Marathon--Boot Key Harbor

Rows and rows of boats

Marathon is a town located on Vaca Key in the middle of the chain of Florida Keys (east side of the Seven Mile Bridge, which we passed under).  It is one of three main mecca's for Caribbean cruising boaters.....the other two being Georgetown in the Exumas, (Bahamas) and Grenada.  Anyway,  it is a floating city of  226 mooring balls, several marina's and room for anchorages too....the mooring field is successfully managed and operated by the City of Marathon.   The rate for a ball is $300/month or $118/week or $22/day.

Boot Key Harbor on Marathon

When we arrived almost 2 weeks ago (after the overnight passage from Pine Island), we anchored outside the harbor, showered, jumped into our dinghy and raced to the front desk to put our names on the waiting list......it is a no reservations---first come first serve operation and we were #23.   Ok, no problem, the balls free up when the weather gets good and folks move on.....some stay here for the winter and some year around.   Next morning, we upped anchor and motored into this harbor thru the little slit (lower left side of pic) of the now permanently open bridge....watch out for the overhead power lines, they're 65' at a high tide.....we were ok with a 48' mast.

Taos refugees

We dropped anchor and called our Taos friends, Kim and Kevin, who live on their own boat, Sea Fever, in Burdine's marina.  They escaped Taos back in November, picked up a couple of bartending jobs and are living the salty life this winter instead of shoveling snow.

We have had a blast with them exploring the mangroves, sand bars.....and local bars.  The time is flying by.

KnK with dogs, Peedee & Kiwi in the mangroves

The Marathon City Marina has pretty good facilities for it's inhabitants.  There is a large lobby hall/office with library, a couple of TV's, wifi & 120v electricity, laundry,  bathroom facilities and general mail delivery.

This is also where we see the live aboard families homeschooling their kids.





 A posting board lets cruisers post notices of departures in case others want to join along.  Every morning at 9am on VHF channel 68 is the harbor Cruiser's Net with announcements, questions and a harbor      flea market of items for sale or wanted.

We spent about 6 nights anchored waiting for the rowdy winds to die down (our new Rocna anchor held true blue for us)  and for other boats to leave---most heading to the Bahamas.  We had slowly moved up the waiting list for a mooring ball,  and finally on Friday the 13th our number came up......we got U2....a Bono ball!  And thank goodness for the faithful PumpOut poop boats that come around----best $5 we spent yet.  But now that we're one of 226 assigned boats, it's included with the fee.

Where did we park?

Soft & hard dinghy segregation 

Some other local restaurant and bar dinghy docks are quite inconvenient....especially when the tide is out and the fishing is easy  

There are two large floating dinghy docks to accommodate

our main means of transportation.

Our dinghy, Speedy,  giving a pelican prime restaurant seating

Some dinghies need love too

Bob Narley's taxi service....yeah mon we're in the islands

From the dinghy docks, the grocery store, Home Depot and Kmart are all about a mile down the main road Highway 1.  We walk to these stores and then call the local taxi dude to bring us back with all the heavy supplies and liquids.

Here's a photo gallery of some the best named boats in the harbor.

                Floating breakfast joint----Harbor Hillbillies.  We are loving the diversity of people and ideas here.....frequently reminds of us Taos and it's characters.

A house with a Yamaha motor

One day we dropped the mooring lines and headed outta the harbor 

5 miles south to Sombrero Key where there's an old light house with a reef and great snorkeling.  

Ohhh--- that turquoise water was cool and refreshing. We also took the opportunity to scrub the bottom of Fiesta......she giggled with pleasure.  

The temperatures are finally what we expected in Florida mid 80's....lows mid 70's.  The warm sunshine and freedom from the crowded harbor gave Tim the opportunity for a cool down salt water shower.

We got Otto (our auto helm) fixed  and ordered up a new 345 watt solar panel that will be attached on top of our davits.  This should....fingers crossed.....take care of our voltage needs.....on a sunny day anyway.  Otherwise we have to run our Yanmar engine and high output alternator one hour twice a day. ...makes it noisy and hotter down below.

