Pea soup in paradise

And you thought it was cheeseburger in paradise.......silly!  It's not always sunny and warm down here.  Today, it's foggy and muggy.....a good day for laundry and a little cleaning.

Can't see the bridge today!

Here are a few photos from our last couple of busy days.  There will always be boat chores, but we definitely make time for fun in the sun, too.

Duncan's last sunset aboard Virginia Dare.  David is not sprouting a wind generator out of his head, it just looks that way.

Seven Mile Bridge at sunset

We said goodbye to Duncan at Miami International Airport before sunrise on Sunday morning, drove back home, and slept the rest of the morning.  The clouds blew away, so we decided to dinghy over to Sombrero Beach.  We had not yet explored Sisters Creek and were unaware that many people anchor there.  (Although it's too shallow for our boat.)

The dinghy "lot" at the south end of Sombrero Beach where Sisters Creek meets the Atlantic

A sign at the beach warned swimmers of Portuguese Man O Wars.  We didn't see any there, but I think these are young ones (blue) hiding in the mangroves.

LOTS of people have their dogs on board down here.  I will always miss our poochie.

Sunday night we grilled Florida lobster tails and made lobster rolls.  They differ from Maine lobsters as they don't have big, meaty claws.

Rubbed with butter and garlic.....

....and quickly cooked on the grill.

Since we'll be without wheels until Alex and Brooke visit, we kept our rental car an extra day and ran lots of errands yesterday morning.  Ten vacuum-sealed packets for future dinners.....chicken, steak, grouper, yellowtail snapper, and a little bit of sausage for those mornings when we want a hot breakfast :)

We cooked the bag of pink Key shrimp for last night's dinner

Yesterday's temp climbed into the 80s (sorry Duncan!) so we hopped in the dinghy around 3pm and anchored near the little island south of us.  It was a *refreshing* swim (like Grand Traverse Bay in June).  Since it's been so windy for so long, the water was cloudy.  We couldn't see the bottom even though it was only about 7' deep.  There was LOTS of fish activity all around us, so I didn't stay in long!  I like to see what I'm swimming with......  David is already planning his next fishing expedition :)

We discovered that the insulated wine carrier that Alex gave us also works well with four cans of beer!

Leaving the marina behind

Lots of wildlife all around us

Clouds to the south

Cute little dinghy anchor and pretty green (but cloudy) water

Mangroves and two crab trap buoys to our north

Cold beer and a hot afternoon

Crescent moon

Shallow water makes for many wrecks

Sailboat heading out when we were heading in

Turtles, turtles everywhere!

We highly recommend touring The Turtle Hospital in Marathon if you're ever in the area!  Their motto is Rescue. Rehab. Release.

This tells the staff which turtles are at the hospital on any given day (kind of like our "huddle board" at the NMC Foundation :)

Operating room (no surgeries scheduled this morning)

They use laser surgery to remove tumors

MANY turtle photos

They receive medical attention in these containers

Marine biologist caring for a turtle.  You can see where tumors where lasered off the soft tissues on the left shoulder.

Fibropapillomas (if I remember correctly) that will be lasered off

Youngsters!

They are kept for one year after the tumors are removed to be sure there won't be new growths

These turtles are in the large one-year waiting tank that is connected to the Gulf (tides, temperature, etc)

The folks at this hospital do amazing work!

Howling wind!

The wind has been howling for two days.  Granted, it's not bitter cold like much of the eastern half of the U.S., but the Keys are having a "cold snap" and there's even a frost warning tonight.  It was far too windy to go sailing with Duncan today (20-25 kts, gusting to 30 kts), so we checked out the old, abandoned bridge and took a six-mile walk in the sunshine.

Pelican skimming the water

Old railroad tracks serve as the railings for the pedestrian bridge

Two-mile bridge to Pigeon Key (closed to public)

Fly by

Far too many pictures of the eagle soaring past us

Pelican fly by 

The tide was going out and the wind was helping it -- made for swishy swirls under the bridge

New bridge.  Old bridge.  A study of lines.  And swishy swirls.

Made it to the end.....turned around and went back.