Marathon Days

It would have been fun to have hung on the hook another day at Cudjoe Key but the forecast was changed this morning, calling for increased winds on Tuesday and we did not want to ride out a weather front there and we did not want to travel on into Marathon in 25 knot winds so we came on in today. We had some wind and waves but nothing bad and it settled some when we had to turn our beam to the waves so we had another very nice day. Marathon is like nowhere else we have been. This is without a doubt the most boater friendly place we have seen. We have still not decided how long we will stay. We will soon have to commit to a weekly or monthly rate.
We learned this morning that it will cost less for a month than for two weeks than for a month so we have signed in for a month. We walked around to see what is within easy walking distance. There is a Publix, Super K-Mart, Boater’s World, Wendy’s, a Home Depot, and various other small shops. We enjoyed 5:00 on the dock with several other boats and helped C-life get docked while Bella Luna was docking farther down the line.
On Wednesday I got the bikes off the boat and oiled them up but Muriel was reluctant to ride with her bad knee so I went for a ride by myself. I rode around in a residential area adjacent to the marina and then up and down highway 1. By the time I got back to the boat I had ridden about eight miles according to the odometer on the bike. After lunch we got the dingy down and went out to see some of the sights by water. We went out through a small channel to the ocean and stopped at a beach to walk around a little. We also stopped by to chat a little with PogoPelli, a sailboat we bet in Everglades City.
Thursday we messed about the boat in the morning and went out in the dingy in the afternoon to explore a little more and then walk on the beach again. Bill and Eileen found out that her nephew manages the country club across the street from the marina. Bill had been wanting to play golf and now he has a way to get on the course. We met him and he is a very nice guy and quite active around the community. I rode over to the hospital to see if it would be practicable for us to dingy to the city dock and walk to the hospital. The woman in the emergency room told be to remove the stitches myself and when I explained that they were not visible from the surface she gave me the name of a local doctor to call. Turns out that Josh, the nephew, knows the doctor and said that if Muriel has any problem getting an appointment let him know and he will contact the Dr.
While I was riding in that part of town I stopped at the inflatable boat shop and bought some glue to re-glue an attachment for the dingy davit stiff arm. One is coming loose. I also purchased a hydrofoil for the dingy motor to help get the dingy on plane quicker and with more load.
It is quite warm here again today. Someone said the high in Miami yesterday set a record for the date. The wind is beginning to pickup and a cold front should move through tonight. Highs will be reduced to the seventies instead the eighties.
Boy! The wind blew last night. Muriel and I were up between 12 and 1:00am to get the dingy back up because it was rattling so badly I could not sleep. Then about 3:30 I was back up to tighten the stern lines. This morning was cold and windy, but sunny. Bill and I went out to pickup a rent car he had arranged. He had arranged for an Impala size car and we ended up with a van because that was he had to offer. This makes very comfortable riding for the five of us. Bill has really scored since we came here to Marathon! We rode down the Keys a ways toward Key West and turned around thinking that we would wait for a warmer day to go there. We missed the farmer’s market and just caught the tail end of the flea market at the City Marina. Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday. We plan to go to a club on the island where Eileen’s nephew will be doing a talk show and then back to either the boat or to the Grill for the game.
On Super Bowl Sunday we went for a ride around the local area to see some of the close-by Keys. This area is quite different from anywhere else we have been, maybe more laid back. We ended up at the bar where Josh was doing the live pre-game radio show. He had a table reserved for us, it felt like we were special! They had a lot of gifts for contestants for giving three out of five correct answers to Super Bowl trivia questions. The first thing we knew, Shelly was up there with the microphone to answer questions. With the help from the audience, she got the correct answers and won a tee shirt, which was what she wanted. After too many appetitizers and several pitchers of beer we had Eileen drive us back to the marina where we watched the game on Blue Max and cooked hot dogs with them.
On Monday we got Muriel’s stitches out and ran errands around the area. At 5:00 all the loopers in the area gathered at the Marathon City Marina for munchies and drinks to socialize and get a picture of the group. There were 64 people representing 30 odd boats. Everyone was surprised at the large number of people. Some had finished the loop several years ago and were still spending winters here in Marathon on their boats. Afterward we went to the boat next to us, Ole Salt, a couple who finished the loop several years ago, for dinner along with Bob and Trish from PogoPelli. During dinner we had quite a storm with winds up to 60 miles per hour. Larry from Wanderin L&M said his weather radar showed a possible tornado just outside on the Atlantic side.
Yesterday, Tuesday, we went to Key West for the day. It is just a pleasant drive, about 46 miles, from here. The weather was quite cool for here, high 60’s, and windy but we still had a good time. We rode a sightseeing train around the Old Town area and then had a late lunch at a Cuban café and walked around the old harbor. By that time it was time for the sunset celebration at Mallory Square. There was also a very large cruise ship just leaving port. That was a sight to see it maneuver away from the pier. We enjoyed some of the performers and then decided it was cold enough to get into the car and head back to Marathon.
On Wednesday we went to the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key. This is where the movie Flipper was made. They have several fenced pools on the Gulf side of the Key where they rehabilitate dolphins and train them to test the intelligence of dolphins. It was quite interesting to see the dolphins interact with the trainers. For a substantial fee visitors can get into the water and touch, ride and kiss the dolphins. It was cool and windy and we got pretty cold before we left the Center.
Thursday was just a laid back day. We hung around the boat most of the day. Bill and I went to get some bottom paint for his dingy and we picked up some more supplies at Home Depot for the shelf I am preparing to build for Shelly. When we returned to the boat we had a horrible odor which I traced to the holding tank being over filled and leaking from the vent line into the bilge. I removed and cleaned the vacuum breaker on the pumpout line and got the level down so that it stopped leaking into the bilge. Another trip to West Marine to get some citrus bilge cleaner and a new vacuum breaker. I also stopped by a shop to request a quote to reupholster the helm seat on the fly bridge. The man will come on Friday to give the estimate. After all that, I never got started on the shelf.
The man never showed up to look at the helm seat and I worked on laying out the shelf and decided the shape was too complicated for me to do a proper job with the tools I have on board here to I will not build it at this time. I will look for some type of wire frame organizer shelf to set in the space.
On Saturday morning we went to a farmer’s marked nearby. He had very nice looking produce so Muriel stocked up. Just down the street from there a garden club was having a sale so naturally Muriel had to wander through their “stuff.” After that we visited an art show (flea market) in the parking lot of a shopping area. Muriel and Shelly enjoyed looking and Shelly bought a tie-died cloth to use as a wall hanging in her room. She has wanted this since we left last May. The weather continues to be cool for here and windy.
Sunday, Muriel got up and did several loads of laundry. This took until past noon, so I took the opportunity to install a new anti-siphon device on the holding tank pump out and check out the engines so we are ready to go when the time comes. Along that line, we will have been here two weeks on Monday and we have paid for two more weeks. We hope this will give us enough time so that we can move slowly up the Florida east coast without getting too far north while it is still cold. After working in the engine room I decided to clean out some storage spaces in our room and ended up washing the inside with a Clorox mixture to prevent any mold or mildew. While I was at it, I pulled our bed apart to check the steering system and rudder post packing. I adjusted the stbd packing and the steering looked fine. Next I washed the floor in the salon and waxed and polished it. It still has many scratches but it looks much better.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, we have some we would love to post here but we have been unable to maintain a good enought connection to get them posted.