Reunions, regrouping and refreshments

We found Mariah (our former dock neighbors in Twin Dolphin) on a mooring ball when we arrived in Marathon, and cajoled Tuck and Kathy into joining us at Keys Drinkeries (and Fishery) for sundowners and crab claws on Sunday evening. Nancy passed the sobriety test by pointing toward the light.


We rode the bus to Marathon on Tuesday to meet up with Steve, Kelly, Gerry and Sharon (our Ft. Myers friends). We'd described the colorful bus trips of the past to Rusty and Nancy, and they were anxious to add to their experiences of life in the Keys. But the ride down was very tame -- people on, people off. We arrived in time for breakfast at Schooner Wharf (sudsy breakfast) before meeting the Ft. Myers crew at the Raw Bar for Steve's traditional oyster shooter. Then back to Schooner's for lunch and listening to Michael McCloud. We're so regular there that we get local pricing and the waitress saved us a table while we were at the Raw Bar. Seems like a pattern developing here....

Not wanting to seem like total bar flies, we left Schooner's. And went to the Green Parrot. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to the Ft. Myers crew there, but hope to see them all again soon.

We visited the top of the Holiday Inn to give Rusty and Nancy a great view of Key West. They seem to be adjusting well to this lifestyle.

We were disappointed that Rusty and Nancy didn't get the full bus experience on our ride down, but the ride back renewed our faith in all things colorful. A man sat down in front of us who was either smuggling week-old fish in his pockets or had digested and rejected bad fish earlier. He was having conversations with himself, and shook his head a lot when he was losing the argument -- which stirred up his "aura" a little too much. We had to rub hand sanitizer in our nostrils to keep from losing our KW refreshments. We were soon distracted when the crack whore with an iPod boarded and danced and gestured wildly to the music. She also held her cell phone up and waved it around, either taking photos of herself or waving her own candle or getting signals from her home planet. She drew the attention of the rasta carrying all his worldlies in a hospital bag. He'd lost his shoes on the beach (someone stole them while he was sleeping), but had non-skid socks on for the bus ride. He tried to hit on Miss Music by donning all his cool t-shirts at once, while explaining the benefits of each one. Thank heavens for characters (except maybe the dude with the fish)!