Change of plans...still in Marathon

2-21-2013

Well… you know what they say about the best laid plans….  We were very undecided about when to leave and where to go and how to get Lauren to wherever we were. So….. We spent hours and hours and days looking at the weather and looking at the airlines for flights to Bimini, Nassau, Miami, and Key West and finally on Thursday we made a decision. So this should be a short blog and then we’ll start again in Bahamas

We are staying in Marathon until after Lauren’s spring break and then going to the Bahamas. We are all disappointed since we wanted to spend time with her in the Bahamas. All experienced boaters will tell you to never make definite plans that say I will be such a place at such a time. You are asking for trouble. If we had been able to get to a place in the Bahamas and then have time to make plans to get her there we would have done it, but trying to make plans to meet her in Bahamas when we are still here was too iffy.

We will rent a car, pick her up in Key West, spent some time there and then enjoy our time with her in Marathon. We’ll have a car so we can do some things and have fun.

Well, we are sad, because Margaret, Ken, Auggie, and Biscuit have left for Bahamas. We wish them well and plan to meet them after spring break. Ken went on the VHF and told Escape, Sea Salt, Ship o Fools and Slow Cooker goodbye this morning. They will be missed.

Rocking B heading to fuel dock.




Getting the last "cheap" fuel for a while. They filled up the big boat with diesel, the dinghy with gas, and then the water tanks. They are ready to head out.



Smiling faces.

Bye!

We talked to Rocking B on the SSB last night and things were going great. They were about 55 miles from Marathon. They were in the Gulf Stream and the waves were 1-2 feet. Great time for a trawler.

Lots of other boats are leaving 2-24-2013 and if we were going, that’s when we would go. So we will wave bye and wish them a safe trip. Blue Heavens, Gordon and Jeannie and Coup d’ Amour, Matthew and Julie will leave then. They are all headed to Panama and who knows where and we hope they will have a great time as they explore. 

Beautiful!

Well, today was the day to leave. Chris Parker, the Bahamas “weather guru” sent out an email saying that this was the best time to head to the Bahamas in a long time and it maybe a long time until there is another one this good. Well, we made our decision and that’s that. Blue Heavens and Coup d’ Amour left this morning for the Bahamas and parts unknown.

Coup is off the mooring! This boat stopped at Marathon for a few days before heading to Key West. That was almost 2 years ago! They are finally leaving, but for Bahamas.



Bye Coup, hope to see you soon.

Blue Heavens drops their mooring ball!

See you later!

Oh… Bubba was one the VHF this morning with some exciting harbor news, Julie from Coup won the 3^rd Annual Chile Cook-off in Islamorada last weekend. For those of you that don’t know, Bubba is Shay’s other voice on the Cruiser’s Net in Boot Key Harbor. Last year he went on talking about “snagging a baby manatee and wanting a good B-B-Q sauce recipe, since he’d heard that they were so tender and made great B-B-Q. Well, as you can imagine the harbor was upset…

We saw a boat in the harbor that we actually thought about buying. Sea Hunt. We looked at it and it was in our top 3 but it was 30 years old then and we decided if we bought it and kept it 10 years it would be hard to sell. We really liked the boat. A Canadian family have the boat, Andre, Lisa, Luke, and Pierre DuBois. We told them we almost bought the boat so of course they wanted to talk to us. Shay helped them with some lighting problems. We had a delicious dinner on their boat one night and gave them some anchorage information for the east coast. The had plans to meet family up the east coast of Florida so had to leave. We hope we meet them again.

Sea Hunt leaving Marathon.

We had a boat moor next to us one afternoon and we both realized we'd seen it before. It was Tide Hiker and we had met them at Cape Lookout when we were anchored there with Daddy. We enjoyed spending time with them again.


Tide Hiker leaving.

We picked up Lauren at the Key West airport on March 1st and had a great time with her. We had not seen her since Christmas and we glad to be back together.  
We stopped by No Name Pub and ate on the way back to Marathon. Of course, Lauren had to add a dollar bill to the collection.

She left her mark on the dollar.

The rest of her mark.

Let's put it right here!

Yes, Lauren was here!

Shay and Elizabeth pose.

See there it is!

We saw some of the little deer and Lauren had to get out and pet them.

Lauren and her new friends.

She  has them eating out of her hand!

Our friends Ted and Sally on Amici have a paddleboard and Lauren tried it out and loved it. She was hesitant at first, but after a few minutes she took off up and down the channel. She rode it several days and now wants one. She said it would be a great Birthday present. Yes we celebrated her birthday while she was here. We went out to eat with Richard and Connie from Sea Salt. Lauren had fish tacos and loved them. We all had Key Lime pie back at Escape. Connie knitted Lauren a cowl for her birthday and she loved it.

Lauren on the paddleboard for the first time.

Slow and steady does it.

After only a little time on the board, she looks a lot more confident.

She and I went shopping and she found a long dress and a “teacher top”.

We had a DeFever get-to-gether at Sombero Resort. We had a great time with old friends and new ones.  

We had a DeFever get-to-gether at Sombero Resort. We had a great time with old friends and new ones.

When we took Lauren back to catch her plane, we did some “touristy stuff”. Lauren and I visited Hemingway’s house and enjoyed it. Then we walked around town for a while. We had a late lunch at Caroline’s and of course had Key Lime Pie.


That's a strange tree.

Looks like she's found another new friend!

Of course, I started missing her before she left. She barely had room for all her stuff with her new clothes and the snacks I had bought for her. But she made it. Bye, we miss you!

We started looking for a weather window to do the CROSSING. We have met more boater friends. Emma and David on Five Flip Flops and Pat and Addison on Three Penny Opera. Whenever we get together with them and Richard and Connie, all we talk about is weather and when we can go.

Well, it is finally going to happen. We plan on leaving with Five Flip Flops on Sunday 17^th. We are leaving around 8 am. So fill up with water, go to the store and cram some more stuff on the boat, clean the boat inside and outside, store the bikes, and get ready. Shay cleaned the bottom of the boat and he was covered with "little-tiny-shrimpies".

Look at the globs of shrimpies.

I got a call Saturday morning from Chelle and Daddy had had a mild stroke. Of course, I was very upset, but he is doing great. Only stayed overnight and Chelle and Billy are taking good care of him. We talked about staying here but since things sounds so good, we will go. He will be in our thoughts and prayers.

 

We called people and told them bye and sent out emails to tell people of our plans. We're getting out of here finally!