Marathon, FL - 2/15/11 (day 18)

Since we were expecting our friends, Skip & Barb Johnson (Moor $tuff) to make it to Marathon today, we decided to go shopping (SURPRISE!) until they get here from their anchorage in Shark River. They will be coming onto Sombrero Dockside Marina which is next to ours. As we were leaving the marina we altered our plans to see if we could find our friends, Dan & Biddi Langford (Biddi & the Beast) over at Banana Bay Resort which is on the Bay (Gulf) side of the island. We knocked on their boat and ended up spending a couple hours with them and even planned to meet them for dinner tonight.

This is a small island a few hundred yards off their beach that can be rented for only $2,000 per week.

The Bay is very pretty however swimming is not recommended at this beach.

Here's part of the reason .... that is actually sea grass from the bushes out to the boat. It looks like solid ground, but it isn't at all.

I wish I could say this is part of the Valentine gift to my bride, but it is the result of a bad experience with her curling iron. Regardless I still look proud when people stare!

Skip & Barb got to their slip about 2:30 and we had celebratory drinks to see each other because we had not been with them since the Gulf crossing. they went North to Tarpon Springs and we went South to St. Petersburg after Clearwater.

Dan & Biddi arriving at the Hurricane for our taco dinner.

The group picture with Biddi leaning back just as it was snapped.

I think Ricki misses her craft room at home since we noticed she was playing with her tomatoes.

Tomorrow we plan to give the boat a bath and put the final varnish coat on the eyebrow teak. It should be ready to re-install by Thursday.

Coded message to Gladys: all envelopes still intact!

OK - I tried to put the pictures in the center position again and found out some of them cannot be enlarged. Doesn't make sense but I will revert back to the left/right positions next blog.

Marathon, FL - 2/13-14/11 - (days 13-14)

Sunday was another lazy day. We got up late and after breakfast, I went to the laundromat while Ricki cleaned up the boat including defrosting the dreaded refrigerator. Since the refrigerator in the main cabin is small, many treasures (sometimes referred to as science projects) were discovered. Why we get a box for leftovers at a restaurant to bring home and stick in there is beyond me. Way down deep I think we believe if you don't take them home they will serve them to someone else! Several small jobs around the boat needed started/finished including rewiring and hanging a light in the galley over the sink. This was just like a plumbing job - several trips to Home Depot for stuff. Should have thrown the breaker first .... that's a whole other story. Dinner was furnished by Mickey D and we watched a little TV before turning in.

On Monday (Valentines Day) we put the first coat of varnish on the teak. We had a few things to pick up at Publix which included a Key Lime pie that our neighbors Ash & Patti claim is the best tasting one in the Keys. Of course we had to invite them to the boat for pie and coffee later in the evening. After they left, we had to watch the Bachelor to see if he sent the right one home ... and he did. Ash & I had taken a road trip to Banana Bay Marina this afternoon to see a 47 foot Grand Banks and while walking around the marina discovered the boat belonging to friends Dan & Biddi Langford that we had met a couple years ago in Charleston, SC. They weren't home so I left a boat card and hope we can catch them real soon. Check out the name on their boat!

Marathon, FL - 2/12/11 (day 13)

Enterprise car rental picked me up about 10:30 this morning with an SUV that we will have for a couple weeks. after finishing the laundry we went shopping. I did mine ....

She did hers. The Lazy Lizard and Krazy Larry's Last Store are apparently connected somehow since The Lazy Lizard gave Ricki a discount coupon for Larry's .... which she had to use of course.

This picture didn't turn out too well but it was supposed to give an idea of all the neat stuff (according to HER) that was in the store.

After a trip to IHOP we kind of drove around just to be off the boat for awhile and noticed this fine machine in the parking lot near the first photo. We got back to the boat about 4 p.m. so we could go to Ash & Patti's Grand Banks on our bow to watch a slide show of their trip to the Antarctic last fall. Boy was that ever interesting and pretty. All the icebergs and animals that you can imagine and the boat cut thru ice to get to them. This year they plan to go to Alaska.

Since we now have wheels, we are trying to locate a church to go to but it looks like it will be next Sunday before we are successful. It was cool today in the high 50's and tomorrow it is supposed to start warming up again so we may be able to get our eyebrow teak stained and ready to put back up.

