Finally the sun is out and it's warming up to an acceptable temperature for us thin skinned folks. Sonja and I have been entertaining our good friends from St Pete for the last week which arrived on the heels of twin cold fronts that plummeted the temps into the 30's and 40's in South Florida. Fortunately for us we were able to salvage the week of outdoor activities with careful planning.
We managed to go sailing one day out to Sombrero reef but as usual the seas were too rough to pickup a mooring ball and snorkel, so we just sat back and enjoyed the sail. Even then with the sky partially covered in clouds it made for a cool afternoon.
The neat thing about Marathon is that all the land and sea activities, restaurants and bars are centered around the Boot Key Harbor and the City Marina and accessible by dinghy. Meaning that you don't necessarily need a car to enjoy the activities you care to pursue. Mike and Sabra play tennis and with the city park with its four tennis courts next door to the Marina, it made tennis a morning ritual. The evenings were spent wearing out the waitstaff at the local pubs during happy hour. Everyone's favorite hangout was Frosty's at the mouth of the Boot Key Harbor where the sunsets are the most spectacular and the service is exceptional. Our special thanks went to Erin and Joey at Frosty's by providing our friends with the most memorably evening of their stay.
On the last day of Mike and Sabra's vacation the weather and temps were warm enough to try and snorkel. So a trip was planned for Sombrero beach and a dinghy ride to Sister Island off shore about a quarter of a mile. Although the first order of the day was to sunbath in the first real warmth of the sun since they had arrived. The temps were around the high 70's but with a 10 kt breeze. I beached the dinghy in the lee of the rock jetty at west end on the beach so we could sunbathe out of the breeze. After about an hour of sun, we all decided to go for the island and check out the water.
The trip out to the Island is tricky and had to watch the water color with the tide being so low. Being there before, I knew we had to follow the channel out to open water before turning towards the island since everything to the west of the channel was shallow sea grass and shoals.
I decide to circumnavigate the Island to anchor the dinghy on the lee side that just had a gentle roll rather than the chop the wind was generating.
Mike and Sabra came prepared with full wet suits and boots for the cold water. Sabra had a hood but Mike did not. Sonja and I after feeling the water decided it was way to cold for us so we sat back and watch our friends enjoy what they have been looking forward to doing since arriving here on their vacation. they happily swam away looking for treasure. Twenty five minutes latter they came back with a beautiful Queen conch shell (no live conch inside) as a wonderful reminder of their trip to Marathon. Sabra was still nice and warm, Mike was freezing, so we packed up and went back to the beach for them to wash down and warm up in the sun.
Today was our sad goodbyes for Mike and Sabra, with the promises of rejoining us again in Marsh Harbor, Abaco in late March or early April for some reef diving.
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