Still lovin' Marathon

We're getting quite settled into the marina life here. This is a busy marina, lots of full time and seasonal liveaboards and lots of folks passing through on their way to the Bahamas and/or Key West. It's also a busy boatyard and with our slip on the canal leading to the travel lift, we see all the boats that come in and out of the water ... there's at least 2-3 every day. Waiting for the weather to warm enough to head up the Atlantic ICW, Loopers winter in the Keys, the Bahamas or go through the Okechobee Waterway that runs from Fort Myers to Stuart FL on the Atlantic coast. There seems to be alot of strong wind this winter. Even the sailors are having trouble finding a weather window for crossing to the Bahamas, but we're staying in the Keys for March too (more on that later). There's a Looper gathering almost every week here in Marathon and we attend them all. Upon completion of the Loop, one is said to "cross their wake". Fred and Linda (boat: Young America) crossed their wake here in Marathon and are pictured raising their gold AGLCA burgee to replace the white AGLCA burgee that we fly while we are looping. We met Fred and Linda in Tennesee and were happy to participate in their celebration.
We've only had one "land" visitor since leaving home. Bill is a long time friend who's lived in Fort Lauderdale for many years. He was driving through Marathon on business and stopped to see us and take us out to lunch at "The Island". Excellent meal and excellent company. Thanks Bill !!!

Lazy Days is the very good restaurant in our marina. We had dinner there with Pam and Dave (Adagio) and Diann and Tom (Noah Genda). We met these two currently looping couples in Mississippi.

We dined aboard Monarch with hosts Jerry and Marty and Wayne and Joyce. Marty and Jerry are gold burgee loopers and Wayne and Joyce recently transitioned from sailboat in California to trawler on the east coast and are considering doing the Loop.

Over sixty people attended this week's Looper Lunch at Harbour Cay Club. Fun to reunite with Loopers we had met earlier and meet new ones too.

Terry, the "social director" here at Marathon Marina, organizes a weekly outing for the snowbirds here. This week captains and crew from 10 marina boats took our dinghys on a ride. We went through Boot Key Harbor and into Sister Creek.

We turned into the narrow streams off the creek through the mangroves.

Ooops, it's a dead end. Turn around.

We ended the outing at Burdine's for dinner and filled the dinghy dock. That's Terry and Mary's dinghy with their new steering wheel in front. Nice ride. The dinghys might look all alike, but each one is unique.

Last Saturday, we went to the Pigeon Key Art Festival, a fund raising event where we saw beautiful tropically themed art and heard good music. A folk music duo called "Patchouli" from Maiden Rock, WI, right on the good ol' Mississippi was playing. If there's nothing else going on, we just walk out on the dock at sunset and then have a meal on the boat. We're never bored, that's for sure.

A gale warning has been issued for tonight, so everyone is battening down for the possibility of 39 knot sustained winds. We're grateful to be safely tucked into this marina, the boats on the mooring balls will be bouncing tonight.