Comfortable in Marathon

Dragonboat races - oops!  One capsized....

Heading out to the starting line

Aren't these funny!

Fighting the waves and moving right along!

I swear I can still hear the drummer!

Just a peacful day at the beach

Had to post another sunset

All puffed up and no place to go

If you look close you can see the tenacles behind him

I had never seen one of these before - actually
quite pretty - from the dinghy!

Beautiful day at the beach

We’ve been spending our days (and nights) in Marathon“trying to relax”.  Ha!  Just kidding – no need to try – it just comes naturally.   There isn’t a whole lot to write about when we’re not traveling.  However, I did want to catch everyone up on a few things.

Since my last post – we’ve made several trips to Key West.  The last time we went we discovered the Southernmost Post of the VFW.  It turned out to be a really nice place to hang out. (nice place to hang out = cheap beer)  In fact we bought a tee shirt and two beers for what it cost us for two beers at another local hangout. (Shanna Key to be exact).  Figure that out!  While we were in Key West we decided to check into the cost of slips at the City Marina.  $1200 a month for the off season!  Won’t be moving our boat there anytime soon!  Thank goodness we have a car and can drive there whenever we get a notion to.  We also checked in the Elks Lodge there but it’s only open on Thursday evenings for their meetings.  What’s up with that??  This was the one on Flagler and not the “improved” one we ran across back in December.

We go out in the dinghy quite often – exploring the area.  We saw our first Portuguese Man-o-War jellyfish.  It was huge and all puffed up!  It wasn’t really very far away but at least it was outside the swimming area at the beach.  This area has been closed before due to sightings of these jellyfish.    Glad I wasn’t in the water!!

Last week they held the annual Dragonboat Races here at Sombrero Beach.  These boats are about 40 feet long and about 4 feet wide.  There are twenty people per team.  Eighteen rowers - one steerman and the drummer.  There were several teams but we were told that the count was down this year due to some mix up.  Several teams come from all over the country - and there are the local teams as well.  It was pretty cool to watch.  It was pretty windy and one team capsized.  No foul  - they finally made it to shore and dumped out the water.  They did finally finish.  All the teams seemed to be having a ball.  I think it was more about partying than about actual racing.......  :-)

Things really start winding down here when the “high season” ends.  Several people leave and spend the summer either at home or somewhere cooler at least.  It’s been pretty hot here the last couple of weeks.  But being from Missouri – we can handle it!  

We decided to go to the Flea Market that is held on Big Pine Key every weekend.  That was definitely a bust.  There were only a few booths open and two of them were owned by the same people!  We’ve been there before back in the winter and it was packed.  Oh well…..  Saved us some money – oh, I did buy a hat….  :-)

Mike brought home a great piece of driftwood from the beach this morning.  Now, isn’t this exciting!  I told you there isn’t much going on right now!  Ha!  The cruiser next to us is selling his sailboat and moving back to California.  His “junk” seems to becoming our “junk”.  Every time I turn around it seems Mike is bringing in more stuff that Bill wants to get rid of.    We need to head out before we become landlocked!

We will be going home for about a week in June.  Then when we return we will ready the boat for another adventure.  We plan to head up the west coast of Florida to Anna Maria Island.  We have family that will be there July 12-19.  We are anxious for them to see our “home”.  After that we will probably work our way back toward the Keys again.  We will definitely be taking our time – spending some time in Venice area where we have friends and then some time at Ft Myers Beach.    I really did like Ft Myers Beach when we were there last year. 

Hopefully next time I will have more “news” to share.

Stay tuned

Admiral “C”

 

It's May 1 - We're Still in Marathon!

Tiki Bar at Looe Key

Blue Heaven in Key West
You dine with the chickens.........

Great food overlooking the water
Name pretty much says it all.....

On one of our visits to Key West
Several Mexican Police here on holiday!

One of the sand castles at the Islamorada Festival

Taking a breather in the shade
at Islamorada Festival

Bermuda Rugby team at Sparky's!

Mike's artistic ability

Artist at work

Another beautiful sunset

The view of the skies never get old

Send-off party

Saying our goodbyes......

