Marathon !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're here !!! Marathon Harbor, On a mooring in Marathon City Marina. Along with about 250 other boats. This place is amazing. A huge mooring field full of every kind of boat you can imagine--sail and power, big and small, immaculate (like ours) and derelict. Some coming back from the islands--some waiting to leave for the islands--some just sitting here gathering barnacles and weeds and waiting for some dream to be fulfilled or forgotten. Today we rented a car-- a familiar pattern, eh?--so we can explore the area as we wait for a weather window to open so we can cross to the Bahama Islands comfortably. That may not happen for another week or more. Never let it be said that I'm not a patient man.

We are approaching "7 Mile Bridge" ---We are still in Gulf waters, but as soon as we pass under this bridge we will be in the Atlantic Ocean for the very first time. This is a huge thing for us. (Note the name on our dinghy---"L'il Liv")

No Caption Necessary

He just shat on our boat !

Meet Chuck

I apologize to my faithful followers for the lapse between this post and the last----we have been busy, to say the least. After spending 2 nights in Ft Myers Beach we exited the protected waters of the ICWW, sailed out through Matanzas Pass and into the Gulf of Mexico and turned south toward our first overnight in the Barron River just outside of Everglades City. We had a wonderful sail although we kept the motor running in order to pick up an extra knot and 1/2 as we needed to cover almost 60 miles. Our original intent was to pull into Marco Island for the night but we made such good time motorsailing that we decided to go on to the Everglades City area for the night. We had had fabulous conditions all day--fairly flat seas and 13 kts of wind on our port beam--until we got just south of Marco Island when the conditions turned to sh..... The wind clocked around to on our nose and built to 20+ kts with bigger gusts. The waves built to 4 and 5 feet on our nose--just as we entered into the shallow and shoaly waters south of Marco. It turned even more uncomfortable when we turned to port (east) and headed into the Barron River mouth where we planned to anchor for the night---plus night was rapidly approaching (Remember---Never enter a strange port at night) When we turned to port, now the wind and waves were on our starboard beam and with every 7th or 8th wave that hit us broadside the boat would roll violently from side to side (We were never frightened--just very uncomfortable, tired and anxious to get into some protected waters). Finally, after dodging 3 and 4 foot shoals and rolling back and forth for a couple of hours we entered the mouth of the river and headed upstream about a mile to a wide spot where we could drop the anchor and get some rest. By this time it was completely dark on a moonless night in totally unknown waters---but at least the water was calm and there were a few other boats that had preceded us to this refuge. We anchored succesfully on the first try and prepared for the evening-----beginning with a Stoly martini---stirred, not shaken. We were whipped!!

Having checked the weather well ahead we knew that a northern front was expected the next day so we decided to motor up the river about 3 miles to the town of Everglades City, to the historic "Rod and Gun Club". This beautiful and well maintained resort has hosted celebrities, presidents and other notables for decades and was really quite charming. My pictures on the inside did not turn out but this is the site of a couple of the pics above. We spent the next night tied up to their marina dock, had dinner--quite good- at the Inn, and departed the next morning, early, for "The Little Shark River", the last stop before crossing the Florida Bay and our arrival in Marathon.

Our sail down the coast to The Shark was fabulous. We made excellent time without running the engine and anchored about 1 1/2 miles up the river in completely protected waters. This place is very remote--and quite beautiful, and quiet. It is clearly a very popular stopover as there were about 15 other boats at anchor along the river. The evening was clear and cool and bug free, although we lowered our screened side curtains as we had read that the mosquitoes can be extremely pesky in this part of the Everglades-----So far, bugs have not been a problem--anywhere other than my very first night on this trip (see previous post)

The next morning we planned to get a very early start as we were very excited to finally be headed for a huge waypoint in this journey---Marathon, in the Florida Keys! But---what's that I said about the best laid plans?? We could not get the anchor up. We tried for 45 minutes and it would not budge. Finally, as a last ditch effort and before cutting about 35 feet of chain and leaving a very relaible 45 lb. CQR anchor on the bottom of the river I gave it one last nudge---actually, it was quite a bit more than a nudge--the bow dipped and then rose up into the air---we were free, free, free at last!! and on to Marathon.

There are very few times in a sailor's life when he can honestly say that he experienced a "10". Either the wind is too light or too strong, the seas too rough or too flat, the temperature too cold or too hot, the water too murky, the sky too cloudy---but this was one of those few times. The trip across Florida Bay was PERFECT. We didn't crank up the engine until we were passing under 7 Mile Bridge in Marathon-----OK, OK, OK, there were too many crab pots along the course---so it wasn't a "10". It was a "15". What a fitting climax to our southward journey along the beautiful west coast of Florida---and entree to what lays ahead for us.

So now we are tied up to a mooring ball in the City Marina, Marathon, Vaca Key, Florida. WE signed up for a week as the weather is not at all promising for our departure over the Gulf Stream. So today we rented a car to do our usual exploration. We'll probably run up to Key Largo for a day and then out to Key West to watch the freak show there. We're thinking we might sail on up the coast and prepare to cross over out of Key Largo or even Miami, as it makes the hop over all the shorter. Who knows?? We're just enjoying every minute and every place and every experience. We're talking to everyone we can and adding to our information banks and getting more and more excited about what awaits us.