Miami to Marathon

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Well, it took less than 24 hours for me and Ann to realize that we did not like Miami enough to stay there for the whole Winter. Thanks to the helpful/friendly/awesome folks at Oasis marinas, we were able to switch our reservation to the Perry Hotel & Marina in Key West the day before flying home for Thanksgiving. We will take two days to get there.

On Tuesday, 11/21, Ann and I flew home, and our kids all came home, and it was wonderful to see everyone! We spent Thanksgiving at Ann's brother's house where we were treated to a beautiful stuffed bird. (and don't worry - there was a whole vegan spread as well).

Mark and Laura have twins as well, so here we are after an amazing meal with all 5 kids and the proud parents. Not pictured is Elana's boyfriend Bruno, who took the picture.

We flew back to Miami yesterday and were off the dock at 6:20 a.m. this morning. Here we are, leaving Miami at the inlet before the sun was up. We had 2-3 foot following seas. Total pleasure.

We left the crazy city of Miami behind as we headed further South. We had 98 nautical miles to cover today, our longest travel day of the trip. We cut it a bit shorter by increasing our speed by 1 knot, which cut over an hour of travel time.

We headed towards Marathon for the night, and as we got closer, the color of the water grew spectacular.

We had an escort of dolphins for about 10 minutes!

Walking in Marathon, we saw the coolest mailbox ever. I want one!

Docking in Marathon was challenging to say the least. I'm glad that I encountered this situation after 24 days of traveling with Empty Nest and not on the first day. We had a very strong current pushing us towards the dock. I had to spin the boat in shallow water that was barely deep enough. The wind was gusty and unhelpful. It was a fixed pier which sat at an angle to the rest of the dock. Needless to say, it took all my concentration and ability and some luck, but we managed to tie up without incident, and I'm now about 3 years older. Ann, I'm sorry for anything I said while docking the boat.

Yes, it looks peaceful, but the picture belies the treachery of the conditions. 


Tomorrow, we have our last leg of the trip. Marathon to Key West should take about 5 hours, and then we'll set up shop until mid March.

Perhaps the most exciting thing happened yesterday, and it did not even involve boating. As we headed to the airport from Annapolis, a construction crew broke ground in our back yard on our new pickleball court, which should be ready for us in the Spring. Dink! Dink! Dink!



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