February 10, February 24 Boot Key Harbor Marathon, FL

City Marina Office.  

We headed into the marina again this morning so Mary could do yoga while the rest of us used the internet at the marina office.

We all headed back to the boat around noon and loaded my bike on the dinghy.  Kath and I went in and got the bike up on shoe and in the bike rack so she could ride around.   I went back to get Dave so we could walk to Home Depot. 

As we were walking I got a call from Curt whos staying up in Key Colony Beach.  He mentioned that the marina was trying to get a hold of me.  He said we had a mooring ball assigned.   What?  We didn't they call me!

I was a trifle skeptical but ran back anyway and sure enough we had been assigned a ball!!  W8.  Astonishing.  Curt and Marilyn pulled up in their truck just as we were leaving to head back to Home Depot.  So they drove us there and then back to the marina. 

We headed back to the boat so we could drop off the stuff we just bought and returned with a bike lock so we could lock the bike up when Kathy returned from her ride.  But on the way back to the boat I wanted to check out the mooring ball.  It was very close to where we were anchored.

When we came up to W8, there was a big Canadian sailboat there.  I spoke with the owner and they had just come in and saw the empty ball and took it.  After talking with them a bit it was evident they couldn't anchor any where since the anchorage was jammed packed.    So he and I made a deal that if they would leave the next morning we’d stay in the anchored.

Wine from Canadian saliboat

I felt better since their only option would have been to go outside the harbor and bounce around in the large swells.  Not a real doable alternative.    Later they swung by the boat with a bottle of wine for us!

Earlier I got a call from Rob who was all alone on his boat since his wife Sue was off taking care of grand kids.  After we returned from the marina with Kathy, she and I headed over to see Rob and had a  few cocktails.  One the way back we stopped to see Mike and Deana and they seemed to be doing just fine, waiting for a water pump for their dinghy.

We had salmon for dinner, watched a movie and off to bed by 10.  Party animals we are decidedly not. 

Exceptional line handlers

Around the next morning 9am we moved over to the mooring ball, W8.   No more drag concerns!  Kath and Mary did their usual fine job with the lines.

Mom and youngster

We headed back into shore.  Dave and I did a another Home Depot run.  And we ran into the manatees today, mother and a youngster.

 We really didn't run into them per say.  We just saw them.  Dont want anyone thinking we ran over anyone.   

They like to hang around the dock to find fresh water

Kathy and Mary had decided to go kayaking.  Dave and I returned to the boat and then went looking for Kathy and Mary who were up in Sisters Creek.   We met up with them (we drove the big dinghy over) and towed Mary back to the boat.   The current was running pretty swiftly against them so towing seemed a better option

Heading off into the sunset

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I've learned how to towing kayakers 

Kayakers

The plans for meeting up with Sue, Brent and others to play Farckle tonight sort of fell apart.  Too much activity today I guess.  So Dave and I grilled Italian sausages and then we all went to bed early.

This morning I noticed our water gauges were in the orange meaning we were hovering around half a tank.  Since the following day was forecast to be windier than today we decided to go make water today. 

And today I also discovered this enormous spider living in the bilge of the dinghy.  I mean this thing had to be 2 inches long.  It scampered away before I could try and grab it so I went up on the boat and brought back spider spray and shot a good long spray in the bilge.  Are there dinghy tarantulas down here?

We left the mooring and ran out into the ocean and puttered around for a few hours while the water maker was running.  Returned to our mooring and immediately headed to shore.   Kathy to use the internet, Dave to find a drill bit at Home Depot and me to find a ½ inch check valve at West Marine.

We all had to be back at the marina and showered by 4pm so we could go back to the boat and return to meet Curt and Marilyn who were taking us to Sparkys in Key Colony Beach before heading to a beach up there call Sunset.  They have a little sunset ceremony there every evening at, well sunset.  We got there in time and watched more than participated in the activities  which consisted of watching the sunset and singing a “we love Marathon” song.  Its sort of a tradition there.  

Mary, Dave Curt and Kathy.  Marilyn hid from me.

Thats Marilyn in the blue shirt.

