Our new neighbor. 
Lou and Judy, at sea again.
Evelyn and Tony go for a boat ride.
Pat and George at Cheeca Lodge 
Snorkeling at Sombrero Light. Look at the bottom of the photo, those ghostly images are Yellow Tail Snapper.
Karen as a mermaid!
George, Jamie, and Karen
Pat's cousin, Karen, and her husband, Jamie..
Our friends and neighbors, Tony and Evelyn, joined us and Lou and Judy here at Banana Bay on Monday. They drove down here from the Naples area where they have been renting a condo for the past few months and they booked a room at the hotel at the resort. After they checked in, we all had lunch aboard "Reflection". Later in the afternoon, we had a stone crab and steamed shrimp "Happy Hour" at a picnic table underneath one of the tiki huts, and we were also joined there by Lou and Judy's friends, Terry and Caroline also from New Jersey, who were staying at lovely Cheeca Lodge in Islamorada. We still all managed to have room for dinner that evening at "Cabana Breezes" over-looking the ocean in Key Colony Beach.
After a light breakfast aboard, we took our friends out on the boat for a 4 hour tour of the Gulf and Boot Key Harbor. We all had an enjoyable ride and returned to the slip early enough that we could take naps before going out for the evening. Both couples were our guests for cocktails and dinner at the Marathon Yacht Club, and Lou and Judy even purchased club shirts and a burgee in anticipation of joining us at some point here in Marathon aboard their own boat!
Tony and Evelyn had to return to Naples early on Wednesday morning, so Lou and Judy relaxed at the beach and fielded work phone calls, while George took care of solving some boat toilet issues, which he and Lou eventually conferred about in our aft cabin with clean-up assistance provided by Pat. We joined Terry and Caroline later that evening at Cheeca Lodge for cocktails in their beautiful bar/restaurant on the beach overlooking the Atlantic, and then we all went to the "Islamorada Fish Company" for a wonderful seafood dinner on the Gulf. The food was delicious, and the company delightful!
The next morning Lou and Judy left us after a tour of "Blue Chip", a beautiful, pristine 55' Novatec, which is for sale and is located in the slip next to us. Lou is holding out hope that they will find a boat to put in a slip here in Banana Bay next winter, and this vessel would certainly be a wonderful candidate. Pat spent a busy morning washing bed linens and towels so the guest cabin would be ready for her cousin, Karen, and her husband, Jamie, who were joining us aboard today for a few days. They flew down from Maryland to Fort Lauderdale, and arrived around 4 p.m. We had stone crabs, shrimp, and other appetizers to welcome their arrival, and then had Chinese take-out for dinner so that they could relax after their long day of flying and driving.
Jamie and Karen are fitness buffs, and Jamie and their two sons, are members of a running club in their area, where they participate in races of various sorts. Jamie is in training for a triathalon, so he and Karen took the opportunity to run on a pedestrian section of the old Seven Mile Bridge here in Marathon. Later in the day they relaxed at the pool, and we had a lovely dinner at the "Key Colony Inn", accompanied by tunes played by Peter, the piano bar pianist.
On Saturday morning Jamie and Karen headed to the local dive shop to rent snorkel equipment, since the conditions were good for us to take "Reflection" out to Sombrero Reef for snorkeling. There are permanent moorings installed at the reef to which vessels can safely tie their lines rather than anchoring and possibly damaging the coral. When we got out there, George, Jamie, and Karen put on their wetsuits, fins, masks, and snorkels and jumped in, while Pat stood watch with binoculars to make sure that no Portuguese Man of Wars were near them. We saw two as we approached the area, and from a previous personal painful experience, George didn't want anyone to get stung.
Pat didn't mind staying up on the fly-bridge, since conditions have to be as calm as a bath-tub for her to participate in swimming activities. After an hour in the ocean spent snorkeling on the reef and feeding bread to the multitude of fish, the swimmers got on board and we got "Reflection" underway for a ride through Boot Key Harbor and the Gulf.
We arrived back at the marina about 4 p.m. after over 6 hours of "sun and fun". That evening Jamie and Karen wanted to see a Keys sunset, which is very special, and we drove to the ramp area of the 7 Mile Bridge to see it, but in the end a cloud obscured the final view! We then went to the "Sunset Grille" which is a new restaurant directly on the Atlantic side of the bridge. The ambiance was great there, but unfortunately, our waitress' service was not. She seemed over-whelmed and quite disorganized, so the food and drinks were not delivered smoothly. We had a lot of fun anyway, and we'd still give the restaurant another chance at another time.
After an early breakfast we said a fond "good-bye" to the "cousins" after their too short visit. We then had a lunch date to meet our friend, Richard, and Sallyann and Andrew at "Lazy Dayz South". Richard and his wife, Carol, will be leaving in a week to spend some time in the Bahamas before he makes his way back up Florida's west coast, across the Panhandle, and up the rivers back to Tennessee. This was our last get-together with him before we hopefully all meet here again in Marathon next December. We had a fun lunch together, and got in our last hugs for a while.
On Monday evening we were invited to Werner and Grace Lohmann's lovely home here in the Sombrero area of town. There we met their friends, George and Jeannie, who also belong to the Marathon Yacht Club, and the Lohmanns' beautiful grand-daughters and two friends who were all spending their Spring Break here. We've known Werner and Grace since 1974, when we were all members of the Bristol Sailing Club, and we watched their children, Victor and Ingrid grow up. We had a great evening with the girls and the adults, and after a phone call was made to other old friends from the Bristol Sailing Club, Tom and Diane Kellers, who live in Northern Florida, we found out that they will be able to visit us here late next week!
