FAREWELL KEYS, HELLO MARCO, NAPLES & FT MYERS BCH

He Said:   It’s been a while so I hope all is going well in your world. We have had lots of sun down here in the Keys, but also a fair amount of wind and some cool weather to add to the picture.

 

On Tuesday Feb. 17^th our friends from Phoenix, Gary and Kathy, came down to visit us here at Marathon Marina. Gary had family in Naples so they had an opportunity to catch up with them and spend about 6 days with us on the boat.  The weather was OK but not terrific.  We still had a blast doing some fun happy hours, we spent a day in Key West, played golf, and just caught up on stuff.

 

Pat Daley at Sloppy Joe's Key West

It finally happened - Jack met Jimmy at Margaritaville in Key West

Spectacular sunset at Mallory Square, Key West captured by Kathy

Following their departure we had about a 2 day break and more friends from Phoenix came to visit - I go way back with both Cindy and Joe.  We kind of repeated our previous week and did some of the same fun stuff we had done earlier.  We also did some great HH stuff, did Key West, and just enjoyed each other’s company.  They stayed about 5 days and that took us thru the month of Feb.  They left us March 2 to head back to Phoenix and we departed the same day to head towards Marco Island and Naples.

 

Another great Key West sunset

The month of Feb. was too much fun.  I think we had company for about 25 days in Feb. and really enjoyed all of our friends from Phoenix along with my brothers visiting from Columbus.  We also had a chance to hang with some people we had met earlier in our boating world and enjoyed them also.  Marathon Marina was a great place to spend the months of Jan. and Feb but it was now time to head out.  

On Monday the 2^nd we headed toward the mainland.  We traveled about 10 hours and threw the anchor out near Everglades City.  It was a long day in the open water and a peaceful nite sleeping.  We arrived the following day in Marco Island and stayed at the same marina as last year.  We were happy to visit with our boating friends John and Debbie and spent some fun time with my brother Jim and his wife Claudia. The 6 of us had dinner at Snook’s that nite and Claudia headed back to Columbus the following day to visit family.  Jim and I spent several evenings hanging out drinking a few cold ones and watching the Buckeyes get spanked by Wisconsin in hoop.  After about 6 days between Marco and Naples (14 miles apart) it was once again time to roll. We really enjoyed both places and since we were there about a year ago we kind of know our way around.

Everglades National Park

Sunset from the Sunset Grill, Marco Island

 We then departed for Ft. Myers Beach on Monday the 9^th of March. We spent some fun time with John and Trish, people we met about a year ago from Buffalo.  We had a blast catching up with them in both FMB along with Marathon.  Our friends John and Debbie were also in FMB so the 6 of us had a fun chance to hang out a little. Our plans are to stay in FMB for about 3 or 4 days then head to Punta Gorda.  Pat’s sister from Vegas will be there meeting good friends from Chicago.  It will be a fun time I am certain.

 

Check out the fashion - Jack matches the bar in Ft. Myers Beach

From there we will spend several days heading up the Gulf side of Florida until we arrive in our final destination of St. Pete. Sometimes this boat world feels like it started about a week ago.  It’s very hard to believe in a few short months we will finish our 2^nd year - amazing. That is about it from down in Florida.  Hope all is well in your world, and we will keep you posted once we get to St. Pete.   

 Take Care, Jack

 She Said:  It has been a crazy few weeks.  We are having an absolutely fabulous time – we are definitely going out in style!

 Following the twins’ visit, our Phoenix friends, Gary & Kathy, came for a visit.  The day they arrived the weather was great – we were hanging out at the pool enjoying the sunny weather.  That night we went to happy hour at Cabana Breezes which is right on the ocean.  You couldn’t ask for better weather.  Then a front came in and we had absolutely awful weather.  I wore my “winter” coat almost every day Gary & Kathy were here, and we had a record setting low temp of 49 degrees one night!  In spite of the bad weather we had a lot of fun.  We took a day trip to Key West where we saw Pat Daley at Sloppy Joes, went to No Name Pub and saw the Key Deer (a first for Jack & me), golfed, and did our own version of a Marathon Pub Crawl (6 bars/restaurants in one night).  We ended their visit with a sunset toast at Keys Fisheries, where we hooked up with some fresh caught Mahi.  We brought the Mahi to Sunset Restaurant where they prepared it a couple different ways with several sides.  It doesn’t get any fresher than that.  Before Gary & Kathy left we had brunch on the water at the foot of the 7 Mile Bridge (where the Florida Bay & Atlantic come together) – the weather was perfect!

 

Kathy, Jack & Gary at No Name Pub, No Name Key.  The most dollar bills we've seen in one place.

 

The endangered Key Deer

 

It was COLD!