Key Lime pie at the Dollar Tree store

After we left there and started to head back to our marina we had to stop and verify Marilyn's judgment that the Key Lime pie at the Dollar store was really good.   And so we made a stop at the Dollar Tree where we bought frozen key lime pie.  We took them back to the marina by which time they were thawed and ate them.  Surprisingly good!  Better than others?  Not sure.  I'm not a Key Lime pie expert.  That would be Mary ,whose lust for key lime pie tolerates only the best!

Back to the boat and then sleep.  Tomorrow most everyone is going to the turtle hospital.

We were all up and ready to to leave rather early.  Everyone went to the maimed turtle place (turtle hospital) this morning.   I ran them into shore and then headed back to the boat to fiddle with the dockside water project.  Got a hole drilled with enough clearance to snake the water line down and secure it.  Next up is the valving.  Once we have this in place we can use water provided at the marina docks instead of using our water pump and on board water supply.  Much better when we have guests aboard.

When they returned, Dave and I tested the valves to be sure they were leak free.  My first thought was finely aged block of swiss cheese.  They leaked!  Moral of the story is never use PVC threaded fittings unless your really, really good at determining when threads can be compressed to the point of allowing leaks.  I thought using them would be easy especially since the valve bodies seemed to fit perfectly with the galvanized strapping I used to secure them to the bulkhead.  So after testing the valves I decided scrapped the PVC valve idea and vowed to return to Home Depot once again to buy what I should have bought on our prior visit.  Bronze ball valves.  Ugh …

On the way back to our boat we stopped and talked  briefly with a couple on a pretty sailboat, Moonsong.  It's home built of wood by the owners.  They cut the tree's and did all the work up in Alaska. Lots of stories there we’ll have to discover one of these days.  Pretty, boat with a titillating sheer line! 

The dinghy battery was showing some low voltages so Kathy and I took it out the inlet a short ways so I could run it up and blow it out a bit.  It wasn't baby-bottom smooth out there.  These darn North West winds are causing all manner of annoyances.  Last year it was high 70’s and little wind for days on end.  Not so this year.

We found out upon returning that the inverter died.  I couldn't get it reset.  Without an inverter we have no AC (household) power.  Isn't that just swell.  Mary and I were supposed to meet Dave and Carole, a couple on a Island Packet 38 we met in Venice last year at Dockside.  Dockside is a rather famous bar in Boot Key.   It's owned by Eric Stone, a well known musician.  Needless to say there is some pretty good music there.   Sometimes.

Since I really couldn't do much about the inverter problem until the next day we just decided to go out and have some fun.

Sauce Boss, a slide guitar player was there and what could be better than guitar music at a bar.  Well, for one it could have been warmer.  Ever been to the Keys watching a band in a bar where everyone was huddled around tables in winter jackets complete with gloves and mittens?  Geez …

The Boss doing his thing.  His Gumbo is cooking on the stage

Sauce Boss makes gumbo while he’s on stage.  His gumbo is supposedly very good.  He was pretty good on the guitar but was a solo act.  I like bands, especially loud bands in warm weather.

We ate there (not gumbo),  It was mediocre food.   And left rather early because the winds were pushing the dinghy under the dock.  It was a wild ride back in the heavy winds and surf.  Freezing  … well I should qualify this by saying it was in the 50’s and to us who are chilled when it s70 out, this was frigid weather.

Dave and Kathy elected to stay aboard even though our hefty inverter died yesterday so there was no AC power available.  They seemed to manage though.

Our inverter takes DC power from the battery and makes AC power.  Household electricity is AC power.  Here on the boat we use it to power the  freezer and two refrigerators and a few other things.  When it isn’t available life still goes on but it can add some some complications.  For example we cant power the chest freezer (with a large amount of frizon meats etc.) unless I run the generator.  Usually the inverter supplies more than enough power to keep the freezer, freezing.

We have a spare inverter but its about half the capacity of our large 3000 Watt inverter.  But it’ll have to do.  And  I still need to figure out why the normal inverter suddenly died.

