Last days in Banana Bay

Last evening there was a spectacular sky at sunset here @ Banana Bay.  The sun will not set over Florida Bay until the end of March as it moves a bit more to the North, so we will miss an actual sun set on the water at our marina, but the orange and pink hues in the sky were truly beautiful. We should be in a perfect position at the next marina in Islamorada to view the sun dipping into the water.

On Monday we will leave all the wonderful people we have met here @ Banana Bay in Marathon, and move up to Islamorada.  It is only about 38 miles north of here, we will stay at Plantation Yacht Harbor, another great marina.  Some of our friends that we have traveled with in the past are  there, and it will be fun to catch up.  Our schedule should allow us to stay there for the month of March.  Still wondering where the warm weather is. High today was 65, with off and on rain.

The happy hour is breaking up, it's dusk and getting colder.

Visit to Key West

Key West is about an hour ride from Marathon where we are staying. Our friends Ed & Diane came down for a  visit, and the 4 of us went to see the sites in the most southern key in the U.S.  What can I say about Key West, maybe I'll just post some pictures.

 This guy played his banjo as his dog "Cleo" would walk around and take dollar bills from the crowd with his mouth and put them in the bucket.  The dog was a big hit.  At one point a toddler in a stroller was holding a dollar in one hand and  a cracker in the other, the dog ate the cracker, walked away without the dollar, went back and checked for more food before he took the dollar. Cute act!

These are street performers in Key West on Mallory Square.  It was a beautiful day, sunny and about 82, the sea fog rolled in about an hour before sunset and swallowed the sun. We will probably return when our son Dan comes down, so maybe there will be a sunset picture opportunity then.

The Stuffed Pig is a popular breakfast/lunch spot, and rightfully so. Good food, out door restaurant, great service and sunshine. Can't get better than that.  Thanks for coming down Diane & Ed.

Miami Boat Show & Friends

The Miami boat show was an interesting visit, much larger than any show we have been to.  Lots of vendors selling anything you can imagine for boats. Here's a picture of Jim's next boat, in another life of course. This is a boat Ken can appreciate, Pam it was good to hear from you.

Getting around Miami was an adventure in itself, I never realized just how much water there is down here, seems like almost every road you turn down has a bridge to get over the water.  Beautiful turquoise water everywhere you look.  Now I'm not complaining, but it has been cold here, low 60's with a stiff 30 mph wind is a bit nippy, I don't care who you are. 

This week also brought us a surprise visit from some friends from Macedonia. Thanks George and Louise Post for coming to visit  us while on your trip to Florida.  It was so nice to see both of you down here,  wish we had more time to visit, but just glad you fitted us in.  Thanks for the wine, my favorite!  Our apologies for not taking pictures, I even had the camera out!

After George and Louise left, Jim's sister Sue, her husband Ed, and 3 children came to spend a few days with us.  We had a great time, visited the beach, even though it was chilly, went to eat at various places and visited the pool and hot tub. A good time was had by all, thanks Nick, Katie & Kristin for visiting with us.  Maybe next time it will be warmer.

This picture was taken at the looper get together, there were over 60 "loopers" that attended this event.  All of these people are here in the various marinas in Marathon.

Marathon Florida

It's been a very relaxing week, we had planned to head down to Key West on Monday via the local bus.  We woke to the sound of rain, and as luck would have it, it rained all day, so the bus trip to Key West will have to be rescheduled.  One day of rain is not bad, the rest of the week was sunny with temps in the high 70's.  There was a music festival held over the past weekend, it was the 1st annual Florida Keys Traditional Music Festival, it was fun even though we were not familiar with any of the musicians.  Pat Daily who plays at the round house in Put in Bay will be in Key West this weekend.  The rest of our time has been spent doing little maintenance jobs on the boat and hangin out at the pool. Not much to report, oh yeah, Jim was carded, can you believe it. Here's the story, we went to the local IHOP for breakfast and Jim decided to order off the "55 and older" section of the menu, also known as the "senior section". The waitress did not believe he was old enough, he had to show her his drivers license. It was the hi light of his day!

Tuesday there is a looper get together at one of the other marinas, there will be 60 loopers attending.  Marathon is a popular spot to winter in for people doing the great loop.  It should be fun catching up with friends we have met along the way. Most of us are spread out amongst the many marinas down here, and get around either on the dinghy or bikes.

Next weekend we are having our first visitors from home on the boat.  Ed, Sue & crew will be coming down.  We are excited to see them and have them spend some time with us. There is a standing invite to who ever would like to come down and see us, we have an extra bedroom and then there is always the couch. 

Here's Jim & Ted clowning around at Key Fisheries, where we had a great lunch one afternoon.

Have a great weekend, hopefully the snow won't get too deep, as always, stay warm and safe.