On Wednesday night we hosted Andrew and Sallyann, and Ken Farthing from "Savannah II" here for cocktails and appetizers followed by pizza. We had a wonderful time sharing "Loop" stories, and planned to get together tomorrow when Ken's wife, Diane, will join him here from Atlanta. Ken is a great story-teller, and we look forward to meeting his Great Dane, Bob, who is his 170 lb. traveling companion!
After a light breakfast aboard, we took our friends out on the boat for a 4 hour tour of the Gulf and Boot Key Harbor. We all had an enjoyable ride and returned to the slip early enough that we could take naps before going out for the evening. Both couples were our guests for cocktails and dinner at the Marathon Yacht Club, and Lou and Judy even purchased club shirts and a burgee in anticipation of joining us at some point here in Marathon aboard their own boat!
Tony and Evelyn had to return to Naples early on Wednesday morning, so Lou and Judy relaxed at the beach and fielded work phone calls, while George took care of solving some boat toilet issues, which he and Lou eventually conferred about in our aft cabin with clean-up assistance provided by Pat. We joined Terry and Caroline later that evening at Cheeca Lodge for cocktails in their beautiful bar/restaurant on the beach overlooking the Atlantic, and then we all went to the "Islamorada Fish Company" for a wonderful seafood dinner on the Gulf. The food was delicious, and the company delightful!
The next morning Lou and Judy left us after a tour of "Blue Chip", a beautiful, pristine 55' Novatec, which is for sale and is located in the slip next to us. Lou is holding out hope that they will find a boat to put in a slip here in Banana Bay next winter, and this vessel would certainly be a wonderful candidate. Pat spent a busy morning washing bed linens and towels so the guest cabin would be ready for her cousin, Karen, and her husband, Jamie, who were joining us aboard today for a few days. They flew down from Maryland to Fort Lauderdale, and arrived around 4 p.m. We had stone crabs, shrimp, and other appetizers to welcome their arrival, and then had Chinese take-out for dinner so that they could relax after their long day of flying and driving.
Jamie and Karen are fitness buffs, and Jamie and their two sons, are members of a running club in their area, where they participate in races of various sorts. Jamie is in training for a triathalon, so he and Karen took the opportunity to run on a pedestrian section of the old Seven Mile Bridge here in Marathon. Later in the day they relaxed at the pool, and we had a lovely dinner at the "Key Colony Inn", accompanied by tunes played by Peter, the piano bar pianist.
On Saturday morning Jamie and Karen headed to the local dive shop to rent snorkel equipment, since the conditions were good for us to take "Reflection" out to Sombrero Reef for snorkeling. There are permanent moorings installed at the reef to which vessels can safely tie their lines rather than anchoring and possibly damaging the coral. When we got out there, George, Jamie, and Karen put on their wetsuits, fins, masks, and snorkels and jumped in, while Pat stood watch with binoculars to make sure that no Portuguese Man of Wars were near them. We saw two as we approached the area, and from a previous personal painful experience, George didn't want anyone to get stung.
Pat didn't mind staying up on the fly-bridge, since conditions have to be as calm as a bath-tub for her to participate in swimming activities. After an hour in the ocean spent snorkeling on the reef and feeding bread to the multitude of fish, the swimmers got on board and we got "Reflection" underway for a ride through Boot Key Harbor and the Gulf.
We arrived back at the marina about 4 p.m. after over 6 hours of "sun and fun". That evening Jamie and Karen wanted to see a Keys sunset, which is very special, and we drove to the ramp area of the 7 Mile Bridge to see it, but in the end a cloud obscured the final view! We then went to the "Sunset Grille" which is a new restaurant directly on the Atlantic side of the bridge. The ambiance was great there, but unfortunately, our waitress' service was not. She seemed over-whelmed and quite disorganized, so the food and drinks were not delivered smoothly. We had a lot of fun anyway, and we'd still give the restaurant another chance at another time.
After an early breakfast we said a fond "good-bye" to the "cousins" after their too short visit. We then had a lunch date to meet our friend, Richard, and Sallyann and Andrew at "Lazy Dayz South". Richard and his wife, Carol, will be leaving in a week to spend some time in the Bahamas before he makes his way back up Florida's west coast, across the Panhandle, and up the rivers back to Tennessee. This was our last get-together with him before we hopefully all meet here again in Marathon next December. We had a fun lunch together, and got in our last hugs for a while.
On Monday evening we were invited to Werner and Grace Lohmann's lovely home here in the Sombrero area of town. There we met their friends, George and Jeannie, who also belong to the Marathon Yacht Club, and the Lohmanns' beautiful grand-daughters and two friends who were all spending their Spring Break here. We've known Werner and Grace since 1974, when we were all members of the Bristol Sailing Club, and we watched their children, Victor and Ingrid grow up. We had a great evening with the girls and the adults, and after a phone call was made to other old friends from the Bristol Sailing Club, Tom and Diane Kellers, who live in Northern Florida, we found out that they will be able to visit us here late next week!
On Wednesday night we hosted Andrew and Sallyann, and Ken Farthing from "Savannah II" here for cocktails and appetizers followed by pizza. We had a wonderful time sharing "Loop" stories, and planned to get together tomorrow when Ken's wife, Diane, will join him here from Atlanta. Ken is a great story-teller, and we look forward to meeting his Great Dane, Bob, who is his 170 lb. traveling companion!
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