Yesterday we had breakfast at a little place that has been here since 1964. It was opened by a couple who had run a cafe for 14 years in Sigourney, Iowa, before coming to Marathon. Since opening, it has changed owners twice, but very little has changed in what it offers. The most amazing thing was that I was asked what I wanted for my toast – grape, strawberry, orange marmalade, or apple butter. I asked for orange marmalade and this is how it was served –
The marmalade was quite good!
After breakfast we checked out Sunset Park. Apparently a group of people bring a boom box every night and play the 1812 Overture so it coincides with the sun’s disappearance.
There are a lot of park benchs here and they all have plaques on them in memory or in honor of someone. The one under the thatched roof shelter was in memory of the best dog ever and there was a water faucet and a dog bowl with water in it right there.
Later in the day, back at our marina, Rich noticed a nurse shark in the water by one of the fishing boats. I grabbed my phone and was able to get a picture.
Today we saw a shark, but I wasn’t able to get a photo. We did, however, see all these tarpon by one of the fishing boats.
Today we went to Pigeon Key, a small island (just under 5 acres) which is just a couple of miles west of here. It was used as a work camp from 1908-1912 when Henry Flagler built the Overseas Railroad which connected mainland Florida to Key West. Several of the original buildings are still standing and are now used for housing school groups that come for several days. The ferry to the island docks at the fuel dock by our boat so we’ve been able to watch several groups of elementary age kids headed out and back.
We watched this group of kids board the ferry yesterday – today they were learning to snorkel and learn about marine life.
The workers who stayed on Pigeon Key were involved in building the original 7 mile bridge, which was a railroad bridge.
The bridge on the left is the original bridge – the bridge in the background is the new bridge, which opened in 1982. The old railroad bridge was converted to a vehicular bridge in 1935, but because it was built for the width of a train, it was a very narrow bridge – just 22 feet wide. It was referred to as the mirror bridge, because if you didn’t pull your mirrors in before crossing it, they would get knocked off as you passed cars.This is the underside of the original bridge, showing how it was “widened” for auto traffic.This building was sleeping quarters for 64 men. It was raised to allow better air flow, had a pitched roof, so heat would rise above the sleeping area, had large overhangs to block direct sunlight from getting inside, and had screened openings all along the top of the side walls. Flagler brought in laundresses once a week to strip all the beds, boil all the sheets, and put clean sheets back on all the beds.The floors were made of Dade County pine. It was so popular that all the trees were cut down and there is no “new” Dade County pine. Over the years it hardens and apparently you would now need a steel drill bit to put a hole in this floor.This is a gumbo-limbo tree, nicknamed the tourist tree because its bark is red and peeling. The building that is up against it was several feet away until Hurricane Irma knocked it off its foundation and pushed it up against the tree.Pigeon Key, as seen from the ferry as we headed back
Tonight we had dinner at a place on the water (amazing how easy it is to find a place to eat on the water when you’re on a narrow island!). The sunset was once again beautiful.
Going…and goneWe ate at the bar and I noticed this after the sun had set and they turned on lights. It reminded me of legs that used to hang out of a second story window above Hoopdee Scoodee in Saugatuck.One of the specialties at Burdine’s is their fried key lime pie. The pie is frozen, cut into pieces and wrapped in a pie crust, and frozen before they deep fry it. There’s a creamy, very limey, cinnamon topping drizzled over the top – and we ate the whole thing! (Note the takeout box in the background – I had a huge portion of tuna poke and decided to forego finishing all of it then so I could have dessert – my dessert side had plenty of room in it).
We finally got all the mechanical work finished on Saturday! Unfortunately when Crystal dove the boat on Friday she saw that our rudder is bent and we need to have our bottom painted. So now we’re trying to figure out when and where we can get that work done. It’s always something!
We tried to go to Sunset Grille Saturday night for dinner, but after being seated and waiting for 15 minutes with no one even acknowledging our presence, we left. They had a “band” playing, but I’ve heard better high school bands. They could barely play their instruments and they were constantly singing off key – add that to the fact that we seemed to be invisible and there was no way we were going to stick around.
