NautiNell's Adventure!: What a Whirlwind Visit!

A Whirlwind Visit!

Our good friends from back home, Bill and Pam Kelley came to visit us for a couple of weeks. They rented a little “conch house” duplex on a canal here in Marathon. We had a great time visiting with them and showing them the sights. The last time they were here in Marathon for a visit was a few years back. In fact, it was the first time we had stayed at Sombrero Dockside. Since then we’ve become pretty good on where to eat and where to go! Below are my journal entries of the last two weeks. Did we do all that!?

Thursday, March 3   Pam and Bill arrived just in time for wing night at the Marathon Ale House. After a three day road trip, they were ready to drink a little beer and enjoy some 25 cent wings!
So good to see them!

Friday, March 4   We met several for lunch at Kiki’s Sandbar near Big Pine Key. It’s a fun place to be and right on the beach. After that we showed them Blue Hole. Blue Hole is on the island of Big Pine Key and is an abandoned rock quarry that was used for nearby road fills and the Overseas Railroad. It contains mostly fresh water which is rather rare around the Keys. Since it is fresh water, there are several alligators and key deer that live there. In fact, it’s part of the National Key Deer Refuge. It’s really a nice area. We were told there were 75 alligators that live there but we only saw two. Wonder where the rest were hiding!?

Saturday, March 5   It was Saturday so we had to go to the Big Flea Market that is held every weekend! So back to Big Pine Key we went! After looking at about everything and everyone there was to see and doing a fair amount of shopping we headed to lunch at Springers. Later on that evening we went to Dan and Elise's home to celebrate their anniversary. They were having an open house and they put on quite a shindig. Then we were back on the boat where we had a great time visiting – laughing and “drinking”!

Sunday, March 6   It was time to head to the American Legion for their Sunday breakfast.   It’s always an experience to have breakfast there on Sunday mornings. The weather isn’t cooperating – it’s way too windy for us to go out in the dinghy or in NautiNell. So, it was back to the boat where we grilled burgers later. It’s good though, our new friends are getting to know our old friends. Some of the boaters are leaving here in a couple of days so it’s good that we’re hanging close.   We are really enjoying sharing our life here with Bill and Pam.

Monday, March 7   It’s time for Old Lady Day! Pam and I went shopping along with Kathy and Nancy. We had a good “girl” time. We had lunch at Frank’s Grill. That’s always a great stop. Although, this was the first time I’d been there in a couple of years. Ricky smoked pork butt on the grill today for dinner in honor of all that are leaving us in a few days. This could very well be the last “smoking of the butt” of the season! Pam and Bill are getting to see just how we operate around here. In other words, just how we manage to eat and drink……

Tuesday, March 8   Mike and Bill joined in the weekly ROMEO breakfast. (Retired Old Men Eating Out). Pam and I slept in! Then Bill, Pam and I toured Crane Point. Crane Point is a Museum and Nature Center here in Marathon. It consists of 63 acres and the most peaceful place in the Keys. I went on the tour last year and just fell in love with it. There are several types of trees, flowers and plants along with a Bird Sanctuary. It overlooks the Florida Bay. Oh, and the highest place in the Keys is located here. 6 1/2 feet above sea level! There is also lot of history here. After that, we picked up Mike and headed to Sparky’s Happy Hour for 25 cent wings and shrimp. You wouldn’t expect us to miss a meal!

Wednesday, March 9   A trip to Key West! You know we couldn’t miss that! We left mid-morning and made it to Caroline’s for lunch. Then Pam and I did some shopping while the boys found a bar to hang in. That wasn’t hard! We met them back at the Lazy Gecko and then it was on to the Two Cent Bar for happy hour. That’s the place that serves you bacon instead of peanuts. Time flew so fast while we were there! We decided to head on back toward Marathon and stop along the way somewhere for dinner. So we stopped at Bobalu’s. Mike and I had been wanting to try it ever since we got stuck there a few weeks ago because of traffic.

Thursday, March 10   This was a busy day! Bill, Pam and I took the tour of the Turtle Hospital. It’s always interesting to see the work they do there. Many turtles are saved because of their work. Later we all went to Keys Fisheries for stone crab claws. That place is interesting to say the least! Just remember they do not serve butter! No butter! Anyway after that we decided to catch the sunset at the Seven Mile Bridge. We didn’t have a cooler and it was at least an hour to sunset so we decided to go over to the Sunset Grille. Well, we found a good place to sit on the beach and watch the sunset but getting a drink was another story! However, I found that if you draw a little attention to yourself, you just might get served. That’s all I’m going to say about that…..! Those stone crabs aren’t all that filling so after sunset we headed to Hurricanes for wings. Yes, Thursday is wing night there too! Then it was back to the boat for cocktails and laughter!

