The Nostalgia Tour

We are settling into daily life in Marathon.  Boot Key Harbor has over 200 boats on mooring balls and many more at surrounding marinas or at anchor in the shallows.  The harbor is protected from all directions, and, although we are as far away from the community dinghy dock and facilities as one could be, due to our deep draft, it is still a relatively short ride in to the lounge, laundry, bike racks, and showers. Within a mile are a number of restaurants, some accessible by dinghy, West Marine, and a great grocery store. In Marathon, life is easy.

Morning coffee in the hammock chair

In Marathon, life is also busy, and the days fly by.  We get our new bikes via UPS and have them serviced at a local bike shop, so now we have wheels again.  A favorite ride is heading west along a busy US Route 1 on a bike trail to the beginning of the famed Seven Mile Bridge. 

At the end of the Old Seven Mile Bridge with our friend Sally - breakfast at the Stuffed Pig was to follow

Here traffic flies by on the new bridge while a two mile section of the old bridge remains available to walkers and bikers.  We pedal along enjoying vistas in all directions of the milky green waters of the Keys with a multitude of mangrove islands dotting the northern exposures.  If you stop and patiently look into the clear waters below, one can see much aquatic life.  We find tarpon, turtles, nurse sharks, a bonnet head shark (a small relative of the hammerhead shark), and needle fish. The old bridge stops at Pigeon Key, now an historical landmark.  At one time it was a headquarters for Henry Flagler’s construction company which built the original railroad through the Keys.

We take dinghy excursions through Old Woman’s Creek, exploring the canal front neighborhoods and heading out to the ocean side of Marathon and Sombrero Beach, a city public park.  Sitting under a palm tree with our toes in sand is a delightful way to spend an afternoon.

We tour the nearby Turtle Hospital. After a talk on the endangered species of turtles that inhabit these waters, we visit behind the scenes of the hospital.  The operating suites are first class, and we see one turtle in the recovery room.  Medical issues effecting turtles include ensnarement in fishing nets and lines, unfortunate encounters with props and speeding boat hulls, and a peculiar type of tumor. This is one of the few facilities in North American licensed to do surgery on endangered turtles. Outside, at this one time bayside motel is a large salt water swimming pool, now a holding tank for recovering turtles and those turtles that will never be able to be released to the wild. Visitors can feed the turtles, attracting them to the side where we observe the sizable green and loggerhead turtles. Nearby are smaller tanks with turtles isolated and healing from surgery, diseases, or injuries.

This Loggerhead Turtle seemed especially attracted to the visitors

We visit Crane Point Nature Center, a secluded tract of bayside land, right in the middle of Marathon. 

View over Florida Bay from Crane Point

We walk through dense tropical hammock, enjoy vista over Florida Bay, and see the restored home of Bahamian immigrant George Adderley, the oldest home in the Keys outside of Key West. 

Over 100 years old, the Adderley house is similar to ones we still see in the Bahamas

Also in the property is a wild bird rescue center where injured birds are rehabilitated. On display are osprey, hawks, cormorants, and a hoard of pelicans.  We get to pet a pelican and touch its gullet, the thin baggy skin along its neck. 

Pelicans aren't too bright, so there are plenty that get themselves in trouble and need a helping hand.

As a non-profit, Crane Point is struggling financially, and its directors have recently decided to install a zip line through the hammock to generate revenue, causing considerable controversy in Marathon.  

We head out in the boat to Sombrero Reef, about three miles south of Boot Key Harbor. It is an unusually calm day, but we still have a swell coming over the reef which rocks the boat after we tie to one of the sanctuary mooring balls.  Here at the reef we discover two other boats we know that happen to be docked at a nearby marina.  We have a pleasant snorkel on the reef although the clarity of the water does not come close to what we had seen in the Bahamas. With wet suits on, we are sufficiently comfortable to spend almost a half an hour just floating in the water and visiting with our friends.

And, we spend time socializing. Happy hours include rendezvousing with friends we have made along the way and making new friends with a number of mooring neighbors. We venture to the marina Tiki Hut for evening jam sessions with local musicians, and head over to a nearby restaurant for weekly luncheons with the Seven Seas Cruising Association group. 