We ended up at Castaway, which has become one of our favorite restaurants. I had seen a picture on their website of a sushi roll called the King of the Jungle roll and had tried to order it twice before, but they were out of it. Luckily for me it was available that night!
The roll is called king of the jungle because the fish used in it is the lion fish. The lion fish is a very invasive fish in Florida waters as well as in the Caribbean. There is a lack of predators for them and they like to eat the fish that hang out in reefs, so they are a real threat to the reef systems and and food web relationships. There’s a real effort to reduce their numbers, so I was quite happy to be able to help out by eating one of them. The roll was placed between the head and tail of the fish – only a little bit creepy.The head
We were seated at an outside table right on a canal. Guess what was in the canal? A very large manatee!
The manatee will definitely not win any awards for being beautiful!
Sunday afternoon there was a large gathering of Loopers at a nearby resort (almost 200 people, some of whom drove several hours to get there). We got to visit with several people we had traveled with earlier in the trip, had some great appetizers and drinks, and saw a great sunset. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
The water was incredibly calm that afternoon. This little island is just a few hundred yards from the water’s edge at the resort.I love sunsets!
Yesterday was laundry day. I sat by the pool while the clothes were in the washer and had a friend sit by my chair and watch me for a few minutes.
It looks larger than it really was. It was about 6” long.
When we were in Fulton MS in October we spent several hours in the boaters lounge because of a tornado warning and a tornado touchdown less than 20 miles away. Our next marina stop after that was in Columbus MS, about 60 miles south of Fulton, where a tornado touched down this past weekend, killing one person and doing major damage to many buildings. I had never thought of that area having tornadoes. Part of doing the loop is learning about different parts of the US and realizing how little I know about some places.
Rich started noticing how many convertibles there are down here, and Mustang convertibles in particular. When we went to Key West last week he counted 31 Mustang convertibles from the 7 mile bridge to the outskirts of Key West, approximately 40 miles. We saw about the same number on the way back, and that didn’t include all the Chevy, miniCooper, etc. others that we saw!
Yesterday we had friends from another boat join us for dinner on our boat. Gail asked if she could bring something so I asked her to bring dessert. She’s a great baker (and she has an oven on her boat, something I don’t have), so I thought that would be great. She texted and asked if we liked bananas because she was thinking of making banana chocolate chip cupcakes. I said who doesn’t like bananas and chocolate – sounded delicious! Later, as we were enjoying her yummy cupcakes she mentioned that there is a superstition about having bananas on a boat. So of course we had to google it. Sure enough, especially among fishermen, it’s considered bad luck to have bananas on a boat. There are lots of theories about where this superstition originated, but apparently some fishermen won’t even allow someone on their boat if that person is using banana boat sunscreen or wearing Banana Republic clothing!
Banana chocolate chip mini cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. They were great for dessert last night and great this morning with a cup of coffee. Gail assured me she had removed all the calories!
Wednesday night was a bad night for cooking, so we ordered pizza from a place that has dough flown in each day from New Jersey. The Hurricane Bar and Grille has been in Marathon longer than any other bar here and the inside looks like what you would expect from an old bar that’s been family owned and operated for decades. One side was primarily a bar, complete with pool tables and stale cigarette smoke, the family side was pretty plain, and the back patio was quite large. And the pizza and garlic knots were outstanding!
It was so good that we had already dug in before I thought to take a photo.
This afternoon we had our bottom cleaned – the bottom of the boat, that is.😄. A young woman in a wet suit dived the boat and scraped off all the slime and barnacles that had accumulated on the hull. She uses a hookah diving system to be able to stay under water while she does it. Her tank sat on the dock and she was connected to it with this long hose.