All in all our experience here has been wonderful.....and we can see returning back to this harbor again.

In the meantime, we have plans to cast off sometime this week and head down the keys towards Key West....and further on to the Marquesas and Dry Tortugas where we're hoping to meet up with ye old dock maties from Regatta Point Marina in Palmetto.  So till then------fare thee well!

Maiden voyage

Underway-----but who's steering?

And so my friends....the two reformed ski-bum-turned-salty-adventurers began their new life away from the security of the nesting docks....heading south in search of warm waters.....it was another new beginning....something this last year had been loaded with.....no ruts, no reality, no regrets.

It was a year ago March 4, we sold the B&B....and each day since then has been a new horizon with a new brain twisting lesson....and we were ready.



Our original course plans had us heading out to the Gulf of Mexico from Tampa Bay and sailing an overnighter to the Boca Grande Pass north of Pine Island....but da weatherman said,
"Patchy fog and deadly lightening" ...at least that's what we took to heart more than the perfect  northerly-to-easterly winds and 2-4ft seas.  We were exhausted from getting-outta-Dodge, so we opted to stay inland and motor on the Intercostal Waterway instead of staying up all night undersail.
Our first night was in Sarasota Bay in an anchorage next to downtown (aka the Emerald City)...it was perfect to de-stress.  Day 2 on the ICW..... 30 miles, 8 more bridges in 7 hours

Swing bridge on the ICW

found us dropping our hook in about 8 feet water just off the ICW....again, perfect.

For our evening entertainment, we took a dinghy ride into the nearby mangroves where we spotted a bald eagle (but not before we ran aground in the dinghy....oops, sorry Speedy....*tsk-tsk)















Day 3 on the ICW----we arrived into an anchorage we had decided on over a year ago.....Pelican Bay just inside Boca Grande Pass next to Cayo Costa State Park....ok, now breathe.  This anchorage had about 30 boats of all kinds......and we stayed for 2 nights.

Our good friends the Captain and the Mermaid (aka Bob and Susan) power-boated up from their Florida home to spend the afternoon with us.

Lunch on Cabbage Key Island with it's Gopher turtles and the famous dollar bar

Chalie & Susan & Bob

Our last night anchoring on the ICW was off of York Island on the south side of Pine Island.....where we rode the dingy up several canals to Chalie's & Denise's place (remember the crazy dude from the Upper Chesapeake in earlier blogs?  Yeah, he's just as crazy in Florida too)   Thanks guys for a great hamburger!





Our 5th night on the ICW....and the mosquitos finally found us.....and it was an total assault driving us inside the boat behind screens with DEET....a bloodbath ensued, but we won.

Into uncharted territory (for us anyway)

On the morning of the 6th day we listened in to NWS weather service on the VHF....consulted with a couple wind/weather apps on the cell phone----full moon, 15 knot winds, 2-4ft seas-----we left the ICW behind.....truly new waters now.  It looked good and we were going for it----120 miles---all day, all night and all the next day non-stop to reach Marathon in the Florida Keys.  We passed under our last bridge, Sanibel Causeway, hoisted full sails and felt the wind in our face.....it was good.  

Happy but tired

Good was the first day.....past Fort Meyers Beach....Naples.....and sunset off Marco Island....into the dark night off the coast of the Everglades....alligators, tigers and bears, oh yeah.  And for the next 12 hours not a single light or buoy or boat was sighted.  We recorded our position every hour on the paper charts, but we really love this age of electronic chart plotters.  We sailed under a double reefed mainsail-no jib and the winds were great around 15 knots with gusts to 20 knots.  But just to keep us alert, the seas got rough (for us newbies anyway) as we ran on a broad reach with the wind.  We rode on wild waves (4-6 feet plus some) that we couldn't see......because the full moon hid behind the unpredicted storm clouds.  In the darkness, we could see the darker outline of squalls around us.  We donned our foul weather gear and tethered ourselves in...taking turns while trying to catch an hour sleep here and there.  The hours actually flew by and when morning came, as it always does, the winds had shifted from the east giving us a more comfortable beam reach as we approached the turquoise waters of the Florida Bay off of Cape Sable.

