February, 25-28 Marathon, FL

We've been hearing rumors that up north its below zero.  Again!   Guess its cold all over.  The temperatures here have plummeted below 80!

Tuesday evening we shared a cab with 3 other couples and went to a place called Hideaway.  Tablecloths, white shirted waiters and really good food.  And of course we were the boisterous table in an otherwise rather demure formal place.  Oh well.

Dennis and I ... and a puzzled Mary

Bob and Carol were there as well even though they are sailors!

Sombrero reef

That afternoon before we headed to the restaurant we took the dinghy out to the reef and then over to a few islands where there are sandbars to beach the dinghy.  Thanks to Rob for the local knowledge about the places!  The mooring balls at the reef have a long line (tether) that we tied the boat to which eliminates the need to anchor in the 10-15 foot depths.



Leann and Brant pulled in to the marina around 7pm tonight for a 3 day visit.  Cool kids ... they were driving a Camero convertible.  Well, it is Florida I guess.  Maybe we should try out a hot car next time we need a rental.  

We woke up to cloudy skies and plenty of wind.  We did run over to Sombrero Beach for a few hours in the morning.  The water was near 80 and the beach was relatively deserted so a few of us swam a little.  The tide was running out and my timing was a little off so we ended up having to manhandle the dinghy across some sand flats into deeper water when we finally left

Brant, LeAnn and Mary at Lazy Days

Went back to the boat and then rode the dinghy to Lazy Days South, a restaurant in the marina where our friends Rob and Sue are docked.  But before we got there we stopped to see Brent and Susan.  Susan gave us a plate of cookies (yumm) to munch on the way.  We had a nice lunch and a few drinks.  We stopped to see Rob and Sue on the way back to our boat.



 Back aboard our boat the poor young ones napped while Mary read and I cleaned off the bow of the boat and finished cleaning up the dinghy.  We did momentarily make plans to go snorkeling but the weather wasn't cooperating so we abandon that idea for another day.

When everyone was finally awake we took the dinghy to search for Manatee which were reported to be about a mile away.  The search was for naught.  No manatees spotted.

We went back to the marina and took a ride to Sunset restaurant which has a pool on the outside deck.  We only ate a few appetizers and the rum drinks were rather sub-par.  We indulged LeAnn who wanted to stop at Porky's, a junky looking joint down the road that turned out to be rather good and really fun.

I'm going to have to take the boat off its moorings either tomorrow or the next day to make water since the water here in the harbor is just to dirty.  We were even thinking if the weather isn't too bad we'll leave the mooring ball tomorrow morning and take the boat out to the reef for a few hours so we can all snorkel.  I think the afternoon will be spent visiting the turtle clinic down the road and then checking out the piglet races at a local bar.

Exciting life here in Marathon.  But we do have great sunsets.