Karen's Visit!

My friend Karen flew into Miami, rented a car and drove to Marathon to visit Larry and I for a week. Larry and I were both working so we weren't able to cruise for the week like on her last visit but we did manage to go for a short cruise to Bahia Honda State Park. We anchored for two nights and enjoyed some swimming and snorkeling. The picture of the three of us is on Monday at the bridge and as you can see it was very foggy. Even with the fog Karen still managed to hit the warmest week of the Winter. Anyone looking for warm weather vacationing in the Keys needs to find out when she is coming and plan your vacation at the same time. She is weather lucky.

Tuesday of Karen's visit she and I took the bus to Key West to do some site seeing and shopping. Larry was on a job for SALT(Sea,Air,Land Technologies) in Key West installing a solar heating system for a pool at the Southern Most Hotel. While Karen and I were there we stopped in to see him hard at work. I took this picture from the third floor of the opposite building. It's quite a system for heating the pool.

Karen and I packed a lot into her week and I saw her off on Thursday the 19th of February.

Celebrating My Birthday in Marathon!

January 24! A chance meeting! I was at work on Thursday night and in walked a couple for dinner. We looked at each other with vague recognition. It took us a few moments to realize who each other was. It was Tom and Emily Grape from our previous sailing club in Brockport (BYC). What an unexpected treat and a truly chance meeting. I quickly gave Larry a call and he arrived for a visit.

Tom and Emily were one of the few couples along with us that spent the weekends on their boat. That gave us the opportunity to get to know each other well.

They have been coming to the Keys and mostly Marathon for many, many years. They had planned to stay in Marathon until Saturday night. The picture above is of our sail with them on our boat before they left. The weather according to NOAA didn't sound like it was going to be the best but as you can see they were wrong and we had a great day out on the water. We also were able to anchor outside the channel for a little lunch. It was great to see them and we hope to get together next Winter down here with them again.

We were treated to another surprise this past weekend by our friends Tom an Cathie on S/V Interlude. They did not visit by boat they came via Mustang (car). It was great to spend time together and good for them to get out of the cold weather. When I say cold I guess that is relevant, since the temperature has dropped to the low 40's and 50's since they left on Wednesday. We try to make ourselves feel good by saying we have no snow and ice. While they were visiting it was a bit warmer.

This picture was taken of them out on our boat at the mooring. The weather wasn't very cooperative with the front that was working it's way down the coast. They were happy to just be on the water even though we were unable to go for a sail. It was great to see them and I'm sure they won't be left behind next Fall.

Today is my Birthday as the title says. I have the night off from work and Larry and I are hanging out on the boat with plans to go to Castaways for dinner to night. I'm looking forward to the King Crab dinner that awaits me.

The sun is shinning but the wind is still howling and the air is cold, much colder than I like it to be. The temperature is to come back into the 70's over the weekend but the winds won't cease until sometime next week. My girlfriend Karen is coming for a visit on Thursday and spending a week with us. The last time she came we had the best week for weather that we had had all Winter. I hope her luck holds this time, it would be nice to take her sailing and visit the beach.