- 45 miles
- 5 hours
- 9 mph average speed
- 6-13 mph winds
Shortly after we docked at the marina, a huge manatee swam up to our boat to greet us.
We stayed at Marlin Bay for the month of March and went home to Atlanta the second week to see family and get check ups with our doctors. We brought Ellen’s son, Philip, back with us for a week when we returned.
Marlin Bay is beautiful and has a wonderful, attentive staff. We spent a lot of time at the pool and also enjoyed yummy Mudslides while watching the sunsets.
Sombrero Beach is about three miles from the marina and we traveled there both by bike and dingy several times.
We became fast friends with the couple staying in the slip next to us, Leslie and Hall, who were from Colorado. We took our dinghies to Burdine’s and enjoyed a delicious lunch.
There were several restaurants within walking distance of the marina. One of them was the Stuffed Pig which had a wonderful breakfast.
Key Colony Beach Sunset Park is about a 6 mile bike trip from the marina and a really nice sunset outing. Since 2012, a group of locals who came to be known as the KCB Sunset Singers began playing a recording of the 1812 Overture and timing it so that the song ended once the sun left the horizon. They then invite everyone to sing along to the official song of Marathon, “The Islands of Marathon”, composed by John Bartus.
Philip went on a fishing trip on the Marathon Lady and we had Keys Fisheries restaurant, down the street from the marina, fry up his catch for us for dinner.
We had a great time playing table shuffleboard at the marina!
Th Dolphin Research Center provides rescue and rehabilitation to marine mammals and forever homes for bottlenose dolphins and California Sea Lions that have been deemed unreleasable back into the wild. It is a beautiful setting with several lagoons and currently maintains the health and well being of 25 bottlenose dolphins and 3 California Sea Lions in addition to tortoises and exotic birds.
The Turtle Hospital provides rescue and rehabilitation to injured and sick sea turtles in the Florida Keys and is on the grounds of a 1950’s motel. It has 23 various sized tanks (150-800 gallons) for turtles that are receiving treatment and a 100,000 gallon salt water pool for turtles who are permanently disabled. The turtle patients are either affected with the Fibropapilloma Virus which causes benign tumors that make it hard for the turtle to survive, have what is known as “Bubble Butt Syndrome” resulting from a boat hit which causes the turtles to permanently float, have intestinal blockages from something they ate that they shouldn’t have or have injuries from entanglements from fishing or buoy lines. The facility really does look like an intensive care unit of a human hospital, complete with special turtle ambulances for transport.
The day before Philip was to return to Atlanta, we took the bus for a day trip to Key West. We walked up and down Duval Street, toured the Little White House, visited the Southernmost Point and enjoyed sunset activities at Mallory Square.
We attended the 13th Annual Sunset Celebration hosted by Pat and George Hospodar at The Point Bar at Banana Bay Resort and Marina. This was a gathering of over 100 Loopers who all brought appetizers to share in addition to there being a cash bar and a live band, “4 Sheets to the Wind”. A good time was had by all and we enjoyed meeting and exchanging stories with fellow Loopers.
The day before we were to depart from Marathon, we went back to Keys Fisheries for on last amazing Lobster Reuben.