What a FUN day!

Good morning!  This is Willis' newest sleeping spot, the chart table.
I wonder if he is ready for us to chart a course for home?!

We are trying to cram as much FUN in our last few days, and today, we succeeded!  First, I loaded us up on a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs (REAL bacon, which is a treat for my cardiac patient of a husband!)

Then, I gave our "pets", Mom & Dad Duck, a hearty breakfast, too.
(Ritz crackers and fresh water :)

After breakfast, we met up with Ed at the Marathon airport, as he had to return his rental car.  Ed and Barb are also sailors, and Ed is the one who taught me how to paddleboard, if you remember. They left today for a 3-4 day sail back to his home state of North Carolina.

Casting off...and backing out.

Goodbye, Ed!  Fair winds and following seas...

We look forward to making some new memories next season!

We then decided to pedal, pedal, pedal our clown bikes all over Marathon, which may be the last time.  We stopped at a marina/boatyard that Bryan and Polly told us about last night.  They are going out of business and are having a "garage sale" on Saturday morning.  There are a few things we would like to have to make boat life more comfortable (or safe), so I think we will plan to check it out on Saturday. After that, we went to several places.  We checked out Marathon Marina, at the 'entrance' of Boot Key Harbor. This was at the advice of Brian and Corine on the beautiful Sea Ray in front of us. We discovered a really nice place, really.  It is 'better kept' than here, as they are under new ownership and are making lots of improvements. There are 123 slips, a gym, laundromat, restaurant, and they are installing a swimming pool. While it would be a $100 less than Banana Bay per month, we prefer the"quaintness" of Banana Bay.  We are definitely coming back here next year.  The contract is signed, sealed, and delivered.  The only change to that is that we may take the month of April and head to the Bahamas :)



We then stopped in at Burdine's for a 'snack' of Cokes and a basket of
fries, with their world famous fry dust. Mmm, Mmm, Good!!
I am really going to miss this place when we head for home.

 On our way back to the boat, we pedal, pedal, pedaled to Daffy's for more geocache treasures.  I hope we get some more treasure hunting in before we go home. But, of course, we will continue treasure hunting at home and in all our travels :)  After we got back to Marquesa, we decided a dink ride was next on the agenda.  Willis was invited, too.  He did not want to wear his life jacket, as it was 90 degrees today.

"I'm free!  Well, sort of, minus the harness and leash...but at least I'm back on the water!"

Momma, this is all well and good...but why is Dad going further and
further out to sea, where there's more wind and more waves, and the
salt spray is getting me wet?  PLEEZE tell him to head closer to
shore...doesn't he know cats don't like to be wet?!
Yes, he let out a few howls at this point.  Dad headed closer inland. 

This is better, but do you realize how close I am to the water?!
I am enjoying the sights and smells, though.  If my friends at the Kit Kat
GoGo Lounge could see me now, they would never believe it!

We followed the shores along Crane Pointe, and Willis loved the birds, naturally!



Willis spied this Momma and her babies...I made him stay in the dink!



The cormorant freaked Willis out a bit...the beady eyes.

Oh dear, more babies...and no Momma! Willis nearly jumped
out of the boat when he saw these little fellas.

Willis was ready to duck back in the air conditioning on Marquesa,
so we decided to go snorkeling around the marina.  No snorkeling
is allowed, but...what can I say?!  There wasn't a manatee in the
marina today, but I wanted to get a closer look at the lobsters and
mangrove snapper than Donnie has been seeing under Marquesa.

After our snorkel, we visited with Larry, the Dockmaster, and discussed the idea of offering sunset sails through Banana Bay next winter season.  He intends to check with the management, and perhaps it's an option. Not only would it provide more sailing adventures for us, but we could make enough income to work off our slip rental.  It's worth checking into, anyhow.  We have taken several guests we've met here at poolside for a sail, so I think there's a real opportunity here.  At any rate, we fixed ourselves a cold drink, and headed to the pool to get the salt water off of us.  In the pool, we visted with Brian and Corine, the owners of Wicked Witch, the beautiful 55' Sea Ray that is now in front of us on the wall.  We talked for so long, we got prune-y!  We headed back to the boat at about six to have dinner, but they called us over for a cocktail...can't refuse that!  We had a lovely evening, trading stories and telling tall tales.  Their daughter and son-in-law were also on board, visiting from Vermont.  They were great people...I wish we would have gotten acquainted sooner. but they are planning to head out tomorrow.  Their boat is absolutely beautiful!  While I am perfectly happy on our Marquesa, OMG!!!

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset, as always.  I can't believe we have to
leave this place in a few days.  I am not looking forward to the
rain, floods, and tornadoes back home!

We bid our goodbyes, (it was Survivor night, afterall!) but it sounds as if they will be returning for at least a month or so this next seson.  We have met such great people, from all walks of life, all over the US and abroad.  This is all I have dreamed of for so many years...the opportunity to meet people from all over the world.  I have lived my dream these last four months.  We have worked really hard to do this, and no doubt, we will work especially hard the next eight months to have the privilege to come back and do it again next year :)  My God, are we ever blessed...Willis seconded that, too!