On our way home

We left Miami a day late and many dollars short after it took an additional day to obtain, by overnight shipment, the parts needed for the engine repair. We thought we had it completed around noon on Tuesday but discovered that the entire water pump needed to be replaced after we had replaced the impeller and cleaned up all the fittings. It had to be ordered from somewhere in Florida (It's difficult to believe that it wasn't available at a Miami Westerbeke dealer, but such is the nature of marine engines). It did arrive on schedule, Wed. morning and Terry came right over and installed it. After some anxious moments when the thermostat stuck and the engine started to overheat, we figured out the problem, spit on it, kicked it and it finally opened up and the engine cooled perfectly. After letting the engine run for about an hour as we prepared to depart Dinner Key Marina, we finally left around 2ish and motored over to our earlier anchorage off of Key Biscayne, near No Name Harbor. After a beautiful evening and a great nights sleep we set out early Thursday for Rodriguez Key, about half of the way to Marathon---around 45 miles. Once again, the wind was on our nose (what there was of it) and we motored all the way to Rodriguez where we anchored just off the north end of the island in its lea. Another restful night until around 2 AM when the wind shifted and picked up to a steady 13 knots. We were no longer in the lea of the island and the boat commenced the rocking and swaying motion that makes staying below at anchor somewhat uncomfortable. Still, we got a fair nights sleep and the wind changes meant that we would probably be able to get some sailing in the next day. We were right. We had one of our best sails without the noise of the engine, all day, and 45 miles to Marathon. The wind was pretty much on our port beam, out of the south southeast all day, blowing between 13 and 17 knots-----Perfect!! We made excellent time, averaging around 6 knots, and arrived in Marathon at around 4PM. We proceeded to our mooring, put L'il Liv in the water, dinghied over to the office, checked in, paid "da money" and proceeded directly to a cold and super refreshing shower. Life is good!!!! We returned to the boat for a cocktail before setting out in the dinghy for the Dockside Restaurant on the east end of the mooring field. They had a 2 man band playing--pretty darn good---and real good food. I had the mahi mahi with habanera cream sauce and Diane had an excellent cheeseburger--and a couple of beers-----Life IS good!! Today, Saturday the 16th, we cleaned the boat up a bit and walked to the Publix for our last reprovisioning before the long trek back north to Charlotte Harbor. We leave tomorrow morning and will most likely retrace our track coming down--about 150 nautical miles---Little Shark River tomorrow night; Everglades City, Monday night: perhaps Naples Tuesday night and home on Wed. I heard from cousin Jane in Ft Lauderdale and she is going to come over again and join us for Easter weekend--hopefully with her son Todd and his new bride. I almost hate to spell out the planned schedule as it never goes according to plan, as you've seen from our experience recorded in this site--but that's the plan. We hope to pick up our rent car right after we get in and plan to drive back to Houston with the car loaded down with stuff we need to take off the boat. I've got to make a business stop in Destin and we're going to try to return through Apalachacola just so we can enjoy the oysters once more. We should be back in Kingwood, if all goes according to plan, around the week-end of the 1st of May. Wish us luck and fair wind--we soooo enjoy sailing over the sound of a diesel engine throbbing beneath us.