We decided to try Sunset Grille one more time, so we headed there Sunday , hoping to get there in time for happy hour. We got there at 5:30 and they said it would be an hour wait for a table. We put our name on the list and headed to the upstairs bar, which was packed. So we decided to check out the outside bar on the lower level, which was also packed. Luckily a couple was leaving and we were able to grab their stools – and managed to get a drink ordered. We tried to order an appetizer but the bartenders were so busy that they never checked back with us to see if we wanted food or another drink – it was like we were invisible. While Rich tried to catch the attention of a bartender to pay our bill, I got some great sunset shots.
The lower level at Sunset Grille. The pool is open to all the customers!Going……Going……Going…..Going…..Gone.
We thought all the boat stuff was going to be finished yesterday, but it was discovered that the fresh water pump for the port engine was leaking and would need to be replaced. Our mechanic was able to order a replacement from a parts place in Key West, so we “had” to go down there today to pick it up. And of course we had to go at lunch time, so we stopped at Goldman’s Deli down there and had matzoh ball soup and a Reuben – very delicious!
The next stop was a cigar factory that Rich had read about. He bought a sampler of cigars that came in a very nice wooden box – I’ll have a very nice box when he’s done with the cigars!
Across the street was a shop advertising rolled ice cream, so we had to check it out. You choose what you want in your ice cream and then they mix and chop it with a liquid ice cream mix and scrape and smooth and work their magic with it on an ice cold round metal surface. It’s very labor intensive! When it’s been smoothed and is the right consistency, they use a metal spatula to scrape it into rolls.
The inside of the shopRolling up my ice cream – bourbon caramel and pecansthe end result – with extra bourbon caramel sauce over itWe ate our ice cream at this table. I love how they used downed trees for something useful, and told you where it came from.From several feet away this looked like a very small iguana. It turned out to be a leaf.
After ice cream we had to stop at Hemingway distillery, where they make Papa’s Pilar rum. We got to sample the light and dark rums and ended up buying a bottle of each, as well as rash guard shirts. You can never have too many rash guard shirts!
To get to Key West from Marathon, you have to go over the Seven Mile Bridge. We checked it on the odometer and it really is 7 miles!
A lonely little bit of an island on the Straits of Florida side (Atlantic side)This building Sunset Grille) sits right at the water’s edge at the other end of the bridge.Full moon from the back of the boat tonight.
We’ve been having a lot of maintenance on the boat done in the last few days. It was time for an oil change, which led to other engine maintenance, which led to flushing out various systems with Barnacle Buster, which led to numerous trips to West Marine and Napa Auto (which stocks marine parts as well – who knew?!). The guy doing the work is great and has made a point of explaining and showing everything to Rich, but poor Rich has been run ragged getting parts and trying to keep up with everything Sean has been doing. Hopefully the work will be done tomorrow and I can put everything back in place inside. We’ve gone out for dinner the last two nights because all the stuff Rich stores in the engine room is scattered all over – there literally was no way to get to the galley tonight – it was definitely a bad night for cooking!
I’ve spent most of my days while this work is being done either on the fly bridge or by the pool. While on the fly bridge I’ve seen a variety of boats and activity at the marina.
This boat came into the slip next to us after dark Monday night. We think there was a delivery crew on it, but didn’t get a chance to talk to them. It was flying a BVI flag – we wondered if they were going to take it back there. Today a US Customs and Border Patrol boat circled around the marina, then backed into an empty slip just down from us. Someone from another slip offered to catch a line for them, but they said they weren’t tying up, just practicing backing into a slip. It looked like a new guy was being taught how to run the boat. They backed in about ten times, then practiced pulling up to the fuel dock.We’ve decided that this boat must be an Airbnb on water, because there’s a constant stream of people getting on and off with luggage. Today it looks like a family with several teenage girls – if you look closely, you can see them sunbathing on the very top of the boat.This was my view by the pool today.This small island is in front of our boat. We were told it was a private island. Today our mechanic said it’s owned by the Coast Guard, and officers can use it for vacations. It’s hard to see the house in this photo, but it’s huge and when you look at satellite views of the island it has a small sandy beach, a pool, and a tennis court. As taxpayers we pay for the Coast Guard, so shouldn’t we get to use the island too?
