April 12 & 13, 2014 Lazy Days

Wow, have we been lazy.  Our main activities have been sailing, eating and sleeping.  Every morning at 9:00 they have the Cruisers Net on the VHF radio on channel 68.  They have a host that leads the program through several sections.  There was a welcome to  new arrivals.  You call in with your boat name, they recognize you, then you tell them where you are from, who’s on you boat and what your plans are.  Then they ask for anyone that is leaving the area and their destination.  Then they ask if anyone has any questions about the area or needs help with anything.  There is an announcement section and an advertisement section.  Then there is a buy, sell, giveaway section.  We got rid of some paper charts of the Gulf of Mexico the first day.  Yeah!!  They ask for any final business, then they have a trivia section.  Sounds like there are some regulars that call in everyday, after listening to it for 2 days now.  Sunday I asked if anyone had transportation to go to the Catholic Church in Marathon.  No one offered a ride, but someone did suggest that the taxi was $6.00.  So that’s what I ended up doing.

On Saturday, Dave made us a lunch with leftovers.  We also ran the water maker, which is so cool to have.  Then we all went up to the marina to get information about the area, like where the grocery store is, where to fill propane tanks, etc.  They have an area to watch TV, and area for power and wifi, and lots of open tables to use as you wish.  They have some large areas with large garage doors where you can work on projects too big to do on your boat.  There is a  big wall of book shelves where you can exchange paperbacks.  I am going to leave 2.  But I have several on board already to read.  I wanted to pick up more, but you have to worry about them becoming moldy, too. 

Later that afternoon, we took the dinghy to a local restaurant for a meal and a few drinks, Dockside.  It was right in the bay where the marina is located.  We could see the sun set behind all the sailboats.  We returned to the boat and sat outside and enjoyed the nice breeze in our cockpit.  Beautiful evening. 

Sunday morning, after listening to the cruiser’s net, I had a quick breakfast and got ready for church.  Taxi ride was very convenient. The priest was Cuban and had a booming voice.  He really stirred the spirit within you.  It was Palm Sunday.  This is the second time I have gone to church on Palm Sunday in the Keys.  They really decorate their churches with great palms since they are plentiful in this area.

After I returned, Dave wanted to go somewhere for a burger.  We decided to walk to a restaurant within a couple blocks of the marina.  It was closed.  But just down the street from it, on the gulf side of the island, there was a fish market and restaurant that we walked to.  It was fantastic.  I had a lobster reuben sandwich.  Dave had a tuna sandwich with a thick tuna steak cooked rare, as he likes it.  Dean had a seafood combination platter.  You ordered at a window, then sat at tables outside.  We went to the second floor to look out over the Gulf. 

We walked back to the marina in about 85 degrees with humidity that felt close to 100%.  We went a couple extra blocks to check out where you refill propane.  By the time we returned to the boat, we were all exhausted.  So we took naps.  LAZY!!

After naps, we went to the marina for showers.  Then off to another restaurant to eat again.  We went back to Dockside because it was dark by now and we knew our way there by dinghy.  They were having a jam session tonight.  It was great to begin with, but later the music was really loud.  I didn’t care how stupid I looked, so I plugged my ears for a few songs.  Dave and Dean had appetizers and I had a salad with shrimp.  Relaxing night.  There is a full moon on the 15th, but it looked pretty full tonight.  And the sky had a pretty color to it.   So we had to take photos before dark with the moon behind our boat. 

I told Dean today that there are “trips” and there are “vacations”.  Trips are where you go somewhere to see as much as you can, like New York City.  And Vacations are where you go somewhere to relax.  Sailing is definitely a vacation.  He felt this has been a combination of the two for him.