1/6/09

Retirees with a zest for life

Cruising by boat is a lifestyle that has allowed us to visit many interesting places and offered tremendous opportunity to meet people. These retirees come from all walks of life, and are usually 65 and older. No doubt these are the same people who changed American culture in the sixties, and they are calling the shots again in their retirement. This new breed of retirees is amazingly adventurous. No matter their age, they are riding motorcycles, hiking the Appalachians, working on their boats, honing their crafts, be it writing, cooking or playing musical instruments. My hats off to them! They are our inspiration.
Over the Christmas/New Year's holidays, we visited Bill and Joy in Marathon, the middle Florida Keys. We had met these fun folks in May 2004, first at Carolina Beach State Park in N. Carolina, and then crossed path again at various places in the Chesapeake Bay, Florida and later, Tennessee. They were cruising on Chandelle, a 44' Endeavor Catamaran, and this particular winter, she was berthed at her dock in Coco Plum in Marathon.
Chandelle leaving Carolina Beach State Park
Hailing from New Orleans, Joy is a connoisseur when it comes to food. We always discover new exciting places to visit or eat with them. On this trip, we enjoyed feeding the tarpons at Robbie's in nearby Islamorada, and an awesome motorcycle outing with their friends (one was in his early 80s) to Big Pine Key for lunch. The less adventurous (that's Joy and yours truly) went by car.
Feeding tarpons at Robbie's
Unbeknownst to us, the National Key Deer Refuge is located right here at Big Pine Key, about half hour from their marina. So after lunch, we drove around hoping to meet some Key deer. This was our lucky day. We saw several. One even came up to hubby's hand to lick it! Even the Key deer could not resist the smell of pizza, which was what we had for lunch. A sweet encounter indeed.
Key Deer at Big Pine Key

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