So I emailed Alan, the gracious previous owner who always answers my numerous questions and he sent back a few ideas on what to do.  Tomorrow we swap out the inverter.   Doing this though means I have to shut off all the power in the boat.  No toilets, bilge pumps, refrigerators, water.  Nuttin until I can get this all back on line.  Talk about pressure!

Next morning I made a visit (again) to home Depot to buy bronze valves and some fittings so we could make progress on the water project. 

Spare inverter up and running

When I returned I swamped out the old inverter with the new , spare on this morning.  Easy enough except that the different dimensions of the spare inverter made it a bit challenging trying to get the wiring attached.  But in the end everything came together and powering it up, all was at it should be.  So we have AC power just using the battery now until I can fix the inverter we normally use.

Our normal inverter with the faulty GFI plug ready to be removed

The general diagnosis is that the GFI on our normal inverter was faulty so I took it out and brought it along to Home Depot (they know my name now) and found a replacement.  Also bought a non-GFI too just incase. 

Once back to the boat I had to make some alteration to the mounting flanges but got it to fit in the inverter.  The only question is why the neutral is wired to the ground wire.  Waiting to hear an answer about that one.  Meanwhile the spare inverter is working just fine powering all the stuff we usually need except for the microwave.

I pressure tested all the valves for the dockside water project we have going on (thanks Dave for the fine Teflon taping job).  All we have to do is mount the valves and run a few short water lines now.

Dave and Kathy are going to Key West tomorrow but Mary’s still sick so we’ll stay behind I think.

While they were gone and Mary was in bed,  I worked on the dockside water project mounting the valves and running to home depot for a new T fitting.  On my way back I stopped at the Subway which I just discovered.  Then later I dinghied back in to shore and picked up Kathy and Dave at the dinghy dock around 8:30.

All ready for dockside water

Early the next morning Dave and I took a taxi to Enterprise car rental at the airport where he rented a car and drove off to Ft. Meyers.  I walked back to the boat and once there, decided to do a water making trip out in the ocean.  We left around 9:45 and the water maker, after running for only about 10 minutes started making water.  It was rather rough out there and my original plan to anchor went afoul so we just took a boat ride for 2 hours when we came in to the marathon marina to fuel up. 

Good old Debbie, the fuel dock attendant was fun.  We added about 107 gallons and left the dock to the mooring ball.  There was a noticeable diesel aroma though so I went down to check the bilge thinking we had overfilled the port tank.  Instead I found the drip pan (a stainless steel pan like a cake pan) under the engines almost full of fuel.  The port side high pressure fuel pump inspection plate was leaking again.  It had been re-sealed at Huckins a few months ago.  Since we had no gasket material I had to call a marina, Marathon Boat Yard which graciously said we could come in.

You can see where the inspection plate has been removed

We had to negotiate this narrow channel into the yacht yard basin on one engine.  Thankfully they had a small spot along a dock where I managed to get in get a few lines out to the kindly dock hands.  We were secured in a few minutes.   Whew!    How do you spell fun?

In we go through this narrow channel

Squeezed in at the boat yard dock

Tom, the service manager talked with us and asked Romero, one of the service techs, to come over to the boat.  He pumped out 10 gallons of diesel from the drip pan and took off the inspection plate noting the lack of any gasket material!!  Ouch. 

Pump full of diesel and still more to remove

The fumes in the boat are substantial but nothing else to do but endure.  They new gaskets won't be here until tomorrow, more likely Thursday.  But since there is a front coming through tomorrow and record cold temps forecast for the next few days staying here in a marina is ok by us.

Kathy & Mary at Castaways

After Romero left, and while Dave was fighting Miami traffic we went to Castaways, one of the better bars in Marathon.  We had a few drinks and snack type food.  Nicole, our waitress was an interesting person.  She’s a yoga master and teaches yoga.

When we left Castaways we headed right to the City Marina dinghy dock to tow back the kayak Kathy had left there.  Once in the boat we put all the kayaks aboard and hauled the dinghy aboard too since we won't be able to leave here towing it.  There is seemingly just about enough room for us to turn around in here.

