Marathon , winter 2011-2012

Winter is coming to an end and we are thinking of spring already.  We have been in Marathon, FL since Dec. 16^th.  Marathon had a very warm winter and it certainly has spoiled us.  There were only two days in winter of 2011-12 that we had to wear slacks.  The last two weeks or so it has been in the 80’s and we have been enjoying it.  The ability to go swimming in the 85 degree heated swimming pool at the marina certainly made the winter even better. 

View from back of boat when docked

  Bill and I are watching the weather forecast closely so we can cruise to the Bahamas in low winds and short waves.  We’ve been waiting two weeks already, and unfortunately it seems like we’ll be waiting another week or more, but there is always something to do to pass the time constructively.  Once we arrive in the Bahamas, we’ll be cruising and exploring the many Keys or Cays, as they are called in the Bahamas, for about two months.  We’ll leave just enough time to get north of our boat insurance’s required 32 degrees latitude north by June 15th, which will put us in Demopolis, AL.  Boat insurers don’t want boats left in hurricane “dangerous zones” for the summer unless the boaters pay a premium price and we definitely don’t want to be in the path of hurricanes, so “following the rules” is fine with us.

One of our first priorities after arriving in Marathon was to fill the earth box where our tomato and basil plants grow.  We were able to get some healthy looking plants at Home Depot and on Dec. 18^th our garden was started.  It has been producing tomatoes like crazy.

 

On March 10, 2012 I picked thirteen large better boy tomatoes to share with friends on other boats. We had already had about two weeks of fresh tasty tomatoes for our salads and sandwiches.  There is nothing like boat-grown tomatoes!  The plants are now looking a bit bedraggled from all the wind, but I am confident that they will revive as soon as the winds die down.  Humm, it seems that Bill is not so optimistic.

Our dock at the marina had a nice view and an easy entrance channel for dinghy explorations.  Several times we used our dinghy to visit boaters at other marinas, to eat lunch at Burdines Restaurant on the waterfront, to walk the beach on the ocean side of the island, or to explore the nearby creeks and harbors.

Bill and daughter Beth returning from harbor tour

Marathon is a boater-friendly community.  There are many attractions and shops within biking distance.  Most of the boaters have bicycles and think nothing of going five miles one way at least several times a week.  There are many reasonably priced restaurants, two large grocery stores, two churches, a West Marine boaters supply store, Home Depot, several exercise places, and a movie theater within three miles of the marina.  My favorite walk is on the old seven mile bridge to Pigeon Key where the railroad builders lived while they were building the rail from Miami to Key West. 

View of old railroad bridge

There are several of the old buildings left from that era. 

This time of year sea turtles, nurse sharks, rays, tarpon, and dolphins are frequently seen when walking the bridge to Pigeon Key.

There is a turtle hospital in Marathon.  It has an operating room and several tanks where sick or dying sea turtles are taken.  Local doctors and vets assist in the operating room.  Two ambulances park in the front parking lot and they are frequently called by fishermen or tourists who have found an injured sea turtle in the Keys.  When we visited the turtle hospital the guide told us about one sea turtle that had recently been discovered by a charter fishing boat captain.  The turtle was having trouble breathing and the doctor discovered that it had swallowed a puffer fish, a kind of fish that blows itself up.  The puffer fish had died in the turtle’s mouth while inflated and had to be deflated and then extracted.

This turtle was relatively lucky and was released into nature within a few weeks.  One common problem of the “patients” is that a turtle can easily be hit by a boat and the propeller injures its back.  When this happens a “bubble” or raised area may develop on the shell.  In many of these cases a weight is attached to the shell and is kept there until the shell returns to a more normal shape.

The silver metal on the turtle's back is a weight

“Bubble Butt” is a permanent resident because his shell will not go down.  You can see his shape in the picture below.

Notice the hump near his backside

Another common ailment is that turtles can develop growths on their exterior or their interior body parts.  Usually the exterior ones can be removed and the turtles recuperate and are released.  The turtles with interior growths or tumors are not easily cured.

  I don’t want you to think that we are only fascinated by sea turtles.Dolphins are another interesting sea animal.  We have found that they enjoy singing and other noises.  Frequently when we see them swimming near us in the water we’ll tap the front of the boat and they will get in front of us and ride the bow wave.  To make them stay longer, I’ll usually sing to them.  If you’ve heard me sing you have probably guessed what might happen next – no, they actually stay close by and swim and jump in the bow wave.  Once they kept it up for at least fifteen minutes until I quit.  There are several dolphin training centers nearby.  We visited one of them at Hawks Key Resort where the dolphins have been taught to spit out water as they swim in the lagoon.  It was interesting to see them playfully spit out water as they swam and performed for the people.

