Saturday, December 17, 2011

Marathon FL

Docked at Harbour Cay Club, Marathon, FL
We have arrived at our destination! Our good friend Captain Jim's Harbor Cay Club is a private 24 slip community that is beautifully landscaped and immaculately maintained. We were assisted by our fellow Island Packet Fleet members, Ron & Mary Ann on IP380 CAVU and Ed & Patricia on IP37 FINESTERE, along with the local dockmaster Gary and Jack, who are owners here. Once we were securely docked, we helped dock our buddy boat, SP Cruiser CATSPAW, who immediately prepared some V8 Fusion "healthy" drinks with some rum to toast our arrival. Mary Ann gave us the royal tour of Harbour Cay Club, showing us the clubhouse, lanai, laundry room, bathhouse, ice machines, recycle center, tiki hut and shuffle board court. The property is beautiful and it is obvious the owners are very proud of it. I will post a full photo essay of Harbour Cay Club next.

Looking from the lanai out over the marina
We are so happy to reach our destination and to have a break from moving the boat day after day. It will be great to launch our bikes and ride to the Seven Mile Bridge and around town. We will enjoy going for walks and watching sunsets from the tiki hut with good friends and the local members.

Our happiness upon arriving was diminished by the absence of our gracious host and good friend, Captain Jim. He suffered a heart attack two days before our arrival and is doing well following surgery in Miami yesterday. We plan to visit him and help in anyway we can. We are so sad that Captain Jim is not here for all the fun. Everyone here is hoping for a complete recovery. It is very  special how the Island Packet Yacht fleet is "like family" and we share in everyone's adventures and life's challenges.


A beautiful tidal pool with sand beach on the grounds
One of the resident iguanas welcomed us to the club
Did you know they can swim??


Check the length of that tail. Do you think it will walk on a leash?
My brother, Brian, loved walking his iguana on a leash. That lizard's name was Iggy!

Welcome to Marathon and Harbour Cay Club, our first destination, where we will be docked for one month. Our next post will be photos and sights of the grounds and the marina...for now....we need to settle into our new home....Thank you, CAPTAIN JIM!.....hope to see you soon.....

2 comments:

Roger Family Sailing Adventures said...

Wow! Great that you are in Marathon. Give our best to Captain Jim when you see him. I think I recognize those dolphins from when we were there! ;-)

Bobby & Lesley said...

Hayden:

Make sure you watch the expression on the faces of the permanent residents when you leave to go sailing! They are in total awe when a boat actually leaves!

Then, later in the season as the weeds start making their way in make sure you volunteer to rake them out - they stink to high heaven and bring in lot of bugs, seems that we were the only residents trying to clean the basin. There is a small cut under the road one slip up from you - that i where we pushed the weeds on an incoming tide - 4 to 5 hours of quality time spent several days a week on weed control!

Then they put up the weed fence - makes it even harder to go for a sail!

Fun place to base though - we sure enjoyed our stay there.

Bobby & Lesley