Monday 6/1/2020 - Everglades City to Boot Key Harbor/Marathon anchorage

Not sure exactly why the boating life changes our schedules and makes us even earlier birds than we usually are but suspect it’s simply the anticipation of what adventure the new day will bring.  This morning had Erik awake at 3am and Renee not far behind at around 4am.   Both of our minds seem to be most productive in the wee hours of the day....of course that would be expected given that we are typically ready for bed by 9 or 10pm.

The better portion of the morning was spent removing the couch and “stuff” from the salon area of the boat to gain better access to the motors.   Since we were expecting a UPS shipment at some point today of our new raw water pumps Erik went ahead and removed the belts and water pump from the port side engine that had been leaking.  Meanwhile, Renee dug in deep to “gifted student training” that she needed to have completed by the end of the day; she did manage to complete all six modules and get it all submitted by early afternoon!   Also, while it was still relatively cool Erik walked down to the gas station a few blocks away with 2 five gallon cans to start getting 30+ gallons of fuel into the tanks that we wanted for our trip to the Keys.  This also served as his morning workout.  An 80 pound farmers carry for a quarter mile is NO JOKE!  Fortunately, on trips two and three back from the station we managed to get rides back from friendly folks who saw us carrying them.   Both guys who gave us rides (one on a golf cart and one in a truck) were Ohio peeps from the Toledo area.   Thank goodness there’s still people willing to help in our world 🌎.  

Renee sat up front of the Rod and Gun Club from about 9:30 to 11am finishing her training because the club was not open yet and we did NOT want to miss the UPS delivery that required a signature.   The tracking app only said that it would be delivered today but gave no time window aside from ‘before 9pm’.   We received the delivery at 1:45 pm.   Erik had the new pump on and engines running within about 30 minutes while Renee walked up to the grocery to purchase a couple extra gallons of drinking water.

City Hall in Everglades City

Cute little church also on the town square with nice chimes and music 

We decided to go ahead and depart Everglades City even though it was mid afternoon because today’s weather/wave forecast was as good as it was going to be for the next several days.   The manager of the club was kind enough, at Renee’s request, to refund us one night of our dockage fees that we had paid.  The plan was to head toward ‘Shark River’ anchorage which would have us going back out into the Gulf and down the coast about 44 miles along the southern part of the “Ten Thousand Islands” area of the Everglades.   This would put us about half way to The middle keys which would be our next planned jump.

It was nice to be running on two engines again which allowed us to cruise at a good pace of about 18-19 mph.   Exiting the everglades we cruised along enjoying seeing the dolphins 🐬 and relaxing on some pretty smooth waters.   At the pace we were on we would be to Shark River within about 2.5 hrs (well before sunset) which was a good thing since the Navionics reviews of the anchorages in the area stated the insects (specifically no-see-ums) were often brutal.   We wanted to get the hook set, dinner cooked and get the boat closed up before dusk.

About 1.5 hours and 25 miles into our cruise, just as we were loosing phone signal we looked again at tomorrow’s weather/wind/wave forecasts and made a real time decision to change course slightly and make the run all the way out to Marathon Key.  This would now be about an 85 mile trip with a decent portion being further offshore and out of site of land.   We were still moving along nicely but to our Southwest we could see a small thunderstorm cell brewing with lightning 🌩.

Kind of menacing looking skies appeared.   This was when we remembered we had neglected to make a 'float plan' or inform anyone of what our path and arrival time should be.  OOOps!   

The waves were building slightly which was giving us the occasional spritz of saltwater onto our faces up on the fly-bridge.   Erik went below for a few minutes while Renee took the helm.  Within a period of less than 5 minutes the wave size and action changed significantly and we were now crashing through the waves with every 4th or 5th wave dousing us in sticky seawater.   We must have done something to anger the sea gods!  We did manage to skirt/outrun the storms on the horizon but the next several hours we not exactly pleasant since we were soaking wet, getting sore butts and bodies, and had lips and eyes now crusted in salted.   We tried slowing down, speeding up and adjusting the trim tabs to see if we could find a “sweet spot” that would handle the action better...no luck.   So, we trudged forward mostly laughing and smiling but with the occasional &@$* or €#~# added in for good measure when we saw another bunch of water coming up our way.

this was the point of the day that we dawned life vests and made sure we had the PLB (personal locator beacon) handy

As we got closer to Marathon Key it did FINALLY settle down and the last 45 minutes of our cruise in was much more enjoyable particularly since the timing of our arrival corresponded perfectly with a beautiful sunset.

The sun preparing to set as we were pulling around the point of Boot Cay to the anchorage we were headed for 

We cruised around the lower point of the island and under a bridge and into an easily accessible anchorage location within a bay which was fairly crowded with other boats.   Dropped our anchor and was able to get it set well on the first attempt.

Our track fo the day

We were both starving by this time so we quickly grilled up some delicious burgers 🍔 and beans for dinner.  We took short boat showers to rinse off the stickiness and then after our evening coffee we were both exhausted which made for an early bedtime.

Sunset from our resting spot for the night
yep....that is the masts of a sunken boat behind us