Life in the Slow Lane (The Pearl)

Sombrero Resort & Marina

“The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach – waiting for a gift from the sea.” -Anne Morrow Lindbergh

The hardest part of being in Marathon is deciding how to spend our day...this morning we decided to take the boat out. Stan has wanted to go fishing and running the boat helps keep the bottom clean. We took the boat through Sister's Creek and out past Sombrero Key Light...the water was an amazing color. Going from turquoise, teal and sapphire blues in the shallow water to a beautiful indigo blue in the deeper water. Once we got past the reef Stan baited his lines with Bally Hoo rigs and we began trolling for Mahi Mahi. Mahi Mahi are actually known as Dolphinfish, they swim close to the surface, chasing smaller bait fish and travel together in schools ranging from just a few fish to over 50 individuals. The larger adult fish travel alone or in pairs. Which explains why we hooked two at the same time. We both had a chance to reel in a fish that was 36”, which was a lot of fun. We have very limited freezer space on The Pearl, so our fishing day was done. We have bait left, so as soon as we eat a little fish we’ll be fishing again.

Dolphinfish Facts:

Coloration on a dolphinfish is quite dramatic with golden hues on the sides, irregular blotches of metallic blue and greens on the back and sides, and white and yellow on the underside. This fish is very colorful underwater, catching light and reflecting a wide range of brilliant colors. Freshly caught individuals change coloration very quickly, fading to a uniform silvery color.

The dolphinfish is a large fish, known to reach a maximum of 6 feet in length, but more commonly to lengths of 3 feet. This fish commonly weighs 30 pounds with a maximum of more than 65 pounds. Dolphinfish that school together range in size from 1-20 pounds while larger individuals live alone or in pairs.

The dolphinfish is distributed in tropical and subtropical waters throughout the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. It is abundant in the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Current, and throughout the Caribbean.

The beautiful water of the Atlantic

What a beautiful fish

Our catch of the day

My first Mahi Mahi

The not so fun part of fishing...but closer to a good meal

Sombrero Resort & Marina

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ―Mahatma Gandhi

We've been staying busy in paradise. There's a little something for everyone and you can definitely stay as busy as you like. This week was a little cooler and most mornings were cloudy, but we did get a little sun every day. Here are a few of the highlights of our week. We played softball again on Tuesday...or I should say Stan played. We played so hard last week that we both were still a little stiff. I thought I was doing a lot better until I ran to second base...I strained my quadricep muscles on my left leg. Wow...I don’t remember having a muscle hurt so much. Walking and riding my bike I'm ok but running is out for awhile. Stan played but he was pretty beat up too...kind of sad considering we are the youngest ones playing. Safer activities this week included time at the pool, lunch with friends, an evening listening to ukulele music at Dockside, a few boat projects, a basket weaving class and happy hour on the dock. Of course there's always the normal life things that keep us busy too like doing laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, bookkeeping and cleaning. No matter where you live or what your home looks like certain things have to be taken care of. It was a busy fun week and we look forward to our friends arriving this coming week.

Joe is batting, he is 88. He doesn't run the bases but he does a great job at batting and fielding.