More stories from Marathon:Time Flys when your having fun

Ever wonder what you would do with your evenings if you lived on a boat? Well of course you can read and if you have satellite you can watch TV. There are chores to do just as you have at home and you can just relax on the deck of your boat and enjoy your surroundings. Not enough action for you? How about a cold drink or two while visiting new and old friends on their boats; Blue Angel, White House, Out Reach and Second Fantasy. Or you can do a little bar/restaurant hopping on your dingy to various happy hours and or dinner at the local hang outs that enjoy great music and specials every night. Fishing is also a great option, We fished on Sisters creek and ventured out to the beach where the creek meets the ocean. Then there is more eating at the marina potluck and then again with the AGLCA group,(the loopers).  So I guess I am letting you know there is as much activity or lack there of that you can choose from depending on where you plan to stay and your energy level.  Living on the water and on land really is similar.

Tom and I and Peanut at Berdines bar and restaurant. All the restaurant's here are dog friendly

Sunset from Berdines bar and restaurant

The Chici Tiki at City Marina - home of Yoga, Saturday night jam sessions, knot tying classes and just hanging out

Tues., Feb. 6th - Wer'e still here!

We are still at the City Marina in Marathon, hoping to leave in the morning headed toward Miami. Weather and work on the boat have caused most of the delay but all is good because we were able to meet up with stepson Nate and his wife Steph who stopped in for a few days in the Keys on their way to Barbados for vacation. I will post a few short stories from our stay in Marathon. Here is the first;

Our car rental experience:
We decided to rent a car the first weekend her to visit Key West and do some major re-provisioning.  The airport is about 3.5 miles away.  On Friday, January 27th, I took the city bus to the airport only to find that I did not have my credit card to finalize the rental.  Tom had misplaced his and borrowed mine the day before and I didn't get it put back in my wallet.  They would not take cash so I had to walk back to the marina for my credit card. Now remember it is 3.5 miles and the temp outside is 80. Tom met me half way on his bike, bringing his card instead of mine. When I got back to the airport, now very hot and sweaty, the gal said she was not supposed to take the card because my name was not on it. I must have looked pretty uncomfortable and as if I was going to explode because she looked at me and said. I think I will make an exception in this case.  The only small car they had left was a red BMW!  A beautiful car but not really a good choice for carrying wood, four golf cart batteries and lots of groceries. To be sure we were very very careful with it!  On Saturday we drove to Key West.  Walked around then settled in at Mallory Square to watch the sunset. About 4:30 the square filled with vendors and street performers. A scene you do not want to miss  if you visit Key West.  Tom and I sat next to a young vendor selling coconuts. He used a machete to chop them open for you to drink the water. The young man recently moved here from Ghana and seemed to enjoy talking with Tom, offering him a free coconut.  I had recently read an article about the health benefits of the coconut water so was anxious to taste it. Not bad. Our evening ended watching the sunset while listening to reggae music. Awesome day!

                                              Fat Freddies frozen drink selection in the keys

                                           One of many street entertainers at Mallory Square

                                                     Entrance to Mallory Square

                                 This entertainer made the most tips because his dog went around, took the dollars
                                 from your hand and put them in the bucket. Everyone just wanted to see the dog
                                 perform thus more money for the entertainer

                               The crowd increased as sunset neared. Of course we ended up sitting next to a
                                couple from Indianapolis - how funny is that.

                                                          Sunset at Mallory Square

                                                       Tom's new friend from Ghana

                                                                  Self explanatory

              This island directly in front of Mallory Square is only accessed by water and is exclusive
             for people such as Arnold S. Oprah and a few other stars and a couple of political figures

