News from Marathon FL

News from Marathon, FL

With all the news of snow and record low temperatures up north, we have baked away the winter here in the Florida Keys. We feel less guilty since visitors from the north have kept us entertained -  Leah and Jim, Tommy, Rob and Sue, Anne, Greg and Mary Claire followed by Jane and Dave all contributed to the fun in Marathon. We took guests on long walks around the golf course and dinghy tours of Boot Key Harbor, coerced them into playing Mexican Train dominos, and visited local watering holes – some even easily reached by dinghy. With several visitors we also made trips down to Key West for some touristy activities and stops at famous spots like Mallory Square as well as the cuisine at the Square Grouper on Cudjoe Key.

Julia can be replaced!

In addition, our slip here at Sombrero Dockside came with the bonus of congenial fellow boaters.  Marge and Larry organized frequent dock potluck dinners. Caroline hosted an early St Patrick’s Day feast.  Glenn and Jerry treated the group to a gourmet fish fry.   Such local fun was punctuated by bigger group parties like the Krogen Group weekly breakfast gathering and Mega Super Bowl Party, the AGLCA Sunset Celebration and the MTOA Docktails. These events introduced us to new friends and gave us a chance to reconnect with old ones.  Just about every day offered opportunities to meet and exchange plans with fellow boaters formally and informally.  Julia even found some time for a few girl outings with boating buddies Pam and Suzy as well as with our visitors. 

Julia was also able to sneak away for a quick trip to California where she visited her Aunt Louise and sister Mary who drove down to Orange County. Together they helped Aunt Louise order some new furniture and get her ears pierced.  The lady is an inspiration to us young ones.  The gals  also saw several long-time friends Mary and Jim and Karen and Ken during their short time in So. Calif.

One of the more raucous events in the harbor was the dinghy poker run organized by boaters on our dock... semi-organized craziness but a good day on the water even if there were no monetary winnings.

Steve on the other hand spent every spare moment that he was not entertaining or fishing working through his ever lengthening list of boat maintenance.  Among his projects was some new wiring and solar panels, a replacement winch for our dinghy hoist, engine starter, and endless scraping and varnishing or the teak portions of Erben Renewal.

The wildlife of the keys also added to our enjoyment this winter.

The almost weekly trip to the flea/farmer’s market on Big Pine Key for produce and treasures and the occasional jaunt to Key West or points north have kept us more than busy and somehow the months here have nearly vanished as we provision for a stint in the Bahamas before working our way back north.

WIFI in the Bahamas may be spotty so do not give up on us if blog entries are less frequent than normal.  We will be sure to catch up with our adventures when we can.

She has been mistaken for a small lion - the look fits her personality too!