Marathon March 2024

Total Miles Traveled 1974 since departing Green Turtle Bay, KY

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Well, we are still at Marathon Florida waiting for a weather window to cross the Atlantic Ocean to Bimini in the Bahamas.  We have been stuck in a windy weather pattern for several weeks and crossing the Gulf Stream in windy conditions is not something we want to experience again. When we came back from the Abaco’s in 2017 the last three hours were not fun.   If the wind opposes the Gulf Stream current, it can be very volatile.  We always follow the number one rule on a boat, never have a schedule.

Our boat is the small red triangle in the lower left corner and Bimini is the red marker about center of the picture.  Our plan is the cruise to Key Largo the first day, then 90 miles across to Bimini....weather permitting.

February, and into March, was a very interesting time here at our dock.  When leaving our anchorage at Marco Island in December, our friends on m/v Forever Young had a major engine malfunction.  They are a single engine boat and the cooling water pump failed, as did the temperature alarm to indicate the engine was overheating.  By the time they realized they had a problem, damage to the engine had already occurred.  Having a spare water pump, Steve was able to replace it, add coolant, and continue to our anchorage at Little Shark River.  The next morning, he topped off the coolant level and they traveled with us to Marathon.

Since we are in the Key’s, and they must cross the Gulf of Mexico to return home to Kentucky, the decision was made to replace the engine.  Steve ordered a replacement engine, we traveled from our dock to a boat yard and they set the new engine in the back of his boat.  We returned to his slip, we removed the old engine from the boat, removed all of the external parts, cleaned and painted them, installed them on the new engine, and installed the new engine in their boat.  Steve's friend he met on the loop from Georgia drove down to help with the planning and replacement.  We returned to the boat yard, and they removed the damaged engine so it could be shipped back to the rebuild facility.

 Rigging the new motor to set in the boat that is sitting in the water.

Lowering the new engine into the engine room.

Cruised to the boat yard powered by the new engine and lifted the old engine from the boat.

We had a great reunion with our friends we hadn’t seen since last summer in Mississippi, Charlie and Robin on m/v The Lower Place, Dennis and Dori on m/v Current Dream, and Steve and Jan on m/v Forever Young (hmm, for some reason Jan didn’t make the pic?)

Our last dinghy ride with the Young's, the bimini top we installed on our dingy makes a huge difference avoiding the sun.

After several test runs, m/v Forever Young departed Marathon and started their journey back to Kentucky. 

Moni and I have continued to play bocce ball on Tuesday and Thursday and attend the jam sessions at the Tiki Hut.  There is really good talent here at Boot Key Harbor.

We attended the 48^th annual Marathon Seafood Festival, the second largest Florida Keys event with over 15,000 attendees.  This two-day event featured fresh-caught local keys seafood, over 220 vendors, a boat show, and live entertainment.  The event annually raises $75,000 that goes back into the community in charitable donations and scholarships for local Middle Keys students. 

We took the Island Trolley Tour, a guided trolley tour of the 13 islands that comprises Marathon and its rich history from wreckers, farmers, fisherman, Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railway, and its WWII connection.  

 And of course, we had to visit our favorite place Burdines, for deep fried key lime pie.

We boarded the Key’s Transit bus to Key West to celebrate St Patty’s Day with our friends Mike and Jan on m/v Trust Me.  We had a great time visiting with our friends and enjoying the many sights the event brings every year to Key West.

We had a unique experience by observing the vapor trail of the SpaceX’s Starship after it successfully launched from Texas and entered Earth’s orbit.  SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.  Starship is the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tons.  We watched the launch on SpaceX’s website, then rushed outside to try to get a glimpse of it as the flight path was over the Key’s.  My picture doesn’t show much but we could see a trail all the way across the horizon……awesome!   We tried to see its first launch last year while we were moored in Texas but too many delays kept us from that experience.

 Flight path from Texas across the Key's

The vapor trail extended all the way across the horizon at Marathon

Well, hopefully we can get a calm weather pattern in April so we can make our crossing to the Bahamas.  If not, our plans are written in the sand at low tide, and we don’t have a schedule.