Tammy here...
The day after we got back from Key West, Valentine's Day, Doug and I rented a car and headed off to the Miami Boat Show - romantic huh? Heh, we all celebrate in our own way - Colleen and John rented a car and headed to Colleen's parents house in Pompano for a visit so we were looking pretty good! Despite my having come down with the flu, we spent hours walking around the Boat Show and saw some really cool new gear!! For cruisers, it was like being a little kid in a candy store so we had a ball! Since we had the car we did some provisioning in Miami on the way home and stopped for take-out Chinese food to have back on Gypsies - Chinese food and a bottle of red wine - my idea of heaven and a great Valentine's Day!!
On Monday the other gypsies returned home shortly before our friends Brett and Jill arrived fresh from a trip to Key West - what, didn't everybody get to see the private Buffett concert at Margaritaville - oops they were a day too late! Being friends, we of course rubbed it in just a little!! We first met Brett and Jill, who have a beautiful sailboat Muircu (I know, we're actually friends with some snailbotters!!!), in Alligator River in South Carolina and then met up again with them in Belhaven and Fernandina, FL but they have been stranded in Fort Pierce with a broken motor since mid-December. Now that is a huge bummer - especially since they were supposed to be spending their winter here in Marathon in the marina next to ours!!! But as all cruisers do, they were going with the flow and had taken a trip to Key West by land yacht and stopped in on their way back to Fort Pierce. Over burgers and a few cocktails on the flybridge of Gypsies we got to catch up and hear the ongoing saga - we're all hoping that Westerbeke makes things right for them so they can get out on the seas again soon!!
As these things have a way of doing, the afternoon gradually slipped into evening without anyone really realizing it except for the drop in temperature.
After changing into our "nighttime clothes" (can not wait until we don''t have to do that anymore!!!), we all headed down the dock to Docksides for a little dinner and entertainment. We sat outside under the stars and enjoyed more cocktails and the band - they weren't Florida Straits but they were lots of fun. One of the guys was playing a steel slide guitar which is a really cool instrument!! The band had harmonica and sax players jam with them, both of whom were great. 
Then the singers arrived - there's just something wrong with a guy who sings Lawrence Welk show tunes one minute and then tries to do "A Pirate Looks at 40"! Notice in the picture to the left of the singer, the 6'5" biker dude with the tats and cutoff Hogs Breath teeshirt playing the flute - have I mentioned you can't make this stuff up?? But even he was better than Popeye - I truly love the whole Marathon vibe of community acceptance which causes bands to invite locals up to sing, but someone really needs to tell this guy he can't sing, especially when he drinks!! We all had a great time though and laughed until we were sore (at least I did because whenever I laughed I coughed - still dealing with this flu thing I guess)! Brett and Jill picked us up the next morning for breakfast before they hit the road and we tried to hit Key Fisheries for lobster benedict, Jill's favorite, but they have stopped serving breakfast. Bummer - but our fallback was the Stuffed Pig which was more than adequate (in fact it rocked as always).
We ate and laughed out in the backyard at a picnic table swapping tentative boating schedules (schedules are always dependent on both weather and our whims) trying to figure out when we would next see each other. We're sure it will be soon - we're just not sure where!! Colleen gave Jill a quick haircut back at the dock before they headed off - she could make money that way in the islands!! We'll look forward to seeing them again soon - hopefully on a fully repaired and healthy Muircu next time!! We are headed over to Adventures tonight to have dinner with Robin and Jim, the remaining members of the Gang of 12 that have not left Marathon yet, which I'm sure will be lots of laughs. But its time for us to start scoping out the weather, trip planning and generally getting the boat ready to take off again. Marathon has been absolutely great and tons of fun, but its almost time for us to toss off the lines and head to new adventures. Adventure and a spirit of wanderlust are after all why we left our old lives for this wonderful life of cruising!!!
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