Last night dined at Banana Cabana for the first time. This restaurant is at Banana Bay Resort on the bayside. We got there at 6:00 and the restaurant didn't open until 6:30, so we had a drink at the tiki bar while we waited. This is a beautiful resort tucked in to an area of beautiful tropical plants and trees, and cute little cottage areas, they also have a marina. We were very pleased with the restaurant. The new restaurant owner partners are from Michigan, Grand Rapids and Holland, and couldn't be nicer. They even gave us a 10% locals discount, which we weren't expecting. The inside is just like out of the 70s, you can eat outside, but we chose air-conditioning. The menu has a nice variety and reasonable prices, but we had our favorite, pizza, and believe it or not, it was the best we have had in Marathon, and we are pretty picky about the crust. Next time you are down, you must try this place out. When we go back, we are going to venture into some other items on the menu.

Get Key Colony Beach City Council Meeting minutes emailed to you.
Click on the City of Key Colony Beach link to the right of this post, and then go to "automatic email updates".

Good news for shoppers!
We are really in paradise now with the addition of Daffy Doug's Discount Dollar in Marathon. I'm not kidding, this store is really nice. It is past the Hospital on the right side in the old yellow Tropical Furniture store building. It is huge, everything is brand new and arranged really nicely. "Doug" has gone all out, three cash registers, free hotdogs on opening day, and he is even having O'Farrill paint a big mural on the outside of the building so you can't miss it when driving south. Not only is there a large greeting card selection, a dollar each, but believe it or not there is a craft section. Yes, I said a craft section including knitting needles and crochet hooks in every size. I'm not kidding! There are great scrapbooking items, and just about everything is a dollar. Tools, fishing stuff, cosmetics, household supplies, clothing- well this area is a little lacking. As you can tell, I am very excited. It's way better than K Mart or Walgreens, and good for at least 45 minutes of brousing twice a week.

Lychees are in season now, and we are hooked! They have them for sale at the weekend fruit stand across from Publix and I think they bring them in from Homestead. At $5. a pound, they aren't cheap, but they are so good I'm afraid the first pound won't last until the fruit stand is open again on Saturday. They outside is hard like an egg shell, but the inside is sweet and so juicy, it makes you want to pop off the shell and eat another one right away.

The Royal Poinciana
This time of year as you drive up and down US 1, the bright orange blaze of the Royal Poinciana just keeps catching your eye. There are many bigger and brighter than this one, but I love how this tree frames the little cottage beneath. This is part of "Tropical Cottages", right before you get to Gulfside Mall. I also keep noticing these trees because of the huge seed pods attached. I'm waiting for them to fall after a windstorm so I can collect them to make some seed jewelry.

We headed out this morning on a typical Keys summer day, hot and very little wind. We had hoped to go for dolphin but the wind wasn't just right so we went off for yellowtail instead. We went for the deep, big yellowtail this time in about 100 feet of water. It was tough to feel the fish biting when the line was out so far, but we pulled in quite a few and Bill caught the largest yellowtail he has ever caught, the one in the picture, probably about 3 pounds. On the way back we trolled for dolphin and Roger brought in this very nice one. Summer's here, the air- conditioning sure felt good when we got home!

The mini-tornado we had last week blew in some interesting finds at the beach. Jan Sables found not one, but two beautiful conchs in the ocean. We took this one out for a photo, and then Roger put them back where they will hopefully find their way back out to deeper water. It's nice to know that the conch population is alive and well on Key Colony Beach. The fishing team of Sables/Cherry goes out on the Lobster Boat tomorrow for our traditional May fishing trip. Wish us luck, we hope to get into some dolphin.

WAS IT A TORNADO?
We woke up early Tuesday morning to the sound of wind and rain whistling through the courtyard, and at daylight it became evident that that was not all that was flying through the air. Something blew by, selected certain chairs and garbage cans off the beach, and rearranged them in the courtyard. Was it a waterspout turned tornado? We don't know. There was no mention of it happening anywhere else in the area. The deck was left just exactly as it was the day before and nothing was moved on the porches, but if you were on the beach and in it's path...look out!

NUN RUN NOT SO MUCH FUN
Turns out that Sister Mary Beth Lloyd didn't finish her 100 mile run from Key Largo to Key West. She made it about 40 miles to Long Key sometime Saturday night and then threw in the towel, or the habit, as the case may be. She said she had stomach problems. The pace leader for her said that her 85 year old father was part of her support crew and this also threw her off emotionally because he kept pleading with her to stop running. About two thirds of the rest of the runners did finish the race although it was very hot and humid. We met a young man who did the half race from Marathon to Key West and came in second. He and his family were staying on Key Colony the night before and after the race. His father said he was totally exhausted just going along as a supporter! One person in Sister Mary Beth's group did finish the race, and she was pleased with the publicity that her cause, Orphans of AIDS, recieved because of the event.

"Nun on the Run"
Today is the start of the KEYS100 race, a race from Key Largo to Key West, exactly 100 miles, with a 32 hour time limit. There are 65 runners signed up to do the entire distance, and one of them is Sister Mary Elizabeth Lloyd who will run in her black habit to raise awareness for AIDS orphans. She's almost 60 years old! I don't know if she will finish, but you gotta give her credit for trying. And while I'm on the subject of runners, our own daughter-in-law, Lori and her wonderful husband, our son, Gabe, will be visiting this coming week. Lori is in training for the Chicago Marathon, and will probably get some practice in the Florida heat before she goes back to run in the streets of Chicago in August. The only advice I have is drink plenty of water, race fans, and go for a nice cool down in the pool or the ocean when you are done. I'll keep you posted on how the Running Nun does.

