Marathon March 2024

Total Miles Traveled 1974 since departing Green Turtle Bay, KY

https://share.garmin.com/RickVicars

Well, we are still at Marathon Florida waiting for a weather window to cross the Atlantic Ocean to Bimini in the Bahamas.  We have been stuck in a windy weather pattern for several weeks and crossing the Gulf Stream in windy conditions is not something we want to experience again. When we came back from the Abaco’s in 2017 the last three hours were not fun.   If the wind opposes the Gulf Stream current, it can be very volatile.  We always follow the number one rule on a boat, never have a schedule.

Our boat is the small red triangle in the lower left corner and Bimini is the red marker about center of the picture.  Our plan is the cruise to Key Largo the first day, then 90 miles across to Bimini....weather permitting.

February, and into March, was a very interesting time here at our dock.  When leaving our anchorage at Marco Island in December, our friends on m/v Forever Young had a major engine malfunction.  They are a single engine boat and the cooling water pump failed, as did the temperature alarm to indicate the engine was overheating.  By the time they realized they had a problem, damage to the engine had already occurred.  Having a spare water pump, Steve was able to replace it, add coolant, and continue to our anchorage at Little Shark River.  The next morning, he topped off the coolant level and they traveled with us to Marathon.

Since we are in the Key’s, and they must cross the Gulf of Mexico to return home to Kentucky, the decision was made to replace the engine.  Steve ordered a replacement engine, we traveled from our dock to a boat yard and they set the new engine in the back of his boat.  We returned to his slip, we removed the old engine from the boat, removed all of the external parts, cleaned and painted them, installed them on the new engine, and installed the new engine in their boat.  Steve's friend he met on the loop from Georgia drove down to help with the planning and replacement.  We returned to the boat yard, and they removed the damaged engine so it could be shipped back to the rebuild facility.

 Rigging the new motor to set in the boat that is sitting in the water.

Lowering the new engine into the engine room.

Cruised to the boat yard powered by the new engine and lifted the old engine from the boat.

We had a great reunion with our friends we hadn’t seen since last summer in Mississippi, Charlie and Robin on m/v The Lower Place, Dennis and Dori on m/v Current Dream, and Steve and Jan on m/v Forever Young (hmm, for some reason Jan didn’t make the pic?)

Our last dinghy ride with the Young's, the bimini top we installed on our dingy makes a huge difference avoiding the sun.

After several test runs, m/v Forever Young departed Marathon and started their journey back to Kentucky. 

Moni and I have continued to play bocce ball on Tuesday and Thursday and attend the jam sessions at the Tiki Hut.  There is really good talent here at Boot Key Harbor.

We attended the 48^th annual Marathon Seafood Festival, the second largest Florida Keys event with over 15,000 attendees.  This two-day event featured fresh-caught local keys seafood, over 220 vendors, a boat show, and live entertainment.  The event annually raises $75,000 that goes back into the community in charitable donations and scholarships for local Middle Keys students. 

We took the Island Trolley Tour, a guided trolley tour of the 13 islands that comprises Marathon and its rich history from wreckers, farmers, fisherman, Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railway, and its WWII connection.  

 And of course, we had to visit our favorite place Burdines, for deep fried key lime pie.

We boarded the Key’s Transit bus to Key West to celebrate St Patty’s Day with our friends Mike and Jan on m/v Trust Me.  We had a great time visiting with our friends and enjoying the many sights the event brings every year to Key West.

We had a unique experience by observing the vapor trail of the SpaceX’s Starship after it successfully launched from Texas and entered Earth’s orbit.  SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.  Starship is the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tons.  We watched the launch on SpaceX’s website, then rushed outside to try to get a glimpse of it as the flight path was over the Key’s.  My picture doesn’t show much but we could see a trail all the way across the horizon……awesome!   We tried to see its first launch last year while we were moored in Texas but too many delays kept us from that experience.

 Flight path from Texas across the Key's

The vapor trail extended all the way across the horizon at Marathon

Well, hopefully we can get a calm weather pattern in April so we can make our crossing to the Bahamas.  If not, our plans are written in the sand at low tide, and we don’t have a schedule. 

Marathon February 2024

Total Miles Traveled 1974 since departing Green Turtle Bay, KY

https://share.garmin.com/RickVicars

We boarded the Key West Transit bus for the trip to Key West ($1 each way for seniors) to celebrate Moni’s birthday.  We had a great time with our good friends Steve and Jan (Forever Young), Steve and Libby (San Souci) and Kevin and Jill (Chasing 80).  We were also able to visit with Mike and Jan (Trust Me) on their boat docked downtown. We hit most of our favorite stops:  Irish Kevin's, Smokin Tuna, and the Green Parrot, for great music, food, and drinks.  We experienced something new at the Green Parrot, while the band was playing, an artist painted a picture on a large canvas while keeping in time with the music, he was very good and sold his paintings for several hundred dollars afterwards.

February was a busy month, I’ve been helping Steve on a major engine project, we had a freshwater pump fail, and I had to install new packing to our steering rudders.  It is a boat, and just like a house, things tend to wear out. 

