Marathon Marina and Boatyard, Marathon, FL

Hello everyone - I can't believe it has been so long since I entered a report!! And I apologize ahead of time for the super long journal you are about to read. You may want to consider doing it in segments. We have been at the Marathon Marina and Boatyard since Wednesday, February 17th, and we have been wonderfully busy with friends and family coming to visit and getting together with other Loopers that we had met coming down the rivers. Tonight, after two days of high winds, it stilled and we were treated to this spectacular sunset!

We stayed at Key West for two nights. What a difference a day made. We had such an enjoyable trip across the gulf from Marco Island, and woke up to wind gusts up to 35 mph pinning Grateful against the port side dock finger. We were set up to debark on the starboard side so we had no fenders on port side. Mark used every ounce of "push" he had in him to get fenders between Grateful and the dock.

The Key West Bight area looks spacious from aerial photos, but it is tight. Not only are boats placed on the ends of docks, but the turn space behind the docks is not 1.5 times the longest boat as we have it in MN.

I see that I have repeated myself and that I had left the last blog entry without knowing if we were going to move on to Marathon or not......

Well, we were able to get a spot in Marathon because other boats also moved on. Our start was delayed as we were waiting to hear if there was an opening. When I returned from taking Port for a walk, around 10:00, Mark had the engines running. It was a good day to travel. We took the Hawk Channel on the Atlantic side and arrived at Marathon at 3:00. We picked up 316 gallons of fuel and because we were staying got a dime off the cost - so only paid $3.30 per gallon. YIKES!!!! As we were fueling up, we heard someone calling our names and were delighted to see Steve and Liz (boat - Shingebiss) behind us in their dinghy! These guys are from MN and we first met them at Grand Harbor at the start on the Tenn-Tom.

Once settled in the slip, Mark rinsed the salt off Grateful - amazing how it accumulates.

Tom and Lyn, our MN friends who are wintering in Venice, FL, and crewed with us in December, came down to visit Thursday afternoon. Lyn's brother, Doug, lives in Marathon and they stayed with him for this visit. Right away they offered to cart us around for re-provisioning and we took advantage of their car and good will. While we were in the grocery store, we heard that there had been a fatal accident on the 7-mile bridge just south(west) of the marina. Doug told us that when this happens, traffic is stopped both ways for hours while the police reconstruct the accident. So we all met Doug at a restaurant on Key Colony looking out at the ocean. Seating outside would have been wonderful if it hadn't been so windy and chilly ( I don't use the word "cold" out of respect for those of you "up north"). We thought that we had waited long enough for the traffic to be flowing again. WRONG. About two miles from the marina we came to a standstill. After a half hour of not moving, Tom pulled out into the on-coming lane, kept his left turn signal blinking (so no one would shoot us) and drove the two miles so he could turn into the marina. We all needed a drink after that!

Friday was a "Loopers" potluck at Banana Bay resort so we attended with our crew mates, Tom and Lyn. We enjoyed visiting with "loopers" that we had met before our stay on Ft Myers Beach. I wish I had taken pictures, but I was too busy visiting. There was Steve & Liz (Shingebiss), Fred & Linda (Young America), Jerry & Marty (Monarch), Tom & Diane (Noah Genda) and others that were new to us. There is a bond that forms between those that travel the Great Loop.

We had heard that the band at Banana Bay was "very interesting" that night. So Lyn, Doug and I stayed to listen and dance. Mark and Tom left us because they really don't enjoy that stuff. The band indeed was interesting, and we had a good time. Years ago Doug had visited MN and Tom & Lyn had a party where he taught us line dancing. Well wouldn't you know, he was instructive with the "two-step", and I couldn't keep my left and right feet in order.

On Saturday, our niece and nephew, Teresa and Adam, came to visit. Teresa had been in Orlando for the week for work and Adam came to join her for the weekend. We were honored that they would take 6 hours to drive down to see us. Fortunately, they were here on one of our best weather days. We took a dinghy tour through the Boot Key harbor up to the Dockside restaurant where we met Tom, Lyn & Doug. On the way, we saw a mama and baby manatee and a spotted ray. WOW! Marathon is filled with waterside restaurants and we had a great time at the Dockside. It was a dark trip back to the boat, but it is well marked. The next morning Adam & Teresa went exploring in the dinghy and later that day we all piled into their rental Mustang convertible and went to the "dog beach". Porter had a great time running and playing with other dogs. However, we didn't consider that we had to get the wet, sand-coated dog and us back to the boat. We had enough towels that we wrapped him up like a cocoon to return to Grateful. Adam and Teresa left us around 2:00 to get back to Orlando. It was so good to see them.

That evening, Tom, Lyn, Mark and I went to No Name Pub on No Name Key (go figure). Mark and I had been here years ago and we remembered having great pizza - it was every bit as good as we remembered!! You may have noticed the wallpaper - Mark said he read that there was over $70,000.00 lining those walls and we added one more.

Our company left on Monday and we were on our own. We had another warm and beautiful day so Mark, Porter and I headed out exploring in the dinghy. We went through Boot Key Harbor, along Sister Creek and then out into the Atlantic for 5-6 miles to the dog beach. A nice day.

In between times we have had wind and rain. A couple of days ago two big yachts found shelter in the marina during a storm. It is fascinating watching them maneuver in challenging situations. We have since found out that the yacht, Summer Love, is a 105' Feadship built in 1955 - beautifully preserved.

We have also enjoyed dinner with Fred and Linda from boat, Young America. They were the ones who traveled with us when we parked Grateful in the woods.

We also had dinner with Steve and Liz from boat, Shingebiss, a 34 foot Mainship. We said farewells to them on Friday. They had been in Marathon for a month and now are going to Cudjoe Key where they have a house rented for friends and family to visit for March.

We wish our new friends safe travels till we meet again along the way.