Last Boat Journey to Marathon, FL

LAST BOAT and SUZYQ departed Cape Coral
on Wednesday, January 18th and motored (wind on our nose) down to
Ft. Myers Beach and took a mooring ball around 3:30pm. After we put our outboard motor on our
dinghy, we found that our motor had a fouled carbuter and had to take it to the
Salty Sams Marina for a repair. I was very
pleased that they were able to fix it within 24 hours. Not having a running dingy is a major problem
when you are cruising. This is when
having a buddy boat like SUZYQ really pays off.
Robert and Susan joined us for a grilled salmon/tuna dinner this first
night. Ft. Myers Beach is a neat place
to visit, the beach has white powered sand and there are shops, restaurants,
and bar/grills along this beach. Robert
and Susan introduced us to their friends from their home state MO (Joe and
Bunny). They are land cruising on their nice motor
home. The six of us went to the beach
every day for the four days we were there.
We also had dinner toghther two of these nights. We stayed there longer than we had planned,
but we had a very enjoyable time.

On Monday, January 23rd we
departed and arrived in Marco Island about 3:45 and anchored in Factury Bay
. This was a great trip, we were able to
actually sail with no engine for most of this trip. We also fished with nothing to show for these
efforts. Ondra polished the stainless
steel stantions as we sailed along. We
had a delicious steak dinner with Robert and Susan on SUZYQ that evening. The
weather has continued to be great (80 degrees).

On Tuesday, January 24th we
departed Marco Island and motor sailed down (light winds)to Indian Key,
anchoring about 2:30. We enjoyed seeing
the many dolphins swimming around our boats.
Robert and Susan joined us for a grilled fish dinner. Our plan was to travel up the river to
Everglade City on Wednesday, but the weather forcast caused us to change our
plan.

On Wednesday, January 25th we
departed Indian Key and motor sailed (winds on our nose) down to the Little
Shark River, anchoring about 5:00. We
joined Robert and Susan for Hamburgers that evening.

On Thursday, January 26th we
departed the Little Shark River at 6:30am due to the low tide and motor sailed
(high winds on our nose and rain showers) down the Gulf to Boot Key Harbor,
Marathon, FL. There were crab/lobster
pot markers everywhere so we had to be very vigilant all day long. SUZYQ hooked one on it’s prop, thank goodness
their motor was off at this time. Robert
had to jump into the water with his mask and free the line for the buoy. As we left Little Shark River, another
sailboat named ZEPHER traveled along with us.
The winds really began to build the closer we got to Marathon. When we passed under the Seven-Mile Bridge (the
last leg to enter Boot Key), the wind clocked up to 29 mph (rocking and
rolling). We arrived in Boot Key around
4:00 to find all 240 mooring balls were occupied and we would have to anchor and report to the marina to sign up
for the waiting list (we were number 13).
After anchoring, Robert and Susan joined us for a spagetti dinner.

On Friday, January 27th we had
a nice breakfast and listened to the morning radio NET for the harbor. Later we were visited by our friends (Dean
and Susan Perry of AUTUMN BORN) and discussed all the happenings since our last
visit last year. They had their yellow lab,
Sidney, with them. Sidney wanted to swim
and she swam around and around Deans dinghy while they visited. After lunch, we took our dinghy over to
Sombrero Beach for a little sunning. We
joined Den and Susan, Robery and Susan, John and Carrie for dinner at the
Dockside Bar/grill for a nice dinner.
They had a live band that was very good.
We are still waiting for a mooring ball…..

On Saturday, January 28th we
had a nice breakfast and listened to morning radio NET for the harbor. Nelson took the dinghy into the marina to drop off the garbage and pick up 10
gal of water. When you are anchored or
moored, you have to do these chores daily.
When he returned, he ran the gen-set to charge the battery and provide
power for the vaccum cleaner for Ondra to clean the boat. These chores still have to be done…. After lunch we dinghied over to the beach
with Robert and Susan (and dog Abby). Abby
is a nine month old boykin spainiel. She
was introduced to fetching a toy out in the water. We and other onlookers were all cheering for her
as she accomplished this. We are enjoying our time here thus far. Till waiting on a mooring ball………..

Return to Last Boat Jan.12, 2012

We departed Rocky Mount on Thursday, Jan. 5th headed for Morehead City, NC to say our goodbyes to Will, Stacey, and Jackson . We had a good overnight visit with them and headed the following day to Wilmington, NC to do the same to Justin, Lindsey, and Mya. It is difficult to leave them knowing it will be April before we see them again. We had a great visit with both our sons and their wonderful families. On Monday morning, we headed over to Hamlet to see our parents. They are doing great thus far and we pray and hope that they will continue to have good health while we are away. My Dad, has been short of breath and had to have fluid taken from his right lung after we left on Tuesday but is now doing much better. We left hamlet on Tuesday and drove to Jacksonville, FL where we visited Nelson's sister, Loretta and her husband, Mac. until Thursday, Jan. 12th. We drove on down to Cape Coral, FL, which is Nelson's brother, Ike and his wife, Babs house and where we left our boat docked during our holiday home visits. Nelson was like a little boy as he was so excited to see his boat again. We stayed at their house for several days and Nelson completed several projects while we were there. Ondra's job was to prevision the groceries that were needed for our continued trip south. On Sunday, Ike carried Nelson to Punta Gorda where he got on the sailboat, Suzy-Q, our friends, Robert and Susan Cole, who traveled from Wilmington, NC to Titusville, FL on our way south in November. He rode with them back to Ike's house and his neighbors let them tie upto their dock until we departed on Wednesday, January 18th for Ft Myers Beach. It only took us 3 hours to get here. We love it here and stayed much longer than we intended because of the wonderful 80 degree weather and their beautiful beaches. The sand on the beach is snow white and feels like baby powder. We have stayed on the beach for the last three days. Yes, we are getting a great tan. We are departing here tomorrow, Jan. 24 and are going south to the Keys. It will take us at least three days to get there, but as we say, we are retired and it does not matter when we get there. We might find another place we might want to visit. It is great to be back on the boat and on the gulf waters. Hope you are doing well and you are enjoying life as we are at this time.