Dave and Kathy left early this morning, well before we woke up.   I noticed a strong diesel odor still permeating the boat and after checking the bilges noticed that the fuel had most likely sloshed out of the drip pan and into the bilges.  Its just lucky the bilge pumps didn’t run and pump anything overboard.  Big fines for that.

I went over to the office to let Tom, the service manager know about  it and he let Romero know to come over around noon with his suction/pump.  Another 6 gallons!  That’s a total of 16 gallons of fuel we lost.  I cant bring myself to do the math.

Before Romero came to the boat I worked on the dockside water hookups and have all the hoses cut and T fitting ready to go.

After Romero left I went and swapped out the spare 1500W inverter with the original 3000W inverter which has the new GFI plug I put in the other day.  Fired it up and it didn't work.  Tweaked and fiddled and still didn’t work.  I pretty sure it’s the darn GFI plug which might be complaining about wiring the neutral to ground connection.

So off with all the power and out with the big inverter and in with the spare inverter again.  It gets more difficult to contort my aching limbs the more I do this.  The new inverter fired right up so at least we’ll have partial power once we head back to the mooring ball.

I was able to affect a complex solution to the engine room florescent lights not working.  After 13 seconds gazing at the fixtures, followed by a few moments of deep analysis I reached over and  plugged in a loose plug.  And there was light!

Mary and I walked over to West Marine to see if they had a 20 amp GFI plug (nope) and then tried Marathon Boat yard parts (nope) and finally Seamark electronics (maybe).   Meanwhile I just may stick a standard plug in the darn thing just to get it working.  Using the smaller spare 1500W inverter precludes us from using the microwave.  Oh the sacrifices required when living on the water! 

The weather was really stormy last night.  Lots of rain and the winds are building through 25 knots this afternoon and are expected to grow stronger tomorrow.   Bet you cant guess when we're slated to leave?

The gasket for the inspection plate will be here tomorrow afternoon and installed, I’m guessing by 3pm.  I don't think I can get this big old tub out of the narrow confines of the boat yard yard here with that kind of wind.  We'll have to see.  But its forecast to blow like this through the weekend.  We do have to be back on the mooring ball by 10 in the morning Friday in order to get a pumpout.  Pressure!!

So tonight the winds howling, and the sailboats around us don’t have flopper stoppers to keep their  halyards from slapping around loudly in the wind.  Ear plugs anyone?

Later in the wee hours I woke up again to howling winds and a rocking boat.  And we were securely tie to a dock in a pretty protected body of water.   We had gotten up around 1:30 AM (Yes, Mary really did get up at 1:30 AM) to adjust the fenders and I added two extra spring lines.

So I was surprised at how much we were still here.  I went out again and tightened all the lines but we still rocked and rolled.  Oh well.  It is boat after all.

The gasketless inspection pate

The gaskets arrived late this morning and Victor showed up and re-installed the cover plate with the proper gaskets this time.  We ran the engine and everything was leak proof.  Yeah!

All wired up and ready to go.  

I spent the morning researching the inverter GFI wiring and after much reading decided to try the inverter on a bench before contorting myself down in the little cubby hole again.  The electrical guy here hooked it up and we tinkered a bit and found that the inverter was putting out the normal 111 volts but the receptacle wasn't passing any current.  Defective GFI.  So  I took it back to the boat and took the damn thing apart again.  Replaced the receptacle with a normal,  non-GFI replacement.  And  after talking with Alan, the electrician here and some people on-line I wired the neutral to ground just like I was going to do anyway.  So once I put 3000W inverter back in, we can use the microwave while using battery power thus letting Mary make hot beverages which goes a long way in keeping warm here in Marathon where its actually below 60 tonight.  Maybe I should go buy a winter jacket?

I rode my bike back from Marathon Boat Yard to City Marina today so we'd have it there once we leave the boat yard.  Kathy had ridden it there during our unexpected boat yard visit the other day.  As I was walking back to the boat (about a mile) I ran into to Curt and Marilyn who wanted to give me a ride to the subway (dinner!) and then to the boat yard.  After I climbed back in the car with sandwiches Curt backed out and hit his mirror on a cement post.  Ouch!! 

