Cruising the Hawk Channel What a difference a day makes - unlike September Song who got beat up yesterday in the Hawk, we left Marathon this morning and have had a wonderful steam with dolphins, flying fish and sea turtles as company.
Hard to believe but when we left Marathon this morning, we won't be back in the States for a couple years!!! Kind of a weird feeling if I do say so - but also very awesome! We are out living our dream!! Today we are "buddy boating" with Lucky Stars
Lucky Starsand will anchor up around Rodriguez Key where the plan is to meet up with September Song and Life's2Short for the trip on Tuesday across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas!! We are keeping our fingers crossed but we think we finally have a good weather window. Please Mother Nature, smile on us - we are ready to be in the Bahamas!!!!
We had a ton of fun in Marathon right up to the minute of departure - on Saturday we dinghied (yes in our dinghy with the new 20 hp motor!!!) over to September Song to meet their friends on Life's2Short who had come by land yacht from Islamorada. Joe of Sea Pearl who was docked next to September Song was there to help us tie up the dinghy and let us climb onto his swim platform making for a much more graceful entrance than otherwise would have been possible (thanks Joe!) We had heard so much about Brenda and Todd from Life's2Short (and had even read a bunch of their blog) so it was great to finally meet them - turns out they have more beer on their boat than even we do (they had a beer truck meet them at the dock and unload a pallet - now that's just good planning!)
The afternoon slipped away amid much laughter and some really great gumbo that Brenda had brought!!
Before we knew it, 6:00 pm had rolled around and it was time to dinghy back to Gypsies trying to beat the rain - piece of cake with our new big motor!! On the way home, we were treated to a spotted eagle ray jumping across the bow of the dinghy - too cool!
Sunday was a frantic day of work (again!) trying to get all our last minute boat projects done and all the last minute provisions on board and stowed. Doug was overheard several times mentioning he needed just one more run to Home Depot. After an afternoon with Life's2Short, John, Colleen and I decided we really needed just one more beer run (another 6 cases!) - will we ever find all the beer we've stowed on board (in closets, under beds, in the attic, etc??) Oh well, the boat is loaded to the gills with diesel, food, beverages (most of an alcoholic persuasion), spares and just plain stuff - I think we've added a couple inches to our draft but we are ready for the Bahamas!! We had a couple visitors of the bird variety during the day as if everyone wanted to say goodbye (or at least verify that we were really leaving!).
Woodpecker
HeronBut we couldn't leave Marathon without one last cocktail party and one last trip to Docksides to hear the Florida Straits Band! So we headed down the dock to Lucky Stars for a cocktail and some great company! Thanks for the rumballs Carol!!! Then it was one last trip to Docksides with Tommy Tunes and the gang playing the Sunday Jam!
We sat out at one of the back tables and had quite a cloud show - the sky darkened and the thunderheads towered over us but no rain fell - it was a good omen!!
Thanks to Rocketman, Tommy Tunes and Diego for making our stay in Marathon so musically fun - we'll catch you on the flip side - hope you're all still around and playing when we pass back through in a couple years!
Leaving Boot Key Harbor this morning was kind of surreal knowing that we won't be back for so long - sad because we grew to really love Marathon but yet also very exciting as we are headed for warmer climes, lower latitudes and more adventures! We'll keep you posted on our travels as often as we can, although where we are headed our internet connectivity won't be as good so don't worry about us if you haven't heard from us for a couple days. We're probably off in our newly powerful dinghy exploring some uninhabited caves or keys or wandering off to some god forsaken bar at the next beach over....but wherever we are, know that we'll have smiles on our faces and our feet in the sand - life is good!
Click here to see our location off Rodriguez Key.
Below is our planned route to Nassau, where we will check in. We will go about half way Tuesday and just drop anchor for the night on the Bahama Bank, completing the trip to Nassau on Wednesday.
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