Our Vacation From Our Vacation

We took a vacation from our Great Loop vacation, by staying at a very nice, small marina/resort in Marathon (mid-way down the Florida Keys) for half of January and most of February.

At our dock, were our friends Loretta and Bob, who greeted us with Champagne upon our arrival, and were one slip away from us on their boat, "Carol Anne." In addition, there were six other Loopers, and several other couples on large fishing boats, all-in-all creating a very friendly neighborhood.

Entrance to our marina/resort

My new sister, Loretta 

Sunset from our slip

"Carol Anne" and "Humbug"separated by fishing boat

In addition to our dock pals, we made friends with several of the long-term renters of the condos at the resort, some of whom joined us at the marina for docktails.

Me making friends at the pool

We also made friends with a couple of Iguanas that hung around the pool.

Our Iguana friends

At first, it was hard to slow down, but it didn't take long to fall into our almost daily routine of biking 10 miles in the morning, reading and swimming at the pool all afternoon and docktails at 5:30.

Bike trail - Grassy Key

 

Coconuts on the palms surrounding the pool

Jan and Loretta 

Our friends, Ralph and Jan, who had last cruised with us on Lake Michigan in August, joined us for a few days to thaw out from a long, cold, snowy (5') Chicago winter.                                      
One day, while they were with us, we took a launch out to Pigeon Key and took a tour. Pigeon Key is a small island part way out on the old 7 Mile Bridge. It was used by Henry Flagler, who built the railroad to Key West, as a support camp for his engineers and workers.

On the way to Pigeon Key

If you don't know the story about how Flagler built that railroad, please read "Last Train to Paradise." It's fascinating.

Old US 1 was built on top of Flagler's railroad, and was in use until 1982 when it was replaced by the new, 4-lane highway.

Old , 2-lane 7 Mile Bridge built on top of railroad

February is a big month for the Beers. Our anniversary is the 8th and my birthday is the 14th, which is also Valentines Day.

29 years and still happy

Roses that arrived on Valentines Day

My Valentine/Birthday dinner

Because we had a car, we were very popular at our dock. I was the driver for Looper ladies' trips to the Saturday Farmers Market and to Publix for food.

Foraging trip to Publix

Farmers Market

Pete was the driver of the boys to West Marine, the liquor store and the old plane exhibit.

P-51 Mustang (our dock pal, Jimmy, took a 1-hr ride for $3,200!)

We became connoisseurs of Tiki Hut restaurants and spent one particularly lovely evening at Sunset Grill, which is right at the beginning of the 7 Mile Bridge,

You can swim and drink in the Sunset Grill pool

with Loretta and Bob and their Canadian friends, Sandy and Glenn.

















In addition to our human neighbors at the dock, we had a couple of interesting other neighbors - all with incredibly high horse power.

Customs boat

One was a Customs boat that went out several times a week with brawny, gun-wielding young men on board.

Pete says this is our next boat

All good things must come to an end, so after almost 6 weeks at out wonderful, little resort/marina, we reluctantly started our journey north toward home. I'm typing this in Key Largo, which is our first stop since Marathon, and tomorrow we leave for Coconut Grove (Miami) to see my friend, from the time we were 3 years old, Mary.

My opinion of Florida has much improved

Everglades and Marathon

Cocktails with the Kays at Shark River anchorage

Our friends and Mystic neighbors, Joyce and David Kay, arrived at Marco Island and cruised to Marathon with us. There are only two places to stay on the way - Flamingo, which is a ghost town having never been rebuilt after a hurricane, and Shark River. The Shark River anchorage is on the gulf shore of Everglades National Park. It's in the middle of NO WHERE, surrounded by mangroves and has no place to go ashore even if you want to, but ... you don't want to, because there are alligators.

There was one boat behind us anchored at Shark River.

So, we anchored and had a lovely, eerily quiet, star-filled, back-to-nature-with-cocktails night.

Raising and spraying the mud off the anchor in the morning

We got underway early the next morning because we had a long day, full of crab pots, ahead of us.



You can not imagine the number of crab pots out there.

