May 1-5 Miami to Marathon

We are in the mooring field at Boot Key Harbour City Marina in Marathon, having arrived Sunday afternoon. It was fun to pass by Marathon Marina, where we stayed prior to departure, and have the folks there wave to us. Once we got on the mooring ball, it was great to hear from Matt and Linda Norwood on S/V Worth W8N4, our marina neighbors at Marathon Marina. We had a nice afternoon happy hour aboard their boat and it was great to catch up with them. While we were gone south, they traveled in their boat up the eastern seaboard and then traveled by car/camper to Maine before returning to Marathon.

Matt and Linda were very gracious with their car and the following afternoon, took us on errands to the grocery store and such. The grocery store no longer has a dinghy dock due to construction. The store was a big hit. I remember when I first got here thinking how expensive it was compared to Dallas, and now from this side, it was crazy cheap. Plus, I could find ANYTHING I wanted. With $200, which down island gets you about a week's worth of basic provisions, I bought so much, plus some fun special things, that I could barely get everything tucked away on the boat. We are accustomed to $6 for a six-pack of diet coke. Here, that got us a 20 can case!

We joined Matt and Linda that evening at Dockside, a local watering hole and restaurant to enjoy a nice meal and some tunes. We had had a couple of down days, relaxing on the boat. Today we went to Cruiser's Day at the local cinema. They show old classics and the price of admission is a can of food for the local food bank. Today they showed Rear Window, an old Alfred Hitchcock movie. Excellent! Movie popcorn, fountain cokes and air conditioning...a perfect afternoon! Here are some pictures from the last few days.

Stilt houses and the light house on the way out of Biscayne Bay. The pristine waters of the Florida Keys.

Many of the buildings in Marathon and Key West have murals painted on the exteriors. Incidentally, Boaters World is now out of business but there is a brand new supersized West Marine here in Marathon. Easy enough to understand since we personally financed it with our pre-departure preparations. This is the Tree of Knowledge at Boot Key Marina, a place to swap stories and tell lies.

Hanging out with Matt and Linda at Dockside Bar:

Views of the mooring field at Boot Key Harbour City Marina:

Sunsets are special in the Florida Keys and this was a really good one tonight. A boat returned to the harbour this afternoon, S/V Go Lassie Go. It is the catamaran that appears just below the sun. He stands on his hardtop and plays his bagpipes as the sun sets. When the sun disappears from site, everyone claps, whistles and blows their boat horns.

We are leaving in the morning for Bahia Honda, a beautiful stop on the way to Key West. We will be traveling with S/V Worth W8N4 as they are going to Key West for the month.

We keep a close eye on news of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as it is impacting the transit to Texas. I get off the boat on the 14th to head to Tallahassee, hang out with my parents and make preparations to go back to work. (Houses to buy and such.) Skip and Dave Damm are coming on the 19th to help Craig get the boat across the Gulf. We are already changing plans to leave now from Key West, at a sharper angle to Texas, than the previous route planned from Fort Meyers. Boats stupid enough to try to transit the slick will be prohibited. Plus, one can not take a boat like this through crude oil because the oil would suck into the raw water intake that cools our engine. Imagine oil running through your car's radiator. Not good for combustion engines!

Otherwise, all is well on Hakuna Matata. It is great to be back in the Keys and we are praying that the oil does not get into the Gulf Stream and invade this beautiful part of the country.