We tried to have dinner at the Sunset Grill tonight, but the wait for a table was at least 45 minutes, so we ended up back at the bar at the marina. I did manage to get some great sunset shots at Sunset Grill.
I can’t believe it’s been almost a week since I last posted anything. I guess I’ll try to do a day by day account of what we’ve been doing for the past week – if I can remember that far back!
I spent last Wednesday figuring out when we will go back to IN in March and then trying to find the best flights for the dates we needed. That was a real chore, but I was eventually able to get us nonstop flights both ways. Now we just have to pray for no snow in Indy so we can get there as scheduled.
The highlight of Wednesday was a steak perfectly grilled by Rich with a nice bottle of wine and tomatoes with fresh basil I’ve been growing.
Thursday was spent doing laundry – nothing too exciting about that. It is nice to sit by the pool, though, instead of going back to the boat while the clothes are in the washers and dryers. After doing laundry, I decided it was a bad night for cooking, so we went back to the restaurant that had the great Caesar salad and had salads and seafood apps. That meant we had enough room for dessert – and what a dessert we had!
This was creme brûlée with caramelized pineapple in it served in a hollowed out pineapple and flamed with coconut rum. The green drizzle was key lime flavored. We ate every last bit of this dessert!
Friday – big event was to see if we could finally run out of water in our water tank. We decided since we’re hooked up to marina water we should empty the boat’s water tank so we don’t have water getting stale and nasty in it. We got the tank monitor down to 0%, but it seemed like there was still water in it. So we took showers, I washed dishes three times, and we used water for cleaning. Eventually we did run out of water, but it took a lot longer than we thought it would. We finally figured out that since it always registers 81% when it’s full, there must have been 19% (or approximately 18 gallons) of water in it when it first showed 0%. Too bad the monitor doesn’t really tell us how much water is in the tank.
Does anybody remember eating these as a child? Instead of chips we would have these. We found them at Publix recently and popped open the can on Friday at lunchtime – ah, sweet memories of childhood.
Saturday we met up with looper friends whom we first met last August when they were in a transient slip by us in Holland. We crossed paths with them several times along the rivers, but hadn’t seen them for quite a while. They arrived in Marathon last week, but are at a different marina. We had lunch, then checked out each other’s marinas. The facilities at their marina are beautiful, but they close everything at 6:30! The joke is that boaters’ midnight is 9 p.m., but closing at 6:30 is way too early. Happy hour is barely over at the bar at our marina at 6:30!
Sunday was lazy day until mid afternoon, when we hung out with our friends Keith and Gail on the back cockpit of their boat. Rich and Keith have become cigar smoking buddies and usually get together at least twice a week for a cigar. This time the wives were invited to hang out with them while they had a cigar – fun times. Keith was a delivery captain for many years and brought our boat from MN to us in MI, so he knows our boat. We like to remind him we’re still using the little 4 cup Mr. Coffee that he had to buy at Walmart in MN. The coffee pot was missing from the boat and he said the boat wouldn’t move unless there was a way to make coffee in the morning, so when he provisioned for the week of travel, he bought the coffee maker. It went on the list of expenses that he submitted and he left it on the boat. It still makes great coffee every morning!
Rich has an app called Wordscapes on his iPad that he has been playing for several days now. I kept watching him play and would sometimes make suggestions of words he might try, which he found annoying (I don’t know why 😊). So I put the app on my iPad and played it for WAY too many hours Saturday night and all day yesterday. I didn’t play as much today, but I’m only 45 levels away from him now – the challenge is to catch up and then pass him. It’s a very addictive game! And unfortunately the number of levels seems to go on forever. At some point I may have to remove it from my iPad.
No pictures of any of them, but there have been several boats docked by us overnight for the last few days that are obviously boats headed to the Miami boat show. They’re huge, look like new, and would definitely take a large lottery win to be able to afford for nearly everyone. They’re certainly fun to see!
Today I did some sewing and managed to get the blocks for two more months of the quilt I’m working on completed. There are 11 months of blocks and I only have three more to do.