Just one of the millions of crab pots

It's stone crab season, and the things literally carpet the surface of the water. You have to keep a constant lookout for them because you don't want to get them tangled around your propeller. If you are familiar with the lobster traps in New England, just multiply their numbers by hundreds of thousands and bunch them so
closely together, that boats have to do a slalom through them. Some fun.

Bob helping us back into our slip

Having successfully avoided the crab trap mire, we arrived at our home for the next month, The Boat House Marina at Coral Lagoon Resort in Marathon. There we were greeted by our friends, Loretta and Bob, from "Carol Ann."

Cold champagne welcome compliments of Bob and Loretta

                               
















The Boat House is a very nice little marina, most inhabited by fishing    boats - I think our two boats are the only ones without tuna towers. There are 25 condos here and a beautiful, nicely heated pool.

Pool at our marina

After a day or so in Marathon, we drove the Kays back to their car at Marco Island where we immediately both backtracked to Everglades City. We headed there, to spend the night at the famed, Rod and Gun Club and take an air boat ride through the Everglades the next morning.

Entrance to Everglades Rod and Gun Club

Unfortunately, this wonderful old place that has hosted presidents and famous actors since 1864, is now for sale and being run by four feuding family members.






Consequently, it is very quirky and quite dysfunctional. For example, the four owners each work separate days. When they do, they bring their own supply of liquor for the bar. That means, there are only half a dozen bottles behind the bar at a time - weird!

Rod and Gun Club dining room

Fortunately, the rooms, which are in small cottages surrounding the inn, were very clean and comfortable and the dinner, served in the old dining room with lacquered wood walls covered with trophy fish, was surprisingly good.

Cottage we and Kays stayed in

Still...it's one, strange place - there is even a flock of vultures that is allowed to hang out at the dumpster every morning.

Morning vulture flock

We checked out, after having had to leave the property for breakfast even though we'd been promised by the night before's crew, that breakfast would be served at 7.



Honestly, we should have known better - they did warn us that the breakfast lady was not a morning person. That was the understatement of the year. She told Pete, when he said to her that we'd been told breakfast was at 7, "you can't believe everything you hear." What a charming, chain-smoking, lovely old thing.

Air boat ride on a chilly morning

Later that morning, we took an air boat ride through the Everglades mangroves. It was cold and sometimes the boat went 35 or so miles per hour, so we were bundled up like we lived up north (or something).

Mangrove raccoon family

Pete and David on air boat

We're looking forward to our month in Marathon, spending time with the other loopers scattered around the island, and the friends who will visit us here.

Cabbage Key and Fort Meyers

On January 4th, we finally got going again after the holidays. It felt good to be out on the water and underway.

Cabbage Key Lodge

Our first stop was Cabbage Key, a tiny island accessible only by boat, just north of Captiva Island. It was created over the eons by the Calusa Indians who built up the mangrove swamp with shells. Basically, the island is a giant shell mound - 38' above sea level, making it one of the highest points of Florida.

Nature walk through mangroves on Cabbage Key

On the island, there's  funky, little resort with a few lodge rooms, several cottages, no tennis court, no cable TV, feint cell phone reception and a restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner 365 days a year. When you make a reservation, they tell you that "people come here to get professionally bored." It is purportedly, the place that inspired Jimmy Buffett to write, "Cheeseburger In Paradise."

The walls and ceilings of the bar and restaurant, are completely covered with layers of one-dollar bills, each signed by the individual who taped it to the wall or ceiling. The tradition started years ago when a commercial fisherman, flush with cash, taped a few bills to the wall, ensuring he would have enough money to return for more libations.

Dollar bills taped on every inch of the walls & ceiling

Water tower Cabbage Key

The place is a zoo during the day due to the many tour and rental boats that stream in for lunch, but by dinner time, the place is serene and lovely.





After Cabbage Key, we cruised south to Fort Meyers where we reunited with our friends, Hiromi, Mike and dog, Sydney from "Off Leash," whom we had last seen at Thanksgiving.

At a rooftop martini bar in Ft Meyers

One of the big tourist things to do in Fort Meyers, is to visit the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford winter estates. Turns out, that Henry once worked for Tom, and although Henry was quite a bit younger, they became fast friends. In fact, Henry liked Tom so much, that he bought the place next door to Tom's in Fort Meyers.

