Vanderhoefs Visit to Marathon

Capt Jack Sparrow and "Nauti Nell"

Famous Sloppy Joe's Bar

Inside Capt Tony's Saloon - the original Sloppy Joe's

Partying down at Sloppy Joe's



Where's my drum set?!!?



Okay, was bicycling just too tough?



Art?

Now, this is art!



Just another typical sight in Key West



Sunset from Mallory Square



Here, I'll hold up this tree while you girls shop......



Great band at Sloppy Joe's


Our friends from home, Mike and Doots, got here about 4:00 p.m. Thursday afternoon. It was so great to see them. We haven't had a chance to visit with them for a very long time. We sat around and visited until it was time for the sunset. We then walked over to Burdines for a good view and hopefully some good food. It turned out that we had the same server that Mike and I had had the other night. Still not a happy camper! Maybe that's just her personality….. too bad! Anyway, we had a great visit.

Doots and I went shopping Friday morning. She was in need of some summer clothes. After all, it's cold back in Missouri! While we shopped the boys went exploring in the dinghy. They had lunch at Dockside and saw a huge manatee back in the canal. We walked to Castaways for dinner. There was a great musician there – Danny Sullivan. If you are anywhere in this area – check him out. He plays several places here on Marathon. We had a great time!

We decided to go to Key West on Saturday by car. We had a blast seeing all the sights! We ate lunch at Hog's Breath and of course, did some shopping….. We took a break at Sloppy Joes. There was a great band playing. One guy seemed to be playing what looked like an amplified box. I guess he couldn't afford a drum set?? Anyway, it was pretty cool. He also had tambourines fastened to the bottom of both his shoes. Now that's a "Mr. Tambourine Man" – for you! HA! Anyway you could really hear this box thing.

We made the sunset at Mallory Square along with all the other crazies. Captain Jack Sparrow was even there! My alter ego (NautiNell) even managed to get her picture with him! It was a great sunset – next time I'll check our camera battery though. Wouldn't you know it – our camera died right before sunset! Thank goodness for our cell phones!

We made it back to Marathon for dinner at Salty's. I think we were more tired than hungry. When we got back to the boat everyone crashed! What a full day!!

We hung out pretty much on Sunday. We had planned to take a boat ride but a storm front came through during the night and it was really windy all day. There was a small craft warning out so we didn't see any reason to push it. We bought some fresh shrimp and oysters right off the boats. Now that's fresh! The boys made shrimp kabobs while having a few cocktails on the sundeck. Now shucking the oysters turned out to be a rather painful experience. I'm not sure how many injuries there were between the two Mikes. We couldn't find our oyster shucker so they were using all types of utensils. Finally they found that the screwdriver worked best. Before long we were able to enjoy a huge plateful of raw oysters along with the grilled shrimp kabobs! What a great meal! We topped it off by walking down to Castaway's for margaritas and key lime pie. We toasted a great visit!

Our good friends left Monday morning. They are headed back to Missouri at a snail's pace. Mikie said that he didn't want to get home before the weekend. It's hard to leave the Keys! Especially when you've caught the Keys Disease! We had such a great visit!. Can't wait until they return! We'll be looking for you guys in the Bahamas!

Till next time!

Admiral "C"