Marco Island :)

Did I not say Momma K was tired?!  I managed to sleep 12 hours, and laid in bed a little longer just lingering. Cap'n was bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning, so much so he fed me breakfast in bed (what the what?!)  Any morning that begins with bacon, AND a clean galley (again, whaaaat?!) has got to be a good day :)

About mid-morning, we decided to hop in the dinghy and head to shore.

We went in to Rose Marina to get the wifi password.  While
I was uploading pictures for the blogs, this fella
stopped by for a visit :)  Donnie met a guy that used to
work for ABC out of Miami as a camera man.  He was
working for a local affiliate, on assignment to cover the
arrival of Noriega after his arrest.  Rather than wait at the
plane's gate to get a shot of him, he hopped on a scooter
and went out on the tarmac, thinking he would be disembarking
earlier to avoid the media.  He was right, and the photos he
shot were picked up by networks all over the world.
That one moment launched his career into
national news, and he spent the rest of his life
travelling and working all over the world.  You meet
the most interesting people when you are out cruising.
We find cool stories and cool people like this all the time :) 

When we headed back to the boat to fix lunch, I was
so very, very tempted to have Cap'n drive the
dink UNDER the AtlantiCat.  His rebellious, rule-
breaking nature must be rubbing off on me!
Be honest though, doesn't it look like FUN?!

It's a good thing we didn't.  As soon as we rounded the stern of the AtlantiCat,
there sat a police boat (on the right).  Just my luck!  I can't even steal an ear
of corn without getting busted.  I would make a lousy criminal :/

Isn't Marquesa sitting pretty at anchor?!  She looks a little
tired and worn, but I <3 her.  I have decided that with some
proceeds from China, I am going to get  her a new paint
job, to match her new canvas and sails :)
She will love me forever for that.

As we were out dinking around, we found Drifter.
It's an O'Day 34- a sister ship to Marquesa!
She's tricked out a little differently, but she
clearly has had a new paint job.  I love the
lines on the O'Day sailboat :)

Later in the afternoon, we decided to hop back in the dink
to go exploring.  We passed this big beautiful boat-
now THAT'S a bow plate, y'all!
Marquesa can't want to play chicken with her!

We dinked up to Collier Bay so I could take a walk
on the beach...only one of my most favorite things to do
in the whole wide world :)

I found several of shells like this one.  The girls and
I call it "Jesus' footprint".  It's hard to see in the
sunlight, but at the base of the shell, it looks like
a white footprint.  If you look a little closer, you'll
also see the bruise in the palm of my hand.  That's from
the pressure of holding the wheel slightly starboard
for hours on end in a sloppy following sea.
I am covered in 'boat bites' from climbing the
mast and all sorts of other bumps and mishaps.



I found this big, beautiful starfish.  It was over seven inches across.
'Made me sad to think it was dead.'  Name that tune.

Cap'n was down the beach talking to his parents on the
phone while I soaked up the moment.  I was very
happy being there, and just wanted to share it.
I will never tire of looking at the horizon on the water.

We dinked back to Rose Marine to dock it, then walked about three
quarters of a mile to The Esplanade.

It's a beautiful, exclusive area (resort/marina/shops) right on
Smokehouse Bay.  We came in looking like boat rats, alongside
the beautiful people :)

We were invited there for a drink by a former high school chum, Mark
Kemble.  He works at CJ's on the Bay during the snowbird season.  He
and his girlfriend have been coming down here for years.  It was good
to reconnect with him- facebook is funny like that.  It can bring you
back in touch with all sorts of people from your life, even those
from high school that you haven't seen in over 30 years :)



We were having fun, enjoying the view and the people
watching, so didn't see any reason to leave.  We ordered
some wings and a flatbread pizza.  As we sat there
chowing down on the best. wings. ever. we realized that
we clearly were the poorest people in sight.  Donnie had on
a dead man's ball cap, dead man's Tshirt, dead man's swim
trunks, and flip flops I bought on clearance for $4.00!
(dead man's clothes come from Goodwill or a rummage sale ;)
You know what?!  It didn't matter, we were having more
fun then their money could ever buy.
G'nite, y'all!