Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, FL - Feb. 1 - 8

It's hard to believe that we've been here almost three weeks and will be starting our trip toward home in the not-too-distant-future.  We've enjoyed having Marla and Al close by for the past week, going out to eat, joining them for activities at the RV park and going to the movies, and we will be welcoming Roger and Marcy onto the boat for the upcoming weekend.  The weather over the past week has been really beautiful, although the wind has picked up and it's pretty nippy tonight.


Jann and Gary's soon-to-be-renamed Sea Angel, a beautiful trawler

 We've seen more of our nearby boat neighbors, Jann and Gary, who have been having some not-to-be-envied boat adventures.  Think, broken refrigerator, escaping dinghy.  Jann came over a few days ago and we sewed together most of the day.  That was a lot of fun.  I'm still working on the quilt I told you about last time and Jann made a fancy 12" block to decorate an end table on her boat.

Being among so many boats (around 300), we can't help but notice the variety of boat names.  A few of the really good ones - Second Wind, Power of Two, Cat in the Hat, Miss Kitty and her dinghy called Marshall Dillon, About Time, Two if by Sea, and Camelot with her dinghy named Camalittle.  A huge number of people here in the harbor share their boats with dogs.  I've never seen such a variety of breeds of dogs happily commanding the front of dinghies as they motor to shore.  We are a little astonished at the guy who seems to be living contentedly with an enormous Great Dane on his boat.



This boat is called Cat in the Hat



Here's our "neighborhood."


We saw an interesting sight today.  A man and woman in a dinghy either were having motor troubles or were working on leaving a very small carbon footprint.  The guy pushed off from shore, pulled out a large umbrella, opened it up and positioned it so the wind would catch the umbrella and move his boat through the water.  It carried them along at a good little clip, both of them smiling happily.

Lots of books are getting read here on Cool Change.

You might like to see where we are.  Go to the link below and you can watch a live video feed that rotates through about six views of the harbor and the marina 24 hours a day.  On Saturday we got Patrick on the phone as we headed into the dinghy dock and told him to go to the site and we waved frantically so he could see us.  I'm afraid the people sitting on shore thought we were nuts as I vigorously flailed my arms through the air.  It's hard to see our boat as we're far back in the group but look for a big boat in front of a condominium on the other side of the harbor.  http://www.ci.marathon.fl.us/index.aspx?NID=600