MARATHON TO ISLAMORADA

Feb 24- We left at 9:00 am with a bit of a breeze but we are traveling in Florida Bay so it is a more protected area. We are heading for Islamorada to a marina called Plantation Key Marina which is about 40 miles. We were joined by two other boats from Faro Blanco heading to the same marina we are but they passed us of course. We arrived at around 2 pm tied up and took a quick look around. Koby has a very large park right across from our dock to run in. He is a very happy boy here! We are here until March 2 or longer if they will let us. We are liking it here very much and we are trying to slow down a little before heading up the east coast. The weather is so unpredictable this year and the winds have been terrible that we have decided not to go to the Bahamas this year.

Looking down the dock at Plantation Key Marina

The big wonderful field Koby gets to run around in

The pool, tennis courts, basketball, and weight area across from us

Band shell where they have already had a concert

Feb 25- We have met a lot of nice boaters at this marina so far. We have a 52 ft Cruisers on our left side and a 51 ft Hatteras on our right. The gentleman on the Cruisers has told us we can use his Mercedes to go and get groceries if we need it. We didn't want to take advantage of him so we decided to rent a car for 3 days to get groceries and do some sightseeing in this area. We may take him up on it if we need something next week. He is very outgoing and has been over talking to us several times but his wife never leaves the boat only to go out for dinner every night. She has waved to us once since we came. There is a pool, tennis courts, a beach, weight area outside and lots of bike trails to explore. If you can't find something to do here your not trying too hard.

They have this lovely little beach as well

This is the pool area (big pool)

Entrance into the marina from the road

One of the many beautiful sunsets

Feb 26- We are getting the rental car this morning and are going to get some groceries. We did a fairly large shopping as it has been some time since we have been to a grocery store. Both Bonnie and I would like to get our hair cut and we did see a salon on our way back to the boat, so we had Dave stop and we made appointments for tomorrow morning. We needed to clean the salt off the boat and really get her clean, so we washed from top to bottom. After cleaning the hull I started cleaning the glass on the tarps as the salt leaves a kind of film. Dave has decided it is time to scrap the tow rail down on the port side of the boat from front to back and refinish it. When I finished the tarps I went and gave Dave a hand by masking the tow rail for him. He managed to get it sanded and one coat of Cetol on before we were set to go out for dinner. We had asked some of the people in the marina of some of the good eating places and headed to one called Marker 88, but it was jammed with people so we went to another place someone had suggested called Hog Heaven of all things. It had live music and was a sports bar but we were so hungry by this time we didn't mind the noise. The food was so-so and it was hard to talk so we finished and got out of there. We headed back to our boats and said goodnight.

Feb 27- We are heading out sometime this morning towards Key Largo to have lunch somewhere. Dave is putting on another coat of Cetol on the rub rail this morning before we head out. We seem to have better luck at lunch menus than dinner ones. We are really enjoying our stay here and hope we can stay a little longer. Bonnie has introduced me to "Pickle Ball", a cross between tennis and badminton. The court is smaller than a tennis court and the net is low to the court. She explained the rules and the counting and we practiced for an hour or so. It is a lot of fun.

Feb 28- We only have the car for today so we decided to go down to Marathon for lunch. We found a place on the left just before you cross the 7 mile bridge. It was an awesome place beside a pool with a DJ playing music. The food was quite good with a great atmosphere. We headed back as Bonnie and I were supposed to be playing "Pickle Ball" with a couple of ladies, but unfortunately they didn't show, so Bonnie and I played for an hour again to give me more practice.

Shots of Florida Bay as we head to Marathon

This monster was outside a restaurant

A shot from the bridge at Marathon

This is a Dolphin Aquarium between Marathon & Islamorda

Feb 29- Bonnie and I are running to the bank for Charlie this morning and are stopping at a roadside place we saw with some odds and ends that looked interesting. We got the car back at 12:00 pm and left the keys with the dockmaster as the people from Thrifty are picking the car up here. Bonnie and I are playing "Pickle Ball" again at 4 pm (we think if they show up). We were beat the first two games but the last game ended 10-10. I've only played a real game once and practiced twice so I think I'm doing pretty well. Dave and Charlie have just been hanging out at the boats doing odds and sods.

Mar 1- We had a wonderful surprise visit from friends from home in Orillia. Brian and Heather Crate are down vacationing in Marathon with another couple and Dave contacted Brian to let him know we were here. Brian and Heather and their friends arrived at 11:00 am and left around 3 pm. We showed them the boat and our albums of the work done Manana and they were quite surprised by it all. They had lot of questions about our trip so far and Heather kept telling me how pleased she was for us to be doing this trip. We hope to borrow the fellows car next to us and go and visit them at their place before we leave here. Dave and I went and checked with Lisa our dockmaster to see if we could extend out stay until March 9th, and she said that would be fine. We were very pleased as we are enjoying this marina very much. I have another game at 4 pm this afternoon, so wish me luck!

Heather and Brian Crate and friends visiting us

That's me playing "Pickle Ball"

Mar 2- Every morning starts out overcast but eventually warms up quite nicely. The temperatures this whole week have been in the high 70's which is fine with us. We have not made it over to the pool as yet so we are heading there this afternoon for awhile. It is a very large pool and they have some people who come and train here in one half of the pool. If I get my courage up I am going to try to swim the length of the pool and back again. I did not do so well at Pickle Ball today but you can't win them all. Dave and Koby came to see me play but Koby freaked and Dave had to take him back to the boat. We spent a quiet evening watching television.