Sometimes the stars align

On Tuesday we (brother Steve, his wife Connie (birthday gal), Riggs & I) left Islamorada after our overnight visit, to return to Boot Key Harbor. Since the winds had shifted to the south, we traveled on the 'inside', or north side of the Keys, and it was a good ride. Remember that I had written that when we arrived back here ' In a perfect world my mooring will be available' . Well, we were about an hour out of BKH when I got 'THE CALL' from Marathon City Marina saying we had worked our way down the wait list and that my mooring was ready. So within 2 hours we had pulled in and tied up to the ball (Romeo 9), and I had paid for a month's rental.

If that call had come 2 hours earlier, we would have been too late and they would have skipped down the list. If the call had come 2 hours later we would have already dropped two anchors here and would have had to undo all that. Pretty good timing. Steve credited it to clean living.

Tuesday night was sweet: balmy and calm. We had supper at the Tranquility Bay resort, where Steve & Connie were staying. Very, very, nice.

Overnight the wind shifted to the north and increased to a steady howl, which made the mooring well appreciated. We all had a big breakfast at 'The Stuffed Pig' which is a popular diner right across Rt 1 from the marina here, then took off in their rented convertible for Key West, an hour away. We parked in the Old Town area and walked, walked, walked around, checking out the shops and the whole busy scene. Steve and Connie went into theButterfly Conservatory while Riggs and I hung out. They both liked it alot.

We had a nice lunch at a nice place along the Harbor Walk (Riggs was allowed to join us), and then walked, walked, walked through the neat neighborhoods, the cemetery, and the Truman Annex area, ending at Mallory Square before sunset to watch the jugglers, escape artists, and sword swallowers (ugh) perform. With Riggs stashed in the car we walked the length of Duval Street to have a light supper here, then back to the car for the drive back to Marathon. It was a long but great day.

A word about Riggs in Key West. I had looked into finding doggie day care here in Marathon so we wouldn't have to drag him along, but fortunately could find no good options. Riggs was great in Key West. We walked maybe 5 miles while he must have walked 20, getting excited about every other dog he saw, every chicken he saw, every store he walked into, all the people, all the sniffs, etc. He had a great time and was quite well behaved. We were glad he was there.

Today Steve and Connie drove up to Miami, where they will stay at a South Beach hotel for 2 nights before flying home to CT, possibly attending the Miami Boat Show. Before they left they hit a few stores and then came by the marina, bearing food, boat goodies (dinghy light, galley knife, kellet weight (look it up)) and dog treats. How nice. We took a fun dinghy ride down the mangrove creeks, and through some of the local canal neighborhoods, then back to the marina dinghy dock where a nice surprise awaited. It turns out that 2 manatees (1,000 lb mother and 400 lb calf) were at the inner dinghy dock, posing for photos and even allowing petting. Really cool.

Oh yeah, when we were anchored off Islamorada, Steve caught a couple bait fish for some later night fishing. As you can see below, Riggs found the bait fish quite interesting.

Steve & Connie are now in Miami and I'm gonna have a relaxed week-plus here to do some work on Spray until buddy Ken arrives on the 21st for a couple of days. I'll keep you posted.