Marathon to Key West and back

We arrived in Marathon to a beautiful sunset, right after a quick rain shower that blew over as we were nearing the marina.
Cindy's Observations:  A fresh water shower to rinse the salt off  helps keep Bucket List looking good.  This was the cloud we passed through.  We did a 180 and docked at our finger dock port side, with two pilings on the starboard side.  We had to drop the dinghy the fetch the lines from the pilings to finish tying up. 

Drive through rinse

Posted at a slip

Marathon is situated on Vaca Key at mile mark 47 from Key West. About half way between Key West and Key Largo referred to as "The heart of the keys". Population 15,000.  The term Cayos de Vaccas in spanish   is cow keys. Referring to the abundant manatee or sea cow population.  Hurricane season is from June til November.  There is a mixture of live aboards, snow birds and transients, such as we are.  There are permanent residents that have had their slips for 10 years at Harbor Cay Club. WOW that's a lot of rockin and rollin.

Our boat facing toward north (bayside)

The view out my kitchen window at home will never compare to the view from the bow of the boat at Marathon.

brown adult pelican with yellow cap

Our forward piling was a busy place.  I always checked to see what feathered friend was perched during the day.  These sea birds will only be a memory when returning to the Midwest,  I enjoyed every one who came to visit our boat.  Pelicans bills can hold 3 gallons of water and fish.

Laughing gull

Hahaha hahaha is pretty much how they call.  They will snatch food from your hand and laugh about it.

Cormorant

Cormorants have little oil in their feathers and have to air dry before they can take flight.  They will submerge for fish.




Manatee behind our boat

I always carry my pocket camera to catch a shot.  I was happy to see my first manatee in its natural water. Manatees are very protected and signs are posted heavily reminding you not to harass, touch, feed or give fresh water.  Boaters are instructed to watch for and slow down when approaching manatee areas.

Burdines Grill

Gemini Dream recommended we eat here.  They were right on, good food.  This is the street entrance.

Burdines, Boot key side.  We took a dinghy ride around the back into Boot key one day.

Old seven mile bridge to Pigeon Key

This old bridge is the remains of  "The railroad that went to sea" built by Henry Flagler in 1908.   He was the pioneer who led to the connecting of all the keys by rail.  Pigeon Key was the rail camp for the workers.  It was this railroad that gave Marathon its name due to the "marathon" effort of the job ahead.  A few historic buildings remain on the 5 acre island.  It was a short 2 miles by bike to the dead end at pigeon key.  There have been sections removed for safety reasons. However, you can bike all the way to Key West on the new7 mile bridge (US highway 1) if you choose.  See the Tiki to right at the end of the pier?

We did not go onto Key, took pics from bridge

Tiki at end of pier bay side
Hammock in the coconut  palms and kayaks

Can you feel the tropical breeze?  Smell the salt air?

Sombrero Beach Marathon

Just a 5 mile bike ride from our boat.  I combed the beach doing the Sanibel stoop looking for shells.  During the summer  loggerhead turtles come ashore at night to lay their eggs on this beach.

Clouds rolling in

Larry holding down the tree

Coast Guard Station

These people are responsible for search and rescue around the keys.  It's a good thing.  Some boaters carry "wacky" packages which need to be confiscated.  A major concern in these waters are boaters in distress and or divers.

Iguanas roam the grounds and  all the keys

This is a small fellow.  They can grow to 3 ft in body length.  Become territorial and will challenge humans.

Great egret

In the early 1900's  plume hunters killed off 95 % of  these great egrets.  The National Audubon Society, newly formed, began protecting the birds 

They skewer fish with their sharp bills

Sabal palm
Floridas' state tree

Tropical tree

Tropical shrub with blooms

Marathon temperature were double of that back in Fairview Heights, IL. Looks like they were having a heat wave in January.

When you are in the one of the largest reef areas in the world, a dive/snorkel trip is eminent. While waiting for the rest of the dive patrons we noticed this sign.  Good thing we were legal wouldn't want to get the bends. Sombrero Reef Lighthouse is 4 miles off shore, Atlantic side, of Marathon.

