KEY LARGO AND MARATHON

He Said: After all of the conversations we have had recently, we finally decided to pass on the Bahamas.  I mentioned that on Sunday the 16^th we headed out to the Atlantic but headed back to Ft. Lauderdale after about 45 minutes of bad water.  We spent the following week in Ft. Lauderdale at the city marina in downtown.  It is a great area with tons of cool things happening and terrific places to eat and drink. 

The weather for the week was pretty crappy, mostly 60-70 with lots of wind. I had a chance to watch the Buckeyes vs. Indiana game at a gr8 little sports bar about 300 yards from the boat.  I was there several times over the week.  Between OSU and the Cardinals, I watched all the football I needed.  We went to dinner at a cool Irish Pub located on the same little river we were at.  Later that nite the sports bar had a terrific blues band playing so I caught some of that action.  

 

Big lizard living at one of the bridges on the New River, Ft. Lauderdale

While in Ft. Lauderdale I was on the boat cleaning the windows when a 60 ft. sailboat tried to get between us and the 120 mega yacht directly in front of us.  The captain of the big boat yelled at the guy telling him his boat would not fit.  The guy on the sailboat didn’t buy into it.  Guess what??  He hit the shit out of the big dude, ripped off part of the railing, then pulled forward and his anchor hit our anchor.  Looked like dodgem cars.  There was no damage to MTB, but some pretty good damage to the big guy.  He should have listened.

 Following a fun week in downtown we decided to head towards the Keys.  We left on Monday the 24^th for a couple of long travel days to get to Marathon before the bad weather hit again.  We rolled out of bed and departed at about 7:45 for Key Largo.  It was a nice calm travel day but a very long one - we arrived to our little anchorage after about 9 long hours and about 75 miles.  This may have been the most peaceful evening in our 1 ½ years of boating.  We had no other boats anchoring and didn’t even see another boat the whole evening.  We of course ate in and called it an early nite.

 

Thursday Cove, Key Largo - our anchorage

Sunset at Thursday Cove

On Tuesday, believe it or not, we got up at 6AM for a 6:30 departure.  When leaving an anchor or mooring ball your departures are simple and fast - no lines, no power, no water, cable and anything else that you would have attached to your boat if you were docked.  We knew we had about another 75 mile day - about 20 were in the open water of the Atlantic Ocean.  It was very smooth except for the choppy-as-hell ocean water.  We still arrived at Burdine’s in Marathon at about 4PM.  Overall, it went well.

My last 2 arrivals into the Ft. Lauderdale Marina and Burdine’s both sucked.  A month ago I backed the boat into a city marina like a pro - not so much on my last 2.  Some wind and current can really mess with you.  The good news is we got in just fine.

 

Back at home at Burdine's Marina, Marathon

Since Tuesday we have been revisiting some of the places here in Marathon that we hung at before.  The weather here has been cool and very windy.  Pat fixed a gr8 little TGiving dinner for the 2 of us.  After some football, we jumped in the dingy and headed off to Dockside, a pretty cool bar on the water at a marina about 3 miles from us.  They had a big TG Dinner for the boaters and live music. We hung for a couple of cold ones and headed back to MTB.

 

Boot Harbor in Marathon is full of boats - some nicer than others.  This one sunk!

We will be staying here at Burdine’s for the next 5 weeks - thru the end of December.  Our January is a little in the air due to not knowing the turf all that much.  Our plan is to hang here in the Keys, cruise towards Key West, and just kick around for a month. Following that we will be back here in Marathon for the month of February.  We will be having lots of friends visiting that month - should be a blast.  

That’s about it for now, Take Care, Jack

 

She Said:  

After months of planning and excitement, we have reluctantly cancelled our plans for the Bahamas.  It was a tough decision emotionally, but an easy boating decision.  We called the Bahamas marina to cancel our reservations.  They told us that the recent seas were 6-8 feet with occasional 10 footers.   A couple of days after making our decision, the wind speed and direction matched our criteria.  Did we make the wrong decision?  We don’t think so because the water would have still been rough because of the previous weather.  Even if we did find a good crossing day, we’d have the same waiting game for a return crossing.  The weather this time of year is just rough on power boats like ours.  It sounds like March is the earliest time for us to cross – April and May are even better.  Like we’ve said so many times, our boating life is controlled by weather and we have to be flexible.

