April 10, 2017  Still in Islamorada, FL

We’re leaving to tomorrow! It’s only a few hours away.

Yesterday Captain Russ came over early enough so we could get into the Harbor before high tide and head to Smuggler’s Cove to fill up our tanks with diesel. Two more “firsts”  –  parallel parking the boat and getting gas for our boat. We only needed 90 (!) gallons.

Today the engine mechanic installed two new (huge) batteries today, fixed a few more items and then declared the engine area ready.  So we are planning to get started with our journey tomorrow morning and are very happy about that.

Later we decided to head south from our Treasure Harbor marina to check out Marathon. Dirk wanted to see a small airplane museum, but it was closed. Darn! We had heard about feeding tarpon fish at a place called Robbies, so stopped there to check it out. It’s a place for food, music, tourist shopping and feeding both Tarpon and Pelicans! For about $3 we bought about 6 (dead) fish in a pail. Although everyone is warned not to reach down too low in the water because the huge Tarpon mouth may grab your hand with the fish, everyone does it and we jump like crazy as the Tarpon suddenly  leaps at your hand. Fun and funny!

Tonight we did some more organizing and putting away of things to get ready, and there’s more to be done, but we’ll be leaving in any case (hopefully).

Here are some interior boat photos now that we’ve made it our own.