A portion of the accurate depiction of Ocean Blvd. in Miami Beach made completely from Legos - a quirky feature at the restaurant hosting the SSCA lunch

Some of the more experienced cruisers and local marine service contractors present seminars on technical issues including alternative energy, battery usage, and ham radio, along with several other talks on cruising destinations.  

Over 75 people attending this excellent seminar on cruising the Exumas

It is safe to assume, no one is bored here.

But, in keeping with our title of “The Nostalgia Tour”, we take a week and sail further west to Key West. In protected Hawk’s Channel, the water is a spectacular assortment of greens, with the tones modulated from above by clouds and sunshine, and below by the either sand or sea grass bottom. 

Burt enjoys the sail down to Key West

Tour boats greet us at the entrance to the Key West Channel

Again, this is a destination we have visited many times in the past.  We take a mooring ball in the distant mooring field after transiting a narrow and shallow channel. The dinghy ride into the dinghy dock takes about 15 minutes, but the weather is mild and we stay relatively dry. Once in town, our bicycles prove invaluable. There is a wide concrete bike trail that runs along the entire circumference of the coast, and we enjoy several rides beside the sparkling waters, sandy beaches, and mangrove estuaries. 

Egrets and one of the infamous roosters beg for treats along the beachside bike trail

We spend a day at the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, lounging under the Australians pines that rim the waterfront. 

The beach at Fort Zachery Taylor State Park

One afternoon we take a tour of the Truman White House, the restored home on what was once a naval base, that President Truman used during his administration for retreats, vacations, and visits with foreign dignitaries. 

Exterior of the Truman White House - we weren't allowed to take pictures inside

Several evenings, we venture into Mallory Square to watch the chaos.  Large crowds of tourists watch the assorted street performers and musicians against a backdrop of various schooners and the setting sun. Sunset is indeed a full scale production here. 

Just another Key West sunset

Juggler/unicycle rider at Mallory Square

Defying description, the Crazy Cat man is one of the biggest attractions - suffice it to say an article on him in the Wall Street Journal mentioned that he put his four children through Ivy League schools on the tips.

Jugglers, unicycle riders, and the crazy cat man draw most of the attention, but we gravitate to a quieter end and enjoy the reggae/ Caribbean guitar music of Mustafa. 

Mustafa give a concert on Mallory Square - he was ranked by PBS's All Things Considered at the top street musician in the country.

And, naturally, we spend some time at the haunts on Duval Street. People watching used to be sport here, but these days the population is more conventional, especially as huge cruise ships discharge their passengers on an almost daily basis.  The music is still good, though, and we enjoy several wonderful meals out at some of our favorite restaurants.

Finally, we happen to arrive in Key West just prior to Key West Race Week, one of the premier race series in North America. High tech racing boats arrive daily, and we visit the area and converse with some of the crews assembling these boats. We’re not talking low budget efforts – the Melges 32’s arrive with impressive chase boats and sizable trailers for supplies while the TP 52’s have one or two air conditioned regulation sized containers apiece full of sails, rigging, and repair shops.  

One of the TP52's sitting along the quay

These boat hail from all over the world, but we are pleased to see two from Lake Erie and enjoy chatting with one crew out of Edgewater Yacht Club in Cleveland.

We leave Key West on a day with mild south winds, something that is unusual during winter when strong easterly are generally a given.  We arrive back in Marathon after a pleasant motor sail of almost 50 miles and pick up our mooring in the protected harbor – a good thing as later that night a strong cold front comes through leaving us with brisk north winds and temperatures in the 60’s, something we haven’t seen in several months. It’s good to be back in Marathon as the mooring field at Key West is exposed to the north and would be fairly uncomfortable.  We spend the following days as before, but are also now preparing to head to the Bahamas.  We await one last mail delivery, finish stocking the boat, make final repairs while supplies are available, and wait for an appropriate weather window to head either to Bimini or straight to Nassau if possible. Our time in the Keys has been easy and relaxing, and we now feel up to the challenge of a Gulf Stream crossing and travels through foreign waters. If only the weather gods will give us the weather we will need for the crossing….