Our Last Few Days in the Keys!

View of the old bridge from Pigeon Key

One of the original houses on Pigeon Key

Another view from Pigeon Key

There were several kids here on a educational trip. 
Here they're releasing all the critters they caught while
snorkeling the day before

View of Florida Bay from Pigeon Key

Porky's - one of our favorites

A visitor here at Porky's

Porky's has a little bit of everything......

Mike and his "pride and joy"

We had some flooding here the first of the month
This is part of the golf course
Hope the resident alligator didn't get out!

Our parking lot - wonder what the diver's checking out!

Sombrero Beach on Memorial Day

We made it back from a whirlwind trip back home.  I believe it took us a week traveling back and forth and we stayed about a week.  It was nice to see everyone.  Our get-together for Shane went really well.  There were so many there and we felt truly blessed.  Although we still miss him greatly, it helps to see how he touched so many lives.  God bless you all that helped get us all together.  It was truly amazing.

We’ve only been back for about a week, but we’ve really been busy getting the boat ready to move on to her next adventure. We plan to head up Florida’s West Coast to the Bradenton area where we plan to spend a couple of months or so.  We have reservations at the Twin Dolphins Marina.  We stopped there to check it out on the way Joplin.  We really liked what we saw and are excited for the change.

The first item on Mike’s list when we got back was to install the new head (toilet) we had ordered off EBay.  We’ve been fighting the front head pretty much since we moved on the boat.  Now we have two WORKING heads!  Yea!  He also had to repair the raw water pump AGAIN on our generator.  It’s a good thing he checked it out before we left.  You would think that things should be fine if they were working when we got here eight months ago.  However, it’s not that way.  It’s a boat!  You never know what may or may not work at any given time! 

We did take some time off though to check out some places before we leave.  We took a dinghy ride out to Pigeon Key.  We had wanted to go there but hadn’t worked it in.  It was a beautiful day and a great day for a boat ride.  Mike was anxious to take the Whaler out with his new motor.  By the way, while we were home – he managed to sell his 9.8 hp motor and to buy another one – only the new one is a 20 hp. Yes, now we can go twice as fast.  We can go further and faster now.  Actually, don’t tell him but I’m happy about that.  We took a nice long boat ride around the area.

Oh, back to Pigeon Key - this is an island where the workers lived while building the Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railroad which is now US 1.  There are still the original historic buildings and a “small” museum there.  You can take the shuttle over there for $12.00 but we went on our own and saved the money.  It was worth what we paid for it….  The scenery was pretty though. 

We had dinner a couple of times at Porky’s and listened to Dan Sullivan.  We love listening to him.  You never know what he’s going to do or play.  He can play a great John Prine!  We also tracked down Captain Josh at Cabana Breezes.  We enjoy him too.  Oh and I finally had the locals favorite – pizza from Hurricanes.  Usually we hit there on “wing night” but this time we had the pizza.  Definitely not disappointed and worth the wait!

We’ve stocked the boat (beer, liquor, Diet Pepsi and tonic water).  We’ve loaded the Whaler and motor and both scooters.  That was a trip.  We acquired the scooters while we were here.  Had to make room!

We are ready to start another adventure.  We plan to leave in the morning (Tuesday).  We will stay on anchor a few days on the way up the coast.  Hopefully we’ll be at Ft Myers for the Fourth of July celebration. 

We’ve enjoyed the sunsets (but not the bugs) here at Marathon.  Looking forward to some new ones (sunsets that is – not the bugs) along the way.

Stay tuned!
Till next time!

Admiral “C”

 

One last beautiful sunset here in Marathon



Fishing boat alley near Porky's

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!

 

 

 

Back in Marathon

Mr Manatee coming to visit

Get together at the dock for St Patricks Day!

The beach on St Patricks Day

This guy came to visit me while I was at the laundromat!

Most of you know that our family suffered a terrible tragedy back in late January.  We went home to be with our family and were gone about 8 weeks.  We recently returned to NautiNell and are trying to get back into the swing of things.  I want to thank all of our cruiser friends here in Marathon for watching over NautiNell while we were gone.  It was nice to know that everything on this end was being taken care of so we could focus on the tasks at hand back home in Joplin. 

We got back to the boat on Saturday, March 16 just in time for St Patrick’s Day.  And of course, just as expected, everything here on the boat was fine.  It just needed to be aired out a little and maybe a little cleaning.  We on the other hand have had to decompress a little.  It’s nice to be back in the sunshine and warm weather. 

Sunday our dockside friends threw a get together for St Patrick’s Day.  It was really nice to see everyone and to enjoy the great food.  Several of the cruisers left while we were gone.  And several new faces have joined our little community.   It didn’t take long to feel at home again.

We spent most of this past week working on the boat.  Nothing major – just cleaning and stuff.  We purchased a new television while we were home.  Mike installed a wall mount for it.  We are really uptown now!

We took a short dinghy ride up the canal the other day.  It looks like there has been a lot of work on the new marina being built.  It still looks like it’s a long way off from being in business.  The way things go around here – I’d guess another five years.  Ha!

Even with all the “work” we’re doing we did manage to make it to Hurricanes the other night for their 25-cent wings.  J  Mike doesn’t want to miss that.    Oh, and of course, Sparkys.  Where you can also get 25-cent wings and jumbo shrimp.  We had to hit that too!

Saturday we went to the Key West Air Show at the Navy Air Field.  It was really amazing!  What a great show – and it was free!  The Blue Angels put on a spectacular show.  There were several other performers too including a female wing-walker from Tulsa.  This is the first Air Show I have ever been too.  I was really impressed.  It was a gorgeous day and I even got sunburned. 

Dan and Elise (they live here in Marathon) took us to Happy Hour at The Marathon Yacht Club on Sunday evening.  It’s a really nice place with a great view of the Bay.  I think that if Mike and I were going to stay here permanently, we would look into joining. 

We can’t decide what we are going to do.  It’s hard to think about leaving here since we really just got back.  We should look into going north either up the west coast or the east coast of Florida.  We had originally planned to go up the east coast – cross Florida on the Okeechobee River – then up the west coast and on up the rivers.  We were going to do that with a couple of other boating friends.  Now their plans have changed too so we really have no idea at this point.  Several boaters here are going home for Easter and are planning to head out when they return – some to the Bahamas – some back home, wherever that may be.  I guess we’ll make up our minds in a few days.  Of course, our plans will be in sand and you know how they can change!  Meanwhile – we are enjoying it here in Marathon.  We had a huge fish fry last night with a bunch of the cruisers.  Can’t beat that!

It’s different having a car here now.  We traded our motorcycle that we still had for a car while we were back in Missouri.  We drove it back down here.  Now we have a car, two scooters and two bicycles.  Hmmm!  It’s going to take some planning when we decide to leave!  But now we can go to Key West whenever we want and not have to deal with the bus!  Think we’ll go tomorrow! 

Stay tuned!

Admiral “C”