Sombrero Reef Lighthouse

Sombrero reef  lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse on the keys at 142 ft built in 1858.  It marks the site of the reef.   Water temperature here is in the 70's.  We both wore our wet suits.

Larry suited up taking the plunge

Larry's dive was shallow, 20 ft.  I did the dead man float and snorkeled.  The seas were 2-4 ft so it was a little rough.

Superbowl Sunday dinner at Harbor Cay Club

The residents planed a dinner before the kick off.  Three types of chili with all the fixings and  corn bread.  Half time would be dessert time.  Ice cream sundaes again with all the fixings. 

The group

Lanny bottom left , enjoys planning group activities and is a slip holder member.

The rest of the group

When the score was 34 to 29  I was all set to take my winnings from the pool and run, but, a safety put me on the sidelines.

No name pub is on Big Pine Key west of Marathon

Dennis and Debbie from the harbor took us over for a great home made pizza here.  Story has it the pub was a brothel.  As those days ended a grill took over as the business and has prospered ever since.  Debbie and I both left our dollar on the wall.  

Stapled to the wall by the sign

It had only been 3 years since the "wall paper" has been growing.  The walls are just about  completely covered, some places 2-3 times over.  The waitress told me of a bar in Key West that closed  who donated $40,000 to charity off their walls.  That a lot of green backs.

Key deer

They are found on Big Pine Key and are cousins to the white tail dear.  Big difference is size.  These  are small  up to 3 feet.  Stopping the car to take a picture the doe came to see if we had treats.  Your not allowed  to feed them, we did not.  Then the little buck came right up to the window to smell the camera.  His little nubs are so cute.

Little buck

Chiki Tiki

The fronds used for the Chiki Tiki came from the Seminole Indian reservation in Homestead, FL.  It was stripped and re-roofed in 4 hours by 4 men. Hurricane Wilma had blown a few weak spots in the roof.  It was time to be replaced.

The fronds were laid in piles by size. Two men on the roof structure and two men to hand up fronds.  Each frond is nailed and trimmed with a mattock.

The Cone of Knowledge

Happy hour every day at 5 o'clock

The new roof will last for 8 years, hurricanes permitting.

The elders would meet everyday at 5:00 to solve the problems of the universe under the "Cone of Knowledge"  It was an empowering experience.  My head spun with delight.  Was it the conversation or the adult beverage?  Pictured L-R Jeff Jeff Lanny Larry Greg Dennis and Debbie.

Larry's Dinghy

Lanny from Harbor Cay had planned a very lovely Valentines Day excursion.  We went through  Boot Key mooring field to Sister Creek to West Sister Rock. The tiny island is in front of the bow light.

We had 4 couples participating in our valentines outing  Our hubbies did the driving.  The girls packed the lunches.  Lanny and Jim, Greg and Frances, Dennis and Debbie and us.

                                                   This is half of the the tiny island.

Portuguese  Man of War jellyfish on island

Large adult iguana left corner on Sister Creek residence on way back to  Harbor Cay

Lighthouse though palms with hammock by our harbor

Valentines Day at Harbor Cay Club

After our dinghy ride in the morning the men had planned a smoked pork loin dinner (Jeff and Greg) for their sweet hearts.   Appetizers and cocktails at 5:30 followed by dinner.  They cleared the tables and served desserts.  Jim (Lanny's hubby) made brownie sundaes and Larry made gooey butter cake.   Dishes were washed by the men to complete our day.  Every lady was given a dozen roses courtesy of Jim and Michelle the harbor coordinators.  Thanks everyone for a wonderful day.

My Valentine

Larry and I enjoyed our month long stay at Harbor Cay Club and will keep in touch with our new friends.

Marco Island to Marathon

Yep, all the way from Marco Island to Marathon in one day.  Over a hundred miles planned today!! 

In our planning, there were a couple of ways that people recommended to get from Ft Myers to Marathon.  The first suggestion was to go from Ft Myers to Everglades City for the night, then from Everglades City to an anchorage in Little Shark River for a second night, and then on to Marathon the next day.  Another suggestion was to go from Marco Island and spend the night on the hook at Little Shark River and then on to Marathon. 

