Sunday, July 26, 2009

To Marathon

We are in Marathon in the Florida Keys. Arrived just in time, too. Tremendous thunder and lightning - including a couple of water spouts. We are going to google water spouts to see what they might do to a 22,000 pound boat.

Water spout
Water spout

The trip from Naples was interesting. If you draw a line from Naples from Marathon you can see it goes completely over Florida Bay - about 100 nautical miles (about 200KM.) Our boat does 5 knots, the wind was in our face - so we motored for 20+ hours. At 11 PM on Thursday night we stopped and put out the anchor in the middle of the bay.  In the middle of Florida Bay without a speck of land in sight, we slept under the stars until dawn.
Floridays
Florida Bay
Overnight on Florida Bay
Overnight on Florida Bay

It is only 30 feet deep at the deepest. Started up again on Friday and came under the 7 Mile Bridge at Marathon around noon. About a mile from the marina the engine temperature alarm went off so that's when Glen learned to shut off the raw water strainer seacock, remove the strainer and take out all the crap that was choking the engine.

7 Mile Bridge at Marathon
7 Mile Bridge at Marathon

We are here for a couple of days before heading north to Georgia. We are going to have a diesel mechanic show us how to change the raw water impeller pump, change the engine coolant and check out a few other things.

We noticed our friend Gary the Gecko during our Florida Bay crossing.  He doesn't seem to want to leave.

Gary the Gecko on the canvas
Gary the Gecko on the canvas

We were met by Captain Jim Stengel who is a VERY knowlegable IP owner... and a colourful character.  He was helpful as we looked to purchase our boat and is proving to be a valuable resource as we get repairs done.  He is our Marathon ambassador.  We will spend a few days getting some work done (supervised by Captain Jim) and then head to Largo, Miami and points north.

1 comment:

  1. Looks great, say Hi to Gary for me, I think we met his relatives in Cairns, Queensland on the roof of a restaurant while we were eating Crocodile stew. Your house is still there, someone seems to be looking after it very well for you. We have had extremely hot weather here the past week, it topped 42.8ºC in the shade on our back deck, about 107ºF but it is cooler today only about 90ºF. When is your projected return? as we want all the stories?
    See ya
    Stu

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