Back in the USA
29 March 2019
Margi Floss
Picture above is some of the Marathon fishing fleet tied up in the canal that leads back to Castaways.
Later Sunday, March 24th, on the Bahama Banks wasn't as nice as last year, the following seas were bigger and rolling the boat around a good bit. Both the Capt'n and I were already tired due to hand steering since the good ole auto pilot just refuses to work much at all any more, not sure if he thinks he's retired or not, but definitely needs looked at when we get back home. We exited the banks at South Riding Rocks about 7:15 PM, just around sunset into the Atlantic. A bit of a rough night hand steering almost the entire way, autopilot did steer here and there enough to take a short break, but that's about it. Seas were bigger in the Gulf Stream, but couldn't really see how big until dawn. The two shipping channels kept us on our toes during the night, with ships crisscrossing us within a mile or two. Thank goodness for AIS as no matter what lights (port/starboard) you see it's so hard to tell in the dark what their intentions are. Most passed within a mile or so, which was not great, but okay. Nice moon rose around 11 and lit up the sky the rest of the way until morning. We got to the Florida Keys, north of Molasses Reef around 9 am, Monday March 25th and rode the coast down a bit then entered into Hawk Channel right after the reef. Both of us were dead tired, but pushed on for Channel 5 (tip of Long Key) since it's one of the best anchorage spots between No Name (Key Biscayne) and Marathon. You can anchor on either side of the bridge and get protection from almost every wind direction. Got anchored in our favorite spot at Channel 5 around 2:30 pm - time for a much deserved anchor beer! All by ourselves and very peaceful, not a lot of boats stop here they always stop at Rodriguez or Tavernier, which offer very little protection from anything but N winds. To my surprise I went up on deck after dinner and 4 more boats were anchored behind us - crap our secret is out... Had a great nigts sleep in a really perfect spot, winds shifted during the night, but we were more than protected where we anchored.
Tuesday I was anxious to get going and get a mooring at Marathon so had a quick breakfast then left the anchorage around 7 AM. We had passed at least 12 boats going north so I was almost positive the mooring field would have some free moorings. Well again, I called about 6 miles out and nope, nothing available, come in and get on the waiting list and there are 6 people ahead. It's kind of annoying as you cannot get on the list until you get here, anchor and physically go in. So we are only a mile or so out of Marathon, winds are light now so we are motor sailing the last bit and the engine just quits. We are sailing slowly, but nicely so that's okay for now - Capt'n runs below and checks and finds nothing wrong. We've been running on the Starboard diesel tank since we left the Bahamas, so he switches to the Port tank. I try to start it; it fires up then quits again. I'm thinking, well if it was fuel starved (if that's the right word?) it may take a bit to get the diesel back through, something like that. So I ask the Capt'n if I can try again and he says yes - fire it up and this time it keeps running, thank goodness! Capt'n thinks it might be the fuel filter clogged on the Starboard tank, all the filters are due for a change, but we've been running on Starboard much longer than Port. Needless to say, if that was going to happen thank goodness it happened where and when it did. Worst case would be coming up the skinny channel into Marathon, which would be a disaster so we are very lucky, but it does stay in the back of your mind coming up the channel anyway. On another good note, we are back in the USA with our good old BoatUS unlimited towing!
Got into Marathon around 10:30, stopped at the fuel dock for diesel and water then off to the dreaded anchorage inside. Anchorage was pretty packed, but kept going to the end and found a spot to drop the hook right off the channel. Looked good until the winds swung and we were literally directly in front of a "permanently" anchored boat. They didn't seem to mind, but knowing the front would roll through with 30+ knots of wind I wasn't really happy about being on top of someone. However, it's either that or go out into the outside anchorage, which would be ugly with the front.
Went into the marina and got on the waiting list, but looks bleak as no one is leaving with the front coming in. While waiting for to get on the list saw someone that looked familiar with a tiny little dog that looked familiar. Last year when we were here we had met Carousel who was from Pittsburgh and actually was best friends with a good friend of mine too that worked at JRMC with me. Neither of us have kept in touch with Laurie lately, but it was wild when I mentioned I only knew one person from West Mifflin and it turned out to be her best friend from the past. Anyway, sure enough it was Robin from Carousel standing there - she had left her sandals and sunglasses on our boat, which we didn't find until half way up Florida Bay last year. I told her I still had them on the boat, she was thrilled that I kept them for her. Talked for a long time then promised to get together again sometime before we leave. Turns out they have been here since last year and have only left a few times here and there. It was getting late in the day, so we headed back to the boat then, of course, to our favorite spot for HH, Castaways by dinghy. Awesome food and great prices during HH, we'll definitely be back again before we leave.
Tuesday night wasn't bad at all, but by Wednesday morning winds started picking up a bit. Capt'n changed all the fuel filters, changed the oil and filter in the morning. It's really not the best time to do that since winds had picked up and if we dragged we had no engine, but I wasn't going to argue, it needed done ASAP. We did go in and check on the waiting list and we are next, wow that's great, but won't help for tonight when it'll blow 35 knots in the gusts. Took our little dock cart up to Publix (about a mile walk) and loaded up on all sorts of stuff that we weren't able to buy in the Bahamas, like BOGO 6 pack of Becks beer, ya ain't gonna see that in the Bahamas, boy it's nice to be back in the USA!
Wednesday night the winds picked up and were howling, but our anchor held nicely and I was actually able to get some sleep for a change. The inside anchorage has super protection so no swells or waves rolling in during the high winds. Capt'n figured I'd be up all night checking on things, but only got up a few times and all was well.
Thursday morning we saw a boat that we "thought" was leaving the mooring field and hoped a spot opened up. Took a walk then a stop at the liquor store across the street and sure enough my phone went off and Vicki from the marina said we had ONE mooring open up and it's yours, YAY! So rushed back to the boat to move her over to F3, which turned out to be a super great spot as it is right near the dinghy dock. We figured we would end up on one of the moorings across from where we were anchored, knowing our luck, so this was really great. We anchor out 99.9% of the time, but Marathon is not a place where you want to have to anchor on the inside. Boats are just on top of each other and that's not any fun, esp. during a blow when people tend to drag. Lots of unattended boats too, if they drag there's no one there to stop them (boat was dragging this morning) and I can bet most of them do not have insurance. The outside anchorage is nice in good conditions, but I heard someone say there were 4'-6' waves rolling through there yesterday, not good at all. Plus, just to land your dinghy at the dinghy dock is the same price as a mooring, so there's no way on earth it's worth it to anchor, kinda of a no brainer on that one.
Thursday night winds were still up and howling, but we are sitting pretty in the mooring field now. We paid for a week, which was cheaper than by day, so we think we'll be here until next Thursday and then maybe head to Key West or another spot.
Friday morning we got our free pump out and I was able to get the Capt'n to run the generator so I can type this and charge all my stuff. I have a great HP laptop, but it doesn't hold a charge for more than an hour or so. It'll be lazy days for a bit, he ran in to get some water for our little jugs and fill up our sun shower then thinking of using the marina bikes if they are available. Classic rock band playing at the Overseas outside bar/restaurant right across A1A at 6 tonight, Capt'n wants to do that. Plus, we promised to get together with Carousel; maybe we can do that tomorrow.
So that's it for now - nothing exciting and probably won't post again for a while since it'll be the same old same old stuff every day.
Oh, next time the generator runs I'll try to get another set of pictures posted from the Bahamas.