March 10-12, 2014 Marathon

In the not-to-early hours of the morning we left to make water and head out to the reef.  I was too lazy to put the dingy up on the sundeck so we towed it.  And since Curt and Marilyn came with us it was just easier to have it down.  The water maker took another 45 minutes before getting to the point of safely making water.  No issues though.  We have full tanks until next week!

Snorkeling at Sombrero Reef

We snorkeled for a few hours, came back to the boat on had some food and went back in the water. It was a wonderful day.  I saw a nurse shark and swam with several of these big barracudas.  Also followed a sting ray for a while as it glided across one of the sandy spots on the reef.  Think we have to get an underwater camera.  And, being the industrious person that I am,  I took the opportunity to clean off the hull again.  I couldn't get all the barnacles off the props and shafts, but that's what divers do.  And we'll be hiring one when we get to Stuart.

We heard that Jeff and Judy on Just Fakin It were coming into marathon.  We got a hold of them on the radio and as we left the mooring ball at the reef, we headed over to the anchorage where they were staying to say hi and make plans for tomorrow.

I got this light bulb .... think you guys could maybe ...

We came back through the harbor and got up to the mooring ball where the crack deck crew (Curt, Marilyn and Mary) snared the mooring and had us hooked in well under an hour.  It seems there was some confusion on how to run the lines.

Since Curt and Marilyn had biked here from the Marina where they are staying a few miles away, we decided to go out and eat at Dockeside, a bar/restaurant about a 1/2 mile from where we were moored.

We left there after a fun meal and dropped Mary off at the boat while I took them into the dinghy dock so they could hop on their bikes and pedal the 3 some miles back to their marina.

Manatee family

I woke Mary up at 8:58 so she could call Marilyn and assure her that she was indeed attending yoga which, incidentally, is taught by Sue of Rob and Sue off of Papillon.  So I took her into the dock to drop her off and headed back to the boat to change the generator filters and oil. But not before I saw some manatees. Specifically a family of them.  Baby, mother and father.  I guess Mary and some other yoga practitioners saw them too and took to petting them.  I guess they like to have their belly's scratched.

 I was half way through changing the oil when  I heard this ruckus out on deck.  It was Jeff and Judy who took their dinghy in to try and secure a mooring.  They came aboard our boat first though and we talked a bit until my phone rang with Mary wanting to be picked up.  So I sent Jeff and Judy to the marina office where they could complete their paperwork for a mooring ball and run a few errands.  I, in the meantime, completed the genset maintenance and ran back into the marina where we all met up and decided to go have lunch at Castways.  Incidentally, Castaway is the name of curt and Marilyn's boat.

Stubborn pelican

We had nice lunch inside... the sun was really hot outside.  But, there are pelicans all over and one decided our dinghy was a comfy place to rest while he chewed on some pierce innards.  I actually had to get on the dinghy and reach out to push him off before the stubborn beast would leave.

Curt and Marilyn, the same crack crew I had earlier

We then took Curt and Marilyn back to Jeff and Judy's boat which was anchored outside the harbor so they could help them secure to their assigned mooring.

One the way out to the anchorage Jeff, with his new outboard, was suggesting it might blow ours out of the water with mind boggling speed.  So we, with 4 people in our dinghy laid to rest any thoughts of grandeur he might have had, and blew right by him much to his chagrin.

They followed us into the mooring field and to their ball where Curt and Marilyn did a superb job securing lines to the mooring tether.  It only took them about a minute not an hour!.

Curt, Mary, Judy, Marilyn and Jeff

We left and went back to the boat and they followed over shortly because we all decided to go to Dockside where they were having free food!  Well, Hors d'oeuvres actually, but still it was free!  We hung around awhile and listened to  local band comprised of a guitar player and electric fiddle player.  Pretty good.






Mary and I left everyone there and headed back to out boat relatively early.  Guess we're getting old.

Today, Wednesday, I walked over to the computer repair place to see if my screen arrived yet.  It hasn't so Monday we'll have to work something out since we are leaving here Tuesday next week.  I came back and took my bike to this well stocked hardware storeabout 4 miles up the road.  I needed a shower head and some screws.  Made a stop at Publix again too and finally returend to the boat to see if Mary still had  a burning desire to go see the Turtle Hospital.  She wasn't there so I waited. for a awhile until she kayaked back to the boat.  

Seems plans were made with several other couples to do the Turtle Hospital at 3.  So we went back inot shore a little early so I could take a dinghy prop to the prop shop to have it repaired.  The guy also agreed to do my big propes that were damaged up on the Erie Canal.   So tomorrow morning I have to haul two,  24 inch bronze props that weigh about 30 pounds apiece a mile up the road on a pull cart originally designed to haul Mary's stain glass.  Did I mention that I have to be there at 7:30am.  If that wasn't difficult enough we seem to have plans to take the bus to Key West again tomorrow.  And it stops at the Marina around 8am.

One of the patients at the Turtle Hospital 

I pondered all of this while at the Turtle museum which probably contributed to my lack of attention during the tour.  Although I do remember that turtles with intestinal gas cant dive. Their rear ends wont go down because the gas makes them too buoyant.  The things you learned.

So I'm sure it's going to be an exciting day tomorrow.