Despite being a year older, Barry planned a very active day for us, and we had a blast. We began the morning with a bike ride around Conch Key and across the pedestrian portion of Long Key bridge, where we ran into "Captain Tom", who owns the cottage we are staying in, riding the other way. He had been away for the weekend, so we hadn't met him yet. Turns out that he knows Paul Fairbanks, owner of the Boonedocks Marina in Oriental, and said that Paul had stayed here in one of his rentals before. We spent a weekend in Paul's "Aft Cabin" and went kayaking and biking a few years back, and his marina is within spitting distance of the marina where we have Logos docked. Small world!
Conch Key canal
Nice riding area alongside the bridge but unfortunately quite a bit of trash in it
Emily with cute little bike
Long Key Bridge
Barry enjoying his birthday ride
After breakfast, we headed out on Captain's Lady again, hoping for a nice, long sail, but the wind, which started light, pretty much died completely, making for very gentle going.
Barry looking for some wind to fill the sails...
Wind? Wind? Where are you?
We stayed out for a few hours and ate our picnic lunch on board, but finally were making such slow progress back we had to fire up the motor. Barry did a masterful job bringing the boat into dock, especially considering that Tom and Mark had moved another boat around to work on it so that we had to pull onto the other side of the dock unexpectedly.
By the time we got the boat tidied up it was 2 pm. We decided we'd have better luck kayaking in the light wind, so we headed out for a paddle. We saw lots of fish in the clear water below, two fins of what we think were small sharks, and I saw a sting ray fly away quickly, startled by my paddle.
After bringing the boats in, Barry made up a batch of "Painkillers", a popular rum and fruit juice drink from the British Virgin Islands, and we sipped one out on the cottage balcony. It was nice to relax for a bit before dinner.
The birthday boy with his birthday book and drink!
After getting cleaned up for dinner, we drove 15 miles south to the historic Seven Mile Bridge to walk and watch the sunset. There is a fancy new bridge there now, but the old bridge has been turned into a multi-use path, with walkers, cyclists, joggers, and in-line skaters enjoying the beautiful view of water on both sides, along with the breeze and setting sun. We took a longish walk and watched a pretty, but not spectacular, sunset, before heading back.
Seven-Mile Bridge
The night was topped off by a visit to The Island restaurant, where we sat outside with a margarita and enjoyed a delicious island-style seafood dinner along the Florida Bay.
Barry's Mahi-Mahi
My Crab-Stuffed Shrimp (yum!)
In honor of Barry's birthday, we topped off the meal with a slice of four-berry pie for Barry and key lime pie for me. Delicious!