It is a long dingy ride from where we are anchored into shore taking us a good 15 to 20 minutes to get in there. It has been quite breezy since our arrival and since our dink is not a rigid bottom and tiny it makes for a wet ride. By the time we got back last night it was nearly dark and time to start dinner.
This morning after coffee we repeated last night's trip to take India for her walk. We haven't been to the grocery since we left Stuart and were out of a number of essentials bread, milk, fresh produce, fruit and getting low on beer. OH NO !! So after returning India to the boat we turned around and came back in to head to the market. We knew it was going to be a big trip so we planned to take the taxi back to lug the massive amount of provisions we would buy. The market is a little over a mile from the marina and beer is heavy! We haven't off loaded the bike yet, but I planned to buy more than we could put in its basket at any rate.
Our first stop was at Home Depot to pick up the pvc tubing and necessary hardware to install the 360 degree white light you are required to have on your dingy after dark. Ours took a walk at the end of the season abandoning its post! I'm going to a Christmas Concert with Sue tonight and it will be past dark when I return. Not wanting to risk a ticket Scott wanted to get the parts and get the light attached to the dingy.
As we continued on we discussed that we had not eaten yet today and did we want to stop and have a bite before getting our groceries. We were walking past the Conch Cafe which advertised breakfast. We had been there when we first got to Marathon in 2014 and found it lacking in both service and good food. However we had been told on more than one occasion and more than one person that we really hadn't given it a fair shake. Should we chance it? Hunger won out and we caved. It was good, as a matter of fact very good and not over the top expensive. Scott had Eggs Benedict that were excellent.
After stuffing ourselves we continued on to the grocery store. I managed to put a few things extra in the cart justified by the fact that they were heavy items and we were splurging on a 5 dollar cab ride. We checked out our goods, called the cab which must have been parked in the store's lot, that is how fast they got there. We were back to the marina in a flash. Scott grabbed a cart and we loaded in our haul and made for the dingy dock. Getting it all in with just enough room to spare for us too! Back on Light Reach I stowed the goods, packing the fridge to the max and Scott worked on getting the light on the dingy.
Meanwhile drama in the anchorage ensued when one of the boats tried to haul anchor only to find his anchor fouled on an abandoned chain and anchor that someone cut loose at some point. It took a diver to finally extricate the pour souls. It really does take a village sometimes as the cruisers came to the rescue.
The picture is of the bikes the marina is giving to children in need in the Marathon area. They collect money from the cruisers and the marina staff donates a healthy chunk as well to pay for them. Christmas spirit at is best.