03/18/2010, Marathon, FL
Well, Jordan is at home and when she arrived on Tuesday it was almost as warm in Michigan as it was here in Marathon. Of course, both places where in the 60's.
While she was here Jordi got to go to the Marathon Seafood Festival. This is an event put on, for the most part, by the local seafood industry. They have almost 20,000 people show up for the event. In addition to the great seafood, there were venders selling their wares and a few games/rides for the kids. There was also continuous music being played at the band shell. We shared the seafood so we all got to try a few different things. The Florida lobster was probably the best lobster I've ever had and the clams and the fish were equally excellent. Ben was on his own, hanging out with his friends, and he claimed that we missed out by not trying the crab, but you can only eat so much.
Jordan also got to spend the better part of one day with her dad at the emergency. His mouth started to hurt and then his lower gum started to swell. Of course it was a Friday and all of the dentists were closed. The doctor gave him an antibiotic and some pain killers with instructions to find a dentist asap. He did that earlier this week. It turns out that he has some rare tooth problem which, from what we understand, results in a cavity forming in the root of the tooth while the top of the tooth is in perfect condition. It has something to do with the bone around the tooth's root eating its way into the tooth. It is a little confusing but apparently, according to the dentist, George is one unlucky dude. The debate going on now is whether they should pull the tooth or try to do a root canal. Apparently the root canal route is only successful 25% of the time.
On Sunday, when the pain killers and antibiotic started to do their job, we took Jordan to Key West. We caught the bus, photo above, and it took us right to Key West for $3.00 each. There we caught the local bus for $2.00, the kids were only a dollar. We walked around the marinas and then we went down Duval St. where we stopped at Margaritaville for lunch. After that we went over to Mallory Square and then on to the Southernmost Point in the USA. We didn't stand around in line long enough to get our picture taken with the bell. After that we went for another walk around and then took a bus back to where we caught the bus heading back to Marathon. While we were waiting for the first bus a man on a bicycle ran into me while I was handing George something. He was the only person we saw riding on the sidewalk, everybody else rode on the road. I think maybe he had either been drinking all day or he was still recovering from the previous night. He seemed to be completely unaware of the fact that he was a fault. Oh well.
On her last day in Marathon, Jordan and I went shopping. She was looking for a new bathing suit, which is never a fun thing to do. She didn't find what she was looking for, but she did find a nice purse. When we arrived back at the boat it was almost sundown and Ben blew the conch horn along with the other boaters.
The next morning we left the boat at 6:30 and headed for Miami. It is only 120ish miles, but it always takes much longer than it should. We were on time to arrive at the airport just before 9:30. That gave Jordan 1 1/2 hours before her flight to check in and grab something to eat. However, the last 15 miles took us almost 45 minutes and it was 10:00 when we arrived at the airport. Jordan and George jumped out of the car and George made sure Jordi was all checked in using the quick check method. Meanwhile, Ben and I circled the airport. Everything worked out and Jordi caught her plan without a problem.
Now she's back in Michigan and the boat is a bit quiet without her around. We had hoped that while she was here she would get a chance to see a dolphin or a manatee, but there were no sightings. Of course, on the way home I spotted a dolphin from the car and Ben saw one last night in the harbor. While I was up at the laundry today a lady mentioned that a large school (or is it pod) of dolphins passed through the harbor yesterday. So Jordan you're just going to have to come back. Maybe while we're on the ICW because there are lots of dolphins there.
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George finally made it to mile marker 0 on Highway 1. It is located off of Duval St. in Key West. This marker is about 10 blocks from the southern most place in continental USA.
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03/09/2010, Marathon, Fl
Well we've been in Marathon for almost 3 weeks and we are really enjoying this harbor. As you can see we share that harbor with just a few other boats. Actually that pictures shows only a small portion of the baots that are anchored or moored here and it doesn't even consider the boats that are dockside.
Since we have arrived we have worked on a few boat projects and keep adding more to the list. That list never seems to get any shorter. Ben is moving along slowly with his school work. We keep hoping that we can motivate him to get things done quiter, but at least he is doing very well in his classes so far and that is more important in the long run. Of course the fact that he has found about ten other teenagers here in the mooring field doesn't help us keep him on task.
Tomorrow we are going in to Miami to pick Jordan up at the airport. She will be our first overnight visitor since we left Michigan. We're quite excited to see her and we hope the weather co-operates while she is in Marathon. We hope to spend one day while she is here in Key West. It is only $1.50 per person from here to Key West on the bus. This weekend we plan to take in the Original Marathon Seafood Festival. It is a festival where all of the local fisherman and their families get together to cook their catches for the community. It sounds yummy.
I'll try to be a little quicker about entering our next blog.
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We arrived in Panama on Saturday safe and sound after a 5 day passage from Jamaica.
Hugs from Gromit!
03/09/2010, Marathon, FL
I took this picture last night from the deck of Ishmael. Around here the many of the people on the other boats blow conch shells just as the sun sets.
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