2/2/16 Tuesday Islamorada, Fla.

Well, as I ended the blog last night we were headed to Key West and made it to the lower end of Marathon. We spent the entire morning today calling every Marina and no space available anywhere in Marathon or Key West!!! And I mean None!!! Every place I called had a 2 week waiting list and everyone said there was not even any anchorage space available. I could not believe there could be that many people here. So we decided our only option was to go back to Islamorada and see if we could find something there for several days and just be happy with that plan!!! Disappointed not to get to the Key West, but all these islands are beautiful and lots of fun things to see and do. 

We had called the Marina yesterday in Islamorada that we had stayed at last year a few days and they had nothing available. So I started calling some others and we found 1 little Marina that had 1 dock space available for a few days!!!! We said "we will take it"!!! They said we could stay for 4 nights!  We arrived about 1pm and they had to send out a guy in a little boat to help guide us in as the canal we entered was tucked in around some mangrove trees!!! No markers, nothing to tell you it was there!!! Also the water depth was right at 5ft deep and our boat needs 4ft to float!!! OMG!!! We just turned off the depth alarm as it was going crazy!! Hehe  After we got to the place to pull in we saw that we would have to back in to the slot that was 14 ft wide and our boat is 13 ft wide!!! OMG AGAIN!!! Rod had to turn the boat around in a 50 ft area 180 degrees to back into this tiny little slot!!! BUT WE DID IT!!! Rod did a fantastic job and everyone on the dock cheered we we got it in place!!! Haha Going out will be tricky but easier than coming in!!! Ha  Even with the difficulty getting here it is a beautiful place and we have a big restaurant 20 ft from the back of the boat and they have live music every night!! Good music too!!!  The music definitely caters to our age group!! 60s and 70s tunes!!! 

Rod washed the boat (covered from all the salty water the last few days) and I cleaned and put everything away and in its place, we showered and walked off the back of the boat and sat down at a table on the beach and ordered dinner!!! My kind of place! Ha 

My birthday dinner consisted of a bowl of stone crab chowder (Rod and I shared), and a philly cheese steak and fries, and Rod had a conch sub and fries!! Both were Delish!!! 

We took off on the bike for a short ride just to get out a little. Again, as all the island do, this island has great bike paths!! Short ride saw a few things we want to go to while we are here and then back to the Marina. We enjoyed a cold Pepsi and great music sitting right on the back deck of our boat!!! It don't get much better than this!!! Ha 

Even though our plans had to change we are in a great place and having fun!! So I can't complain. We are docked at Islamorada Marina at Lorelei Restaurant and Cabana Bar (Lorelei is the name of a Mermaid we were told) some history that I think we need to find out about!!! Ha 

We are Rested, full, relaxed and ready for bed shortly!! It's again been a good day!!

Love and Blessings to all, Fran & Capn Rod

I'm sitting at a table waiting for supper to be served to us and there our boat sitting at the dock!!! 

Lovin this!!

Our shared bowl of stone crab chowder!! Sorry no pic of our dinner we ate it and then said oh no we forgot to take a picture!!! Ha

This hughmongeus mermaid is at the entrance at the street of the Marina!!! 

Sitting on our back deck of the boat!! Watching everyone eat and listening to the music!! This is a small portion of the outside restaurant area, I bet there was 300+ people here!!!