Marathon

The wind forecast concerned us(well, me) for traveling the "outside" route to Marathon, meaning in the Atlantic. Scott decided to make a go of it on the inside route. Everyone says you are crazy to do this, as you'll almost definitely run aground in the shallow waters. My husband made it seem easy. We just traveled right over that shallow water, and into Marathon.

Just before Marathon, we passed under the Seven Mile Bridge. It connects Knights Key,one of the keys that make up Marathon, and Little Duck Key. There's a lot of history to it. If you're interested, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Mile_Bridge

After six days at anchor, we pulled into a slip at Marathon Marina & Boatyard. I'd called ahead to a few places, before finding space here. Apparently, Marathon marinas are popular and affordable for boaters to spend the winter. There was even a wait list for the mooring balls! Our batteries needed charging, the boat needed washing, and we needed to do some laundry. but that would wait until later. After tying up in our slip, we unloaded the bikes, and set out to see what we could find in Marathon.

The sidewalks aren't so good in Marathon, and you're riding RIGHT next to a crazy amount of traffic traveling A1A. Being a "big" town in the keys, one side of the road here actually had TWO lanes! We stopped into Marathon Liquors, they have a gourmet deli inside,too. We also stopped at the local Publix. We didn't need anything, I just had to get my grocery store fix in! Afterward, we stopped at Keys Fisheries Market & Marina, recommended by a woman in the marina store. We passed up the restaurant seating, and headed up a set of stairs to the Fish Bowl, a small bar overlooking Florida Bay. They had $1.00 stone crab claws, which is a great price. We had a few, and a drink, and then peddled on.

We then stopped at a place that caught my eye as we'd peddled by earlier. Porky's Bayside Restaurant was great! No walls, and GREAT smells! We, sadly, didn't have the ribs, as we'd just scarfed the stone claws, but it sure did smell wonderful. Instead, we had my favorite, COLD 1.50 beer! Hopefully, we'll have a chance to stop here on the way back.

Just as we were about to turn back into our marina, we both spotted Rum Bums bar, and skidded to a stop. We parked the bikes and I excused myself past a man blocking the gate to what I thought was the bar. Once I was inside, and unable to FIND a bar, I was told that this was the area where the captains drink after coming in from fishing. Oops...a bit too eager in my quest for a libation! We found the actual bar right next door, and had one more drink there, also cold and affordable.

Once we got back to the boat, we loaded up our dirty clothes and peddled to the laundry room. After the stuff was loaded and washing, we watched the sunset and then went next door to share a cheeseburger while we waited for it to finish; a "clean" end to the day. Here are a couple of the day's photos.