To Marathon

Marco Island
We had to grab a different mooring for the second day in Fort Meyers Beach, as we were aground in the morning.  We switched to #12 and had plenty of depth.  We took the dingy to the dingy dock, which is under the bridge.  The ride was wet, the wind was coming in and the tide was working against it.  We had some bad Mexican food for lunch, and basically froze our rear ends off walking around town again.  I thought it would be warmer in south Florida.  Need to go further south. 

At first light, we headed out of the harbor, the winds were still pretty strong so we elected to sail with just the jib.  It was a nice day.  The Marco Island inlet was a little funky, the channel appeared to be on the beach, but we navigated through it without incident.  We stayed the night at the Marina at Factory bay, which was very nice (and had FREE laundry).  Condos were going for about 1.5 million in the height of the real estate bubble, and were going for about $800k now.  That's quite a hit if you bought on the high end.   Marco island was very nice, it reminded me of Hilton Head island in SC.  All of the signs for businesses were in a certain format, everything very neat and manicured. 

That's one of the things about cruising I did not envision.  We go from places where the wealthy have million dollar second or third homes, and everything appears perfect to public places where the homeless congregate and collect aluminum cans.  That change takes place within a 24 hour period, a walk through a gate, or a trip to the laundry mat.  We are living a little in both worlds, no car, no washer and dryer, so we walk with the homeless - and dine with the wealthy (some days). 

Last Leg to Marathon
We left Marco Island at 7am, which is about as early as we can and still see the channel markers.  I retraced the path I came in on, and bumped a little coming out of factory bay.  The tide was running out at about 2.5 knots, so it was going to be a little tricky.  We came to the marks that appeared to be on the beach, and I turned back towards the inlet so that I would not be pulled out of the channel.  While I was clearly in the channel, we hit the sand hard enough to bring the back end up about a foot and turn the boat sideways.  I reved up the engine and push hard up current, and managed to free us.  It was the hardest grounding we have taken to date.  Michelle later said that she was certain we would deploy the unlimited tow feature of our Boat US membership. 

Once we cleared the furthest the main channel mark we headed due south, to avoid the shoaling in the 1000 island area.  The day was supposed to be 10 knot winds so we put the main up, and part of the jib.  The wind continued to build to about 20, so our leisurely day on the water turned into an aggressive run.  We were doing at least 9 knots for the first five hours of the day, even though the knot meter is not working, presumably due to fouling.  The wind died down later in the day, to the point were we had to motor sail to get to Little Snake River by nightfall.  It was a long day, almost 60 nm, in about 9 hours.  We were concerned about depth in the river here, but at high tide, it was not at all an issue.   The little snake river is "the entrance" to the Everglades, and it is as untouched as I have seen, nothing but mangrove trees line the river, no civilization anywhere close, and the only place to put in between Marco Island and Marathon.  The boat is covered in salt, and somewhat of a wreak, we need some time to recover.  Marathon tomorrow - I think both Michelle and I will have a great feeling of accomplishment when we get there. 

Marathon (not really)
The forecast looked good when we went to bed 10 knot northerly breeze warming temperatures, but in the morning...  The weathernator (as we call the automated weather service over the VHF) Wind at the Dry Tortuga's is 35 knots, Marathon, 20 knots and very gusty, rain small craft advisories for the entire region.  We decided to stay put one more day.  Emily and Hannah had a good day of school, and we will make the final passage tomorrow.....the forecast sounds good.

Marathon.
We set sail out of Little Snake River as soon as the sun came up with a nice fresh breeze at our backs.  Once we rounded the mark due south we were able to set a course for the first mark at Marathons north entrance.  We were able to set the cruising spinnaker for the first time this trip, a beautiful sight.

 I was a little concerned about the depth, which has become a bit of a neurosis, but no problem today.  We went through he section of the bridge where they filmed True Lies, and under the new bridge.  We have a good slip in a nice marina, The Marathon Marina and Boat Yard, and we will be here for the holidays. 

Removed section of the old Seven Mile Bridge

Dolphin Watching

It is a bit of a bike ride to the store, but we can make it.  They had a nice wine tasting Friday night, and we met some other cruisers.  The girls have cable, with all of the stations.  Saturday evening was the boat parade, some really creative designs, after the lead boat went past all of the boats turned down and went past our boat, in the wrong direction.  We watched the remainder of the parade from our cockpit, and the boats were only about 20 feet away.  We decorated the Diamond for Christmas.  We have been watching the weather on the TV, the metro dome in Minneapolis collapsed, I think the keys will be OK for Christmas. 

View from Diamond in Marathon, at the dock