Goodbye Marathon, crossing Gulf, again

Before we left for Ft. Meyers, we took another trip to Key West.  As you recall, we forgot our camera the last time and we remembered it this time.  We met Frank and Bonnie.  We traveled with Frank on his brothers boat (Woody and Judy) when we took our side trip up the Black Warrior river.  They were so nice and took us to several places in Key West that we might have missed.  Here is a picture of Frank and Bonnie with Erwin.  We were taking in the arts and crafts of the area.

Here is one of the boats in the harbor at Key West.

We also went to a nice restaurant for lunch right on the water, very nice.  We took in a local art exhibit at a beautiful location.  Here is a picture of a little gecko and an iguana on top of a very prickly cactus.  It appears the only predator he needs to worry about would be from the sky and he is watching carefully.

Here is all four of us enjoying the day!

They took us to one of the highest points in Key West.  Here are a couple of the pictures that we took on the roof of the hotel. 

This is a picture of a Norwegian cruise ship that was in the harbor for the day.

We had taken the bus to Key West but Frank was gracious enough to provide a ride back to Marathon which is 50 miles away.  It was a very enjoyable drive and he stopped at Big Pine Key to show us the key deer.  Many of the residents of the island feed the deer and they are very tame.  As you can see they were right next to our car, we did not have a telephoto lens on the camera.





It was a great time in Marathon but all good things must come to an end.  We had a wonderful time and met a number of great folks.  We will return next year as we take our boat down and then up the east coast of Florida.



We had another successful crossing on the Gulf of Mexico as we proceed north from the Keys toward the Port Charlotte area so we can store our boat.  We are going to hang out in Ft. Meyers as we have several family members coming to visit us.

This is a picture of the shore along the gulf and the city of Naples as a view from the Gulf.

This is an example of the some of the very expensive homes along this area.

These are along the Gordon Pass on the Gulf.

Pretty amazing.  I can not imagine trying to keep up with the cleaning and the yard work, and I would think you would have many more friends to visit you if you lived here.