February 17-25, 2014 Marathon Key

It was a calm, warm morning when we pulled anchor in Russell Bay.  Although the distance to Cape Sable was around 40 miles, we wanted to get an early start to assure ourselves of anchoring in daylight since there were some shallows we had to traverse to access the anchorage.  Well, actually the anchorage is just in the bend formed by a point of land and its really open to the ocean except for the blissfully deserted white sand beach.

It was a uneventful journey except for areas of crab pots.  Crab pots are actually cages set on the sea floor with a long line attached to a small round ball that floats on the surface indicating where the trap is located.  Its not a good thing to snare one of those lines in a prop which means we weave and turn all around a base course towards our destination.

Anchored at Cape Sable.  Desolate place but scenic 

When we were in sight of Cape Sable the winds began roaring out of the southeast which was a mild concern because I wasn’t sure how much of a lee shore we’d have form what’s called Middle Point at Cape Sable.  As it turned it was quite calm as we approached the shore.  We anchored in about 8 feet of water and no one was real enthusiastic about launching a dinghy so no party again tonight.

After dark the stars were magnificent!  Clear skies and no light pollution.  Wonderful!

We all yanked up our anchor around 9am the next morning and began the more arduous journey to Marathon.  Arduous because the density of crab pots easily doubled which required us to be constantly looking into the sun and maneuvering to avoid the darn things.  And as we pulled out of the anchorage we noticed a sailboat that had come in during the night.  It was packed with people so we were speculating on whether it was a boat form Cuba.  They seem to be rather common occurrences if the radio chatter is any evidence.

7 mile bridge

We made contact with the mooring field people confirming the requirement that we show up in person to get on a waiting list for a mooring ball as we approached 7 mile bridge.  Field Trip and Reunion, the two other boats we were traveling with, elected to continue around Boot key to a marina.

Looking at the mooring field from the anchorage

We went under the high span of Seven Mile Bridge and turned into Boot Key Harbor.  Quite a sight when you first enter the channel.  The as you get into the actual harbor the vista of several hundred anchored and moored boats is a startling sight!  They were packed in all over.  Our dilemma was to find a spot to anchor.  So we took about an hour cruising beyond the normal anchorage area up, a little creek (Sister Creek) and decided to just return to the normal anchorage area.  We found a little spot near a beautiful and anchored in the sand bottom.  Anchor held perfectly.

After setting the snubber and doing the normal at anchor routine, we launched the dinghy and headed over to the city marina office where Ann, the delightful Marina office person presented us with a welcome bag and added us to the wait list for a mooring ball.  We (luckily) were able to remain within the 45 foot limit and be assigned the far more numerous mooring balls for 45 feet and under.  Larger boats are supposed to be on a certain set of mooring balls which can accommodate the larger swing diameter.  And there are only 16 or so of these.  

We headed back to the boat and after several unsuccessful attempts at connecting to various unsecured WiFi networks, just settled in for a peaceful night.

I should mention here in Boot Key Harbor the temperatures are usually in the 80’s and its rarely overcast.  And there is always a nice cool sea breeze blowing.  And, No Bugs!

The Marina maintains a large set of dinghy docks and that’s where we headed the next morning.  But not before we tuned into Channel 68 at 9am to hear what’s termed the cruisers net.  This is sort of a radio chat dispensing all manner of meaningful information from various participants in the harbor.  After the “net” we took the dinghy into the dinghy dock and walked over to the local Publix about a mile away.  Before we left I dug out an old cart we had used to lug Mary’s stain glass materials to her classes.  Luckily we hung on to it and turned out to be a marvelous grocery cart.

We stocked up for a small cache of necessary food items and got it back to the dinghy and ultimately stowed on the boat. 

Mary stayed back aboard while I took the dinghy over to one of the marinas where Rob and Sue, some friends we met in New York, keep their boat.  Had a nice time surprising them and made plans for the next night to stop over for a drink or tow.

The next day, Saturday, we headed back into shore to use the internet at the marina and discovered we were assigned a mooring ball!  D8.  We hopped in the dingy and rode out to see the ball and plan our method to secure a line to it.  Then ran a short distance to over to Bob and Carole’s sailboat to make plans for a dinner outing with some other friends Tuesday.  Busy social schedule here in the harbor.

There is a Boot Key Harbor Webcam if you want to see a live picture of the place.

At anchor, but not for long.

We quickly returned to the boat and hauled up the anchor and made our way over to the mooring ball and snagged the tether and were tied up in a few minutes.  I snugged up the tether to keep us from swinging around too much since were a little big for the ball. 

On our mooring ball.

After we were all set we took a ride out to the Sombrero beach.  Nice place but we couldn’t pull up to the beach directly so we had to beach the dinghy off on the channel of Sister Creek. 

Next day we did two loads of laundry.  $3 a load for the dryer and the washer.  Think I'm under duress to fix our washer and dryer?  And yes we had to haul it into shore and use the marina laundry facilities.

