Marathon

We arrived in Marathon, FL on December 20th. We had assistance getting into our slip from other boaters. Once we got settled in our neighbor Patty brought us a plate of chocolate chip cookies. They were delicious!

Cape Sable to Marathon

Patty's cookies

Our slip provided the perfect sunset view.

We walked to one of our favorite places in Marathon, Castaway's Waterfront Restaurant & Sushi Bar.  On our walk we passed a group of friendly people, who sit in the same spot everyday enjoying cold beverages.  It was chilly on our return trip, the group offered us a drink out of their vodka bottle (yes, straight out of the bottle) and told us to get sweatshirts on. We thanked them for the offer and kept on walking.

We found Castaway's on our last visit to Marathon by accident.  It is tucked in a little corner not far from Burdine's. Castaway's was built in 1951 and was known as the place to get beer and shrimp steamed in beer.  They have indoor and outdoor bars and dining. The menu has expanded and includes steaks, seafood, sushi and 52 beers on tap. We always get the Tunachos.  Next time I would like to try their breakfast.

Tuesday morning, Rob's old shipmate friend, Tony, stopped by for a visit. He lives in an RV and spent the summer in New York. Later that afternoon, our friend Rebecca came and drove us to Publix so we could get some provisions including our Christmas dinner.  After shopping we went back to the boat 🚢, put away refrigerated items and then headed to Sunset Grill for dinner.  Rebecca drove us and her boyfriend Mike met us there.  We had about a 20 minute wait, which worked out perfectly.  We all ordered the hogfish sandwich, which made the server's job easier.  The sandwiches were delicious and huge.

Rob & Rebecca

Several times during the week, Rob tried starting the boat, to see if we had the same problem with the boat not starting.  Each time the boat started right up with no issues.

On Wednesday, our friends Tony and Michelle came over with Michelle's daughter Kayla for happy hour on KaWhy Knot.  Kayla is visiting Tony and her mom from Washington State.  Kayla flew into Key West and Tony and Michelle drove from Fort Myers Beach to pick her up and spend some time with her in the Keys.  They left their sailboat in Fort Myers Beach and stayed at a hotel in Marathon, worked out perfect that we were there at the same time.  

Sharon, Tony, Kayla, & Michelle

Before leaving they invited us to join them Christmas Eve for a trip in to Key West.

On Christmas Eve, I woke up with a pretty bad toothache.  My tooth had been slightly bothering me for a couple of days, but this day I knew I needed a dentist.  I called the Community Health Center of South Florida, I had a very nice person who asked how quickly I could get there, they would see me as a walk in.  The office was a 20 minute walk from where we were.  Rob called Tony and he came and picked us up, just a 2 min drive.  Jorge checked me in and filled out most of the paperwork.  I was called back before I even finished signing my life away.  X-rays were taken, a lot of fun when it hurts to bite down.  The doctor came in and wanted to know when my root canal was done.  I told her just this past February.  She told me I had an instrument that was left behind when the root canal was done  and I needed to go back to the dentist that completed it.  She prescribed amoxicillin and 800 mg ibuprofen. There was a pharmacy on site and I was finished with everything in a little over an hour.  The staff were very friendly, courteous, and professional.

Sharon in the dentist chair

When we were finished at the dentist, Rob called Tony and he came and took us back to the boat.  Rob made me some soft scrambled eggs and then I loaded up on my drugs and took a nap.  

Later in the day, Tony, Michelle, and Kayla picked us up for our fun evening in Key West.  Our first stop was Hogfish Bar and Grill on Stock Island. Our dishes included the Royal Red Shrimp Roll, Stock Island Shrimp & Stone Ground Cheese Grits, and Seafood Enchilada.  We then went to the Sunset Tiki Bar at the Galleon to watch the sunset.  We forgot at this time of year it is not the best place to watch the sunset.  Still pretty but not as spectacular. 

We checked out The Artist House, it is an arty guesthouse from the Victorian era.  It is one of the most photographed houses in Key West. Kayla told us about the haunted doll.  In the early 1900's a boy named Eugene Robert Otto was given a one-of-a kind handmade doll made by a servant.  Eugene named the doll, Robert.  Robert the doll was involved in strange and somewhat terrifying events.  The story says that Robert would watch the neighborhood kids from the upstairs window and mock them as they walked to school. Robert is now in a glass case at the East Martello Fort. You can Google Robert the Doll for the entire story, he even has a Wikipedia page.

Christmas Day was a pretty low key day.  I was still not 100%, so we hung out at home and watched Christmas movies. I baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies.   We were able to video chat with the kids. We were also able to video chat with Wendy, Jeff, Mom, and Dad.

If I say so myself, I made a delicious dinner of ham steak, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, and Caesar salad. When we went grocery shopping I wanted a spiral ham but, everyone was huge. With just the 2 of us we would have eaten ham 😋  for months. So I opted for the ham steak.

Our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was not our normal celebration but 2020 was definitely not normal for a lot of people. We hope you had a very Merry Christmas.

Saturday, Rebecca stopped by to bring us fish that her boyfriend Mike had caught.  She gave us yellowtail and mutton. Thank you so much. 

On Sunday, December 27th we had a good weather window, the winds were expected to pick up on Monday and get worse through the week.  We were able to change our reservation for Stock Island. 

We got the lines all situated so we could easily get going. Rob started the engine and was letting it run for a little while because it was a chilly morning 🌄.  All of the sudden the engine just cutoff. Rob was a tad distraught because that had never happened before.  Rob checked some things, cracked the injectors in case there was air in the fuel line and finally got the engine started back up. We let it run for a good 20 minutes before casting off the lines.

We are off, Stock Island Marina Village here we come.

Entering Safe Harbor Channel