Iguanas are common in the keys.  Last year in the marina one was hanging on to a wooden piling that two boats were tied to.  It stayed there for over a week.  Luckily he hadn’t seen our tomatoes because they love to eat them! 

This year we saw several by the turtle hospital and several sticking their head out of the bushes as we passed when exploring the creeks and rivers by dinghy.  In a way they are pretty, but they are not our favorite reptiles.

Manatees are endangered and in most Florida waters there are signs requesting boaters to keep their speeds down and to avoid hitting the manatee and not to feed or water them.  The marina has several resident manatee families. 

Manatee adult with scar on back

It is common to see them floating at the surface of the water, sometimes one and other times a family of three or four.  They are too “people friendly” and like to beg for fresh water.  We do not knowingly give them water, but it is hard to shoo them away when we are washing the boat.  This one seems to be laughing or smiling at us; he has quite a mouth.

National Pig Day is celebrated at the Stuffed Pig restaurant in Marathon.  There are three pig races several times each day over one weekend in late February.  There are three race classes, local feral pigs, domesticated racing pigs, and the pot belly pigs.  When we were there the first class was intent on getting to the finish line, but not full speed ahead.

The second class wasted no time in getting to the finish line.

The pot bellies knew that at the finish line they would get feed, so they moseyed there with food as the main focus.  Each was given a name, politically oriented.  Palin was in the front all the way until just before the finish line where she plopped down waiting for her reward.  Obama actually won as he tripped over Palin and ended up crossing the finish line in a nose dive.

Everything was pig oriented including delicious pulled pork sandwiches, a costumed pig getting its picture taken with spectators, pig hats, and races between children who competed with two others and had to ride a big stuffed pig across the race track.

What a fun winter!  We made several trips to Key West and one to the Miami Boat Show.  The Miami Boat Show is probably the biggest boat show in the country.  We've gone there three years and have enjoyed each visit, never looking at the boats but only at the equipment.  We've met lots of people this year that we had become friends with in previous years and made many more new friends.  I never realized that cruising was such a social experience.

Bill spent some time designing and building solar panels for our boat to help produce electricity when we are at anchor.  We don't use the flying bridge when under power, so decided to put it above the flying bridge.  It is completely removable, so if we ever give up this boating life, it can easily be removed if the new owners want to use the flying bridge.

Solar panel above flying bridge

We probably won't have to run the generator now when we stay put at anchor or at a mooring ball.  This is something Bill's been hoping to do for several years, but now that the price has come down significantly, we decided it was time.

We have now moved the boat into the harbor and are hoping to leave this weekend. 

Boot Harbor in Marathon

The scenery and sunsets are quite nice from this location.

Summer 2011 and Trip to Marathon, Florida



Son-in-law Mike and grandson Finn

This posting starts in Bay Springs, MS where we spent most of the summer, well at least the boat did.  We took a two month car trip to our home in Rhode Island to visit our family and friends.




Bill's sister Betty and our granddaughter Stella and daughter Becky

 



Bill helping daughter Beth attach bike rack to car, Becky in back

We drove back to the boat by a rather circuitous route visiting friends, relatives, and high school classmates in Ontario, Michigan, Indiana, and Maryland. 

Mary, Jane, and Joan before 50th high school reunion

We returned to Mississippi in time to get our boat ready to go to the fall “Great Loop Rendezvous” in Rogersville, Alabama.  The Tennessee River offered many interesting sights – Indian camping tents,

beautiful anchorages with fishermen,

and sunbathing turtles on top of the rocks.  There were twenty-four turtles in this lineup when I first spotted it, some crawled back into the water before this picture was taken.

We finally made it to the rendezvous where we joined about two hundred other crazy “Loopers”, making a boat trip similar to the one we had completed in 2010, circumnavigating the eastern states and Canada. 

After five days of seminars, boating talk, exploring the local stores for retail therapy, (or shopping as it is more commonly known), and music fests; we started south.  Trying to be kind to the lock master, it was decided to travel in small groups so that all the boats wouldn’t approach the lock at the same time.

 Bill was in charge of the early departures and he directed the first eight boats to leave the dock and then “to get into formation” before entering the lock.  The eight boats lined up in two lines in order of their entrance into the lock and the lines indicated which side they were to go to, port (left) or starboard (right). 

