Gemini Loop: From Key West back to Marathon

We made our last day in Key West a good one. We rode through Truman Annex and looked at the condos and homes, and The Little White House. We saw the office of the Conch Republic Secretary of State - it's where you get your Conch Republic passport. Since we missed the jazz wine tasting at The Gardens Hotel, we went by just to see it. It is a beautiful place.

That night we went back to Mallory Square to see the street performers again. We walked from there to Santiago's Bodega, a tapas restaurant we had seen advertised. It was well worth the walk! The food and sangria were fabulous! On our way back to the boat, we saw some interesting sights on Duval Street. I still had my camera and wasn't sure if the night-time pictures would come out, but I think you can make them out. The first one was a man on a three-wheeled bicycle, decorated with LOTS of lights and booming out loud dance music from big speakers mounted on the back. The second photo is pretty surreal - Spiderman playing a sitar!

I haven't mentioned the Boy Scouts who have been across the dock from us for a couple of days. They are from New York, and some of the dads/chaperones are fire fighters. Very nice people all, as well as the crew of the sailing vessel Calypso Gypsy. They seemed to be having a wonderful time. The parents can be very proud of their young men - all very polite and well-behaved. (And they didn't pay me to say it!) They left just a little before we did on Tuesday.

Our trip from Key West back to Marathon was a little rocky, but we made it in one piece with no damage to the boat or its contents. The Marathon Yacht Club, where we stayed before, was booked until Friday. We went to the mooring field at Boot Key Harbor, across Hwy 1 from the Yacht Club. The mooring field is huge! There are hundreds of boats here, many of them permanent residents. You tie your boat to a mooring ball and dinghy into the main dock for anything you need. On Wednesday afternoon, Donna and Greg from Lady in Red pulled up in their dinghy to say hello. They are at a different marina, but had come in to the dinghy dock. We went to a meet-and-greet Thursday night and ran into Twila and Mike from Nauti Nell. There will be a Looper event here in Marathon Sunday night. We look forward to seeing some of the people we haven't seen in a while. It seems like we all scattered after we made the Gulf crossing!

Today we will move back to the Marathon Yacht Club. It will be good to have air conditioning when I want it and a chance to do some laundry! And my internet connection should be more stable. It will also be good to see Marty and Jerry on Monarch again.