Goodbye, Marathon

. . . GOODBYE, BOOT KEY HARBOR

Our stay at the Marathon City Marina, Boot Key Harbor, is nearing the end. We are ready to leave for Jacksonville, put Carina in a marina for a couple of weeks, and drive home to Chattanooga to do taxes. First, we need a good weather window to head east up the Florida coast. It may be as early as Saturday or it may be as late as the following Saturday. 

We could go on and on about how great Marathon and the people we've met here are. Our blogs have pretty much covered all that.

The Conga Line Ladies from Church

One favorite memory we'll have to describe because we -- sadly -- didn't take a picture.  

Two families from our church, Carol and Sam and Mary and Bill, came to Marathon on their annual vacation, stopping in for sun downers on Carina one night, and to listen to the Saturday night music jam session at the Marathon marina tiki hut at a later time. As Gary, Saturday's Child, sang "Copa Cabana," an impromptu conga line was started by some cruisers. Who should jump into it but our church ladies! 

Here the conga line dancers are sedately sitting at the tiki hut table. From left, Mary, Judy (our sailing friend on Pioneer), Jane and Carol.

These folks are fun people. We were so glad to see them, catch up on what was going on at home and in church, and see them dancing in the conga line as it snaked around the tiki hut tables. We couldn't get pictures of the conga line because we were in it, too.

One last time at Salty's

Before leaving Marathon, we were able to see our neighbor, Steve, Endless Summer, play again at Salty's, a local restaurant/bar. Steve is the lead guitarist for Eric Stone and the Stoners, as well as the web master for Cruising Outpost, the new sailing magazine that replaced Latitudes & Attitudes.

Steve hits a few licks as Eric, on the left, sings. Steve's boat is named 

after one of Eric's songs.

Two great neighbors that we went to Salty's with are Yasmine and Roy, on Yasmine Ann. They now live and work aboard the 41-foot catamaran. While sailing recently, Roy called everyone on board to see the sea turtle that was chasing them. Upon closer look, it was 
a crab pot. He's has been kidded endlessly since then. 

Hog Races at the Stuffed Pig

We've tried to cover local highlights as we've discovered them. Last weekend's hog races were among the top. A nearby breakfast restaurant, the Stuffed Pig, sponsored National Hog Weekend in this area which featured all sorts of activities, including hog races.

The Rosaires earn a living putting on pig races at barbecue and breakfast restaurants. What a career niche! They travel in their 18-wheeler with about 20 or more pigs of all sizes.

The faster pigs raced first. Then came the big hunks -- the pot-bellied pigs. After being prodded out the starting gate, they warily came around the first turn. They did make it 
around the entire track, eventually. Notice that we didn't describe what they did 
as "run" around the track.

New Boat Cards Arrived

When we left Chattanooga, we had simple boat cards. A boat card is like a business card that boaters exchange. You meet so many people on so many boats from so many places that you forget who's who. Boat cards are a way of remembering and staying in touch. Ours lacked some basic information -- like our blog address!

Jessica from the yacht club designed a beautiful new layout -- one with complete information and photos -- Carina's on the front and ours on the back. (The evolution of the boat cards is on the right.) We picked up the new cards on Monday.

Preparing Carina to Sail, Once Again

Because we stopped in Marathon for two and a half months -- longer than it took us to sail here (!), leaving is just about like starting a new trip. We're checking out the operating gear and especially the systems that make Carina go. 

A concern is the intermittent chatter coming from the propeller shaft outside the boat. It's the same chatter that we first heard in mid-November on the way to Panama City. Then and now, it turned out to be a loose zinc on the shaft. (Zincs are metal pieces made of zinc put on to protect whatever they are attached to from destructive electrolysis.) 

Two weeks ago, we had the bottom cleaned and a new zinc installed. Several days later we went for a sail out to Sombrero Reef. We motored back, and shortly after, the chatter resumed!  We called our diver who inspected the shaft, finding nothing -- no zinc! He did find a small remnant of an old one that we are puzzled by (photo to the left). Surely it wouldn't be the remains of the new zinc put on just two weeks before! We now have another brand spanking new one and are assured it is on very tight. We'll check it again before leaving. 

Fuel and water tanks are topped off. The new dinghy davits are working out great. The challenge is where to put the folding bikes we've acquired since arriving here. We'll find a place for them aboard and will loosen our lines from the mooring ball when the weather tells us the time is right to go.

Are We Still Sailing South on Carina? Is it Still 2012?

When we came up with this blog name, we both wondered how we'd like this long-term cruising life and living in a small space. So we said we'd sail south to Marathon. Because this adventure started then, 2012 was added to the name.

We've found we like the sailing life, and although we'd like more space, we're happy with Carina's size. Now and then we trip over each other and sigh impatiently when we're waiting for the other to move out of the way, but that's fairly rare. We're much more likely to sigh at the other for hogging the computer. 

We've decided to sail on to do the Great Loop around the eastern United States. Yes, many parts of the Loop are north of Chattanooga, but the way we figure we'll still be south of the Arctic. We're still sailing south of somewhere on Carina.