Candy cane – It’s not really as lopsided as it looks – I made five of these.This is supposed to be holly.
Our friends from Lafayette who spent a few days with us on the boat in October are spending February in Marco Island FL. They drove down Sunday to spend a couple of nights with us, so Rich and I spent Sunday morning cleaning up the boat. Unfortunately what should have been a three and a half hour drive for them turned into a 7 hour drive because of a bad accident that forced them to turn around and take another route. They got here just in time for us to head to the Sunset Grille for happy hour and a beautiful sunset!
Sunset Grille is right by the 7 mile bridge, which you can just see the start of it on the right hand side. The pool is part of the restaurant! There were several kids in it when we first got there. And since it was Super Bowl Sunday they had a big screen set up so you could see the game if you were sitting outside. The water on this side of the bridge is the Straits of Florida – the Gulf of Mexico is on the other side.
Monday morning we woke to find it had rained overnight and was gray and windy. We went to the Stuffed Pig for breakfast and once again walked away stuffed! It looked like it might stay gray for a while so we decided to take a drive to the beach. I know most people go to the beach when it’s sunny, but even on a cloudy day a walk on the beach beats a cold snowy day in Indiana. The sun kept trying to come out – I was wearing a scoop neck shirt and managed to get a sunburn on my neck and upper chest. Will I ever learn that I can burn on a cloudy day?
This looks like an ad for sunglasses 😊Sombrero Beach – the only public beach around here. It’s hard to believe I got so sunburned with such a gray sky.
By the time we got back to the marina the wind had died down and the sun was really beginning to shine, so we decided to spend time at the pool. The water was really warm and because it’s a salt water pool Rhonda and I were able to float very easily in our noodle chairs for a long time. We had prune hands by the time we got out!
Being in the pool made us hungry and thirsty, so Rick and I grabbed seats at the bar for all of us while Rich and Rhonda went back to the boat to get into dry clothes. It was happy hour at the bar so while I went back to get into dry clothes they ordered food and drinks – food arrived just as I got back – perfect timing! It was almost sunset when we finished – another sunset in paradise!
Rick and Rhonda just bought a boat so they can do the loop, so we spent a lot of time talking about boats and our experiences thus far. Rick is getting ready to retire in the next year or so – Rhonda says he has “senioritis” because he’s spending more and more time looking at boating websites and less time thinking about work. I should remind her it’s good to have something to look forward to in retirement!
We had breakfast at an out of the way place this morning before they left. I’m sure they wondered where we were taking them as we drove down a narrow street with trailers and houses on both sides still in disrepair after Hurricane Michael. The front of the restaurant looks really run down, but the inside is classic mom and pop restaurant/bar. Our “server” has lived in Marathon for 35 years, but still has her Rhode Island accent and a voice that could be heard several tables away. She is an old-time waitress – none of the “hi, my name is Susie and I’ll be taking care of you today” – just what can I get you to drink while you look over the menu. And the food is fantastic!
This boat pulled in today. We’ve never seen such a luxurious fishing boat! And the tower is one of the tallest I’ve seen – I can’t imagine climbing to the top of it.Another beautiful sunset
I actually know what day it is! And it was a good day 😊
The morning didn’t start out so great – we are keeping the car for another month and it needed an oil change so enterprise told us to go to muffler man to get that done. Not a problem, but they said it would be 20-30 minutes before they could get to us, so we said fine. It was almost 2 hours before we got the car back. By then we were starving since we had not eaten breakfast and it was now just after noon. We headed to a place Rich had read about and had really good Greek food – souvlaki and gyros as good as we got in Tarpon Springs, which we had thought were the best. We got a piece of key lime pie to go and had it later tonight – some of the best we’ve had. We knew the rest of the day would be great after that lunch!
Rich and I have decided if we ever wanted to collect something, it would be beer taps. He was especially fond of the mermaid taps in front of us at lunch.
