As we live a slower pace of life in the Florida Keys, we thought we could take you through a week in our life while not actively cruising America’s Great Loop. With roughly 200 nautical miles left until we officially “cross our wake,” we’re soaking in these final days of the adventure. 

Every morning starts about the same. Ripley, our 4-year-old goldendoodle, does not go to the bathroom on the boat, so we always make sure to take her in before we start our work days. We’re often asked if it gets tedious taking her to land, especially when we’re on anchor or a mooring ball, but we truly don’t mind because it allows us to stretch our legs and get some walking in, too. Because we’re currently on a mooring ball, we also take two 5-gallon water bags with us to fill up at the dinghy dock, which replenishes our water tank from the day before. There are about 60 other Loop boats in the area (crazy!), so we ended our Monday at the local watering hole, Dockside, for what we call “docktails” with other Loopers. 

Tuesday was a relatively slow day that we spent mostly working, but we woke up on Wednesday filled with excitement as we were reuniting with our buddy boat Slacker. We separated for the holidays, which was our longest time spent apart since starting our Loop last February! We headed over to Dockside yet again, where they host trivia every Wednesday night. Although we did not win, it felt so good to be back with our friends.

One of the unique amenities at the Marathon City Marina is its full workshop available to all marina customers. With a large work table, lockers for storage, sawhorses and more, cruisers can work on sewing projects, fixing parts or, like us, work on their dinghy motor. After a trip around the country, we were overdue for engine maintenance on our Suzuki outboard. While Ripley supervised, Evan and I changed both the motor oil and lower unit gear oil, replaced the spark plugs, and put on a new prop. I can’t imagine navigating all of that while on a mooring ball, so the workshop was most welcome. We wound down afterward by meeting up with Loopers for a few games of Mexican Train Dominoes! 

Friday was here before we knew it, so after we completed our work for the week, we loaded up all our gas tanks and walked to the nearby gas station for cheaper fuel. Our boat has a diesel engine, but our dinghy and generator run on gasoline, and all our jerrycans were completely empty. From there, we met up with friends at Porky’s for happy hour to end the work week.

As if we didn’t have enough fun throughout the week, some of our friends drove down from West Palm Beach early Saturday morning, and we spent the entire day fishing and snorkeling. Once our limit of snapper was caught, we made our way out to the Sombrero Reef lighthouse, which is known for great snorkeling. This was our first time out there, and it did not disappoint. We’re already looking forward to taking our dinghy back out on a calm day. 

The upcoming week looks like it will be quite windy with cooler temperatures rolling through. Who knows what we’ll get ourselves into, but we’re looking forward to continuing the adventure!