Marathon, FL - 2/10/11 & 2/11/11 ( days 11 & 12)

No pictures the last 2 days .... we have been working on boat projects and actually forgot to take any. Ricki is still obsessed with removing the brow teak trim, sanding and refinishing it. It is now ready for the varnish then reinstall. I have been working on waxing the stern and removing the diesel soot that we have collected since Port St. Joe which is quite a job. Of course every now and again something comes along to side track us (i.e. - trip to West Marine, etc.) and I have helped our neighbor get his dinghy off the upper deck so he can clean it so you can see we have been busy but not focused. We did call Enterprise today to arrange a vehicle for a couple weeks starting tomorrow so we can do some touristy stuff. I still want to repaint the non-skid on the front deck sometime in the next couple weeks before we decide to leave. We had guests stop by today, John & Carol Segal from Seas2Day which was a welcome rest. The folks in the Grand Banks on our bow have been running the east coast for years and I hope to get with them to see what/where we need to stay or watch out. They live in in Virginia but keep their boat in Georgia when not in Marathon. We got a notice today of a looper get together on the 24th at a neighboring marina, Banana Bay and we will plan to attend.

Marathon, FL - 2/9/11 (day 11)

When we got up this morning, we were full of energy and decided to tackle a couple of boat jobs that really needed done. I spent several hours cleaning diesel soot off the back of the boat and then decided to clean the dinghy good since it still had some May Flys in it from our encounter with them on the Ohio River. I then hoisted it out of the water a little and pulled the plugs to let it drain out. Ricki has wanted to refinish the teak eyebrow around the boat since we bought it years ago. We tried to take it off to work on it but it was glued to the fiberglass as well as screwed and didn't want to release without breaking so with the help of her trusty mouse sander and elbow grease, she has almost half of it sanded. After a trip to the pool to cool off we settled in for dinner and a little TV. We have talked with our friends Barb & Skip on Moor $tuff and it looks like they will be leaving Ft. Myers soon and heading to a marina next to us. We need to get our projects done so we can rent a vehicle and run around when they get here.

Still having picture problems so I am trying another style of posting to see if they can be enlarged.

Marathon, FL - 2/8/11 (day10)

After a trip to the bank I stopped by the barbershop for a 3 1/2 week trim while Ricki did a few chores inside the boat. She had some stuff that needed mailed and since the post office was a little over a couple blocks away, she let me take them. Each Tuesday the boats on the seawall get a free pump out so after that little job we decided to take a dinghy ride thru the harbor.

There is a very large mooring ball field just past the 2 marinas on the channel with what seems like hundreds of boats.

When we dinghyed thru the moorings we found a couple boats that we knew from Joe Wheeler. Sue and Norm on Runaround Sue and John and Carol on Seas2Day were in the mooring field.

Of course there were many condos and a few nice homes along the way.

This fantastic sailboat came into one of the gas docks on our way to the end of the harbor. Ricki wanted to go all the way to the ocean in the dinghy which we did.

Here is what the Atlantic Ocean looked like from the end of our harbor. If you can see the seven mile bridge in the distance.

Coming back into the harbor we passed this beautiful Trumpy yacht. Just think how much $$ it would take just to keep all the wood in pristine condition.

Since we lack for interesting pictures .... here's the captain, and

Here's the Admiral ......

And a great shot of Quest from the channel.

Marathon, FL - 2/6 & 2/7 (days 8 & 9)

Sometimes I feel like a reporter on assignment in paradise. Well, this was another day just like the other 6 days we have been here .... simply beautiful!! I asked Ricki how to spell "gorgeous" (sp) but she thought I was talking about the babe in the pool and we couldn't agree and spell check says it is right. We got up late Sunday, had breakfast, went to the pool then back to the boat for the Super Bowl. The resort had a party but since we probably wouldn't make it past half time, opted to stay on board.

Today when we were having breakfast (about 11 a.m.) a strange bird was spotted across the canal from our boat. Don't have a clue what it is but it sure is UGLY.

Since Zzzipnet Mark helped us change our photo program so the pictures could be enlarged on the blog (thanks sis for letting us know), thought I would send out a few to test the program. Hope you don't mind my subject matter.

Make sure they enlarge properly and let us know. Tonight we went to dinner with the couple on the Grand Banks docked on our bow. Ash & Patty are both retired from government positions and have been coming here from Maryland for 9 years. After dinner they took us on a guided tour of the area which was very enjoyable. When we got back to the boat we had to walk off the Italian dinner and spotted these coconuts on a tree on the other end of our marina.

Tomorrow .... don't know yet what is in store except that we want to dinghy to the beach. We plan to stay here until the end of February and have an empty cabin if anyone wants to give this place a try.