This is the time of year when Manuel goes around and drastically trims up everything around The Cay; it's a hurricane preparation thing, I suppose, but also seems to really get things going with some new spring growth. As I was walking up the steps after my swim this morning, I noticed that he had completely cut down one of the banana trees that had finished producing. Then I noticed the amazing concentric circles of the inner core of the trunk where he had sawed it off, and also a new plant to the left just about 18 inches tall just starting it's lifetime goal of providing bananas to The Cherrys and anyone else who is around. It makes me happy to know that even when something is old and used up and carted away, it can still leave something beautiful behind.

Last week we met up with Ryan from New York on the deck. He came down every evening and kept us amused with his knowledge of New York City living, his Blackberry capabilities, and his daily dive trips and bar/restaurant experiences while he is staying at the Hoffman's unit with his mom and dad.
He sure had us old folks as a captive audience as he went on and on about this and that. A self-described nerd, he told us he was the AV squad captain in high school and now has gone on to become a freelance TV camera coordinator, or something like that. Here he is teaching himself how to use a cast net that he bought in the dive shop when he went on the day trip to Looue Key. That guy will "tackle" anything, and was so nice to spend time with those of us that are from a different generation.
We enjoyed his sense of adventure, "can do" attitude, and friendly nature. Hope he gets to make another trip down to The Cay next year.

Here's what you can do on a rainy day; go up to the Ocean Room and paint fish on pieces of palm spine. What could be more fun and provide lots of laughs? This is the second school of fish created with the help of the craftiest lady that we have here at The Cay. Some look like real fish, like the dolphin and the cero mackrel, and some look, well, just ridiculous. Thanks for an entertaining afternoon, Dana.

Tom's 88th Birthday was celebrated on the deck last night, and it was a night of great food and lots of memories and a few photos of the past. I'm sure at the moment this black and white photo was taken, celebrating a birthday on the ocean was about the last thing on Tom's mind. If you haven't heard about his goalie days during high school in Cleveland, stop by anytime and he'll tell you about a much different sport than we see now on TV, ie. head gear, there was none back then.

Tom's sister, Ellen surprised Tom by driving down for the party, and by far, the best part of the party was sitting around remembering what things were like 30 some years ago at The Cay when Tom and Dell and all of the Storey children played a big part in the social scene not only on Key Colony, but in Marathon and Key West. The tales about going to "Fanny's" and dancing to Bob Emma across the street gave us newcomers a taste of what it was like in the olden days, and believe me, we lead a very sheltered life these days in comparison.
So here's to Tom, and we can't wait to be back on the deck again next year for number 89. Let the memories live on!!!

...And They Share!

...And They Share!
Originally uploaded by sache47

Dave and Doris had a great catch on the Best Bet last Thursday, and
they shared a part of their catch with us on the deck! They cooked up
the Yellow Jack, marinated in Teriyaki and also in a Coconut,
Pineapple, Mango, Tequila sauce from Trader Joes. They did their
traditional mayo and Old Bays to barbeque the Cero Mackrel, skin side
down, just until flaky. It was all delicious, there was barely a piece
left at 5:30. If you didn't make it down to the deck that evening, oh
well, "Too bad, too sad", as Doris would say.

The Stone Crab Dinner at Keys Fisheries was great this afternoon. This was a benefit for the Marathon High School Athletic Department. The reason why there's no food on the table is because we ate it all! The stone crab claws were precracked so that getting to them and dipping them in the mustard sauce was no problem at all, it was served with cole slaw and french fries. Lots of our friends from The Cay were there and eager to pose after dinner. The reason that the plastic curtains are down is because the cold front is on it's way. It's 5 PM and the temperature is down to about 68 degrees. Time to hunker down for a few days.

Here's why we love the Marathon Theater. We took this photo from the last row of tables, yes, this is the whole theater, it seats 105. You never have to wait in line. They have a few rows of seats but mostly tables. They have beer and wine. A pitcher of beer is $4.75. There is never a line to get in. You always know someone in the crowd. I like the sign when you walk in that says "The management has the right to cancel the movie if there is not a minimum of five people in attendance". Whew, we made it at the afternoon matinee, there where about 35 people. Jim Carey in Yes Man was just great.

He likes his privacy!
On Wednesday the Keynoter reported that Kenny Chesney had purchased the mansion on Caroline Street in Key West that had been up for sale for quite a while. Thursday, a moving van pulled up and started loading all of Kenny's belongings back into the truck, he was moving out. Evidently he was not happy with the story in the news. He had hoped to find a nice quiet place where he could remain annonymous, but that didn't happen. He purchased the house for 5.7 mil, now it's on sale for 6.495 mil. I guess Kenny doesn't know that the flipping season is over in The Keys real estate market. Now if it were me and I could afford that house on Caroline Street, I would have taken out an ad in the paper bragging about my purchase and inviting everyone over for an open house. I guess I just can't relate to the life style of a country western star.

The sunset was worth waiting for at Sunset Park this evening. There was a slight breeze, cool temperatures and a very clear sky. Once that baby hit the horizon, it fell very quickly. There was just enough time to capture a few photos.