We slept in the 24th and didn't get underway until 9:30. Karen at the helm we did the 15 miles to Marathon's Boot Key Harbor in two hours. We took a mooring ball and went ashore to sign in. They screwed up and assigned us to the wrong mooring. So back out to the boat and move 100 feet to another mooring.

Dummy captain stubbed his toe which he had whooped on a month earlier at work. So now the nail is loose and causing pain. The walk a mile to Publix for food stuffs was no fun until the toe decided it could bend a bit.

Back on the boat we just chilled out. Not much planned for tomorrow. Just need to get fuel before we head home.

We got great news from Charlene. They have a buyer for their house in DC so they can move to the condo on the water in Virginia with no problems of two houses. Blessings that all goes well.

Boot Key Harbor is almost all city moorings and very well organized. Even better it is not overpriced so liveaboards can have a safe mooring and enjoy dinghy docking and bath privileges for a semi-reasonable fee. There is large room with a library, three TVs, mailboxes, and then work areas for folks who need to work on projects. Then there is a bath house with showers, bathrooms and laundry. They also have a good recycle program for normal stuff and oil and other marine hazards. Too bad hey don't have loaner bikes like they have in Punta Gorda. Sure could have used one today. Had a great lunch at Big Mouth Eatery. Need to Yelp them with 5 stars

We had a very nice Saturday in Marathon. After breakfast, we lounged around until about 10:30 before going ashore. We headed toward West Marine but stopped first at the Turtle Hospital. What a treat.

We took a tour of the hospital, which was a 1950's motel that had a salt-water pool. In the 1980's it the pool was turned into an aquarium for the motel. Later kids asked why there were no turtles. After looking into it, the owner found that turtles were endangered and the only way to have them was to rehabilitate them. That was the start.

After Hurricane Wilma flooded the motel the owner decided the turtles were more important and rebuilt the turtle pool before fixing the rooms. The rooms now are only occupied by the hospital interns.

They had 58 turtles in the hospital pools while we were there. Most were younger green turtles that had a virus that caused growths on them. The majority of the rest were ones that had collided with boats and had "bubble butt" which is a deformed shell that makes them not be able to dive. These are then permanent residents. Most other turtles can be rehabilitated and released. It was very interesting to see the different species and their problems.

After a no purchase visit to West Marine we had some pizza and back to the boat. We had steak and salmon for dinner which isn't too shabby. Tomorrow we will start back home. Next stop Little Shark River in the Everglades. No contact there. Then on to Naples and maybe home.