Either one was do-able but each presented some problems.  Everglades city is about 7 miles inland through some of the "Ten Thousand Islands".  To get there, you needed to go out to deeper water 3 miles or more to clear the Cape Romano Shoals that are south of Marco Island, then back to the east.  That is a lot of distance to cover to not go very far south.  To get to Little Shark River, you are still going more East than South.  More wasted miles in my opinion.  When you get to the river, it is in the Everglades with numerous bugs, alligators and other unsavory creatures.  Plus, the tides in the river are very fast, and they will reverse during the middle of the night.  Something I didn't really look forward to while at anchor.

Also, and probably the most determining factor was the weather.  I use a web sight called "passage weather" and it showed a front coming in a couple of days with wind and 3-4 ft waves.  That only left us a good 24 hours to get there unless we wanted to wait out the storm and go who knows when later. We sure weren't going to tackle 3-4 ft waves again by choice.  We had enough of that on our overnight crossing to Tarpon Springs.

When I looked at the charts,  Marathon was SSE of Marco Island, just a little over 100 miles.  All  we needed to do was angle out a few miles to clear the Cape Romano Shoals,and head straight to a marker just north of Marathon that would guide us through the shallow water there.  We only needed to average 10 mph to make it in daylight with plenty of time to spare.  So this is the route that we preferred and the one that we took.  If we had wanted to go direct to Key West, it was almost exactly the same mileage!

We got up and left the marina right at sunrise or a little before and left the dock around 7:00.  I had the course plotted on the GPS, and we used the Radar as well, so it was an easy departure to get out to deeper water.  I deviated from the course a little by staying closer to the Romano Shoals that I had plotted.  I just watched the depth finder and the chart and when I started feeling uncomfortable I turned more out to deeper water.  I wanted to stay in around 10 ft or so which would give us 6 feet under the keel.

The weather could not have been more beautiful!  There were almost NO waves, and the ones we had were directly on the bow.  Perfect conditions for such a crossing.  I kept waiting for the weather to change but it remained calm the whole way.

Cindy's Observations:  Sunrise is not my normal starting time, but they do make a lovely way to start your day when they are as beautiful as this.  We had our chart marked and enjoyed a little mid morning snack.


Our route, and a snack

Perfect!!!

We ran at about 1275 RPM instead of the 1050 RPM that I (and the boat) like, and as such we burned more fuel than we would have going slower.  The boat ran smoothly at that speed though and we still averaged over 1 MPG at around 10.2 MPH.  Every time I checked the GPS, our arrival time moved up a few minutes.  That felt good!

Cindy's Observations:  Every time Larry said our ETA was earlier I silently rejoiced.  It was a very good thought to get docked before the sun would set.


Almost the whole route was lined with Crab and Lobster Pots.  Even 50 miles out there were thousands of the pots and the boats that were tending to them.  They probably wondered what we were doing out in the middle of their ocean.

 Cindy's Observations:  As usual we were on lobster trap watch. I'm always in search of color combinations I have not seen before.  One man hooks the line to pull up the trap, the other man opens it, empties it,  rebates and then back in she goes.  A swift process they have mastered.

Crab or Lobster boat.

Crab pots as far as you can see!!!

We arrived at our destination, the Harbor Cay Club, around 5:30 PM  It is a private marina that rents open slips out to transients.  It was recommended by Gemini Dream who had spent some time there.  I also found the name and phone number on the Active Captain websight.  I told them on the phone that we at least wanted to stay at least a couple of days to find our way around.  As it worked out, they had a terrific monthly rate and we decided to stay here and take day trips to the rest of the Keys from here.

Cindy's Observations:  Almost to our destination and the sky turned dark.  Oh no, not another traumatic dockage, I feared.  But alas, just a quick rinse off and the sun appeared to let us dock in peace.  I called ahead for instructions and we were met with helping hands to secure our lines.  Shortly after tying up, we took a moment to watch the sunset.

Seven Mile Bridge

Lighthouse to the east of our slip.

Sunset from Harbor Cay Club