Fun times with my mom and sister!!

It has been about 6 months since we left Lévis, and what I miss the most is my people, so having my mom and sister onboard for some time was just awesome for me, and the kids!! It felt so great to finally share with them everything that we’ve learned to love of our boatlife. Even though we didn’t go sailing because, well, I still need Sam for that!, they experienced living on a sailboat just enough.

Of course two hours before they arrived, our AC stopped working. That’s what a boat does, right? Something breaks at exactly the wrong time. As it was supposed to be really hot and humid all week, I tried for 1 1/2 hour to fix it, sweating my life in the hole under the cockpit trying to unclogg the tubing, the strainer and the seacock, without any success! I felt blessed when a friend of mine told me that her husband used to work at an AC marine place and that he’d be happy to help the next morning!! It took him 15 minutes and yeah!! AC was back on. Thanks again TJ.

My sister was staying for a week, and my mom for two, so they rented a car for the first week. We got the chance to spend a day in Key West. Of course we walked the entire Duval street all the way to the most southern point of North America, where there was a line up to take a picture! I thought it was hilarious. We also enjoyed a drink at the daily sunset celebration, which was really fun.

We also went to Bahia Honda and found it to be a really sad place now, knowing that it was one of the best shore snorkeling of the Keys before Irma. It probably didn't help that it had been windy for days. We prefered Sombrero beach, which is right next to our marina anyway.

Another fun thing for us when having visitors: we try all kind of restaurants that we would not usually go to!! Did I mention that I love eating? :)















My sister and Romain even tried this cable wakeboarding thing on Marathon, and they both did an awesome job at it!!

So if I resume their own words, my sister's favorite would be:

- Spending time with us!
- The vibe on the boat and the lifestyle. No stress...
- The dolphins! We had a bunch of them right next to our boat jumping around...
- Everything else including the weather, the ice cream and the pool!

What she didn’t like that much:
- The toilet! 😂 I was expecting that. You have to get used to throwing your toilet paper in a bin and to work your biceps to flush.
- Drinking water out of our water tank. You have to trust Brita and the cap of javex...





After my sister left, we did some more cool stuff around Marathon. One day, friends of ours were nice enough to bring us to Molasse's Keys for some sandbar time, snorkeling and fishing. We caught a bunch of schoolmaster snappers that we ate for dinner, and the kids had a blast fishing them! Romain saw his first shark from underwater, a nurse shark, and a beautiful stingray.

Finally, on her last day with us, we went to Crane Point, where we walked some trails and saw the bird refuge, the museum and some other cool stuff. I highly suggest that you go there if you have the chance!

 

 On our way back from Burdines for yet another amazing lunch, we saw a dolphin jump so high out of the water I felt like I was watching a dolphin show!! That same day we also saw two cute spotted eagle rays next to our boat, and a HUGE tarpon jump out of the water completely. It was amazing...







My mom’s favorite:
- The change of scene from her usual lifestyle. There’s no luxury, but everything is here to be happy...
- The sun, the sea, the fishes splashing around the boat.
- The pool to take the heat down a notch.
- The food! Eating mahi mahi and snapper at good restaurants, and of course my excellent cooking skills. 😉

What annoyed her:
- The no-see-ums! I get you on that one mom...

Mom and tata Ge, you will be missed.