A Month Gone By...

It's been a month (March 6 to April 6) since our last blog entry.  Clearly, back in March we began to enjoy Marathon again.  We'll have to dig out the Logbook to remember what we've been up to all this time.

Let's see:

1. Weeks spent with s/v Messenger crew (Port Dover, Ontario): 1 - It was the great!

Key West Visit

2. Weeks alone on board since Messenger took Tess to Ft. Lauderdale to fly to NYC for a week with Alison (including a weekend with Katie): 1 - Great for them.  Lonely for me; though our friends here in Marathon filled in the gaps.

3. Beach days at Sombrero Beach: At least 6. Nice beach.

4. Happy hours and spectacular sunsets celebrated: 30 - Would you expect less?

Sunday Night at Dockside.

Home of the Eric Stone Band.

5. Oil changes on Endurance: 1 for the diesel; 2 (at least) on the Honda Generator.  I did get that Quik Drain oil pump working (hurrah!). The secret's in the turkey baster.

6. Earthquakes experienced: 1 - Almost knocked us out of bed at the condo.  Off the coast of Cuba at 6 point something.  Funny no one at anchor felt it!

7. 38th Annual Marathon Seafood Festival: 3 days.  Great food. Lots of fun. Tess and I volunteered (would you expect less) and worked the Fish & Lobster Tent on Saturday night. Great, great time. Free t-Shirt.

8. Turtle Hospital Tour: 1 - With Messenger. Two turtle ambulances. And a partridge in a pear tree!

9. Gallons of water jerry-canned to Endurance: 277. Ouch! That stuff gets heavy.

10. Aleve taken as a result: At least 20.

11. Bike rides to the end of the Old Seven Mile Bridge or the bridge to Key Colony: 5

12. Bike rides to the FedEx Office at the Airport: 3 - Still working here!

13. Drives to Ft. Lauderdale Airport: 1 - Picking up Tess after NYC.

14. Drives to Miami Airport: 2 - Picking up and dropping off Charlie for his weekend visit.  Miss you Tabby!

15. Rum Poisoning by Nelson Gainey: 2 - Both Charlie and I were victims.  Separate occasions. The Law will catch up some day.  Or we'll need to get smarter.

16. Days scraping barnacles off the bottom of Endurance: 2 - Lots and lots of them. A nutrient rich harbor?

17. Days scraping barnacles off the dinghy: 1 - Really nasty.  Could have had linguine with clam sauce for hundreds with all that growth!

18. Joker Valves replaced on the aft head: 2 - Thank you Nelson. And the engineering staff at Raritan. Wait...aren't they the folks who made those leaky things?

No Joke Joker Valve

19. Amber Leigh Concerts: 1 - It was great. Google her. Rock and Country fiddling at its best.

20. Marathon Community Theater Presentations of "9 to 5, The Musical": 1 - Amber Leigh was great!

21. Key Lime Pies: At least 7. Thanks to Ondra for the better half of those!

22. Chocolate Cream Pies: 1 - But oh so special. At Pumpkin Key aboard Last Boat. Farewell our friends!

23. Snorkeling at Sombrero Reef: 1 - Thank you Seeker and Troika!

Even the Iguanas swim in Marathon.

24. Day Sails out of Boot Key Harbor: 3 - With Seeker, and with Messenger and then Charlie on Endurance! Great to get out and let her go!

We be Sailing!!

25. St. Joseph's Day Dinners on Endurance: 1 - With Dean and Sue from Autumn Borne (as Buffalonians they should expect no less) and Kathy from Seeker (with Earl in the most un-Sicilian of places - Arkansas - Yikes!). No Pasta Con Sarde, but fresh Seafood Pasta from Marathon.

Viva San Guiseppe!

26. The Cat Man at Mallory Square in Key West: 1 - This time in our Fifties with Messenger. Not as good as in our Forties.  Our in our Twenties.  But he must know something after forty years there.  His new cats, though - know little.

The Cat Man's Ring of Fire

27. Days with Charlie visiting from New Orleans: 3 - Including two Cuban dinners in Miami's Little Havana. Miss you Tabby.

28. Cruiser's Seminars: 3 - Refrigeration, Diesel Maintenance and Fiberglass 101. Marathon Boat Yard had donuts!  How many? Even one is a treat!

29. Seven Seas Cruising Association Events: 2 - Five Dollar Lunch at Hurricanes and great Pot Luck at the Tiki Hut. We might even join some day.

30. Great Times with our friends from Autumn Borne, Last Boat, Rhiannon, Seeker and Troika: Virtually every day! Great fun.  Thanks to you all.  Hope to meet up again soon.

And, now?

We left Marathon in the company of Last Boat on Friday, April 4 for a rousing 70 mile sail to Pumpkin Key off Key Largo.  A final farewell dinner with Nelson and Ondra before they headed up Biscayne Bay on Saturday to meet Seeker and Troika for an overnight offshore passage to Ft. Pierce and on to Vero Beach. 

Last Boat sailing toward home.

We spent Saturday in the great Pumpkin Key East anchorage leaving Sunday for Miami Beach.

Pumpkin Key Sunset

What a great downwind sail up Biscayne Bay today! Then we neared the Rickenbacker Causeway. And the worst boat traffic we have ever seen! Never sail into Miami on a Sunday! Finally reached Sunset Lake.  

Nice to be moving again.