Friday, March 11   Lunch at Fish Tales! Shopping! Am I repeating myself? Well, tonight was a bit different! There were about 30 of us on the dock and we ordered pizza and played charades! Thanks to Rhonda on RhoJo for coordinating this! It was a hoot! It was the guys against the girls. Girls won by five points! Let’s just say, you get to know everyone really well when playing charades! I can’t believe no one took pictures! Maybe that’s a good thing!

Saturday, March 12   Time for the 40th Annual Marathon Seafood Festival!    We’ve been waiting for this! Great food, great music and lots of vendors. We look forward to this festival every year. It’s a great time. Mike and I can’t believe this was our fifth one! How time flies! Only down here does it seem that you can go to a festival and eat lobster, conch and shrimp. That doesn't happen in Missouri! We ate, shopped and listened to the great music, and oh yeah, we drank beer. LOL

Sunday, March 13   Happy Anniversary to us! Yes, it’s been 17 years since we tied the knot. Who would have guessed we’d be spending our 17th again in Paradise. We had one of the best anniversaries ever today. We got to spend it with our good friends and were finally able to take a dinghy ride. The winds finally died down so off we went. We took a ride up to Burdine’s for lunch and then were able to meet up with Conched Out Two and Rhumbline as they were leaving the harbor. They’re off on their way north. Hard to say goodbye but we know our paths will cross again on the waterways. It was still too windy for us to go out of Sisters Creek (out to the reef) so we just dinghied around the harbor looking at all the boats moored out there. Later we toasted the day on the boat by viewing the sunset and grilling brats. A very good day!

Monday March 14   The guys finally got to go fishing. Bill and Mike and Joey (RhoJo) went out in Joey’s fishing boat. They said they caught a bunch but no keepers. Guess it won’t be fish for dinner tonight! Pam and I hung out at the beach while they fished. Finally, a little beach time!

Tuesday, March 15   The guys tried their luck at fishing again. Today was a much better day. Not nearly as rough. AND they easily caught over 50 yellowtail! They kept a dozen or so. Now we’re talking! It was a pretty long day for everyone so dinner will be tomorrow night.

Wednesday, March 16    We did lunch at Hurricanes while anticipating a great fish dinner tonight. After that we rode over the Seven Mile Bridge to Veteran’s Memorial Park. What a beautiful day! This beach area is small but not near as busy as Sombrero Beach. There is an old “boat” on display there that was used by seventeen Cubans to cross to the US from their home in Cuba. Hard to believe they could make it in something like that. This evening we had a wonderful fresh fish dinner cooked by Captain Mike.   We topped it out with “Not Your Father’s Root Beer” floats and Key Lime pie. A very fun visit!

Thursday, March 17   Happy St Patrick’s Day! Well, we got a call yesterday from our broker that someone wanted to see the boat today! We managed to move it back to Friday but we really needed to spend a little time getting it ready. Bill and Pam chilled for a couple hours at their duplex while Mike and I got “it” together. After that we spent time visiting on the sundeck of NautiNell having cocktails and more key lime pie. Then it was time to head to Marathon Ale House for a St Paddy’s Day party.   Most everyone from the dock came and joined the party. Another fun time! We were back to the dock before sunset and we able to enjoy the last sunset before they head home tomorrow. This has been a whirlwind visit!

Friday, March 18   Pam and Bill left about 9:30. What a sad goodbye. We enjoyed them being here so much but it couldn’t last forever. After we said our tearful goodbyes, Mike and I did a little more “staging” for the boat showing. Of course, they had told us they would be 11:00 but changed it to 12:30. So we spent most of the morning waiting. But they did show and were here over an hour. However, we think they were still in the “just looking” stage. That’s okay. Still not really to sell…… Will we ever be?

Now I’m not saying the Kelleys wore us out but all we did the rest of the afternoon was “veg” out. Oh, and I think we skipped dinner! LOL!

I know it sounds like all we did was eat and drink. Although we did do a lot of that, we really enjoyed just visiting and hanging with our Joplin buddies. It’s always nice to see someone from home.

Maybe they can come see us again when we’re a little father north so it won’t be such a long drive!
Now that there are several empty slips, it has calmed down here a bit. A couple more boats left Friday. We’re down to just a very few of Dock Dynasty left! We’ll spend the next couple of weeks getting NautiNell ready for the trip north. Mike has a few things on his list and I need to do some stocking up for the trip. We plan to leave here around the first of April depending on the weather. We’ll be going up the west coast to Ft Myers Beach where we’ll spend a few weeks. Then we think we’ll cross to the east coast via the Okeechobee Waterway and head on north up the east coast. To where, we’re not sure at this point. I will let you know as soon as we know! Stay tuned!

Till next time!

Admiral “C”