The afternoon was spent relaxing on the boat. Rich had a cigar and shared beers with our friend Keith, who captained our boat from MN to Saugatuck, when we bought it. Keith and his wife Gail are staying in our marina. I worked on more quilt blocks and finally finished the smallest block after having to redo it THREE times.
We got a text from our son that our grandson Noah got a gold medal at the local competition for piano and will be going to the state competitions in 2 weeks, where he will be competing against students in grades 7-12. He’s only in seventh grade, so that’s quite an accomplishment ! We’re very proud grandparents!
We headed to the restaurant that’s by the marina for appetizers about 7, and were lucky to find two seats at the bar. I had the ahi tuna tartare and it was delicious!
Before…and after😄
Friends from Lafayette are coming tomorrow to stay with us until Tuesday. They traveled with us for a couple of days in October and have just bought a boat to do the Loop, so we’re really excited to see them again.
I can’t believe it’s Friday night already! Where did Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday daytime go?
Monday we were lazy.
Tuesday I did laundry and then we had a late lunch at an open air restaurant overlooking the water on Boot Key Harbor. While we were waiting for our food I noticed people all along the rail looking down at the water ( the tables are all on the second floor). I heard someone say “manatees”, so Rich went over to check it out. There were two manatees right by the restaurant!
Burdines On Boot Key HarborManatees look like big logs in the water
Wednesday our son’s in-laws came here from Naples FL where they are staying for a couple of months to spend two days in Marathon. We had breakfast with them at the Stuffed Pig and waddled away like stuffed pigs – great breakfasts here! They had not seen our boat so we spent a little bit of time on the boat. They stayed at a hotel because they had their dog with them, so they then went back to the hotel to take care of the dog. Mid afternoon they returned and we drove down to Key West. We wanted to go to a small park that has busts of many early settlers of Key West, but couldn’t remember exactly where it was. We asked a couple of people for directions (a shopkeeper, someone at an information booth), looked at a tourist map, and still had only a vague idea of where it was. We eventually found it, but I’m still amazed the woman in the info booth didn’t know what I was talking about and the map didn’t show it. We did keep running into an interesting character as we were walking. A man, obviously already drunk, approached us several times asking for change because “I’ll be honest with you, I just want some change so I can get drunk”. At the price of drinks there, it would take more than some change to get drunk.
We did find the statuary garden and spent time reading about all the people who established Key West. A number of them started out with nothing and through hard work became quite wealthy. And some started out with more –
The first time we went to Mallory Square there was no one there because it was cold and windy. This time there were vendors and street acts setting up everywhere.People were beginning to gather to watch the sunset.Dinner at Louie’s Backyard in Key West with Gary and Donna
Thursday we met again for breakfast and then headed to the turtle hospital. We decided, after finding out it was a 90 minute tour and cost $25/person, that we would go back to Key West and tour Fort Zachary Taylor instead. It was quite interesting and only cost $2/person to get into the park. The exhibits at the turtle hospital were quite informative and we didn’t feel the need to see live turtles. And it was such a beautiful day that it was nice to spend it outside.
As we were walking back to the car at the turtle hospital, we saw this iguana sitting on top of a fence.Looking out at the water from the top of the fortTents were being set up for a re-enactment this weekend of a naval battle and an encampment inside the fort. Note the cruise ship in the background on the right side.On the way back we saw this white thing in the sky. As we got closer we could see it was an all-white blimp. A google search told us it is a tethered aerostat radar system, operated by the Air Force, to keep a watchful eye over Cuba, the Florida Straits, and the Gulf of Mexico. It is lovingly referred to as Fat Albert.
Today was another lazy day – I spent a lot of time on the fly bridge reading and enjoying the warm weather while Rich recovered from eating too much licorice yesterday. We did get back to Enterprise car rental today to renew our rental for another month. Apparently car insurance companies won’t cover a rental for more than 30 days at a time, but at least we were able to keep the same car. And we can drop it off at the Miami airport when we fly back to Indiana in early March with no extra fee for dropping off at a different location – I love Enterprise!
