ssloop: Key West - Jan 21-30

Our home for the month is A&B Marina which is located in the heart of the Historic Key West Seaport and Harbor Walk. Along the waterfront are many restaurants, shops, and fishing boats. Everyday along the boardwalk at 4pm a crowd gathers to watch the Tarpon feeding. This is really fun to watch as tarpon are 4-6 feet long and many show up to battle the waiting pelicans for the food that is thrown to them. Our Marina is also just a few blocks from the famous Duval Street and Mallory Square. So needless to say, we are within easy walking distance to hundreds of shops and restaurants. What fun!

Our weather has been sunny, but somewhat cool and very windy. So far, we have only had one day where we could take the dinghy out exploring. We have however put on many miles on our bikes riding around the island, checking out different beaches, getting groceries and even over the the next island, Stock Island to visit some fellow Loopers that are staying there.

On Saturday, Steve's sister Sue and husband Randy came to visit for 5 days. After settling in, we introduced them to Key West by going to a nearby harbor restaurant for awesome peel and eat shrimp! Our time together included visiting the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, spending an afternoon at nearby pool, relaxing on the boat, shopping Duval Street, hanging at Smathers Beach and eating at many fun spots. Steve and Sue decided to be adventurous and share raw oysters on the half shell! Eew! Sheli was thrilled to have Sue as a shopping partner! (Captain "I don't like to shop" was thrilled also). It was so fun to have Sue and Randy on board as they are always up for an adventure.

Sue & Randy

Across the dock from us we have met John and Sherri from Canada. They are here on their 67 foot yacht. They also have a 32' Boston Whaler here on which they invited the four of us to join them for a Sunset cruise. Fun!