Tom's house

Henry's house

The two families vacationed together, planted many exotic trees and plants on the two properties, swam in Edison's swimming pool (one of the first ever built - 1910) and cruised around in  Edison's electric launch and Ford's Model T and later models.

In Henry's garage

One of the weird trees - this one's a Mysore Fig Tree

Concerned about America's dependence on foreign rubber, Tom and Henry and their pal, Harvey Firestone, formed the "Edison Botanic
Research Corporation" in 1927. Under Edison's leadership, in the lab build on his property, they eventually discovered a source in the Goldenrod plant (who knew?).







The plant was never used for large scale rubber production, but Edison's 1,090 patent was a specialized grinding process for extracting rubber from plants.

The botanical lab

This was yet another, in a string of fascinating places we have visited on this incredible voyage.

Christmas and New Years on the Loop

An unusual Christmas and New Years it was...

HUMBUG at end of a Burnt Store Marina dock

HUMBUG split the holidays between Burnt Store Marina  (a nice, grated, boating/golfing community that is part of Punta Gorda, Florida just north of Ft. Meyers), and the back yard of our friends, Teddi and Dale Turner, who live on a canal in Punta Gorda Isles.

Our daily begging visitor at Burnt Store Marina

We split our time between Burnt Store Marina, Mt. Dora, Florida, (an hour north of Orlando where my parents live), the Turners house in Punta Gorda Isles, Marathon and Key West.

The Turners live on one of the main canals in Punta Gorda Isles, where all the houses are brightly lit for Christmas. The lights draw a constant stream of pleasure and tour boats in the evenings during the holidays.

HUMBUG in Turners back yard (Charlotte Harbor at the stern)

Pete and Dale in Turners back yard

We spent several pleasant evenings on the their lanai, watching boats of all sizes and shapes - some as gaily lit as the houses on shore - some unadorned, parade by.

Lighted houses along Turner's canal

A VERY lighted boat passing HUMBUG's bow

While at Burnt Store Marina and at the Turner's, we spent several days with realtors looking at houses. We didn't find anything we HAD to have (which, frankly, was a relief), but we did go to some interesting neighborhoods. One was St. James City on Pine Island, a kind of Key Westy place with no high rises, a lot of "old Florida" houses, many art galleries and tons of Tiki bars.

St. James City  on Pine Island "the Drunkenmost Point in the US"

Christmas Eve and Christmas day found us at Waterman Village in Mt. Dora, where my mother and dad live. Mom played in the bell choir during the Christmas Eve service and we all enjoyed a great Christmas Day dinner at "The Lodge,"  Waterman Village's main dining room.

Dad on Christmas Day (93 on March 10)

Mom on Christmas Day (92 on March 8)

Between Christmas and New Years, we drove down to Marathon (half way down the Keys),  followed by Pete's sister Betsey, and her husband Roger. We did that, to get our car down there, so it would be waiting for us when we arrived for a month beginning January 15.

While in Marathon, we spent two nights in some VERY funky cottages at "Tropical Cottages," and since Betsey and Roger had never been there, played tourist all day on New Years Eve day, in Key West. That night, we celebrated New Years Eve, by having dinner with Loretta and Bob, from "Carol Anne."

Tropical Cottages Marathon, FL

The outside shower of our Tropical Cottage - only one gecko kept me company while taking a shower

Being tourists, we took a Conch Train tour while in Key West

Betsey & Pete among the throngs of people in Key West on New Years Day

Key West really is weird but... Roger and Pete didn't seem to mind

 

New Years Eve Dinner with Betsey and Roger and Loretta and Bob at The Hideaway on Grassy Key

Our slip for our month in Marathon is one away from "Carol Anne." They arrived there before Christmas and all their kids joined them for the holiday. We left the car in Loretta's and Bob's care, and on New Years Day, Betsey and Roger deposited us back on HIUMBUG at Burnt Store Marina.

Shaina, the Katrina rescue dog from "Carol Anne," posed for their Christmas card.

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you all the best in the new year.

Carolyn and Pete



















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