Our elderly laundry center aboard the boat isn’t working but I did find a potential solution.  But it requires dis-assembling the whole front panel to jumper two leads from a certain switch.  This may re-enable the spin and drain function of the washer.  If this fails it’s a new set of appliances for us.  I’ll let your imagination render the scene of me hoisting washer and dryer into the boat from a wobbly dinghy.

Dinghy and a bike.  Our only vehicles.

So while the laundry was agitating away we motored back to the boat and got my bike into the dinghy and brought it to shore.  We have little yellow wire ties signifying we are approved to park our bike in the bike parking area.  And believe me its crowded!

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Mary also spotted a Manatee in the dinghy harbor just hanging around the dock.  They are huge and very docile

We hosted a big party on board in the evening.  Brent and Susan and their friends came over in two dinghies, one towing the other.  It seems Gary’s engine died on the way over to Brent and Susan’s boat so Brent ended up towing him over to our boat.  A delightfully comical scene with two loaded dinghies in a towing procession.  Wish I had a picture of it.

The next day we hung around the boat.  I went into the dinghy dock and walked up to West Marine just because it’s a west Marine and I needed a walk.  In the afternoon we both took a little cart we had kept and walked the mile to Publix to start the re-stocking effort.  Once we returned I started dis-assembling the on board Laundry center and right away noticed the instructions I received depicted something quite different than what I was seeing.  I was instructed to remove four screws to remove the front panel.  After 15 screws, I still can’t get at the controls and wiring.  So I predict this is going to be a painfully long repair process.  Anyone with betting skills would be laying money on us procuring a new washer and dryer.

We spotted Brent and Susan rowing their dinghy over towards our boat as we were returning from shore after a short run around the harbor.  Looked rather romantic with Brent rowing and Susan sitting in the bow wearing a large floppy hat.  Of course it turned out that their outboard died and they were close to us and decided to just row over.  We fed them a few drinks and some snacks and they rowed back the ½ mile to their boat.

Rob and Sue called us Sunday and offered to take us out the Sombrero Reef for a morning of snorkeling.  Mary even got up in time for this.  We drove our dinghy over to their boat and they took us out in their Grady White 28 foot runabout.  The reef is about 4-5 miles off shore and has plenty of mooring balls.  Thankfully Rob and Sue had extra snorkeling gear so we spent a few hours exploring the reef and its myriad number of fish.  Saw barracuda, all kinds of parrot and yellow tail and I swam with a ghostly white jelly fish.  Square shaped jelly fish or man-o-wars are to be avoided!  These though are harmless.

They also took us over to a little set of islands with a sand bar where we can beach the dinghy.  I think this will be a little nicer than the Sombrero Beach we visited the day before.  Luckily our dinghy is more than capable of handling these journeys.  As much as I complain about the thing being so big and heavy, it does have some advantages.

In the afternoon we attended an AGLCA party over at the Marathon yacht club.  There were about 40 looper couples in attendance.  We saw old friends and re-met some acquaintances we initially met along the loop somewhere.  Very fun. 

I should mention that Curt and Marilyn spotted us walking along the road to the yacht club and asked their ride providers to cram us into their car too.  So we were saved walking the 4 extra blocks.  We got a ride back to the marina too!

I’m trying to organize a reef visit trip for about a dozen of us looper people after LeAnn and Brant leave next weekend.  Enthusiasm abounds but the selection of who’s boat to truck us all there is still under discussion.  Maybe we’ll resolve all this Tuesday night at a dinner party.  Well we didn't.  And now, i light of new information about Lou Reef which is reputably far better than Sombrero reef, we may just find ourselves heading there rather than Sombrero reef

Today, Tuesday we did some boat chores and I fixed a number little things.  Removed another dozen screws from the laundry machines and got no closer to being able to access any of the control mechanisms.

I’m still debating whether to call one of the repair places here to see if they can render the stove up to Mary’s specifications.  I fixed the aft A/C unit so all we have left to do is the smaller radar set, laundry center and ice maker.  But I did finally call someone to change the outboard oil etc. so I’ll be up early to run the dinghy over to launch ramp where they’ll haul it over to their shop and do all the work.  Hope to have it back by 3pm so we can make the 4:30 cocktail hour at the restaurant where we’ll be having this dinner party for all of us who have traveled together on and off over the last several months.

We did make another trek to Publix too.  But in the morning I first walked over to a nearby dive shop to get masks, fins and snorkels.   Guess we’re now fully equipped except for the dive suites.  And scuba equipment.

We're here for at least a month.  LeAnn and Brant are visiting us here for a few days.  And then we'll mull over what to do next.  We do have to be back in Wisconsin at the end of March but I'm loath to cram myself into an airliner knowing how comfy and well treated I'll be.  Rather drive or take a train.