Saturday, our friends from Beaufort (Jeff and Marjorie) who have a car took us to the grocery store and K-Mart which was great, but it is too far to walk and we want to be independent so we started looking for bicycles. Sunday morning we went to church at Marathon Community United Methodist Church and it was good to be there. We would prefer to attend a Lutheran Church but there are no ELCA churches here and the Methodist church was within walking distance. After church, we walked toward K-Mart stopping at the Conch Cafe for lunch where we had conch and were not disappointed. We wound up buying two small (20") bicycles at K-Mart and riding them back to Harbour Cay, so now we have transportation. Sunday evening there was a Super Bowl party in the clubhouse with more food than we could eat. We enjoyed the party and meeting most of the folks. 
Monday was a "work day". I washed Dubhe down and we generally cleaned up. I hauled our dingy out on the boat ramp here and cleaned the bottom. I was surprised that there was so little growth on it after being in the water for 5 weeks. I expect that when we are not moving nearly every day, the growth will occur faster. 
Tuesday, we were invited to go sailing with friends we met last year in Beaufort on their 43' catamaran "Quandary". We had a wonderful time just day sailing. They are moored in Boot Key Harbor so we went out Sisters Creek and straight out about 10 miles past Sombrero Key Light, back to Moser Channel and back to Boot Key Harbor. I had forgotten how much fun sailing is when you do not have a particular destination. The weather has been gorgeous...sunny and in the mid to upper 70's.
Wednesday, we went with our Jeff and Marjorie and a couple of friends of theirs to Key West. We had a fine day just wandering around the city, stopping frequently for drinks. Of course, we made it to the Bull & Whistle on Duval Street where we spent a lot of time almost 40 years ago, and to the Sunset. We had dinner at La Trattoria on Duval Street and made it back to Harbor Cay safely at about 2200 (10:00 pm), past our normal bedtimes. Thursday it rained all day which is the first significant rain we have had since leaving. It was kind of nice to have a down day. Mostly just fiddled around on Dubhe and read.
Friday. It is hard to believe we have already been here a week. I was planning to rebuild the toilet but found that I did not have the full rebuild kit so I ordered the additional part which will not come until next week. This is not critical at this point but could become so at anytime. We had dinner with new friends at the “lanai”, a covered “pavilion here for events.
Saturday I sanded and varnished most of the cap rail. In the afternoon we went to the Pigeon Art Festival. It was ok but just a lot of booths for people selling their artwork. Some was nice but I am not a great art enthusiast…we did have ice cream which made it worth it. On the way back, on our bicycles, we stopped at West Marine, again; his time to get a paper chart of the Keys. We attended a renaming ceremony for one of the boats here. It is generally known that changing the name of a boat will bring bad luck unless done properly. This is one reason that Nancy and I have never changed the name of a boat. We like the name DUBHE anyway. A proper name change ceremony will involve reciting words to appeal to the gods of the ocean and will include alcohol of some kind. Probably not really useful to protect a boat, but it is fun for the participants.
Last Sunday, we attended a United Methodist Church which was ok, but no one there even greeted us. Today, we went to St. Columba Episcopal Church which we really enjoyed. The congregation seemed to be much more alive, several people talked to us, and of course, we liked the liturgical service much better. We will go back.
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