Marathon of Lazy Days
03 April 2019
Margi Floss
Capt'n with the marina bikes after shopping.
So that classic rock band on Friday was a guy with a guitar - he was actually extremely good and playing in Tampa area soon so we may try to see him there again.
Saturday morning Capt'n called cousin Ted as they had mentioned they would be down this way, heading to Key West for a vacation, but Capt'n (or me) couldn't remember the exact dates. Turns out they were in Key Largo and picked us up and we had a nice lunch with them their friends Bill and Kathy at the Sunset Grill. It would be nice to have been in Key West already and been able to see more of them, but we won't head to Key West until after this last front forecast for Wed as the Garrison Bight mooring field is not the place to be with high north east winds, very uncomfortable. Key West aka Key Weird to some, also charges you to land your dinghy anywhere so it doesn't make sense to anchor unless you plan on not going ashore.
Finally got together with Carousel for HH on Sunday and had a great time. We have lots of things in common with Robin being from Pittsburgh and Gabe spending time there also. Capt'n made his "Sammy Hagar" Margaritas which are really the best Margarita I've ever tasted.
So Monday was the dreaded laundry day, been putting it off, but definitely needs done. After how many months Capt'n finally didn't complain when I pushed him to get me in there early. The Eggs Benedict for breakfast before heading into the laundry might have helped. Robin had horrible luck the other day with the laundry and as usual I feared the worst. Luckily, most of the washers were free so put my clothes in, put the key card in (that I just put $18 on Sunday) and nothing... Well some of the people here are not the friendliest and if your laundry is sitting there without the washer (or dryer) going they'll take it out and toss it on the floor and from what I've heard not even in a nice pile, but scatter it all around, YIKES. So, I finally got a hold of the Capt'n to come back and babysit my washers until I got the office to fix the card. Other than that it was pretty painless and definitely pays to get in there early. Only problem was when Capt'n was supposed to come back and help me he said the motor quit and wouldn't restart on the dinghy. No problem, but ½ hour later I'm done and still no Capt'n, not good. Well turns out he had to row in, still couldn't get it started. Luckily, we are not far from the dinghy dock, but we've got to get the motor going as we will need it in Key West. So he's got the carburetor off and working on it, hopefully it'll run again. Seems like we've been jinxed ever since the Jumentos where we started having problems right after the other WS left. I think it's the outboard engine gremlins, once they knew they couldn't harass Capt'n Tim and his motor any more they hurried up and jumped ship and into our dinghy motor. I'm guessing it probably happened when Capt'n towed back Capt'n Tim and his dinghy for the last time before they left Water Cay. They're pretty smart like that.
Well Capt'n had the carburetor back in and still nothing. He was just about to give up on the motor when Gabe came over to help. Just what was needed another set of eyes and a non-frustrated head. Gabe could tell it was getting spark (which you can't see in the sunlight, you basically have to get shocked holding on to the plug), which made the Capt'n realize maybe he hadn't pumped it up enough. Sure enough it started after that, but we still think one of the jets was clogged, which made it quit to begin with. Capt'n had cleaned them out and put the carburetor back on, just got sidetracked thinking there was no spark. Just in time too as I was trying to convince him to let us rent a car and run home to get our spare motor, but Capt'n was afraid that once we saw all those conveniences of home (like my own laundry, big comfortable bed that doesn't roll at times) it might take us awhile to get back to the boat to bring her home. Like someone we met out cruising said - when you're on the boat you miss home then when you're at home you miss being out on the boat.
So it's Wednesday, April 3rd our last day/night in Marathon as we are heading for Key West tomorrow, but think we'll stop somewhere around Newfound Harbor Channel, most likely Summerland Key, along the way and break up the 40 mile trip into two days instead of one. Had a great time last night with Carousel, first a stop at Castaways for wings, beers and tunachos then a few boat drinks on WS. We have such a good time with them and really hate to leave, but it is time for WS to move on. Marathon normally gets on my nerves after a few days, but this time it's been pretty good. We've been using the marina bikes a lot so that's been fun too.