Later in the evening, Tom the service manager stopped by tonight with a friend of his, Adam.  Adam, it turns out, is two mooring balls down from us on a catamaran.  Small world yet again! 

Tom told us the winds should be much calmer tomorrow morning and if we felt uncomfortable about leaving here he'd figure out something for the boat slated to take our spot here at 8:30 tomorrow morning.  Did I mention we're leaving here at 8AM?

Its very tight in here, made worse by the boats on either side of the basin.  We’re about 52 feet long and the basin is 60 feet wide with the boats here.  It should be exciting!

Finally headed out the narrow 

And boy was it ever exciting.  This morning I was hoping to leave by 8AM but as it turned out we left around 8:15Am. Randy and another dock hand came over to handle our lines.  They had them all off as I got the engines running.  They then took one of the stern lines and pulled on it as I turned to port and pulled forward, the net effect was to push our bow into the basin.  I powered out a little beyond the large sailboat in front of us to allow for more turning room.   But then the current took us and spun the boat around the opposite way I was intending on spinning.  We came within a foot of  a the sailboat and to make matters worse, a line fell off the swim platform and was dragging behind us threatening to get caught up in the props. 

Like I said it was exciting.  I finally got the boat spun around and heading out the basin.  Mary got the line aboard and we made our way to the mooring ball a short distance away.

We still had the mooring ball originally assigned to us.  We pretty much lease it for a specified period and can be away from it without anyone tying up to it.

We picked it up without a problem.  But what we didn't notice was the port line which was supposed to be snugged down on a cleat on the boat, wasn't.  It was lazily dangling on the pendant leaving us swinging on one line.  It was pretty funny and easily corrected.

After a little relaxing we got the dinghy down with the generator running because I haven't swapped in the bigger inverter yet and wasn't sure if the small inverter could handle the electrical draw of the dinghy davit.

We went into the marina, did laundry, updated electronic devices and I walked to the store for some essentials.  We came back to the boat and after everything was put away, made stir fry shrimp, watched a few Boston Legal episodes and went to bed.  Its going to be an early day tomorrow.

Up at 6:30 this morning because we have to meet Curt and Marilyn by 7:15 for the drive to Islamorada and the nautical flea market at Founders Park.  Its about a 40 minute drive over US 1 which is a 2 lane high for the most part.

Breakfast on the beach

Crazy busy.  People were even selling stuff outside the main area

This nautical flea market is an annual event.  Its big and well attended.  Almost anything you could ever desire for a boat can be found here.  And at cheap prices.  When we arrived it was chaos so I paid for parking at a lot very near the entrance.  Made the walk less than a mile to the entrance.

There was a mind boggling array of boat stuff.  We spent several hours going through all the displays.  Notable was the $5 all you could eat breakfast on the beach, the guitar guy who was willing to sell me an electric guitar of questionable quality, but serviceable nonetheless.  He was playing it thru a tiny little amp, the size of a cigarette pack.  Guitar less amp was $40.  Curt and I lingered around there.  And it was still there after my third trip back to maybe buy it.  I didn’t. 

Dave and Darlene

We took  break and stopped in to see Dave and Darlene who were staying across the road a short distance.  They are friends who live in Wausau who we we met in Destin a few years ago.  Had a great time seeing them again.  We went off to a little place for lunch and then had to get back to meet Curt and Marilyn for the return trip.

We did buy a 1 inch shackle, lines for the dinghy, water shoes and we both got a half wetsuit for pretty cheap.

Heard from Jeff about his surgery.  It went fine but the recovery for him may take a while.  Curt and I may go up to Pompano beach and bring his boat down here to Marathon.  Jeff is our legally blind Canadian friend who had some sort of stem cell surgery to try and restore his vision which he lost some years ago.  A degenerative disease.

Breakfast every Sunday.  And its good!

We were all pretty tired when we finally got back here to the maria so just went back to the boat and hunkered down.  Another early day tomorrow.  9:30 breakfast at the VFW.

This morning was VFW breakfast morning but we called some friends who had the idea but they had a hard night and declined.  So we just stayed aboard, and eventually went in to the marina to do more laundry and take showers.  And updated all the computer type gadgets we have since the wireless internet connection doesn't reach out to us in the mooring field.

