Sailboats and kitty litter: Coasties, cacti, and coconut shrimp

Emily stayed with us on Marquesa last night so we could take a morning dinghy ride to Faro Blanco. We call it "The Haunted Lighthouse" and "Jurassic Park." This marina was knocked out in Hurricane Wilma years ago, and was never rebuilt.

The iguanas have taken over the place.

They can be pretty in an ugly sort of way, I guess. If you look at them in just the right light. With one eye open and one eye closed. And your head cocked to the right just a bit. And.... nope. I can't stand them. They creep me out.

These guys were minding the Ship's Store. Like a couple of good old boys, shooting the s**t and spittin' chew.

The entrance to Faro Blanco is shared with the US Coast Guard Station Marathon. If you've seen some episodes of Coast Guard Florida on The Weather Channel, they have been featured in several episodes. They were responding to a call as we were getting ready to enter the channel. They came zooming out with their sirens blaring. I love seeing them out on the water. As we entered Faro Blanco, another boat filled with Coasties (all checking out Emily in her bikini, for sure) were also leaving. They looked to be heading out for a training mission of some sort. Anywhoooo.....after we had our fill of iguanas, we decided to go up the channel further for a closer look at the Coast Guard station. I would have shown you pictures right about now, but we entered an area for "authorized personnel only", of which we were not, and you can well imagine what happened next. In our defense, the posted sign was on the back of the fence, only to be seen as we were leaving the canal, not entering it. No worries, Cap'n Donnie showed his ID, mentioned how we love our Coasties, and that we have a daughter serving in Afghanistan right now, and they politely sent us on our way...traveling only slightly faster than the speed of smell with our little 6hp dinghy motor. There was no quick, speedy, getaway. We really need another dinghy engine, but we have spent far too many B.O.A.T.S. already this season. This engine was a 1965 Johnson rummage sale find up in Indiana, what more needs to be said?!

We got back back to Marquesa at about 11:00am. Donnie needed to stay with the boat as we were waiting on a call from the diesel technicians about Bessie peeing black soot. I diagnosed a UTI and told him to give her plenty of fluids and cranberry juice, but what do I know about diesel mechanics? I was better off taking Mom and Em shopping. Cap'n also needed to continue working on the confounding electrical issue with our gauges.

The first one we stopped at featured nautical antiques and lots of pretty things to ooh and aah at. You can't appreciate the size of these hanging 'plants' from this tree. They were suspended by some old sailing blocks.

The sign reads, "60 year old Japanese fishing floats."

The outdoor gardens were so pretty, we couldn't wait to get inside :)

biggest. koi. ever. Made our Sammy back home look like a pipsqueak.

This little gecko was looking ferocious with his tail curled up! Total bad a**, he thinks.

Mom came away with a light and candle that she had shipped home, Emily found a shell that fits perfectly in the palm of her hand (to sit on her desk one day when she is a therapist), and I was inspired by so many things I saw. There were various shapes cut out (turtle, crab, anchor, shark, etc) that then had different shapes and colors of old window and door trims mounted to it. Nice.

The next stop was a tropical gardens and boutique. Mom had an unfortunate incident with a cactus while posing beside this banyan tree. I had some tweezers, and Emily did surgery, removing at least a dozen needles from her. Ouch.

This place was so interesting. It had lots of tropical plants and varieties of orchids that I have never seen before. This is the carnivorous Pitcher Plant. It was so interesting. The 'pitcher' pods are up to 4-6 inches long. The insects fly in to get the nectar, and they are devoured. I called her "Audrey II". Can you name the movie musical?

When we got back from our shopping excursion, Marquesa was gone. That was a shock to walk up the dock to return 'home' only to find your home gone! I then saw Matt's dinghy tied up, and the technician's work truck in the parking lot, and figured the boys were out for a sea trial. The good news is that she was fixed and her pee is now clear as it should be. It was a timing issue which Joel quickly resolved. Bessie didn't need antibiotics after all.

We then got ourselves ready for dinner at the Sunset Grille. We had 5pm reservations for a party of 20 :) It was happy hour, the Doerfels were playing music, and we were ready for a good time!

Emily had a Bahama Mama with her Momma, I had a Bahama Mama with my Momma, together we all had Bahama Mama's :)

We feasted on coconut shrimp, steak and lobster, hogfish sandwiches, nachos, you name it, we ate it. And then we proceeded to dance the night away. Seriously, you must look up theDoerfels.com. They have God given talent, no doubt.

...and these kids are Christians. Paps and I KY stomped it out to "Fly Away", one of my favorite gospel songs. We had a little arm waving, hand clapping, Sunday-go-to-church singin' and praisin' right here in paradise!