On Thursday, April 11th, eight boats including Cookin’ (Brent & Susan Cook), Nauti Buoy (Dave & Mary Ellen Mount), Sonatella (Chuck & Janice Hubscher), Karine (Bob & Sandy LaMontagne), No Agenda (Mark & Joanne Daugherty), My Cherie (Jerry & Cherie Hoover), O Sea D (Vern & Ann Graham) and Divergent (Bill Schroeder) all arrived at Faro Blanco Marina on Marathon.
It was a great day for the ride south with reasonably calm seas for the seven boats that left Marco that morning and an easy trip for O Sea D that joined us coming from Hawks Cay Marina on Duck Key.
On Thursday we were joined by Mike and Cindy Brown who came by car and on Friday, also coming by Land Yacht, were Jack and Cheryl Coffin. With our boaters, and Land Yachters, we had a total of 19 people and two dogs (Timmy and Rudy).
Our only group event was dinner on Friday night where all 19 of us, at three tables, enjoyed dinner at The Butterfly Café at Tranquility Bay Resort. On other nights people split into smaller groups for dinners at Lazy Days, The Lighthouse Grille and Keys Fisheries.
After enjoying our time at Faro Blanco there were three groups that made various departures including:
Sunday, O Sea D and Sonatella returned to Marco in seas that were 2’ – 3’ from the south.
Monday, Karine and Divergent returned to Marco in seas that were up to 6’ from the north.
Also Monday, Cookin’, Nauti Buoy, My Cherie & No Agenda moved on to Key West in 3’ seas.
In fairly salt-covered boats, the Key West boaters arrived at The Galleon shortly after noon and broke out the buckets, soap and brushes and got right to work getting our boats back to their normal pristine condition.
Mike and Cindy Brown followed us to Key West by car on the Overseas Highway where Mike reported that the bumps were minimal and the fuel mileage was outstanding!
As always, we enjoyed the sights and sounds of Key West including museum tours, a ride on the Conch Train and a stop at most of the shoe stores on Duval Avenue. Two Friends, A&B Lobster House, Hard Rock Café & Pepe’s were all dining stops during our stay.
Our seven-night stay in Key West got cut to only three nights due to high winds from the north that were forecast for the last four days so we packed up and all left on Thursday which turned out to be the right decision. Our cruise home was in 2’-3’ seas from the east but that beat the 5’ seas from the north that showed up after we returned home.
All in all it was another great cruise with those that came by boat and those that joined us by car.
Brent
Cruise Leader
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