It has been a lovely couple of weeks.  The weather has finally gotten nice.  Warm the way it is suppose to be down here this time of the year.  It did rain tonight but it was such a relief after the hot humid day we had.
Our friends Dave and Linda are here from Michigan and we happen to run into them the other day.  They have their car here, always a treat, and they took us to Key West today.  It was Dick's birthday and what fun we had.  Spent the day just walking around and looking at the sights.  Dave and Linda have been down there many times and knew some places to go.  We had lunch at Sloppy Joe's, known for being a Hemingway hang out.  The ocean was a beautiful aqua marine and the sun was sparkling on the water.  A most perfect day.  Then we came back to Marathon and had dinner at the Sunset Grill again.  It is fast becoming a favorite restaurant in Marathon.  A bunch of looper were there of course.  I think we will be sleeping in tomorrow.
Last weekend we went up to Islamorado key to the marine flea market.  Suppose to be one of the biggest in the keys.  It was a little disappointing because we expected to see more boat stuff and not so much t shirts and costume jewlery.  It was still fun.
People are starting to move on.  Looper are either headed up to the east coast or over to the Bahamas.  We will try to let the biggest part of the group get a head of us and bring up the rear in mid April, headed to New Bern, North Carolina.
We have been hearing about the big storms

Loopers out for dinner at the Sunset Grill.

Art in Key West.

Looking out over the Southernmost point.

US enjoying a beautiful warm day.

US in front of Sloppy Joe's.

We had 3 days in a row of sunshine.  Amazing!  It is overcast today but quite warm.
we have been hanging out with loopers lately.  Our friends Ralph and Linda have a son who is getting married this week in Key West and we got to meet the couple who are tying the knot.
We have also had friends here with us for a couple days.  Phillis and Bill.   They went down to Key West yesterday with the in tension of taking the seaplane over to the dry Tortugas.  The weather has not been good so they were unable to fly.  They did spend the night down there though.  Can't wait to hear about their adventure.  It is on our list to go there.
As I was looking around for something interesting to write about I saw the plaque  on the boat with the information about the building of it.  It says GB 42, meaning that it is a Grand Banks and that it is 42 feet long.  Hull #701.  Built by American Marine Limited Singapore.  Then it says  "Tin Hau  Goddess of the sea"  and it has a little picture.  I thought that was pretty cool.
Anyway, we have had lovely sunsets and many manatee sightings.  One, early the other morning of a momma and baby under our friends boat.  She was drinking the water coming out of the side of the boat which was not fresh water but I think she was going for the warmth.  It was a cold morning.
Still having fun in the keys.

After dinner at the Sunset Grill.

Sunset at the foot of 7 mile bridge heading to Key West.

Man and dog napping.

Momma manatee drinking water.

Reflections  across the canal from us.

We are settling into a sort of routine.  Every morning at 9am there is a radio program called the net.  It is on the vhf radio pn the boat and it is for all the boaters in the area.  They give new arrivals a chance to introduce themselves, the people who are leaving a chance to say good bye, and then something called buy-sell-give away that involves a lot of boating equipment.  It is also where I hear about the yoga class at the city park.  Pretty fun to listen to.
Today we had Greg come over in his scuba equipment and look at the bottom of our boat.  Thankfully it is in very good shape.  But he did pull off some nylon rope that was wound around one of the props.  We probably picked it up from a crab pot or maybe it was just floating in the water and we ran over it.  Our friends Randy and Sherry had the same thing and Greg was able to get it off theirs also.
Greg also put zinc on our prop shafts.  Since we are in salt water now it tends to generate low voltage electricity and will corrode props and shafts.  The zinc becomes sacrificial because it is a softer metal so the saltwater corrodes the zinc instead of the expensive props and shafts.
We spent yesterday at the vet because our sweet dog Abby has a recurrence of her cancer so will be having surgery in a couple weeks.  She had this surgery last June also.  I guess labs are prone to it.
Dick is off to the dentist.  And so it goes.
We continue to have fun with our looper friends.  Some of them feel like we have known them a long time instead of a few months.
We have just made reservations in New Bern, N. C. for the summer.  Starting June 1 we will be there for 5 months.  Come on down.
Dick and Pat (not to be confused with the Nixons) and Abby the boat dog.

Greg the scuba diver on the left and our friend Randy on the right.

Those round gray things next to the blue rope are the zinc.

These are the ropes that were wound around the shafts of our boats.