Marathon

We are in Boot Key Harbor. The "city" of Marathon in the Florida Keys.

We arrived Christmas Day after a part way inside passage from Tarpon Basin, Key Largo. We went through Channel Five back into the ocean where we had a nice sail to Boot Key Harbor. We picked up a city marina mooring and we'll stay here for about a month.

We've been to Key West by bus where, besides shopping, we met with friends who moor near us in Mystic. Another couple near us in Mystic are here on a mooring in our same harbor. Lisa volunteers in the local Turtle Hospital/Sanctuary and we visited there Wed. Very interesting.

Heather has been with us for a week but heads to Miami for a flight home to Brooklyn with Luca. Luca loved the boat but our cat, Cleo, does not love having another cat in her territory.

Weather has been cool and windy but is now warming up again. Of course getting down to 50 at night is not quite the same as a 10 degree blizzard at home ;>)

Oh, nothing has broken down for a week. That's news.

Fort Lauderdale

I tried several times to post a blog with my video of the Fort Pierce Holiday display. Trust me, it's great. But it won't upload. This blog is being writen on my phone so no photos either. I'll add some later when I edit this entry from our laptop.

Anyway... We are now in Fort Lauderdale. Sunday 19 December. Had some cold mornings in Fort Pierce the last two weeks (near freezing) but the days were never lower than 55. Usually mid-60s.

With Carol still off at work I left Fort Pierce with Mike Guay and his friend Ted aboard. We motored to Stuart by way of the ICW so I could get generator work completed. While there a leaking exhaust riser was discovered so we are short one engine. We went offshore from St Lucie (Stuart) to Lake Worth which is the Palm Beach area. Big mistake. Head wind a seas and only one operating engine make for a long semi-miserable day. Arrived safely and my crew went home and Carol came home to the boat to rejoin the cruise.

We had a nice, fast, if somewhat boisterous sail to Fort Lauderdale. Boat speeds nearly got to 11 kts at times.

We are anchored in Lake Sylvia, Fort Lauderdale which is just a basin among the canals and expensive homes in the area. Pretty and protected. Tomorrow we head to Miami (offshore again) or really to the Key Biscayne - Dinner Key area. We'll wait there for Heather and Luca to join us for the holidays.

The key thing, no pun intended... No, really, is the word Key in our destinations or stops. As in THE Keys. We have arrived! Or will tomorrow.

It's going to be cool, only in the mid-70s, for a few days but with blue skies and bluer water.

Although we plan to go a little way up the west coast of Fla in January the Keys were our real destination and we are just 20 or so miles away. Just a few hours unless the other engine quits.

Can't wait.