Florida: Marathon - Sweet Savannah's

Day 229
Thursday 2/25/2016

What a difference in the weather today from yesterday! We woke to 20+ mph winds and 68 degrees with the temperature still dropping. Even though we are at the southernmost end of the state of Florida, that arctic wind can still be felt. We canceled our travel plans for a day in Key West. We did not see the point of being blown all over the place as we tried to tour the area. We will try for a day next week instead.

With the canceled plans the day turned into a lazy day of reading and talking to our boater acquaintances. Being in the right place at the right time is critical to getting pulled into activities that come along unexpectedly. Today, we just happened to be next to Jammin Jane when folks were making plans for dinner at the Steak and Lobster House restaurant. We were invited to come along, and so we went. The group included ourselves from Sea Moss as well as Jammin Jane, Knot Sew Easty, Liquid Assets, and Haley's Comet. 

With five boats represented at dinner, it took two car trips to get us all to the restaurant. The plan was one car and one six-person taxi. The taxi showed up 40 minutes ahead of requested time, and Tim from Liquid Assets sent them away with a request to come back closer to the requested time of 6:45.  They did not come back as requested, and when he called them at 6:55 to check on status, they said it would be 20 minutes for them to get to the marina to pick us up. Instead, Deb from Haley's Comet made two trips to transport us all to dinner in time for our 7:00 reservation.

The specials menu showed Prime Rib cuts of either 16 or 32 ounces. So many folks at our table ordered the prime rib that Justin, our waiter, went to check in the kitchen to be sure they could accommodate the order. Brent and Ben each ordered the 32 ounce cuts. When Brent ordered his, he said he wanted it "Cut off  the horns and smack its ass" rare. Clark ordered the Hogfish special, and I ordered the small rack of BBQ ribs which actually fell off the bone as I tried to eat them. Everyone was well-pleased with their meals.

Clark and I opened up an invitation to our dinner party to come back to Sea Moss for dessert. Initially it was to share Strawberry Rhubarb pie that Bob had made for us. Once I realized that we would have 10 people, I added some Applesauce Cake and chocolate chip cookies to the dessert menu. Clark insisted we needed to serve "mode" with our pie, so we had vanilla ice cream as well.

Haley's Comet (Brent & Deb)
Jammin Jane (Jane & Ben)
Sea Moss (Clark & Ev)

Knot Sew Easy (Bob & Liz)
Liquid Assets (Tim & Carol)
Sea Moss (Ev)

My being seated in the Captain's chair in the middle of the upper helm resulted in me appearing in both the port and the starboard photos.  Besides having dessert, we used the opportunity to show off our newly installed, upper-helm light to our boating friends.

After everyone left our boat Clark and I opened up my laptop and watched recent episodes of some of our favorite TV shows that we cannot watch when aired since we do not have any means of tuning them in. I still cannot believe that this marina provides no cable TV!

Day 230
Friday 2/26/2016

Since we stayed up extra late watching TV shows last night, we slept in way late today. We skipped our normal cereal breakfast, and I made a cheese omelet and blueberry pancakes for brunch instead. For the afternoon we planned a bicycle ride east past the Marathon airport just to see what was on the other side. Even though the weather reports indicated a temperature of 63 with a chilly wind from the north, we dressed in shorts and t-shirts and took jackets with us in case we needed them. We both found that a long-sleeved shirt over the t-shirt provided sufficient warmth while biking.

We have biked to Publix multiple times. That is a distance of about two miles, and other than dodging utility construction that seems to always be blocking multiple sections of the bike path, we find the ride to be "no big deal". We have never before today biked more than a couple of hundred feet beyond the Publix, so today's trip provided new territory to explore.

As we passed the entrance to Crane Point, a big fat iguana ran across the bike path right in front of Clark and shot up a tree. Clark got off his bike with his camera in hot pursuit. He took several pictures aiming up into the branches and managed to get one pretty good one of the iguana.

Iguana in Tree

We continued on down the bike path towards the Marathon airport. When we arrived at the airport, Clark stopped to watch the runway as he thought a plane was about to take off. We did not see the plane but did see the Bi-plane and helicopter giving rides to tourists.

Bike Path approaching Marathon Airport

Bi-plane in the Clear Blue Sky!
A ride costs $59 for 10 minutes and $110 for 20 mins.

