Boot Key Harbor, Marathon

Yes you guessed it we are still here in Marathon. We have to keep reminding ourselves it's Winter here too. We stayed till Friday to get an order from West Marine and to go to the local community theater for a play. Friday was the only window until this coming Wednesday to go up the West coast of Florida, we missed it. The winds have clocked around to the North and Northeast 10 to 15 knots and building to 15 to 20 this afternoon with moderate to heavy rain. Motoring into the wind and waves isn't fun so we stayed put. At least we didn't have the tornado that hit in Orlando and surrounding area. It's is amazing what damage and destruction it caused.

The picture was taken at the Turtle Hospital here in Marathon. Larry and I visited the hospital Wednesday of this week. What an education we received! Last year we spotted a turtle on the surface of the water and we thought it was sunning itself. We now know that it must have been sick and we will call the Coast Guard when we see one again. It was sad to see the injured and sick turtles. Some have been hit by fast boats, some have tumors on them and some are starving because of over fished areas. The turtle in the picture was being weighted on it's back side near it's tail. Air gets trapped in their system and causes them to float and not be able to dive for food. The weight helps them to compensate for this. It was amazing what the staff does to help the turtles live a normal life again. Some are able to return to the wild while others remain in permanent residents at the hospital.

LCH We planned on being in Marathon for 2 or 3 nights. As it turns out we have been here for 2 weeks as of yesterday. I made use of the time here to update and fix things on the boat. I was uncomfortable with the ground tackle that came with the boat when I bought it (22lb Delta Fastset and 15' of 5/16 chain). Last year I replaced the 15' of chain with 50' of 5/16 G4 chain. I had earlier in this trip replaced the 50' of chain with 200' on the Delta and purchased a 33lb Horizon plow (Bruce knockoff) and placed it on the 50' chain. This week I bought a used 35lb CQR which replaced the Delta as our primary anchor. The Delta is now stored away as a backup which we may upgrade to a 35lb Delta. Summary......primary anchor 35lb CQR on 200' of 5/16 chain, secondary anchor 33lb plow on 50' of 5/16 chain with 150' of 1/2 rope rode and the Delta and Dansforth are in reserve. Future.......FX37 Fortress storm anchor, expensive but the anchor of choice by cruisers to hold in soft mud and loose sand in a blow of 35 knots or more. In Florida many cruisers get out of marinas before a hurricane hits and they hang on their Fortress and their CQR and they do survive so long no one drags into them. We are not ready to stay here during the hurricane season now but we may do so 3 or 4 years from now.

I also have switched to LED bulbs in our Davis Mega anchor light.

I went up the mast to replace the anchor light bulb. I was 55 ' over the water, I never like being up there. I am looking at switching to an LED there as well.

We added a 4th house Group 27 battery to get us to 360 amp hours.

Sent our JVC stereo out for repair, it died.

Tightened packing gland on the engine.

Lastly, I had our Mercury dinghy outboard fixed and in the process learned how to overhaul to carburetor myself.

Tomorrow we get a pumpout and then I do what I hope is my last job while hear. I will replaced the joker valve on the head. A lovely job, funny how Gail doesn't volunteer for that one!