Wed-Thur Jan. 25th-26th A overview of the Marathon City Marina

So calm and secure - ahhhh the pleasures of spending our first night in the harbor off the Atlantic, in a harbor on a mooring ball. Throughout our trip whenever we talked destinations the reaction was the same, we love Marathon and Boot Key Harbor. I now understand the draw. For those of you on land let me describe it this way.  It is a community on the water. You are in your homes and we on our boats. You drive around in your cars, we tootle around in our dinks.  You have your porches to enjoy relaxing and a good book, we have our decks. You visit with neighbors in the yards or at the community center down the street. We visit on our aft decks, or at the boaters lounge or tiki hut. There is nothing lacking here. Yoga and aerobics classes, craft classes, Wednesday night pot luck dinners, Thursday movie night.  A library, a workshop to use to fix your dink, motor, etc. several restaurants and bars within dingy or walking distance. A publix and West Marine down the street and even a Home Depot. Add on to that a daily morning radio show for announcements, buy sell or trade deals and help for anything you need help doing on your boat.  In fact we asked for assistance with the installation of an inverter and immediately had another boater volunteer his help. As in a small community such as the one we live in in Burns Harbor, neighbors are eager to meet and greet, share ideas, recipes, and most importantly friendship!  It will be hard to leave on Friday.

                                                       Chiki - Tiki Hut near the dingy dock

                                                                      The dingy dock

The library in the boater lounge

                                             One of two mini theaters in the boaters lounge
                                            The boaters lounge is a very long pole barn

                                                A photo of the 225 ball mooring field

                                               Also a photo with the other 1/2 of the rainbow
                                                                      Did you notice it?

Sun., 22-Tues., 24 - Can you say Dramamine

We woke up Sunday morning to find a few more boats had come in including another 42 ft Jefferson. We started on a few morning chores. Toms priority was the head, no it was still not working correctly. Although I was trying to be patient I was ready to order the darn pump myself!  It was windy and the boat swayed but it wasn't uncomfortable.  The couple on the Carol Ann, the Jefferson, stopped over for a visit and we had fun comparing the layout of our boats.  We tootled to the marina on the dink to get bait, check on where we were on the waiting list and check out the area.  Sunday evening the wind changed and the water was pretty choppy but we did OK.  Overnight the weather worsened and we did a lot of rocking. Tom and Peanut were having a difficult time on Monday, both having to spend most of their time up on the aft deck to avoid getting sea sick.  Thank goodness I was doing fine so I could be their gopher. We decided to pull up anchor and check out the anchorage on the inside.  Tom found a couple of spots he felt we could squeeze in between sail boats.  I was very uncomfortable with the close proximity of the boats combined with the intensity of the wind.  I really had difficulty getting us far enough forward between boats so when Tom dropped anchor the wind pushed us out into the channel. Not a good thing so we picked up anchor and tried again.  This time Tom at the helm and I was at the anchor. I had never operated the anchor release before and this was probably not the best time to learn. Tom did a nice job of getting us up in between two boats BUT in my nervousness I stepped on the button to engage the anchor as I used the bar to release it at the same time so of course the anchor had no idea what it was supposed to do and I had no idea what was wrong until Tom yelled.  Now he has to maneuver between boats in the wind to get us back out safely to try a third time. But I',m spent, frustrated and tired of being yelled at so I announced I was done. You know the ol saying sometimes you watch the show and sometimes you are the show.  I was tired of being the show.  Back out of the harbor we went to anchor in rough seas.  Tom and peanut ended up sleeping on the Fly Bridge Monday night and Tuesday morning we headed for land first thing in the morning to get off the rocking boat.  Thankfully about noon on Tuesday we got the call that a mooring ball was available. Did we still want it she asked?  Are you kidding me I thought to myself!!  We certainly do I responded!  Now we would have to fight the wind and catch the mooring ball.  Tom had gone over one row to many so we had to approach the mooring ball from the front. Trusty boat hook in hand I stood by as he edged us to the ball. Capture on the first try and we were secure! Woohoo! Our neighbor yelled over "that's no fun you made it look easy", I laughed as I thought to myself, he should have seen us yesterday!

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

Friday, January 20th; From Naples to Shark River Anchorage.