Our buddies heading out Monday morning

Another boat heads out for a new adventure

Easter Sunrise Services at the beach

Listening to the music as the sun comes up

Having lunch at Sunset Grill

It’s May 1 – it’s raining and we’re still in Marathon.  As I said on the last posting, we haven’t really made up our minds regarding where or when we will head out.  As of today, the rates are very reasonable here.  That even makes it harder to leave!  We are thinking about going up the west coast of Florida to the Tampa Bay area in July.  Anna Maria Island to be exact.  Our son Todd and his family are going to be there in a condo for a week.  We would love to see them and the grandkids.  They have not even seen NautiNell and she’s been our home now for over two years!   

Thinking back to what had been going on since my last posting – the first thing I come up with is the beautiful sunrise I saw on Easter Sunday at the beach.  They had a really nice Sunrise Service there.  First one I have ever attended on a beach. 

That evening all the cruisers here threw a get together.  Several of them were leaving the next morning.  In fact two left Easter Sunday and seven left the next morning.  It was a major exodus!  We’ll hopefully see some of them again.  Several of them spend every winter here.  Our plans are to be back here this winter (If we ever leave!).  And since then other boaters have come in.  We always have new neighbors.  That’s what’s fun! 

We did move the boat down a few slips.  There was one available that had a longer finger so we could get on and off the boat easier.  So now we feel like we’re in a new neighborhood all together.  There are some here that we had never met – and we’ve all be here six months at least!  We have a completely different view now.  We can see the harbor much better but we don’t see the golf course – which was really pretty.  I like seeing the harbor – it makes for much prettier sunsets!

Since we have a car we have taken advantage of it and have done some sightseeing.  We’ve made several trips to Key West.  We’ve had lunch at several places there.  My favorites so far are Caroline’s and Blue Heaven - and Eat It Raw – a local oyster bar.  There is a neat local bar called the “Looe Key Tiki Bar and Resort” not too far from here that we really enjoy.  They have brunch on the weekends and we had to check that out.  It’s a really laid back type of place.  Of course, we’re in the Keys – every place is a laid back type of place! 

We’ve also checked out Mangrove Mamas.  We had heard that they usually had pretty good music.  The day we went  - Rockin’ Jake – was playing. We had seen him years ago back in Joplin at the By Pass.  He can really whoop up on that harmonica!  I think he’s even gotten better since we last saw him. 

There was a festival in Islamorada that we couldn’t miss.  We had gone to it last year when we were staying there.  That time we went by dinghy.   This time of course, we had to go by car.  It was still a lot of fun.  They have a lot of vendors and it’s in a park on the water.  There is always good music and good food.  It was a gorgeous day – not too hot – so we really had a nice time.

Mike has been spending his time on “projects”.  Some of them are boat maintenance – some are like labors of love.  He refers to those as “Capt Chappy’s Improvements for Better Boating”.  That pretty much explains it.  He does work hard – but some of it he brings on himself.  He’s just not the type to sit around and do nothing.   Unless of course, it’s Happy Hour!  Oh and yes, he has taken time to do some fishing.  He’s even put a bimini top on his whaler to keep him dry or protect him from the sun – whatever the case.

This past weekend we had dinner with a couple we have met here.  Dan and Elise have a house here and are from Indiana.  They recently purchased a new boat and were wanting to change the name.  So they held a “renaming of the boat” party.   We all joined in the ceremony of course – toasting champagne to Neptune and asking that he purge the old name and add the new one to his scrolls in the deep sea.  There is always something going on around here!  If not – we seem to make it happen!

We went to Sparky’s for happy hour the other night.  Mike’s favorite happy hour – they have wings and shrimp there for a quarter a piece!  You can pretty much had dinner for less than $5.00!  Anyway, when we got there we saw a bunch of young guys dressed in white dress shirts, grey Bermuda shorts, knee socks and ties!  They really looked quite out of place but they were having a ball!  It turns out they were the Bermuda Rugby team and they were on their way to Key West to play the Key West team.  What a hoot!  They had flown into Miami and were on a bus heading down US 1.  They were making several stops and celebrating along the way.  Never did hear who won.  So there’s a rugby team in Key West.  Who knew!

I think I’ve mentioned before that the restaurant here at the marina “Dockside” has been closed for months.  Well, they are finally starting some work on it.  They set some new pilings last week  but that’s pretty much it.  Nothing happens too fast here in the Keys.  My guess is that it may be done by November – the beginning of the winter season!

Well the sun is coming out so it’s time to see what is going on outside.

Till next time!

Admiral “C”

Having lunch at Key West!