Saturday January 21st. Cruising into Marathon

Approximately 45 miles to go and we would be in Marathon! An exciting day for us.  Three of us left Little Shark River near the same time, all headed for Marathon. It was nice to have a little company on the water to converse with now and then. The waters were a bit choppy today. The little white caps made it difficult to spot the bobbing crab pots until we were closer than I preferred. I felt like I had the binoculars glued to my eyes all day.  Now in the mode to automatically look for the tell tale lines of crab pots to maneuver through I thought we had the configuration down pat. WRONG!  About 20 miles out of Marathon a new configuration appeared!  Crab pot fields; lots of bobbing pots in close proximity, forming a large square and making it extremely difficult to find a passage through!  Our trail wake was beginning to look as if a drunk was at the wheel.  UGH!  We had used the waypoints suggested in skipper Bobs but as we closed in on the 7 mile bridge I was extremely uncomfortable with the idea of passing under the bridge at a point that was not the designated pass.  Other boats were doing it but I was hesitant. Tom called the marina indicated our position and asked for guidance. The gal indicated that she could not advise but if it were her boat she would go on down to Mosier pass and cut back to the marina. That's what we did.  The mooring field at Marathon City Marina in Boot Key Harbor is on a first come first serve basis and we were required to anchor and come to the office in person to get on the waiting list.  There is an anchoring field inside the harbor but Tom suggested we stay on the outside. It was now very calm and  about 10 other boats were anchored here so we figured it was crowded on the inside. Soon after we were anchored we had a visitor. Jim from the boat Blue Angel heard us calling in and came out to greet us.  We had met Jim and his wife in Demopolis. What a nice surprise to meet them again here.  Soon after we jumped in the dingy and headed for the office.  We were 14th on the waiting list for a mooring ball! The sunset was amazing and the Atlantic like glass. We were actually anchored on the Atlantic in the Keys! WOW, I wonder if other first timers thought this was as big a deal as we do?

                                                                   Crab Pot Field

                                                       Sunset on the Atlantic from our boat

                                                                    Another view

                                                   A view after the sun went down

                                             A view of the 7 mile bridge from our boat