Visitors from Raleigh and Charleston

This past week has been busy.  We had visitors Robin and Ron Terry from Raleigh and Lacey and Davis Toney (their daughter and son-in-law) from Charleston staying with us for a few days.  It was really great having them here.  The weather was far from ideal, but we all made the best of it.

It was Davis' Birthday and we all went to lunch at The Sunset Grill. 

Davis posing at the restaurant.

After lunch the youngsters wanted to go fishing.  Here are Lacey, Captain Keith and Davis in the dinghy heading out to fish.

They did catch a fish from the dock

Keith and Davis went to the seafood market and got some stone crabs.  This is everyone cracking their stone crabs.

Stone crabs ready to eat

Davis with his birthday brownies

The empty bottle of Fireball after Keith and Ron stayed up until midnight solving the worlds problems.

One day we all piled into the car and road-tripped to Key West.

Captain Keith got the very back.

Key West Rooster

We did some bar hopping.  This is Sloppy Joe's.

In addition to Sloppy Joe's, we also hit The Conch House and Louie's Back Porch.  For dinner we were at an Italian restaurant called Only Wood.  It was wonderful.  Hopefully we can return with other guests.  I would love to eat there again.  Everyone slept well that night.

The next day the weather was still cloudy, windy, and cool.  So what do boaters do when the weather is bad?  Eat and drink of course.  Our brunch was at the Stuffed Pig with a mid day snack at Burdine's. 

This was the tuna poke at Burdine's (Yum)

There was also a rum tasting on board Southern Style

Davis, Lacey and Robin tasting rum on Southern Style.

Before calling it a day there was more fishing, but the weather was just horrendous.  Lacey and Davis were hard core.  Nothing was going to keep them from fishing.  They look like they are ready for Deadliest Catch and I think they felt like they were in the Bearing Sea with the way the wind was blowing and the waves that were hitting them in the dinghy.  Unfortunately they caught only one small Mangrove snapper, just big enough to keep.  

It might not look like it, but this is the Florida Keys.

Their visit was over too soon, but we hope to be able to get together again soon as we move back up the east coast in the spring.

Other friends Max and Kathy Schmitz on their boat Air Time arrived in Marathon this week as well.  We had lunch at The Sunset Grill with them.

Gail, Kathy, and Max at Sunset Grill

My tuna Poke from Sunset Grill along with everyone's snacks.

We also had dinner later in the week with them at the Florida Keys Steak and Lobster House

I had the tuna poke there.  I think there is a tuna poke theme I have going.  (Love me some tuna).

Finally to finish off this post, I have included pictures of our most recent pub crawl this past week.  The weather had not been good for several days and everyone in the marina was itching to get out on the water for a little fun.  On the first day that was predicted to be pretty nice, 9 dinghies went on a pub crawl.

Here are all of the dinghies tied up at Florida Keys Fisheries for lunch.

Our next stop was at Barnacle Barney's.  We are just getting everyone situated around the bar.

Pengi over-indulged on the mango rum runner.

Our final stop was at Burdine's to introduce our friends Tom and Sue to their wonderful french fries.  We had a hovering avian visitor during our stop.

The day never did clear up and it remained pretty chilly, but we made the best of it.  After getting back to the marina, we spent some time visiting with Sue and Tom on their boat "Bella".  They are a couple we met while on the river system last fall and they are spending the month of February here at Faro Blanco.  It  looks to be a busy and fun upcoming month.

Fishy Fishy

This past week the weather cooperated for Captain Keith to do some dinghy fishing.  Here in the keys it is a bit different than what we are used to in North Carolina and of course it is different than the fresh water fishing he did in Canada this past summer.  Many fishermen use a chum bag and they also use a steel leader so the fish do not bite through the line when they take the bait.  Chum is bait that is most commonly made up of fish parts, bones and blood but other things can be used.  This is hung in a mesh bag over the side of the boat in the water to attract fish.   Keith did get a steel leader but decided to try his luck without chum.  Here are some of his catches.

A Jack Crevalle

This is the common jack of in shore oceanic waters.  It has a wide range from as far north as Nova Scotia, Canada to Uruguay including the Gulf of Mexico and the West Indies.  Although it can be eaten, this fish is not typically valued for food.

Another Jack

A Blue Runner (also a member of the jack family of fish)

A Ladyfish, mostly considered a "junk" fish, but fun to catch

These fish are generally used as a bait fish or for fish meal.

A Mangrove Snapper

This type of snapper does make for good eating.  We did not keep this one however.

At one point he started to catch a number of ladyfish.  These fish then attracted several sharks that decided to try to eat the ladyfish off the end of his line.  The result was instead of reeling in a ladyfish, Keith reeled in a shark.

Keith's Black Tipped Shark Catch

Black tipped sharks are generally considered to be timid and wary of people, however they can be aggressive when food is around (like the Ladyfish Keith was attracting).  Luckily Captain Keith was able to cut the shark free and continue his fishing uneventfully.  He said it took him about 15 or 20 minutes to get the shark to the dinghy.  It pulled off over 100 yards of line.

This is Keith's favorite store on Marathon

The Tackle Box

After all this fishing it was time to do some entertaining.  We had friends Rich and Maggie Selo over for dinner one night.  It was decided before dinner we should have a Vodka tasting.