It may not seem necessary, but without this organization, things get complicated and locking takes considerably longer.  The lock master thanked everyone for the efficiency and orderliness of this maneuver.

Fall colors and morning mist made morning cruising picturesque.  We stopped at Bay Springs Marina to say good-bye to our friends at the dock where Harbour Reach spent the summer.  The people at our dock are great party lovers, not even skipping a beat for wintery weather.  Our last night there we all celebrated the passing of summer with another potluck dinner, but this time it was inside a big heated tent on the dock.  Food, heaters, and football games on television were all part of the fun.  We’ve discovered that football is a major part of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee life.

In late fall the Tenn Tom Waterway is a major route for boaters heading south.  At 84 feet the Whitten lock is the highest lock on the waterway and it is somewhat intimidating for first-time users.  We’ve been through it many times already, so we just take it in stride.

  One of our favorite places to anchor or dock on the Tenn Tom is Blue Springs.  The nearby area is a park and has good hiking trails.

 

The Mississippi River and the Tenn Tom Waterway are waters that local people dream about travelling.  Each time we’ve been on them, we have seen homemade boats which towboat captains refer to as Wal-Mart’s Yacht Club or the West Virginia Navy.  They are usually made by creative people who want to be a part of the boating world.  This one, nicknamed, The Shack (no relation to the book by the same name), had a young couple and a few chickens as passengers who started their journey in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.


Notice the engine on the stern beside the lady and the canoe dinghy

The bow of the boat, complete with a chair

This next one is a slick, one passenger sailboat that entered the waterway at Tuscaloosa, AL.  We heard that both boats were seen past Mobile, AL, which means they traveled for several hundred miles.  Who knows where they were cruising to?

Oysters are a favorite food for many people.  Commercial oyster boats are common in the northern Florida Gulf region near Apalachicola and Carrabelle.  A little farther east of these towns, people oyster mainly for their own use.  This is in Apalachicola Bay about 2:30 in the afternoon. It looks like they are quite successful.

Seeing birds will always be high on my list of things to do.  When I was at the helm, I asked Bill to take a picture of the eagle in the tree.  By the time he got the camera opened and ready to use, the eagle was in flight.  I think his pictures are better than what I originally saw.



Bald eagle just leaving a branch

And soaring away

After he returned to the helm, I saw many of those amazing white pelicans that were prevalent along the waters of the upper Mississippi River.  They are still one of my favorite birds!

The bayous of the panhandle provide many interesting sights.  This next picture is sunrise on the day we started across the Gulf. 

The weather was perfect, so after starting at 6 am, we continued cruising across the Gulf overnight and then docked the boat at Caladesi Island State Park at noon the next day.  Caladesi is one of our favorite stops on the west coast of Florida.  That is where we spent six weeks doing volunteer work a few years ago.  The sightseeing kiosk that Bill helped build the decking for is still well used.

Our plans were to stay for only one day so we could get to friends' house for Thanksgiving dinner two days later, but one of the rangers convinced us we should stay and take some “macro pictures” for her Sunday talk.  We love the park, so changed our plans about leaving early.  Instead we walked five miles to a grocery store in Clearwater Beach and then back to the Park carrying a thirteen pound turkey, a gallon of milk, vegetables, bread, etc. for Thanksgiving dinner.  We had a great Thanksgiving potluck celebration with two other couples whom we had met before.  A green heron stayed on the dock and kept us all company for the week.

After a week at Caladesi, we headed south to visit other friends in St. Petersburg, Venice, and Palm Island.  It is fun to have good friends spread around the country.


Jeff happily steering

And Jodi enjoying the scenery from the back deck

We decided to visit Everglades City.  It is an old fashioned small town with lots of interesting houses along the water. 

 Many of the palm trees were extremely tall and added a different dimension to the city.

We stayed at the dock of the historic Rod and Gun Club.  There are many air boats in the area for travelling on the shallow waters.

One of the more eerie stops we enjoy doing when we cruise south along the western coast of Florida, is to anchor at Little Shark River for a few nights.  There rarely are many boats anchored on the river and the scenery is somewhat “spooky” at night.  During the day we see lots of water birds and dolphins.  It is a restful place to spend a few days.



Little Shark River shortly after sunrise

We arrived in Marathon, FL a week before Christmas and were excited about decorating the boat for the holidays.  One of our favorite Christmas decorations for the boat is the duck on the front.  He was carved by the original owner’s aunt and is a distinguishing feature that no other boat has.

Our stay in Marathon was warm and enjoyable.  We'll post the highlights of these wintery months later this week.

Marathon, Florida is known for its sunsets