Charts were checked and double checked for today's open water travels on the Atlantic to the anchorage in Shark River.  We would be in sight of land but wanted to be sure of our waypoint entry. The weather gods were again shining on us as the water was calm and the sun shining. We filled the 70 mile day watching dolphins play and keeping a close eye out for crab pots.  The highlight of the day was the sighting of two sea turtles, one large, one small. I was excited but then the mom in me came out with an " I hope other boaters are watching as close as we are for these guys" I worry they will get hit.  Tom just shook his head, and added " Is there anything you don't worry about?"   About 5:00 we navigated our way into the entrance of Little Shark River.  Our chartplotter indicated we were right on the mark for the entrance but the markers were somewhat vague. Seeing another boat already anchored in the entrance confirmed that we were on the right track. We hailed the trawler to ask why he had not anchored in the recommended area at the bend in the river. We were worried that it might be to shallow. He indicated that the bend was a little crowded with other boats, so we joined him, anchoring in the entrance as well.  I LOVED this anchorage and want to go back there and spend several days hopefully in the bend.  The river is a part of the Everglades National Park and the natural surroundings made for a beautiful backdrop.  There were dolphins playing, birds of all kinds flying and fishing and an alligator sunning himself on shore.  As we sat on the bow pads and fished while the sun set you could hear the schreeching owls, howls and other wild calls from within the glades. The night was clear and the stars bright. No city lights to obstruct the view. Even now writing about it I can close my eyes and visualize this beautiful and peaceful night all over again.  I caught several fish but none big enough to keep but thats ok as long as I am still catching more than Tom.  We stayed out to enjoy the beautiful night sky until the skeeters came out.

Tom working on the head - Like the position?

Peanut helping me read the charts

Peanut checking the waymarks

A bird drying his wings which helped us see the crab pot

                                               

January 15-19th, NAPLES; A great time was had by all

We arrive at the Naples City Dock and Mooring Field about 2:30 in the afternoon. You are required to pump out your holding tank before you tie up to a mooring field so to the dock we went.  We had quite an audience of tourists who had wondered down the dock so I was happy that the show we put on made us look like we really knew what we were doing.  The marina is in a perfect spot for boaters.  You can walk to Tin City, the old Naples shopping area, the main shopping area on 5th street and the beach. All of the places a tourist would want to see.  A very nice market and West Marine are also within walking distance but stores such as Walmart, publix, etc are not. Only a few hours were spent working on the boat. Most of our time was spent visiting with friends and neighbors who are Naples Snow Birds.  On Monday we spent the day with Pete and Jan. This was a real treat for both tom and I.  We buddy boated with them from Chicago to Tennessee at the beginning of our trip almost four years ago.  They are living on their boat in a very quiet and peaceful marina outside of Naples. Because they have a car we enjoyed an all day tour of Marco Island, Everglade City and Goodland. We were also able to re provision at Walmart and Tom was able to get yet another part for the blankety blank blank head that he has been working on for two weeks!  On Tuesday we took our next door neighbors from Burns Harbor, Cliff and Joice and the in laws of Tom's niece Betsy for an afternoon ride on the gulf.  Both couples are wintering in Naples.  The gulf was smooth and the day warm, a great day for a cruise. The dolphins danced around the boat as we exited and entered the harbor to the Atlantic, which thrilled the gals.  Tuesday evening we had dinner with Betsy's in-laws, Kent and Elizabeth. Wednesday my neighbor Joice and I shopped while Tom worked on the head again.  Late afternoon Tom and I packed a picnic dinner and headed to the beach to watch the sunset. I had a great day, Tom not so good as the head is still not working!  On Thursday we had to leave the mooring ball because you are only allowed a four day stay.  Luckily enough a slip opened up and the kind gals allowed us to move to the slip for the night for the same price as a mooring ball.  It was great to be in a slip with a walkway, electricity and large shower facilities. Peanut was thrilled. As soon as she realized we were tying up to a dock she started to squeal and jump around!  Dogs are so smart.  I had a great night sleep Thursday as I didn't have to get up to turn the geni on in the wee hours of the morning. On Thursday I wandered around a bit trying to find a cheap hair cut, (no luck), and Tom worked on a few of the jobs on his list and then we headed over to Cliff and Joyce's condo for a cookout. The six of us had a great time sharing stories, great steaks, and good wine. 

Sunset over the Naples Fishing Pier

                                                         

                                                                    Naples Fishing Pier

Sunset on Naples beach next to the fishing pier

The marina office and fuel dock at Naples City Marina

The area at the end of the city dock & Marina. There were shops, restuarants and condos here.

This little fellow sat 6 inches from my foot the entire time I was eating my dinner on the beach.

The condominium complex with shops and restuarants where Clliff and Joyce are staying

They had a great view of the river from their balacony