It’s not all work and no fun though, we have our weekly awesome breakfast at the American Legion every Sunday with our friends, Taco Tuesdays, Bocce Ball every Tuesday, and Thursday, Tikki Hut music on Fridays at the City Marina, and our Dockside Bar and Grill at our marina.  Moni’s getting pretty good on the Bocce Ball court.

We attended the 14^th annual Sunset Celebration at the Banana Bay Resort.  We met a lot of good friends that we haven’t seen for awhile and met some new ones.  This is really an awesome boating community

I finally parted with my bicycle; we have hauled it around on our boats since 2015.  We donated Moni’s bike to a friend when we purchased our electric scooters a few years ago, but I had a hard time parting with mine.  I’ve put several hundred miles on it, biking the RAIN (Ride Across INdiana), the Bloomington Hilly Hundred, the River-to-River Relay course (from the Mississippi River to the Ohio River) and several biathlons and biking events.  Times have changed and the scooters are our main source of transportation these days.

We caught this Manatee sleeping while putting around the harbor.  We stopped and waited several minutes and it didn’t come up for air or move, we edged a little closer and it dove to the bottom.

I guess this must be the Boot Key Harbor Junk yard, this boat looks like they collect anything they can find floating through or around the harbor.

We saw these two 40+ foot center consoles fueling up before heading out to the Atlantic for a fishing trip.  One has 5, 400 horsepower engines…..2000 hp and the other 4, 400 hp engines!  We have 300 hp total on our 45-foot boat.  We are much slower, but I think we’ll stick with our fuel bill.

We met some new looper friends and they are selling their boat and purchasing a new one to finish the loop.  It's a 1972 Gulf Star and is in very good shape for it's age.

We will be leaving Marathon around March 15^th, and will be watching for a weather window to travel to Bimini and explore the Exuma’s before returning to Florida around mid-May.

One of our evening views at docktails.

Marathon, Fl January 2024

Total Miles Traveled since departing Green Turtle Bay, KY 1974

https://share.garmin.com/RickVicars

We started off the new year at Marathon celebrating Steve Fields birthday.  Steve and Libby on m/v San Souci are from Terre Haute, Indiana. They are spending the winter here at Sombrero Marina then continuing their Great Loop Adventure.

We had great weather to attend the Florida Keys Celtic Festival.  The kickoff started on Friday at the Dockside bar and grill, conveniently located a short walk from our boat.  The main event continued the following Saturday and Sunday at the city park.

The festival features family-friendly Celtic rock and Traditional music, Irish & Scottish Dancing, Sheep-dog herding, Pipes and Drums, and fabulous Celtic (and Keys) foods and crafts vendors. Highland Athletics, the original Strongman sport, features a sanctioned Woman’s Highland Athletics Competition and Men’s Highland Athletic Demonstrations. The Florida Keys Celtic Festival was recently voted a Best of Florida Regional Winner for Festivals.  Most of the participants and entertainment travel from Scotland and Ireland.

For some reason I can't remember what she was selling?

We were really impressed with the Women’s Highland Athletics events.  The weight over bar event requires contestants to clear a crossbar with a 21–28-pound weight.  They have three chances to succeed.

With the Caber Toss each participant must pick up a tapered end of the caber (a 13-15 foot “tree trunk”), balance it, then toss it so that the upper end hits the ground and turns completely over.  Success is gauged by how closely the caber falls to the 12 o’clock position.

Our friends Bob and Deb from Terre Haute visited us for a few days, we spent a day at Key West, took a dinghy ride through the mangroves to a small island on the Atlantic side, and the weather cooperated to take our boat out to Sombrero Key Light and tie to a mooring ball for a couple hours.  The Key is about 4 miles offshore from Marathon.  I still can’t believe I didn’t take one picture while we were there. 

My plan was to take a few underwater pictures, but I had a senior moment by forgetting to install the cover after charging my GoPro and filled the camera with saltwater.  Camera, battery, and memory card submerged.  Well, I flushed it out several times with alcohol and let is set for three days.  Everything works!!  (note to self, remove charging cable, install waterproof cover).

We have been playing Bocce ball two days a week, which has grown to quite a few players since we started last month. 

Pelicans waiting for a handout.

And the Tarpon are circling for anything that sinks.

Steve and Jan found a cool place for lunch.

Our Looper friends Kevin and Jill on m/v Chasing 80 drove their car down from Fort Myers for a visit on their way to Key West.  We hit the nautical flea market and Kiki’s Sandbar for lunch and music.

Our scooters have been handy at Marathon, we’ve managed to put over 100 miles on them since purchasing the new model in August.

Swim ladder art.  The sailboat next to us has been in their slip for six months, they pulled their swim ladder up out of the water and found quite a mess of sea life.

We’re taking the Key West Transit Shuttle to Key West today to celebrate Moni’s birthday with friends.

 HAPPY BIRTDAY MONI !!!!

Another great sunset at Boot Key Harbor.