in the dark.  That was not really a fun thing to do – but we got it done.  At least we had another beautiful day for traveling.  The dolphins were out in full force.  It seemed they were just as happy to see us and we were to see them!  Once we were secure to the mooring ball we enjoyed the moon again bouncing off the water along with hamburgers on the grill.  Nice night too.

Tuesday – November 19

We finally left out early this time!  It was only 7:15 a.m.!  Though this day is a short day.  Wouldn’t you know it?  We had to go out to the Gulf at Ft Myers.  The GIWW ends there.  It was another beautiful day with on 1-2 ft. waves.  Again there were lots of dolphin following us along.  We made it to Marco Island on anchor just in time to have us some lunch on the sundeck.  A nice time to relax.

Wednesday – November 20

I can’t believe the weather we are having.  We definitely planned this trip right – knock on wood…. Anyway we left about 8:00 a.m. heading to Everglades City.  We had always bypassed this and went on to Shark River but we decided to check it out this time.  Especially a good idea since it gets dark so early and the trip to Shark would have been a long day.  After traversing through the very shallow and narrow Indian Pass, we got to the Rod & Gun Club about 1:00 p.m. and tied up to their wall.  This a very interesting and historical place.  The Rod & Gun Club is a hotel and restaurant.  The area was established back in the 1780s when the Indians would bring their produce to sell which was then shipped to Key West and to Ft Myers.  Baron Collier from New York who was successful in advertising came to the area and ended up owning over one million acres.  Later his heirs donated over 32,000 acres to the state of Florida for a National Park.  The Rod & Gun Club has quite a past.  It is so named due to the excellent fishing in the area along with hunting that included panthers and bear.  Several US Presidents, many movie stars and many prominent business men patronized the hotel and restaurant back in its heyday.  The floors were made of cypress and were so shiny you could see your reflection.  The inside of the building was very elegant and you could almost hear the conversations that had taken place in the past.  The town is a sleepy little town where most everyone is related.  Back in the day there were streetcars that would take people place to place.  What a different way of life is there now.   Most make their living fishing or giving airboat rides.

We took a dinghy ride around in the rivers.  The over growth would actually make a canopy over the river.  It was really fantastic.  I know there were gators back in the foliage watching with their beady little eyes!  We went back into where the airboats take you but finally decided to turn around when we realized just how shallow it was getting.  We definitely didn’t want to have to get out of the dinghy and push!  That evening we took the dinghy up the river to a little local place to eat.  There were two different ones - and we definitely picked the wrong one.  Not good food and they closed at 6:00 p.m. leaving us sitting there finishing our meal.  I mean they locked the doors and left!  When we were going back to the boat (in the dark by the way) we pass the other restaurant that was alive with customers and even live music!  Oh well, we usually pick the right one – guess we were due this time.

Thursday – November 21

We were up early again and it was another beautiful day.  We took a walk around the town and had breakfast at the local Island Grill.  This time we picked the right place.  It was pretty good. We would have stayed longer and checked out the town more but we needed to leave before low tide.  After a little bit of a hassle getting away from the wall – tide going out and a very strong current – we inched out way out through narrow passage again and out to the Gulf once more.    Finally enough water – we could exhale!  We made it to Little Shark River where we planned to anchor.  The spot we had anchored before was rather busy – three other boats were already there.  So we went up the river just a bit – a little more current but no problems.  We sat out on the sundeck and watched a beautiful sunset.  There were some “no see-ums” but they weren’t really a problem.  Finally we gave up to them and went down in the cabin.  We ended up watching a movie - thanks to our inverter – we could run out television and DVD player!  Pretty cool!

Friday – November 22

On to Marathon – this day proved not to be so great.  We have traveled in worse but it still pretty much stunk.  There were small storms cells moving over us from time to time.  It didn’t rain a lot but the wind blew and caused the waves to grow.  They would hit us on the following port side and try to whip us around.  The worst of it was that we also had to watch for all the hundreds of crab pots that were out there.  In fact, we must have been paying more attention to the crab pots than the chart plotter because we ran aground.  At least Mike realized we were in really shallow water in time and threw it in neutral.  We really only floated up on the sand but it was an abrupt stop!  We were able to back off of it and get around to the markers where we should be.  It seemed forever from when we saw the Seven Mile Bridge to when we were actually going under it.  Around 3:00 p.m. - we were pretty happy to be in our slip and tied up.  There were several people there to greet us and to help us land NautiNell.  It was great to see everyone that we had met here during our last stay last year.  There are a few that are still on their way but most of them are here now.  It will be a fun winter.  We said our hellos and pretty much crashed the rest of the night.  It rained here during the night but it just made for a good night’s sleep.  It’s different when you’re tied up safe in a harbor or if you’re on anchor out in the boonies somewhere!

Till Next Time

Admiral “C”