Jan. 7 – A Day at the Beach

Sombrero Resort & Marina

“Nothing soothes the soul like a walk on the beach” –Lessons Learned in Life

We spent the morning at Sombrero Beach. It’s a beautiful park located on the Atlantic Ocean and next to Sister’s Creek Inlet. It has a nice little crescent beach with deep sand and clear emerald water, and a wonderful place to spend the day lounging in the shade of the palm trees. The shady park has picnic pavilions, volleyball courts, restrooms and showers. Considering the temperatures in the rest of the country today…we felt like we really were in paradise.

Our little piece of paradise for the day

Sister Creek Inlet

My morning view of Sister's Creek from under our palm tree

Jan. 6 - Marathon, FL

Sombrero Resort & Marina

“Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.” ―Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our life in Marathon is relaxing and warm, but I really don’t have a lot of interesting things to blog about. We are staying busy each day with small projects on the boat, drinking coffee on the fly bridge in the morning, visiting with dock mates, swimming, reading, a little bike riding and yesterday we played softball. A group of cruisers meet three times a week at the Community Park for a friendly game. Each time they divide up whoever shows up into two teams. We had a great time and met some nice people…quite a few were from our marina. We plan to play again; it’s a great way to get some exercise.

I know the rest of the country is freezing, which is hard to imagine since it’s amazing here in paradise. I would hate to complain, but it could be a little cooler, but I guess if you can play softball for a few hours in the middle of the day and hardly break a sweat…it really isn’t too hot. The temperature only changes a few degrees from day to night…it’s been a content 75-80º since we arrived.

Overlooking Boot Key Harbor from City Marina

Our morning visitor...I'm still looking for the manatees

Jan. 4 – Marathon, FL

Sombrero Resort & Marina

“Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. If you have them, you have to take care of them! There is great freedom in simplicity of living. It is those who have enough but not too much who are the happiest.” —Peace Pilgrim

We've been in Marathon for three days and are beginning to do a little relaxing. The first day was spent getting settled in…getting things on the boat organized, getting the cable to work (still needs more work), figuring out the non existing Internet signal and Stan installing our Island Time Internet Booster we purchased before leaving home. The booster is working great and we can now access a little free wifi. It's always nice to have more than just your Verizon plan. The next big job was getting the boat clean inside and out...it gets pretty dirty while we're traveling. But it hasn't all been work. We've had time to meet some of our neighbors, use the pool and do a little exploring.

We've explored on our bikes and in the dinghy, the dinghy is definitely the safer way to go. Highway 1 is the main drag in town, the only road going east to west, and it is VERY busy. When you bike here you stay on the sidewalk. While exploring we found a wonderful little Cuban restaurant called La Niña. It's just a little hole in the wall place, but it is very authentic and very good. We'll definitely be going back. The best part of being here at the moment is enjoying the warm sunshine. The temperatures are a little higher than normal at the moment, but still very comfortable in the upper 70s. It’s hard to believe it’s January.

An aerial view of Sombrero Resort and Marina. Our location is marked with the orange dot. The marina is completely full at the moment.

The outside of La Niña 

Views from Burdines Waterfront Grill 

Sunset from Burdines 

Our view on the way home on the dinghy Saturday night