When you go to a busy intersection, you have to expect traffic.

Marathon, Florida is a favorite place to visit on the way to, and from, the Bahamas. This is especially true this year, because the water is so low in Lake Okeechobee that almost all of the boats going East or West  come around the southern tip of Florida.  Marathon is right on the way. The boats wait in Boot Key Harbor, or off of the western tip of Boot Key, on in one of the several marinas at Marathon for the weather to get just right for crossing the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas.

The weather is "Not Right", if there is a wind from the North . These winds cause very large seas in the Gulf Stream which heads North between the Florida Coast and the Bahamas. The prudent skipper will wait in a protected harbor/anchorage until there is a forecast of relatively calm seas, (i.e.. no wind or a mild Southerly wind for the day or more needed to make the crossing.)

We came to Marathon from the Southern tip of mainland Florida on a 15 knot North Easterly. We were not in the the Gulf Stream. We experienced 2 to 3 foot quartering seas that day. This was slightly uncomfortable, but nothing like the 6 to 10 foot seas that same day in the Gulf Stream. Any boat headed North East for the Bahamas would have had a very rough crossing.  That's why the harbor and the anchorage at Marathon was full when we arrived. It stayed that way for the next two weeks. North east winds were 15 to 20 knots most of the daytime hours.

And Now for the Traffic Report:

As I mentioned in the last report, we pulled into the Harbor and were greeted by Ron and Beverly Arbizanni M/Y Farfetched. We were accompanied by travelling companions, Tim and Pat Lanzer on Lazy Frog. That's for starters.

Marion's two sisters, Ginny and Linda and their husbands, Tom and Roy, also arrived the same day we did. They stayed in a very nice condominium a few miles away in Bay Colony Beach. They had rented a Van large enough to handle six persons comfortably. We used it for two motor trips to Key West and lots of local sight seeing.
 

During their week stay, Rick and Mary Kortegast drove down from Key Largo.  They had met Linda and Roy a year ago in Baltimore.  We all had hamburgers at Burdines for lunch.

 

The eight of us had a pool party and barbecue at the Bay Colony condo for the rest of the day.

The party was one of those memorable events: lots of catching up, heroic stories of cruising, and coping with the machines and the elements.  Rick and Mary got off for Key Largo just as the thunderstorms hit.

Despite the forecast of scattered thunderstorms we took Remedy on an afternoon cruise to Sombrero Key Reef. As we arrived we were greeted by a Large Thunderstorm. The Diving Tour operators were leaving the area, and it seemed to be the wise thing to do.

We fled for shelter behind Boot Key, and managed to dodge the worst of the squall. We had  a peaceful lunch at anchor an then returned to the reef. The clouds were gone and the winds abated, but the seas were still 2 to 4 feet. Roy was the only one to go snorkeling. The rest of us watched and rocked. We did see enough to know that this was a place to visit again in calmer seas.
 

Suzanne Weiser, a long time friend of Marion, came to visit us for a week.  Highlights of her visit were two trips to Key West by auto.  On the first we did the Conch Island Train Tour through the city and on the second trip a tour of Hemmingway's House and the Glass Bottom Boat Reef tour. All three of these are standard tourist things to do. They are educational and fun. If time or funds are limited do them in the order indicated.

This is my favorite photo: The  Key West lighthouse taken from the second floor balcony of the Hemmingway house.

The house is home to many of the famous six toed cats of Key West. The guide gives an  entertaining half hour talk as you visit the home and gardens.

Shearwater Arrives

Stuart and Elizabeth Ann Bell sailed down from Singer Island FL and joined us for three days.  Stuart introduced Marion and I to TMCA about 10 years ago, and it changed our life completely. We are full time cruisers.  He left Texas about 7 years ago, but we have kept in touch over the years.
 

The Bells recently bought a Norseman 43 Catamaran, named it Shearwater and took delivery in Cape Town, South Africa. Last winter, their summer, they sailed it across the South Atlantic and then up the Islands from Trinidad to their home. We took Shearwater and went snorkeling at Sombrero Key reef on two of the days.

The conditions were perfect on the first day and near perfect the second.

I bought one of those $9.95 underwater cameras and had the film processed at Ekerd to CD.

The Pictures come out great.
 
 

Stuart and Elizabeth Ann took off for some relaxing cruising down to Key West. We would meet them there a week later for a cruise to the Dry Tortugas.

Meanwhile we had some maintenance chores to do. The Macerator pump on the holding tank had failed in a very stinky manner. While shopping for the parts at West Marine we ran into Ralph and Mary Ann Close, former tennis club members at Bal Harbor. They moved to Ramrod Key about three years ago. We also ran into them over a year ago at the Pigeon Key Art Festival. The world seems to be getting smaller all the time. They invited us to dinner at their home.

The laundry machine had failed rather dramatically back in New Orleans so we decided to replace it with a new one, rather than repair the 12 year old unit. It's a spiffy Italian made front loader, that does drying without a vent!  It heats and fluffs the clothes and removes the moisture with a water-cooled condenser.

Why do I relate these mundane details?  Because, gentle reader, you must understand that all of the cruising life is not sight seeing... there is a lot of coping with stuff that breaks or needs maintenance.

We also met Bob and Evonne Langenbach, S/V Cheers.  They were parked right at the Dockside Marina lounge. We were interested in seeing their boat... they were interested in our Great Loop story... we went out to dinner and had a grand time. I discovered that Bob also worked for Loral and Lockheed Martin just before his retirement. We made plans to meet again in Key West the following week.

We did get to visit with Mark and Cindy Snowhite, M/Y Nordic, for a few brief minutes. They were expecting guests the following day... so we put off visiting with them until we returned to Marathon. Meanwhile we are off to Key west and the Dry Tortugas.

Traffic Statistics (to the tune of Partridge in a Pear Tree):
    4 family members, 4 Great Loop Cruisers, 2 travelling companions, one old friend, 2 sailing buddies, 2 tennis friends, 2 new sailing friends, and 2 TMCA cruisers. Oh, I almost forgot Mike & Helen Cantu-Withoff, M/Y Malinche from Lakewood dropped by as they were touring the Keys by Automobile.  Twenty one total.

Stay tuned...