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.