 

The 7 Mile Bridge seen from MTB

 As our final days in Marathon were coming to an end, Cindy & Joe from Phoenix came to help us say farewell to the Keys.  We made another trip to Key West where we saw entertainer Bil Kraus again (always fun), went to my favorite watering hole, The Commodore, and saw our last KW sunset at Mallory Square.   We got a small group together and headed to Ramrod Key to see local TropRock star Howard Livingston one last time.  While the bottom of MTB was being cleaning by a scuba diver (this improves our fuel consumption and is just good for the boat), we headed off to the pig races.  We spent our last night in the Keys at my favorite Marathon restaurant, Florida Steak & Lobster, for our farewell dinner. 

 

One of our favorite Key West places - Irish Kevin's and one of our favorite performers, Bil Krauss

 

It's a bit hard to make out, but that's a diver on the port bow (how about that nautical talk)

Final pig race of the day.  They were lightning fast!

It was really hard leaving Marathon – especially all of our friends at the Marathon Marina.  After spending 3 months in the Keys this year and 2 months last year, we made a lot of friends.  When we left last year we knew we would be back and likely reconnect with people.  Knowing we won’t be back, and that it is unlikely our wakes will cross with our boater friends as our trip comes to an end, we really were saying our final farewells.

 

Our final Marathon sunset

Our wake as we are leaving Marathon

 The winds were blowing around 15 MPH (the top range of our comfort level) so we weren’t sure if we were going to leave as scheduled.  After checking numerous weather sites and talking with lots of people, we decided to leave as scheduled.  We were traveling with friends, John & Debbie (experienced boaters), so that made us feel more comfortable.  It turned out to be a good travel day – a bit choppy early, but the water settled down nicely.  We followed John & Debbie so we didn’t have to do any navigating – a unique experience for us.  We actually traveled about 10 hours that day and made it all the way to Everglades City where we rafted with John & Debbie.  Rafting is when one boat sets its anchor and another boat ties up to the anchored boat. While we were waiting for John & Debbie to set their anchor we noticed they had a couple crab trap floats floating alongside them.  They hit a couple of the trap markers/floats – ouch!  We heard that while in Everglades National Park, you have to anchor more than 400 yards from land – so we complied!

 

We had planned to set sail around 8:30am the next day for our short trip to Marco Island.  When we met with John & Debbie in the morning we found out that their generator wasn’t working – it didn’t impact their ability to start the engines, but it was something that would need attention when we got to Marco Island.  We also saw that one of our lines came untied over night and we also lost one of our fenders/bumpers.  It was quite a night!  We untied the remaining lines and waiting while John & Debbie pulled up their anchor.  Or should I say “tried” to pull up their anchor.  Their windlass wasn’t working – you might remember we had the same problem last year.  They have a 60 pound anchor and about 100’ of chain out – that’s a lot of weight to pull up and there was nothing we could do to help them out.  Once we got under way it was an uneventful trip to Marco Island.

 

In Marco we met Jack’s brother and sister-in-law, Jim & Claudia, at Snook’s for dinner.  John & Debbie joined us later after arranging for a mechanic and having a diver go under their boat to cut the trap lines from their propeller.  We never want to see another boater have a problem, but it lets us know that these kinds of problems happen to all boaters – not just us. 

 

Marco Island

We left John & Debbie in Marco working on their repairs and we headed for Naples.  We had a great time in Naples last year and this time was no different.  We got a chance to spend time with Jim, my friend Debi from Chicago, and our Mexico friends Dale & Clara.  We visited all of our favorite haunts and added a couple new ones.  After 4 days we were off to Ft. Myers Beach.

 

Clara & Jack.  Dale and I didn't get the memo

Naples Pier - It's always great

As we pulled into Ft. Myers Beach we saw a friend’s boat.  They were having boat issues in Marathon so we were happy to see that things were repaired and they were making their way home.  We grabbed a mooring ball and got a call from John & Debbie saying that they were arriving in FMB the same night.  They too had their repairs done.  The six of us spent a couple days together until we had to say our final good-byes.  All three couples met on our first night on the ICW in Coinjock, NC a year and a half ago.  John & Debbie have been our best boating friends and saying good-bye to them was the hardest.  They will be traveling “The Loop” for the next year, but we hope to see them on land sometime in the future.

 

John, Debbie & Jack on Bonnie Blue.  We had a great time with you guys!

We are off to Punta Gorda to meet up with my sister, Donna, and friends, Tom & Laura.  We spent 2 nights in Punta Gorda last year and really enjoyed it.  Having family and friends there will make it that much more fun.  That’s it for now.  Will update you again in a few weeks as we settle in to St. Pete.