Last we left off, Thursday (2/27), we had just arrived at Bonefish Marina in Marathon, FL, and we’re still here.

We’re pretty much living the “Island Life”, slow, laid back and quiet. We’re enjoying spending time with our old-new friends and making new ones. We met Linda and Harry in Stuart. FL last summer and they came to Marathon on July 4^th and never left. They live on their boat “Sophie” at Burdines Marina and say they’ve found home and don’t need to go anywhere else. On Saturday (2/29) we had them over for docktails and dinner aboard Scout and had a great time telling stories and catching up. Linda and I made a future date to spend the day in Marathon shopping, sightseeing, eating and drinking. Soooo much fun!

Melissa and Jeff, who gave us the head’s up on our great slip, and their dog Scout aboard “Flip Flop” came into the marina the day after we did. We have really enjoyed spending time with them. We invited them for lunch at Sparky’s (by dinghy) and ended up with nine folks enjoying lunch, drinks and conversation.  Soooo much fun!

The marina has card night every Thursday so, of course, I had to join in. They play “31”. Never heard of it but how hard can it be, right? The objective is to try to get 31 all in the same suit. You pick a new card as you discard one card – you can only have three cards. Anyway, the idea is that you need to beat as least one person to stay in the game. The person with the lowest number loses. They played two games. On the first one, I held my own and didn’t lose my three dollars until pretty late in the game. In the 2nd game I was the first to lose my next three dollars. It’s hard to explain but hopefully you get the idea. I plan to go back next Thursday to win my six dollars back….

We also had to take care of personal things. Getting the doggies their meds, getting both humans eyes checked and getting new glasses, teeth cleaning, hair appointments and all the mundane things that go along with living. It’s more complicated when you can’t just go to the professional you’ve gone to for the last 40 years! Having to find new places to go and people to take care of you is interesting, to say the least. So far, so good.

At any rate we’re enjoying island life and plan to stay here for a while longer, probably until the end of this month. Marathon is pretty much the last stop before arriving in Key West. We haven’t decided if we will take Scout to Key West or just take the bus for about an hour ride. This month is Spring Break and we hear it’s a zoo with the young folks. Will keep you posted.