Marathon and Blue Water
05 February 2008 | Hawk Channel
We made it to Marathon! Since the start of the trip in November, we have covered 1245 statute miles, put 220hrs on the engine, burned about 130 gals of diesel and probably less than 5 gals of gas.
Today, however, was another great sailing day in 20kts of wind and no motor. This part of Hawk Channel goes by several breaks in the outer reef so it was a bumpier ride than yesterday but still loads of fun. The water is the loveliest shade of clear blue.
We pulled into Marathon mid-afternoon and because of the bumpy weather the usual turnover in moorings had not occurred. There was a bit of room in the anchorage so we decided to try that. After circling and circling we finally found a sort of suitable spot and proceeded to do our first Bahamian (two-anchor) moor. We've been avoiding this style anchoring as it is a bit of a pain and according to one of our mentors at the club, you always hang from your weaker anchor. It's true, we are. The anchorage is full of rather sketchy looking boats that have been here a long time. They all have two anchors out, but they are mostly in a solid, algae-covered braid. We should be able to get into the mooring field tomorrow and away from the riff-raff ;-)