Marathon Florida Waiting for a Weather WIndow

2-9    We’ve been in Marathon since February 2nd or so and time seems to slip away to who knows where. I suppose thats why there are so many people who came here years ago and don’t leave or keep returning every winter. I for one like it here but am ready to leave. Weather is dictating our schedule for our next step, which is Bimini Bahamas.

WWII Aircraft flying over our anchorage.

There was an airshow at the local airport

The weather here is interesting, it’s consistently warm (highs in the low 70’s to low 80’s) and mostly sunny everyday, it’s the dry season here so there’s very little rain. However the wind is moving everyday and usually has some northern component to it which makes it dangerous to attempt a gulf stream crossing. When the cold fronts come through we usually see north winds in the mid to high 20 knot range, great for people with wind generators not good for crossing to the Bahamas until the wind pattern backs around to the south, east or west. Unfortunately this has not been happening. S/V Sea Monkey left during the last weather window last week and told us that they had been waiting over 3 weeks for a window, even a small one. We decided to wait for a longer window since we had just arrived here and being a little chicken about our first gulf stream crossing.

When we arrived here in Marathon we anchored out due to no room in the marinas or mooring fields. We anchored near the mouth of Boot Key Harbor until the winds were forecasted to switch and cause our anchorage to become uncomfortable. We moved Last Mango inside the crowded harbor anchorage area. There are 2 types of people that anchor in Boot Key Harbor, those who are on the waiting list to get a mooring and those who are being frugal and don’t want to pay the $100 dollars a week for a mooring ball. We were number 26 on the waiting list when we arrived and made it up quickly partly due to our shallow draft and partly due to several boats leaving at the last weather window.

Karen is already using the new outboard.

Mother Manatee and its baby

They floated around the harbor for about an hour

Boat sunk during the day sometime. They
broke the mast trying to remove it.

During our anchorage days we were forced to anchor much closer to other boats than we wanted but there was nothing else to do other than be in a very rough anchorage. During this time we met some interesting people who’ve seemed to have lost themselves here. Charles is a Vietnam Veteran who just took up sailing and sailed down from the Chesapeake. Our first conversation with him was went much like this; Charles “Hey, you’re anchored kinda close to me  and I drag anchor a lot, hopefully our boats won’t hit each other but if they do it’s OK with me”. Me “OK, well I think I have a good hook and shouldn’t move other than wind and tide changes”. Charles “ OK, I have 70 feet of line out and haven’t dragged since Dave up there sold me an old anchor and 20 feet of chain, that’s been 2 weeks”.  Me “ OK, I’ll keep a good watch and move should I be too close”. 

The other conversation was with the next closest boat and its owner Jeff. Wind changed and Last Mango swung far too close to Jeff’s boat for Karen and I. Jeff watching Last Mango swing nearer and nearer to his boat saw Karen and I preparing to move asked if we were insured and we answered that we were. He stated he wanted us to go ahead and slam into his boat which obviously is not. He chuckled and told us to just let out more chain and we’d be fine. Jeff has over 140 feet of line out and has been here for 2 years setup for hurricanes and doesn't move at all.

Karen seemed to like this shirt

Seahorse trying to hitch a ride on Mango

Funny looking little guy or girl?

Sunset here in Boot Key Harbor

Over our time spent near these boats we only got to know Charles a bit. He seemed lonely and I invited him over for a beer one night, he was here on Last Mango before I could get the words out of my mouth. He lives on his boat by himself and only has his Kindle to read. No radio, no TV.  He reads the Kindle at night holding a small flashlight in his mouth to light the pages. Many days he doesn’t get off his boat because the strong winds make difficult for him to oar his dinghy back and forth to shore. We learned he was from originally from Huntsville Alabama and was only in Vietnam for about 2 months before breaking his leg during a firefight and being sent to Japan for rehab. His leg didn’t heal correctly but he spent the remainder of his service not in combat. He stated at the time Alabama was short of its quota for the draft and he was taken out of his senior year of high school. I didn’t think that could happen, but learned it did. Charles has 2 boys that he raised after a divorce and he speaks to them often. Charles said he hasn’t seen a doctor in over 40 years and hasn’t collected from Social Security until just recently when his son helped him fill out the paperwork. He says he really loves  social security but still working on the doctors. We stopped back to see Charles after we moved to a mooring ball and gave him an extra LED headlamp we had so he could read at night without a flashlight in his mouth. Charles plans on going up the west coast of Florida and selling his boat somewhere and buying a motorhome to see the country by land. We wish him the best.

Fracas has declared Karen the Coupon Queen

Even Darth Vader panhandles in Key West.

The days just fly by and yesterday (Feb 10th) the crew of Fracas, Karen and I took the public bus to Key West for the day.  Shortly after we got ourselves settled in a large white guy gets on the bus and looks around and comes to the back of the bus. The guys looks like a northern Illinois farmer to me with his Carhart jeans, checkered shirt and farmer type ball cap. The guy walks about a foot past me, looks at the black guy siting a few feet away and says something then bends over and shows him his butt and smacks it a few times. I couldn’t hear what the guy said but the black guy looked at me and then around the bus. Karen later told me the farmer guy told the guy sitting by us that he really likes black guys and apparently was very interested in showing him what he has to offer up. 

After about 2 hours of riding the bus and taking in the various odors of some of the passengers we arrived in Key West. First stop was Sloppy Joes for a frozen Rum Runner and a bite to eat. The 4 of us sang along with the musician and crowd to songs from the Monkeys, Neil Diamond and other 70 favorites. After a little walk I had to stop at the Flying Monkey and get another frozen drink. This day had all of the hallmarks of being a disaster for me but I controlled myself. Karen and Mary Lynn on the other hand wanted to ride the bull and Cowboy Bill’s.

A good time was had by all but we couldn’t stay late enough to see the drag show. We did find out that the person who puts the bus times on the internet for the City of Key West disappeared and now the times are not right. It took us waiting for the bus about 1 1/2 hours before parking attendant told us we were at the correct stop and the internet times are not necessarily accurate. The late night ride back to Marathon acquainted us with some interesting characters and conversations. The bus driver seemed to know the drill because she turned the lights out on the bus and many of the conversations died into loud breathing and probably snoring even though I couldn’t hear it.

Karen preparing to ride the mechanical Bull

The Flying Monkey is a must stop for me
whenever I'm in Key West

Karen and Mary Lynn enjoyed their time here.

Today Karen’s up at the marina sewing a new sail cover and a couple other items while I epoxied a couple of stripped screw holes and cleaned up around Last Mango.

The wind blown crew of Last Mango
at the southern most point in Key West.

2-13   Woke up this morning and checked the weather, still looks as though we could cross early next week if the weather holds. We are making final preparations to Last Mango. Filling up with water, fuel and tying everything down that could bounce or be thrown around in heavy seas. 

The other morning I was untying the dinghy and noticed that a fender line was lying in the water all night and appeared to have some weeds growing on it. I pulled up the line and found that a seahorse had wrapped its tail around the line and was holding on. I have to say this is the first seahorse I’ve ever seen in person in the wild. It’s kinda crusty looking, I took pictures and lowered the line back in the water and it slowly moved away under the boat. To me it is surprising to see how much sea life is here in this harbor. I wouldn’t think all this sea life would be milling about in this confined and busy harbor but one of the locals stated the fact that the tide here drains the harbor at least twice a day and refills it with clean water off the Atlantic Ocean and gold stream.

Looks like S/V Last Mango and S/V Fracas will be leaving for Rodriquez Key Sunday morning and then to Bimini Bahamas in the pre-dawn hours Monday. Lets Hope!