There were 7 kinds of Vodka we tried.  Unbeknownst to us, Pengi was finishing off what was left in the bottom of the small bottles.  We figured it out after he started tipping over.  He slept really well that night as did we all.

Pengi with the vodka samples (notice he is a little tipsy)

And speaking of dinners, I also wanted to post a picture or two of the wonderful lobsters that Keith's parents sent to us as a Christmas gift.  We asked them to wait until we had settled here in Marathon before sending them.  They arrived the other day and Keith and I had a wonderful meal.

Before cooking (sorry guys)

After cooking (Yum)

Once again we are at the end of a week.  We are expecting friends for this weekend and are very excited.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.  This was the lighthouse one evening this past week with the full moon overhead.

Week of January 13th - Dinghy Pub Crawl

The weather here in Marathon has been very nice.  Temperatures are usually cool at night but pleasant during the day.  The sun can actually be quite hot when you are directly in it, however usually there is a breeze which makes it quite nice.  The winter breeze here in the middle keys is often out of the north and half of the time it is windy enough to cause quite a chop on the water.  This makes it just a little unpleasant in the kayak or dinghy.  You have to pick a quiet time of the day so you are not getting splashed or bumped around if going out on the water.

Last Sunday was a perfect dinghy day.  It was in the low 80s and the breeze was very light.  One of our "dock neighbors" Jim Conley on "Shell Belle" organized a dinghy pub crawl for the nice weather.  We had 6 dinghies with a total of 12 people (and one Pengi) that participated.  We started around 10:30 AM and went around the tip of Hog Key (the southwestern end of Marathon and under the 7 mile bridge then into Boot Key Harbor.  .

Pengi is ready to pub crawl

Here we go, six dinghies in a row

Passing under the 7 mile bridge

Our first stop was Burdine's where we sat on the upper deck and had some of their famous french fries.

Burdine's

I had my doubts about the fried key lime pie, but after a taste I am a believer

Next we went just around the corner to Lazy Days for more food and drinks. Everyone had a Bloody Mary, even Pengi ( his was a virgin).

Our last stop was The Sunset Grill at the base of the 7 mile bridge.  This restaurant looks right over the Atlantic toward the west and has great views of the sunsets.  They also have a pool.

The Sunset Grill

It was a fun day out and about with everyone.  Here's hoping for more calm days like this so we can do more dinghy excursions.  It was certainly the highlight of the past week.

Oooopsie Daisey

We are getting acclimated to being in one spot for a period.  It has been almost a year since we have spent more than several days in the same place, so the thought of being in Marathon for around 3 months is sometimes hard to comprehend.

Within this first full week here we had some excitement.  One night last week Keith was up on the back of the fly bridge grilling steak for dinner when he came down and asked for the binoculars.  He said a boat appeared to have run aground on the rock jetty while coming into the marina in the dark.  Sure enough, a very nice center console had missed the channel marker and had run hard aground on the rocks.

This is what it looked like that evening, hence the title "Oooopsie Daisey."

You can see the rock jetty alongside the boat.

A small boat from in the marina went out to try to help him off the jetty, but it was no good.  He was stuck "but good".  There was no way he was moving that boat at least until morning.

This is what we saw come morning

That afternoon at high tide, Tow BoatUS came and tried to pull the boat off of the rock wall.  To all of our amazement, they were able to pull him off and the boat appeared to be without any major leaks.  This is an example of why it is really not a good idea to be out at night boys and girls.

Tow BoatUS getting ready to pull him off the jetty

Captain Keith and I have been trying to play some tennis now that there are some courts just a mile from the marina.  We have not played since college and are a bit rusty and 30 years older.  The journey of a thousand miles, however, starts with the first step and so we trudge on with our game.  I DESPERATELY need some new sneakers.  Part of my problem is my shoes.  The tread is coming off the bottom of both sneakers.  The tread is also coming completely loose from the shoe itself.  I know our friends Brad and Lara are probably cringing at this right now.  However, I rarely wear sneakers.  I am almost always in my Sperry's or Tevas' or just barefoot on the boat.

Not to fear however, thanks to Christmas gift certificates I have some new tennis shoes ordered from Amazon.  My new sneakers are hopefully arriving next week.  This should improve my game at least a little.

In the meantime, we have also done a good bit of bike riding since arriving in Marathon.  One day we headed to some of the other marinas, the marathon golf course, and Sombrero Beach.  This was quite a ride and we figured we probably biked something near 8-10 miles total.  Here are some of the sites.

Marathon Country Club Golf Course

They have 9 holes up and running, but the other 9 holes are still not repaired from Hurricane Irma.  Keith called the 9 holes that were operational a "Goat Track".  In other words, the condition of the golf course was less than optimal.

This is some of the course still not repaired

Below is a picture of Sombrero Beach.  It is one of only a few natural sand beaches here in the area.  It is quite a way from our marina (about 4 miles).  If we come back to spend a few hours we would likely take a cab instead of our bikes.

Captain Keith also purchased his Florida fishing license and so in the next several days we may do some dinghy exploring and fishing.  Stay tuned.