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”