After tying up Tigger at the Marina dock, we dropped by the MCM office and discovered that they were getting ready to call us to give us a Ball. Another surprise. We decided to check out S-10 and found another boat on it. Tom checked with the skipper and found he was leaving at 7 a.m. tomorrow not today. We were happy to be given this ball as it is located next door to S-11, the location of our Canadian friends Colin and Pat. Surprises come in threes!
Back at the Marina we headed over to Oceanside Highway, the main route through the Keys, The Stuffed Pig is located directly across from MCM and serves breakfasts and lunches 6 days a week. So this morning Tom had his eggs, biscuits and gravy, finished them and did not appear to be stuffed! While Tom ate, Debbie explored 35th Street running toward the Gulf. Key Industries is located at the end of 35th and that is where Peggy and Bob suggested we eat tomorrow evening. After passing many traps, Debbie found the restaurant overlooking the Gulf.
The Key Industries Bar was a story up above more tables. A great view of the Sailboats.
At the Stuffed Pig, the waitress told us where we could get our spinnaker stitched. We strolled NE along Oceanside, first visiting a Dive store for Debbie to get a Beanie. The waters are much cooler this year and we are snorkeling three months early than last year.
Home Depot came next. We did pass a lot of other stores along the way but a hardware store is a good store to locate. We also stopped in at Boater’s World and found they had no sailboat items. They referred us to West Marine in the other direction. Debbie dropped an envelope at the Post Office.
Publix is a healthy walk from MCM but it is a full service grocery store. Tom got milk and Debbie salad materials. We decided not to check out K-Mart and the Canvas Store behind it.
Another item on our search was to find a marina where we could dock Catrina the week our IN crew is here. We did not find one but decided to make calls when we got back to the boat.
Our walk covered a lot of time. We found a number of places along the way where we could sit down and rest Tom’s leg. His new brace is very helpful but still not super comfortable and it was hot! At last! We were sweating!!!
On the return trip we took a shortcut through a very large municipal sports complex next to MCM. It was a surprise to find a large flat area of such valuable land used for this purpose.
In the afternoon we worked around Catrina and made phone calls to follow up leads. Late afternoon we set out to find West Marine. We search the banks on both sides of the drawbridge south of our mooring and even asked a couple people. Finally one man told us to look for a dingy dock down a long canal. We tied Tigger up and went exploring the backside of buildings in the middle of the Marathon Sailboat Marina. On the side of one building we found a little sign that said West Marine. There was no back door and a fence blocked our way on both sides. Finally, we found a gate, the front door and many expensive items we could buy. On the way back to Tigger we found a new use for a catamaran - a garage. Note the motorcycle behind the car!
Tom also instructed Debbie in driving Tigger. He did not know he was taking his life in her hands but all turned out okay and we made it back to Catrina.
Later we decided to check out the local MCM showers. MCM just built a new shower building. It needs to be hooked up to city water. We were concerned about the shape of the old showers. There were only three for a community of over 200 boats. We found one open and lots of lukewarm water!
Debbie whipped up a fresh salad, Red Beans and Rice and grapefruit. We tried to watch TV as the boat swung back and forth and cool breezes flowed through Catrina.
