036: Marathon Part One: Family and the Mile Seven Grill

On Tuesday, December 19^th, we (Nancy, me and Jack) were up early so that we could leave the dock by 7:00 a.m.   We motored over to where KatMat was at and met Matt in the channel.   (Kathy had flown back to Chicago earlier to prepare for Christmas up north.)   Eddy, the boat captain, had advised us to take the backway out of Marco Island to avoid a charted reef and the need to go so far offshore.    The blue line is our path out the back way:

 

The plan was to “run down and hug the coast” if the seas were still too rough.   The forecast was for two-to-three-foot seas, pushing us (I.e., coming from our stern), which made us try the direct route.  The seas were more like three-to-four-foot for the first third of the trip.  Not great, but coming from the back, not terrible either.  We elected to stay offshore.  The seas gradually settled down, as Eddy predicted they would, until they got to a more comfortable one-to-two-foot. The little jog in our path below is where we decided to forgo the Garmin auto-guidance suggestion on where to cross the Seven Mile Bridge and go through the main channel instead:

 

Seven Mile Bridge:

We arrived at Safe Harbor Marina in Marathon at 3:30 p.m. having gone approximately ninety n/m’s at an average speed of eleven knots, not bad.  This will be our home for the next month as we celebrate the holidays and try and decompress a bit from our two-thousand-mile trip so far. 

 Nice sunsets from our dock:

The next morning there was only one thing that I wanted to do, which was go to the Mile Seven Grill directly across the street from the marina.   I first ate there in late December of 1981, my senior year in college.  I went to Key West with Valarie, a grad student with whom I worked; Valerie’s friend Jim; and Sue, one of my sister’s roommates.   Sue and I went forthe scuba diving, and Valerie and Jim went for the Key West partying.   (New Years Eve on Key West, nothing like it back in the day.).    The Mile Seven Grill was one of our favorite places on that trip.  I have made sure I stopped there on the two times I have been back to Key West since 1981.   

 

For breakfast I had the Key Lime pie. (The waitress gave me a fist bump for ordering dessert for breakfast.) The best Key Lime pie ever.   Made with real Key Limes, which are less tart than a regular limes.  

Jack and I at the M7G:

 

 Question: Did I come for the food or to relive 1981?   Both, and to make new memories.

Matt left to join Kathy back up north and is letting Jack stay on their boat.  Hygge was a bit crowded with three of us!   This is really nice of Matt and Kathy as hotel rooms are insanely expensive in the Keys in the winter!   

Later Nancy and Jack went to the Turtle Rescue Hospital (more later) while I borrowed Kat Mat’s outboard engine and took a spin on the dinghy.   Hygge’s electric outboard engine was waiting on parts from the manufacturer and low and behold, despite me emailing them the Marathon Marina’s address, they sent the parts to our old address in Oak Brook.   (Now trying to track the part down.)   

Nancy, Jack and I went back to the Mile Seven Grill for dinner while we waited for our daughter Charlotte and Nancy’s sister Patti to arrive.   Jack had the Key Lime Pie and his reaction was like this:   https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=583283636139040

Patti is joining us for Christmas and was good enough to arrange to pick Charlotte up from the Miami Airport.  Unfortunately traffic was terrible, but they made it eventually, and the next morning it was back to the Mile Seven grill for breakfast!

 

Dave

 Odometer: 2,050:  one third of the trip is in our wake!