crammin' it all in!

It's Mike and Susan's last day, so true to McDaniel form, we hit the ground with our feet running.  Well, I'm hobbling at best.  Two scuba dives in the last three days has hurt my broken toes something awful.  I wasn't about to miss a thing, though!  We started the day with a delicious breakfast at Sunset Grille.

Sunset Grille has it all- the view (above), a beach, good food, good music, a swimming pool, dockage, and even cornhole! Lots of folks like to spend the day there.  This time of year though. we get the sunsets at Banana Bay on the Gulf side.  By around late February, the sun sets on our side of the Seven Mile Bridge.

We went to the Big Pine Flea Market, for me to get some fresh veggies, and for Mike and Susan to pick up some Tshirts from the Keys.  Of course, Cap'n always finds some things he can't live without.  Afterwards, we went to the Blue Hole to see the alligator, fish and turtles.  It's a unique ecosystem.  Because of previous hurricanes that have passed through, and the tidal surge that comes with them, it has both saltwater and freshwater in the pond.  The salt water is on the bottom, where you can find tarpon and tropical that have got washed in, and the freshwater is on top where you find turtles, bluegills, and the gators.  Pretty crazy, huh?  It was an old stone quarry, so the Blue Hole is quite deep.  The limestone also leeches saltwater into the pond.

After the Blue Hole we went searching for key deer, then stopped at No Name Pub for a cold drink.

We love this place :)

On the way back to Marathon, we stopped at Bahia Honda State Park for a walk about.  It is the perfect place for our friends to say goodbye to the Keys.  The views are amazing atop the old Flagler Bridge.

I could look out over the ocean for days.  The colors are so beautiful.  When we looked down, we saw a bull shark swim under the bridge- very cool.

We saw two frigatebirds overhead.  I don't recall seeing them here before, but in the Bahamas and further south they are quite common.  The male's wingspan can be over six feet long...they simply glide on the warm updrafts over the ocean.  They can stay aloft over a week at a time.  You seldom see them flap their wings, and they feed off whatever they might find on the water's surface.  They have also been called a Pirate's bird or Sailor's bird, as they can sometimes signal the change of a weather front moving through.  It's fun to watch them make lazy circles in the sky.

We got back from dinner at Sparky's with Dan & Biddi and Mike and Susan, and Willis was out guarding Marquesa.  I swear he's a dog in cat's clothing.  He comes when you call him, and he growls if someone knocks on the boat.  And of course, he's the best cuddle bunny in bed. ever.  He's got a gimpy foot like Mom, though.  When I broke my toes saving him off the rocks, he tore out a back nail trying to crawl out of the water up onto the rocks.  It doesn't look infected, and I keep putting medicine on it, but it looks nasty and raw still.  Needless to say, he hasn't been swimming since.

It was a beautiful sunset tonight, but no green flash.

A sailboat went ghosting by in the last seconds before it finally set.

I'm going to miss my SusieQ tomorrow when they had for home.  It's been wonderful spending the time together again.  We still had a least another week's worth of stuff we didn't get to see or do.  You'll just have to come back next year.  We love you guys!  Thanks for everything :)  G'nite, y'all!