Helicopter Rides are $59 a person - taking off!
(Just observing - neither Clark nor I signed on for this trip)

As we stood waiting for the plane that Clark thought might take off shortly, he received a phone call that abruptly changed our plans for the rest of the afternoon. He has been wanting a Cost Guard Vessel Safety Check since we arrived here in Marathon. Ben called to say that someone had called him about a safety check, and he passed the contact information on to Clark.

Clark immediately called the Coast Guard representative. Wouldn't you know that the representative could come today at 3:30 when we were at the other end of the island!? That meant we had to cut short our exploration plans. We still managed to hit the highlights of our planned excursion albeit in an abbreviated fashion.

Clark stepped into a hardware store for a quick peak and stopped in to check on the cost and get information on Aquarium Encounters.  I visited a store called "Marooned in Marathon". While I was in "Marooned in Marathon" checking out their inventory, Clark biked over the nearby bridge to check out the sites. The store did not offer anything I wanted to buy, so I very quickly followed him over the bridge.

The views from the bridge of Vaca Cut were pretty and tranquil. After all the biking, the breeze on the bridge felt wonderfully cool - not cold! I stood there for a while at the top of the bridge enjoying the scene and surveying the area in search of Clark who was nowhere to be found. Just as I started to call him to ask where he was, I saw him coming my way. He had visited the Visitor's Center to pick up some literature and coupons.

Vaca Cut - Marathon, FL

We went down one side of Route 1, crossed over at a traffic light, and came back over the bridge on the other side. The main reason for this route was the ice cream store we wanted to visit was on the other side of the road.

We stopped at Sweet Savannah's for ice cream. I believe we have become ice cream snobs. I found their selection as disappointing as the ice cream store located closer to us down the road. I settled for a plain vanilla. Clark got a rainbow sherbet which he thought looked like a colorful flower in his cone.

Clark's Rainbow Sherbet "Flower" Cone
at Sweet Savannah's in Marathon, FL

Having stopped at a variety of places including the ice cream store, we were rapidly running out of time to get to the boat at the designated time. Google Maps said 23 minutes to cover the almost five miles back to the boat. With the number of side streets we had to cross plus all the utility work blocking the bike path, we knew it would take longer. We just did not know how much longer. My guess was 45 minutes. Either way we had to hustle as we only had about 35 minutes to get back. Where the ride northeast had been leisurely, the ride southwest was anything but!

Although I was putting my all into the bike, I could not get the speed I would have liked due to wind resistance. I had to buck the wind the whole way back. Clark just kept going and going, and just I kept chasing him. I was very surprised when he stopped to snap a picture of an old car along the side of the bike path.

Car by Bike Path

 I was even more surprised that he stopped to take a picture of the Blue Waters Resort. This resort has taken shape while we have been staying in Marathon for the past three weeks. In other words, we have had to listen to the construction noise the entire time we have been here. I heard that the place is to open in March, and the workers seem to be working overtime including weekends to make their date.

Blue Waters Resort in Marathon 

When we pulled into the Faro Blanco marina, I fully expected Clark to head directly to our boat to meet the inspector. However, he was sidetracked by the activity on Jammin Jane. Ben, Bob, Tim, and Brent took Jammin Jane out for a test run to check out Ben's newly repaired engine. The "boys" were just pulling up to the dock as we arrived.

I shooed Clark along as quickly as possible. Actually he left when he decided that there were enough hands available to catch lines such that he was not needed. I saw no need for me to rush back to the boat with him, so I stayed and talked to folks for a while before heading "home" to the boat. Because Clark likes to talk and the inspector was laid back, the inspection took a full two hours. We passed and now have a decal on the big boat. While he was there, the inspector also inspected, passed, and provided us with a decal for kayak safety.

The inspector came at 3:30 an left at 5:30. Normally around 5:30 I look to see who is at docktails. Due to the cold, high-speed winds we saw no one attending docktails tonight. We walked up towards the pool to see who was around and found a mini docktails going on in front of Jammin Jane. We sat there and talked for a while, but even wearing my coat, I became too cold to hang out pretty quickly. I went back to the boat and added a sweatshirt so I could try to stay warmer then went back to join the folks one more time.

Tonight seemed to be a cook-on-board night. No one seemed to be going out that I talked to. I too cooked on board and prepared stir-fry for tonight's dinner, which we ate on our boat. Plans for after my blog updates included watching more TV via the internet at cbs.com