Cruising with "Best Mate": Marathon, Fl January 2024

Total Miles Traveled since departing Green Turtle Bay, KY 1974

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We started off the new year at Marathon celebrating Steve Fields birthday. Steve and Libby on m/v San Souci are from Terre Haute, Indiana. They are spending the winter here at Sombrero Marina then continuing their Great Loop Adventure.

We had great weather to attend the Florida Keys Celtic Festival. The kickoff started on Friday at the Dockside bar and grill, conveniently located a short walk from our boat. The main event continued the following Saturday and Sunday at the city park.

The festival features family-friendly Celtic rock and Traditional music, Irish & Scottish Dancing, Sheep-dog herding, Pipes and Drums, and fabulous Celtic (and Keys) foods and crafts vendors. Highland Athletics, the original Strongman sport, features a sanctioned Woman’s Highland Athletics Competition and Men’s Highland Athletic Demonstrations. The Florida Keys Celtic Festival was recently voted a Best of Florida Regional Winner for Festivals. Most of the participants and entertainment travel from Scotland and Ireland.

For some reason I can't remember what she was selling?

We were really impressed with the Women’s Highland Athletics events. The weight over bar event requires contestants to clear a crossbar with a 21–28-pound weight. They have three chances to succeed.

With the Caber Toss each participant must pick up a tapered end of the caber (a 13-15 foot “tree trunk”), balance it, then toss it so that the upper end hits the ground and turns completely over. Success is gauged by how closely the caber falls to the 12 o’clock position.

Our friends Bob and Deb from Terre Haute visited us for a few days, we spent a day at Key West, took a dinghy ride through the mangroves to a small island on the Atlantic side, and the weather cooperated to take our boat out to Sombrero Key Light and tie to a mooring ball for a couple hours. The Key is about 4 miles offshore from Marathon. I still can’t believe I didn’t take one picture while we were there.

My plan was to take a few underwater pictures, but I had a senior moment by forgetting to install the cover after charging my GoPro and filled the camera with saltwater. Camera, battery, and memory card submerged. Well, I flushed it out several times with alcohol and let is set for three days. Everything works!! (note to self, remove charging cable, install waterproof cover).

We have been playing Bocce ball two days a week, which has grown to quite a few players since we started last month.

Pelicans waiting for a handout.

And the Tarpon are circling for anything that sinks.

Steve and Jan found a cool place for lunch.

Our Looper friends Kevin and Jill on m/v Chasing 80 drove their car down from Fort Myers for a visit on their way to Key West. We hit the nautical flea market and Kiki’s Sandbar for lunch and music.

Our scooters have been handy at Marathon, we’ve managed to put over 100 miles on them since purchasing the new model in August.

Swim ladder art. The sailboat next to us has been in their slip for six months, they pulled their swim ladder up out of the water and found quite a mess of sea life.