We had such a great trip north that we’ve decided to head a different direction. Last winter, while still in the afterglow of our trip to Canada we decided that we’d like to try another climate for a winter. We wondered what direction we should go?
In scouting out where to go, last February we decided a trip to Florida would be wise. We wanted to have our car with us, but didn’t want to drive down and back. The solution was the Auto-Train. We were in Florida in 19 hours-a wonderful experience and highly recommended.
We had a totally open mind as to just where in the south we might make our winter cruising head quarters. The Georgia Sea Islands were a possibility along with northern Florida – maybe the St. Augustine area. We have a number of friends who are “snow bird” boaters so we sent out a few emails requesting advice and ideas on places that might be nice to spend the winter. One friend in particular responded with a very sensible question – how warm do want to be”? An excellent question - our answer was “WARM”. Marathon in the Florida Keys was a suggested spot by several boating friends so we decided to have a look-see and headed straight for the Keys when we got our car off the train.
When we arrived in Marathon we discovered it was the winter home of quite a few boat owners who are members of the M.T.O.A., the trawler owner’s organization we are also members of, and there is quite a winter community. There were a lot things that appealed to us in Marathon such as access to stores, social and recreation activities and public transportation. Since we plan to use our bicycles and walking shoes as the primary way of getting around, that is important. We found the weather during our February visit, to be “island-like” and that had great appeal. We continued our plans for the re-con trip and visited a number of boating spots as we made our way north along Florida’s east coast and as they each had something special to offer, we decided that Marathon had more of what we were looking for as a winter destination.
In scouting out where to go, last February we decided a trip to Florida would be wise. We wanted to have our car with us, but didn’t want to drive down and back. The solution was the Auto-Train. We were in Florida in 19 hours-a wonderful experience and highly recommended.
We had a totally open mind as to just where in the south we might make our winter cruising head quarters. The Georgia Sea Islands were a possibility along with northern Florida – maybe the St. Augustine area. We have a number of friends who are “snow bird” boaters so we sent out a few emails requesting advice and ideas on places that might be nice to spend the winter. One friend in particular responded with a very sensible question – how warm do want to be”? An excellent question - our answer was “WARM”. Marathon in the Florida Keys was a suggested spot by several boating friends so we decided to have a look-see and headed straight for the Keys when we got our car off the train.
When we arrived in Marathon we discovered it was the winter home of quite a few boat owners who are members of the M.T.O.A., the trawler owner’s organization we are also members of, and there is quite a winter community. There were a lot things that appealed to us in Marathon such as access to stores, social and recreation activities and public transportation. Since we plan to use our bicycles and walking shoes as the primary way of getting around, that is important. We found the weather during our February visit, to be “island-like” and that had great appeal. We continued our plans for the re-con trip and visited a number of boating spots as we made our way north along Florida’s east coast and as they each had something special to offer, we decided that Marathon had more of what we were looking for as a winter destination.
