Some folks at the marina have cars, and they are very generous when it comes to offering rides to people. Sandy, on "L'Attitude Adjustment" in the slip next to ours, is particularly accommodating as far as trips to the food store and farmer's market. Recently I suggested to her that the four of us (her, her husband (Bill), Clark, and I) should go out for lunch together. The only catch ... she would need to provide transportation for us.
Sandy decided to take us all on a tour of some of the Keys that we have not seen previously. She would tell no one, including her husband, where we would end up for lunch. She wanted it to be a surprise. Our Key's tour took us through Big Pine Key, Summerland Key, Cudjoe Key and Upper Sugarloaf Key.
The blue dot on the map below shows the location of Faro Blanco Marina where we started our journey. Marathon, as shown on the map, is an island that runs east to west. Starting with Big Pine Key, the islands run north to south. Given that geography, the only small bits of these islands I have seen before were the not-so-interesting glimpses of Highway 1 I got when we took the bus to Key West.
As we drove, Bill and Sandy, being very familiar with the waters here, pointed out areas where they go boating, fishing, and anchoring out. When I said, "Oh look, it's a blimp!", Bill gave us a brief introduction to "Fat Albert" - a Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS). An aerostat is a moored balloon, tethered by a single cable, capable of rising up to 15,000 feet in the air and used to counter illegal drug trafficking. "Fat Albert" is tethered in Cudjoe Key but can be seen from Keys miles away from there.
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| "Fat Albert" in the sky |
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| Close up of Aerostat - "Fat Albert" in Cudjoe Key |
Sandy took us through Summerland Key and Cudjoe Key to Upper Sugarloaf Key. Taking whatever roads struck her fancy, she took us to see areas not visible from Route 1 and kept us all guessing as to our ultimate destination. At one point when she made a right-hand turn, Bill told her she was going the wrong way. She wasn't; she just wasn't done exploring yet. He decided that since he did not have a clue where she was going, it had been rather silly of him to tell her she was going the wrong way.
As we drove around Cudjoe Key, Clark snapped some pictures of the terrain - mostly lagoons. Except for the palm trees and other Keys' foliage, it reminded me a lot of our one-time, summer home in Mystic Island, New Jersey which also consists of miles of lagoons.
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| Lagoon at Cudjoe Key |
Cudjoe Key is where Hurricane Irma made landfall. Many of the homes here suffered damage as a result. We saw several places either in demolition mode or in various stages of reconstruction. As in hard-hit Mystic Island, New Jersey, many of the homes are now raised or in the process of being raised out of the flood plane.
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| Decorated, raised home in Cudjoe Key (note the miniature lighthouse on the grounds) |
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| Weather-beaten tree struggling to make a comeback after Hurricane Irma |
We left Marathon at 11:00 presumably to go to a restaurant for lunch. At 12:30 Sandy finally pulled into one we had passed an hour earlier in Big Pine Key - the Bucktooth Rooster.
The huge menu at the Bucktooth Rooster took quite some time to read. I frequently have trouble finding something I can eat, but here I found multiple things and had trouble deciding among them. The food was as plentiful and as delicious as we had been warned by our boater friends who have been here before us.
Whenever Sandy travels down into the lower keys, she has some market places she likes to visit. She took me in one where we bought fresh baked goods and another where we bought ripe, juicy tomatoes. Before heading back to Marathon, we stopped for some groceries at the Winn Dixie in Big Pine Key - the one in Marathon has yet to reopen since Hurricane Irma wiped it out in September 2017.
While Sandy and I got our groceries, Bill and Clark took a look around the National Key Deer Refuge Visitor Center. On display here, they saw ...
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| American Crocodile |
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| Cranes |
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| What Key Deer should not have eaten |
Afterwards, Clark walked over to the recently-opened Radio Shack to check out their wares.
Our tour and lunch completed, Sandy drove us back to the marina. We got back just after 3:00. While out on our drive, I received a text from Yasmine saying that she and some others planned at outing at 4:00. I wanted to go with them, so I quickly stowed my groceries and went over to tell Yasmine I was back.
Yasmine took us to the art studio where I got to see the end results of our ceramics painting that we did yesterday.
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| "Mandy the Mermaid" before the kiln |
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| "Mandy the Mermaid" after the kiln |
I am quite pleased with my end result. Faith did a plate and Yasmine painted a sea horse. Both turned out very well. All of us want to go back on another bad-weather day to paint some more.
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| Our finished artwork from yesterday |
We got back from our shopping spree around 5:30, and I rushed over to docktails to see who was still there. Since it is the end of the month, multiple folks are pulling out in the morning. I said goodbye to the folks on "Ramble On" (Linda and Scott), "Remember When" (Maryann and Steve), and "Captain's Choice" (Karen and Mark). On Saturday, Eric and Jen on "Slow Lane" will also be pulling out of their slip and moving on. I am very sad to see them all leaving.
On the bright side, a new month brings new visitors to the marina, and AC and Jim on "Hour Plan" arrived today. As soon as the slip is empty, they will move into the slip vacated by "Captain's Choice" and will be just one boat over from us - on the far side of "L'Attitude Adjustment". A Looper boat, "Bella", also came in today, so we met folks we have never met before.
With all the comings and goings, Clark still managed to capture a sunset picture. He's on the job!
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