Home in Marathon

     We are back home in Marathon in the Florida Keys. My last posting hinted that we may not be headed this way but we did, and here we are.

     This trip south was unusual in a couple of aspects. One, we started later than usual from Annapolis and two, we came almost direct. We did not stop for a two week work break along the way and never stopped anywhere for more than two days.

     My medical issues, while serious, do not warrant treatment at this time so we were given clearance to head to Marathon again if we promised to fly home in January for a follow-up exam and bloodwork. The flight home will make it an expensive doctor visit which are expensive enough on their own.

     We left Annapolis with two days left on our mooring rental and you know how much I hate wasting money but the weather was changing and if we didn't leave right away we would be stuck there quite a bit longer. We went down to the Solomons and got stuck there for a couple of days because of the weather. But because we were 40-something miles further south we we better poised to move on when the weather improved. When we were anchoring an exhaust elbow on our starboard engine let go spraying water everywhere in the engine compartment and threatening to sink us. Fortunately when the engine was shut down the flooding stopped. We were able to buy a part at Zahnisers and since we were stuck due to weather I managed to install it with a bit of pain and a little blood. Okay, a lot of pain. From the Solomons area we went to Jackson Creek in Deltaville and from there out of the Chesapeake into Hampton Roads. The two passages were a little rough but not too bad.

     We spent a night alone (surprisingly) at the free dock at Portsmouth, VA. There is a sign outside the basin that says no overnight tie-ups and perhaps some people think it applies to the dock inside the basin. It doesn't. Does make it less crowded, however.
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     From Portsmouth it was a short day to Great Bridge and the free docks there. We had to pick up a Yanmar part I ordered as a back-up, get fuel and go out to dinner. Then we went down the Virginia Cut to Broad Creek, our staging area to cross Albemarle Sound. The Sound was pretty benign as was the Alligator river. We had some rain which only got bad as we were anchoring at Belhaven, NC. The Pungo, Pamlico and Neuse areas were tolerable if a little breezy. The Neuse was the worst, of course, but bad only in a couple of spots and for a short period of time. To give the Neuse a chance to settle down a bit, we stopped early at R E Mayo in Hobucken for dockage. Paid dockage. You might know that's pretty unusual until I tell you it was only 40 cents per foot for the night.We spent less than 18 dollars for dockage but more than $60 on seafood. The seafood went down real easy.

     After the Neuse we went to our usual spot in Cedar Creek off Adams Creek. Gelato caught up with us there and we had a visit with them aboard. Mile Hammock, our next spot, was crowded but we found room. After that is was Wrightsville Beach. We usually spend a couple of weeks here for Carol to go off to work but this year we only spent  couple of days. Enough time to get groceries and go to King Neptune for dinner. We also learned that the new owner of Perfectly Normal will not be able to recover it after it went ashore during Hurricane Florence. Since he bought the boat he made one poor decision after another. He damaged sails, parts of the engine, the anchor roller and more. He also let the insurance lapse. Dumb. He'd better make the payments he owes us or there will be issues.

     Because more bad weather was coming we ran from Wrightsville all the way to Sunrise, NC, near the SC border. It was $1.75 per foot but included free laundry and nice heads. Then we went to Cow House Creek which we've passed by the last few years followed by Minim Creek which we also have been skipping.

     We barely made it past the shallows by McClellanville and went down to Charleston. We went to a marina just past the Ben Sawyer bridge. This let us stage to go out into the ocean to do an overnight passage to Florida. This offshore venture was just a little short of awful but we kept telling ourselves to suffer through it because the reward was nice weather at St Augustine, FL.

     From St Augustine we went on the ICW to New Smyrna, Eau Gallie and Fort Pierce. No incidents except for the threat of rain and storms which mostly missed us except at night. We also had a dolphin play around in our side wave, looking at us and rolling over with some up-side-down swimming displays. Still not jaded by this.

     We only spent a few days at Fort Pierce with Mike and Carol. Time enough to visit, re-stock and have lunch together. We got to the Saturday market for breakfast and my favorite breads. Or is Great Harvest my favorite bakery? Can't remember.

     The weather again was threatening and someone decided we would not go outside in the ocean to Marathon. Instead inside to Palm Beach and Lake Sylvia in Ft Lauderdale. This is an awful passage only because of all the bridges we have to have opened for us. And the traffic. And the wakes. Fortunately the Orange Asshole was not in town so the bridge restrictions were not worsened. He was in Europe embarrassing the US.

     From Ft. Lauderdale we have no choice but to go outside in the ocean. It was a bit rough but not terrible. We also encountered the US Navy and some of their operations. We were forced to stay within one half mile from shore and still had a semi-close encounter with a submarine. When we got to Miami we decided we would push it and travel farther and longer than normal because of weather a couple of days ahead of us. We anchored off Key Largo just before dark after a 10 hour passage. The next day we had a long passage both inside and outside all the way to Marathon. Two long days instead of three normal days got us here ahead of the cold front and its associated wind and seas.

     So here we are, home in Marathon. Just starting to get settled in, seeing what's new, what's old, deciding what we'll be involved in and just enjoying the tropical weather. Hot, humid, thunderstorms, sunny and rainy. All in the same day.