We had to be back at the boat in enough time to make a snack type dish to pass at the Looper party we were attending this afternoon.  And we had to be vigilant for the reveal party where Greg and Laura will find out the gender of their new baby.  We're hoping to get in on a video feed from the party.

We did manage to shower and get a few load of laundry finished and all the updates were completed and back to the boat all in time to make the Texas Caviar and take the dinghy back to the marina for the walk to the party. 

Looper party festivities 

The party was being held at the Marathon Yacht Club about a half mile away.  Its right on the bay side overlooking the calming waters of the Florida Bay.  We met several old acquaintances and some new ones.  Great time.

But ….

Mary, in her continuing search for the perfect hot dog somehow managed to find a secluded, partitioned off room where there was a spread of hot dogs, the fixings and other good food items.  All, as we found out,  for the yacht club membership.  We aren't yacht club members.  While Mary and then Brent who noticed her loading up a hot dog bun, were feasting I wondered out loud where Mary was.  Curt said,  "over there eating a hot dog".  One of the yacht club officials over heard that and immediately flew back to the room where Mary and Brent were happily wolfing down illegal hot dogs.  They were sort of scolded and then subjected to a sales pitch to yacht club membership.  I wandered in at the tail end of this.

Brent listening intently to the club membership director

Rather humorous, the membership drive chairman extolling the virtues of membership while the two food thieves were munching away.

No.  Even though the presentation was lively and earnest, we did not join.

We stayed for a bit longer and then headed back in the dark and finally to the boat where we went to bed.  As we were heading back we inched a few feet into shoal area and caught the dinghy prop on something.  We had to float off after a minute or two.  No damage except to the prop which I suspect is slightly bent.  But I know where the prop shop is located!

Tomorrow its supposed to be pleasant with light winds so I was thinking we should go out to make water and enjoy the warm (75 degree) seas.

And it really is a typical Marathon day this morning.  Light winds, blue skies and warmth!  So we did leave the mooring ball and headed out to the reef and make water.

As we got further out into the ocean the swells became deeper and we began to roll, not excessively but enough to make snatching the short pendant on the reef mooring balls rather impossible.  So we turned back and anchored near shore where we fired up the water maker and did some laundry bouncing around.  The swells weren't bad but the passing boat wakes were annoying.  Oh well!

I think tomorrow we'll head back out there and see if we can grab a ball at the reef.  Its still supposed to be a calm pleasant day.

  

Mary went to yoga this morning while I walked to the store.  It was dense fog all morning and not worth going out to the reef.   But as we were walking to the dinghy (after ogling three more Manatees) the skies appeared to clear.  So I thought why not.  Lets head out to the reef.  But when we returned to the boat the ocean in the distance look very foggy.  And even the inlet was getting fogged in a agin.

Friends of our on Quimbe, decided to go out Sisters Creek (they draw 5 feet) and see what it looked like.   So they went out and called us on the radio saying it was to foggy and were returning.  Ok, so much for a day at the reef.  We had tentative plans to visit Pine Key to listen to a jam session with Curt and Marilyn but they were out at the reef all afternoon (the same reef we were planning on going) but the boat they were on, had engine trouble coming in and they got in late.  Our batteries were a little low having not run the generator for 2 days so when they called around 7:30 to see if we still wanted to go we had to decline and charge the batteries. 

The next day was not terribly exciting except maybe for our aborted attempt to catch a lower keys shuttle (city bus) to the CVS on Pine Key a little south of us here at Marathon.  The bus schedule is a a little convoluted and we figured wrong.   We were at the bus stop for several minutes until I listened to the little voice in my head pointing out that this was the Key West shuttle stop.  Not a regular bus stop.   So I did a little research on my phone and sure enough, the next bus was 243 minutes away.  Thats not a typo.   And that roughly correlated with the key west bus schedule.

So tomorrow morning we head to the CVS but we have to walk a 1/2 mile to the bus stop to catch the correct bus…. I think anyway.  And LeAnn is scheduled to arrive in a day too.