February 15-24 Marathon – Coral Lagoon Marina
As we foresee our stay in Marathon coming to a close, we
make sure that we do the last few things on our “to-do-list”. Those things included visiting the local Air
Museum at the marathon airport, biking out on the old bridge to Pigeon Key and
a picnic lunch, shopping at the huge Nautical Flea Market in Islamorada, biking
on Coco Plum, and a boat ride by our hosts, Jim and Pat, into Boot Key to look
at all the moored boats and see the area by water.
Pat and Colletta boating in Boot Key Harbor |
We
also continued to participate in many of the activities that we have enjoyed
here in the Keys. These include our
weekly Bocce ball games followed by dinner,
the 11th Street Bocce Ball League |
wonderful music at Springers by a variety of talented
musicians,
A blue grass circle of talented musicians at Springer's |
They go around the circle and every one can sing or play a tune of their choice. they just tell the other musicians what chords they will play and then everyone joins in. |
On Thursday Jim, his friend Gene and I traveled to
Everglades National Park in Homestead, Fl to view a NIKE missile base from the
cold war era. Our guide Leon Howell, a retired Coast Guard, was incredibly
great. He was so passionate about the era and the men who had served there, it
was very moving for me. I grew up having one of these bases a few blocks from
my boyhood home just south of Chicago in Homewood. It is funny how you forget
some things and then they come back again when you see something like this
tour. I can hardly recommend this tour if you get to south Florida.
Back in the day they took this very seriously. |
An actual NIKE missile in one of the launch buildings |
We have enjoyed our stay at Coral Lagoon Marina in
Marathon. We have been blessed to have
the hospitality of Jim and Pat for 5 weeks and share time with them. We have met some wonderful people and some interesting
characters at the marina that enjoy boating and the water as much as we
do. The dock parties and music
experiences are a great part of the Keys boating experience.
It is time to start traveling again. The sea is calling Tom and we are ready for
another new experience. “A boat is safe
in the harbor but that is not what a boat is made for.”
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