Boot Key Harbor

Once we were on our mooring ball, had a shower and had something to eat both of us needed a nap.  I don’t remember the last time I stayed up for 31 hours. 

The City of Marathon City Marina in Boot Key Harbor is it’s own little community.   There are boats who have come for a day or a week, ones that are waiting for a weather window or boats that have just never gotten around to leaving.  They are all here.

one of the dinghy docks

The main building is like a community centre.  Along with the marina office they have tables for wifi, a lending library, TV rooms and workshops.  There are plenty of showers and a laundry room, two large dinghy docks and bike racks.  Included in your mooring fee is a weekly pump out by boat.  Note – stay upwind of the pump out boat.

This little girl caught an iguana right here

the office, laundry, wifi and showers

 
Every morning at 9am you can listen to the cruiser’s net on channel 68.  Here they welcome newcomers, those with things to buy, sell and trade can offer them, and anyone who needs help can ask for it.  Almost every day there will be somebody announcing that they lost a dinghy and someone else will report that they found one stuck in the mangroves.
Just yesterday a boat was looking to expand a hole in his electrical panel and was wondering if anyone knew of a tool to do this.  Brian just so happened to have that hard to find tool (hard to imagine isn’t it?)  A quick chat on the radio and Shannon came to pick up the bit.  Later in the afternoon we picked it up and admired each other’s boats.  He has the bigger, younger sister to ours, a 45’ Morgan. 
Today Baby Blue is looking for a hair dryer.  I have 2 (neither of which I use) so I offered it.  He didn’t have a dinghy today and we weren’t going that way so Coup D’Amour offered to pick it up and deliver it.  Cruisers are a helpful bunch.
Almost everything you could want is within walking or biking distance.  Home Depot, West Marine, Publix, propane, and plenty of bars and eateries.  Just ask and you will receive tips on the best places.
Down a little channel lined with mangroves we found Castaways. From the water it’s hard to tell what you’re going to get and once inside it looks like your typical on the water bar.  A little shabby and weather worn with the chairs held together by rivets.  The football game is on TV and the bar is stacked with the boys and their beer.    Burgers and wings are not the highlights on the menu.  Sushi is.  Fresh off the fishing boats we got tuna sashimi and buffalo shrimp.  I ate raw tuna and liked it! 


Castaways
 

sashimi and buffalo shrimp, yum!



crab claws, double yum!

Just across the street from the marina is 35th Street.  There are no obvious signs to tell you what you’ll find at the end except a small one for a fish market.  Along with the fish market is Keys Fisheries Market & Marina.  Upstairs in their tiki hut you can get fresh stone crab claws for $1.25 each.  When we asked why they didn’t advertise we were told that it’s kind of a local thing.  Good find.


umbrella drinks thanks to Laura & Hans

It probably looks like all we do is eat, but that’s not the case.  We are actually both losing weight.  Brian a lot, me a little.  Not fair but still a good thing.


Last night we joined a group having a cruiser’s forum on the Bahamas.  What started out as an exchange of where to go and what to see turned into a discussion on technology.  Shannon on Solmate (the one who borrowed the bit) showed us a new Garmin Bluechart app for the IPad.  The app is free and you just pay for the charts you want.  For $3.99 extra you can get a weather overlay.  I’m really excited to check this out because it looks so much better than what we have been using.



it looks like the rain is really going to
get us, but it just passed us by

Blue Moose tip: always have your camera with you because the light will change in a flash and the image is gone