We ended up docking at a marina in Marathon thus bringing an end to our northern friends' visit. We did not get them to Key West as we'd originally hoped but considering the weather we started out with (crazy cold temps and winds), and a couple of unexpected stops, I think we did pretty good.
All kinds of stuff then had to take place and get put into effect. A car rental reservation had to be made (and on a weekend in Marathon during the height of snow bird season it's not that easy), should I thaw something for dinner or were we going to go out to eat, did we have time to get laundry done or should we wait until the next day, did we want to sight see or not, and if our guests were able to snag a car when should we try to provision? During this decision making I hurried up and re-filled our water tanks, scrubbed the bloody remains of mosquito corpses from the cockpit (a surprisingly tough job), dumped garbage, and walked the dog a couple of times (Wilbur was suffering from serious sniffy withdrawal).
On day two at the marina Dave and Kathy obtained their rental car and it was decided we'd go out to dinner before their next day's departure. Hans went with them to pick up the car and get our mail and I was very excited to find the dry bag I'd ordered, along with my new bluetooth keyboard, had arrived (the letter 't' on my old keyboard went on an illegal strike so I fired it).
So here's how we ended up eating at the Sunset Grill. Normally, one might Google local restaurants and perhaps read some reviews and go from there. But, you haven't met Kathy. We were on our way to eat when Dave and Hans told me how exactly they'd chosen this particular venue.
Kathy had taken note of how friendly and helpful the lady at the very busy car rental agency was and decided once they'd departed that she would give her a call. Nice Lady didn't answer so Kathy then left a detailed voice mail. Nice Lady (who really was nice after all) returned Kathy's call and they had a lively discussion and not only did Nice Lady recommend the Sunset Grill, she told Kathy where she could shop for a couple of nice summer tops. By now Dave and Hans were laughing and said only a woman would do something like that. But that's how women are; Nice Lady probably could have told Kathy where a good shoe sale was going on or where the best place to shop for fresh produce was. Even Google can't do that in just one quick visit!
By the way, the Sunset Grill was the perfect place to go. It was a snow-bird's dream of an evening in Florida; wide open seating with a warm breeze drifting through, a sandy beach just a few steps away, a huge lit swimming pool where kids swam around while their parents sat close by at their table. Oh, and the food and service were great too.
After dinner, Hans, and Kathy and Dave, got the better of me with a mini surprise party. Hans bought me a pretty shark tooth necklace from a lady in the marina gift store who finds her shark teeth at the Don Pedro State Park where Hans had no luck finding any. Now I have one.
Dave and Kathy really surprised me with a conch shell. We've been wanting one for a long time and I had hoped we could snag one in the Bahamas and drill it out ourselves. But this is much better; it's a perfect petite size for the boat and it's been drilled correctly and works beautifully, plus it was a gift from very special friends.
Check out that adorable conch shell.
We've since blown our conch at sundown several times. It takes a couple of efforts each time but we've both managed to do pretty well.
I now have a whole new appreciation for trumpet players.
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