So the new plan is to spend the months of December through February in the Florida Keys.  We will stay in Marathon December and February and take the boat to Key West in January.  We hope to find some small, pretty Keys where we can drop the anchor and do some snorkeling.  Not quite the Bahamas, but we’ll make the best of it.

 

Our week in Ft. Lauderdale was fun.  I really liked the location – there was a lot of activity up and down the river and plenty of places to walk.  One day while we were sitting on MTB we were visited by fellow boaters we first met in St. Michael, MD last year.  We ran into them several times traveling down the ICW, and hope to cross paths with them again. 

 

Night time view from MTB, New River, Ft Lauderdale 

When we made the decision to skip the Bahamas, we planned a one week trip from Ft. Lauderdale to Marathon.  Unfortunately, because of weather we had to make the 130 mile trip in 2 days.  We like to travel less than 50 miles a day, so two 65 mile days back-to-back was not something we were looking forward to.   

It was finally time to leave Ft. Lauderdale.  We were underway at 7:30am.  The day was mostly uneventful, although we did have a few bridges where the posted and published clearance heights didn’t agree.  That meant that I had to stand on the front of the boat with my pole “feeling” our way under the bridges.  Waiting on a bridge opening, we met up with fellow boaters we met earlier in the month in Clewiston.  It’s always fun meeting up with familiar boats.  We arrived at Thursday Cove outside Key Largo at 4:00pm.  We dropped the anchor and settled in for a quiet evening.  It would have been a perfect evening if it weren’t for the darn no-see-ums that come out at dusk.  I was full of welts by the time I admitted defeat and went inside.  It was early to bed because we planned on an early departure the next day.



ICW - the old and the new.  Margaritaville Hotel under construction with an old tiki bar across the street

Gilbert's Tiki Bar - the largest in the Keys.  We hoped to stay here, but weather forced us to pass

On day 2 we were up at 6:00am, the anchor was up by 6:30am and we were on our way.  The first 40 miles we were in the Florida Bay which is on the west side of the Keys.  The water was calm and shallow, but there were so many fishing traps it was a challenge.  Often they’re hard to see, and maneuvering around them is a pain in the neck.  We were in a marked channel (no traps) when we came across several dolphins.  Jack sped up and three dolphins joined us for a while.  It is so much fun watching them swim in our wake.  I don’t care how many times we see (and especially when we play with) the dolphins, it’s always exciting.  I’m glad we had that fun experience, because the rest of the day went down hill.

 

Sunrise as we are leaving Thursday Cove, Key Largo

We decided to take Hawk Channel (on the east side of the Keys in the Atlantic) for the last 20 miles to Marathon.  We took this route last season and it was a great trip.  We learned that the reef helps keep the water calm – especially near the shore.  Since the winds were supposed to be less than10 MPH we were expecting a calm trip.  But the winds were more like 15 MPH, and they created rolling waves.  It was miserable.  We tried changing speed and directions to minimize the rolling, but nothing did the trick.  Things were moving around all over MTB and I wasn’t doing much better.  We weren’t in any danger and didn’t feel unsafe – it was just uncomfortable.  We finally got in, and the winds reeked havoc on our docking effort.  It took two tries, and we finally made it.  The only good thing about a bad docking is that we learn something.  We rehash what happened and talk about what we should do differently in the future.

 


Three dolphins swimming with us

 

 

 

 



Our dolphin buddies

It’s fun to back in Marathon and get reacquainted with the area.  In three days we’ve gone back to three of our favorite spots, taken a dinghy ride through Boot Harbor, and walked 3 miles into “town.”  Buddy, the marina cat, came for a visit already.  We can’t be too nice to him or he’ll never leave! 

Since we bought food to take to the Bahamas for a Thanksgiving feast we cooked in Thanksgiving Day.  Our Turkey Day dinner last year was a disaster, but I redeemed myself this year.  The biggest challenge was rotating things in and out of our tiny oven, but with a little planning I got it done!

 The weather’s been all over the place.  We had record highs followed by down right cold temps (60s).  We’re getting better at understanding high/low pressure, fronts, and the impact on winds and temps.  Overall, it’s probably the best place to be in the states this time of year.

Since we’re hanging here for a month, we probably won’t be sending out any updates until Christmas.  I hope you enjoy all of the holiday festivities that are coming your way!