The only casualty from being tossed around in the waves through the night, was Otto.....our autohelm.  Otto is truly one of our more valuable crew members....he can hold a course when the rest of us look like drunken sailors on a pier.  At this point in our journey, it was actually OK, because those shallow waters (6-10ft) in the Florida Bay between mainland and the Keys are a mine field of crab and lobster pots and it takes the finesse of a slalom skier to dodge them.  We did well, only a few thunks along the bottom of the hull told us we had hit one, but the beauty with a full keel is that there's a smaller chance of snagging and dragging one on the prop.

Only one crab pot of thousands to dodge

We arrived into the boat haven harbor of Marathon on Vaca Key around 4pm on Saturday.  We felt like it was another planet, as our less-than-alert minds were not in sync with this reality.  All in all, it was a good passage with more lessons to add to our growing experience.  Details of life in Marathon soon to come. 

Dock doggies and finally.....a fond farewell

Phoebe the Queen

Frank---a playful charter boat resident

This blog would not be complete without mentioning all my favorite dogs that live on the boats at Regatta Point Marina.  Being "dogless" (not to mention dog-tired and missing our dog Rusty) it always made my day to see one of these happier-than-shit-furry cuties playing and running down the docks....either going or coming from the green grass in front of the marina.  

Bailey---named after one of my fav coffee additives

Candy---the Vogue model

Candy--the teacup Princess

Abby--waiting for Mom and Dad to come home

The other interesting occurrence I keep forgetting to mention is the "Pistol Shrimp".  Our first night on the docks 3 months ago, we thought something was eating the bottom of our boat.  Could it be barnacles already munching away on the algae and is this a good or bad thing?  It sounded like we were sitting in a bowl of Rice Krispies....or a crackling fire....and our new dock mates assured us newbies it was little fish with human-like-teeth gnawing away at the gelcoat....oh brother.  So a little research on the internet where all the answers in the world lie....revealed Pistol Shrimp.  Yep, little shrimp with an oversized claw that has the ability to produce a large snapping sound stunning their prey.  Reminds me of some spicy Cajun shrimp I once ate.  Check it out....and may you sleep better than we did the first month on our boat.

Anyway, all dock comics aside, we have managed to persevere through more upgrades with new running lines (halyards and sheets), repacking the stuffing box and tuning the standing rigging....always another lesson to cram into our overloaded brains. We also bought and registered a PLB (Personal Locater Beacon)---essential emergency beacon devices for coastal/offshore cruisers.  The orange EPIRB below is an older model next our to our new one.

Rigging tension monitor

Old EPIRB and new PLB

Tampa Bay Sunshine Skyway Bridge

But rest assured we have had fun in between....like our trial overnight run up to St Petersburg with our friend and rum-lover Mike Fauser *wink----can't keep up with this jammin' man.  

Jammin' mon

In the beautiful downtown St Pete's we also met up once again with my old college roommate & beau, Alison & Al.....bon voyage my dear old friend.

 One night 5 of our boats took off to a State Park for a beach picnic and overnight.  But the best part was the pea-soup fog that engulfed us before the sun was to set and lasted until noon the next day...errie and peacefully beautiful.

C dock making way too much noise....again.

And then there was another tequila night on the dock.....oh dear.  

Final score----Robert & Leslie 0    Patron 1  (Butterfingers dead)

To good friends wherever we end up in this small world

And so dear readers......the time had finally come.  We sold our Roadtrek van---our blessed home for an unforgettable journey of 4 months across the US.  We provisioned our boat cabinets and lockers with non-perishable food and water.  A window of good weather and a renewed boat with it's lovers on board that were begging to be set free to the vast wild blue horizons ...we bid farewell, but know that it's a small world and our paths shall cross again.  On March 1st, we finally set off for our next big adventure to the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas.....and then?

Fair winds and following seas for Fiesta---Adios!

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.       Mark Twain