Friday, February 28, 2014

Marathon - We go today after all

Marathon - no room at the inn!
We had intended leaving on Saturday  but when we awoke this morning in a light rain and looked at the radar, it looked like the storms were past once the present one played out. They seemed to congregate over the Gulf Stream south of the keys and left Hawk Channel (our path to Marathon) was free of rain or storms.

So I busied myself with disconnecting from land after a month which required about 1/2 hour to complete, strange how many ties you make if you stay in one spot very long. We carefully counted how many lines we had tied to shore and pilings, we've done that trick before where we've back out only to be suddenly stopped short by a forgotten line! This time we remembered them all (Ann and I both counted) and Ann backed Fleetwing out as I managed freeing the last of the lines.

A Marathon sunset
The weather, for once, was just as predicted. We had a north wind, off land, and very little wave action as we headed east. The rain stayed south of us over the Gulf Stream and we had a pleasant ride. Getting into Marathon, we refueled and took on ice so now we're set for at least a week. However, the Marathon mooring field is full! We are number 10 on the waiting list, ugh! So we circled for about 1/2 hour looking over the anchorage area to wedge us into a spot just big enough for us so we are secure for the night. Hopefully we'll get a mooring over the weekend but if not, we'll just head north to Marine Stadium near Miami at no charge. Well, we've started our homeward leg but we're in no hurry!

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