Captain's Choice blog: And...this is why we are here

When you get up in the morning and it is 60 - 70+ degrees out and it's January, you understand why you made the 2000+ mile trip to the keys. The temperatures have been good (just a few days with highs in the 60's - the locals say they are freezing) and the rest have been in the 70's and 80's. There is only one drawback, if you can even call it a drawback and that's the wind. The winds are usually blowing about 10-15 mph which keeps the gulf a little rough by the marina and prohibits us from taking the dinghy out much to explore. The other problem with the winds are they are normally out of the north which fills the marina with sea grass.
The best way to see Marathon is by dinghy, the main road is US1, which is very busy at this time of year. Going by dinghy you see the best side of the restaurants along the water, tiki huts, fish boats etc. and they have dinghy docks for you to tie along.

Friday night we walked to Overseas Pub & Grill (which is owned and operated by a former western New Yorker) for appetizers. Then it was off to Key Fisheries for stone crab, shrimp and oysters. Since we were there right at sunset we were treated to a shot on the house of some tropical drink to celebrate the end of another day.

With the winds forcasted to be next to nothing on Sunday a dinghy crawl was organized and 6 dinghies left the marina at 10:30 am. The first stop was Burdines, they have the best french fries and are known for their deep fried key lime pie. Michelle (Jim & Mandy's daughter from ShellBelle) was visiting and came along with her father - she loved the pie and was very thankful that I had recommended it to her or she said she doubted she would have tried it. Of course the piece is huge, so sharing with the rest of the group brought smiles to all that tried it. Next up was Lazy Days and our third stop was Sunset Grill, which has an amazing view of the sunset and a pool to keep cool - therefore the name is appropriate. It is located just before the 7 mile bridge which is the dividing line for the gulf and the Atlantic. Then it was back to the marina to regroup and head over to the lighthouse for 5 o'clock docktails.

The docktails are scheduled everynight at 5 pm weather permitting and are quite the success. On Saturday night Mel & Ann from Morningstar II made homemade ice cream and asked everyone to bring a topping - it was delicious. Sunday night the appetizers were like a meal with different dips and foods. Valerie just got an instant pot so she has been bringing different dishes for everyone to try. It's a great way to meet other boaters and once the cannon goes off at a nearby restaurant to signal sunset everyone heads back to their boats for the evening.

We rented a car on Monday and because the rental location is at the Marathon airport they do not pick up or drop you off. The choices were a cab or walk. Since we are striving for 3+ miles of walking a day we put on our walking shoes and headed the 4 miles down US1. When we were checking in we found out that the rental agent is from the Buffalo area and by the end of the day we met 2 more people that live in the keys that were from Buffalo.
We headed over to Islamadora to the Bass Pro and lunch at LoreLei. We had stopped there when we did the loop and we don't plan on stopping there this time so it was a nice little adventure for the day.

With the continued winds it hasn't really been pool days so we keep busy doing maintenance items, reading or for me working on some artwork.