We Made It!

 In my last entry I wrote about our time in Sombrero Marina in Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida. The problem was that our time there was coming to an end. We had to be out of our slip on January 1. We had moved up the list for mooring balls at the Marathon City Marina, but we were still waiting. There are places to anchor in the harbor, but they are all full of other boats, many also waiting for a mooring ball. We really did not want to anchor there. 

While we were at Sombrero Marina I had been going for daily walks. Much to my surprise, there is a golf course just south. I was able to walk around the perimeter of the golf course and get in about 2 miles. I was planning to get in a round of golf, but the rain and bad weather did not make that possible. While I was on my walks, I noticed a small basin of water. There were a few boats anchored in the basin including 4 sailboats. There was still plenty of room for more boats. I looked at my nautical charts and found that we should be able to get in there by traveling through a maze of manmade canals. It looked like a great spot. I checked with a number of the experienced boaters in the city marina, and they confirmed that it was possible. The only downside was a half hour long dinghy ride to the city marina to use the facilities there. That is also where we would move the truck. 

I took this picture of an Ibis while I was out on one of my walks. This one is for you Mom.

Just a couple more Ibis walking by a house under construction

Lucky for us the weather got very calm on New Years Eve. This made it much easier to move the boat. 

We were up early on New Years Day. We had a very calm morning and that made it easier to move the boat. We disconnected all the lines and backed out of the slip without incident. We then motored through the canals on our way to the basin that I had seen on my walks. I watched the depth instrument closely as we cruised along at about 3 knots. Most of the way it was around 8 feet deep, which is plenty for our 4.5 foot draft. 

Once we arrived in the basin, I was shocked to see the water got much deeper. We had over 15 feet of water where we decided to drop the hook. We were able to lay out 100+ feet of chain and the anchor set on the first try. We settled in to life at anchor and we loved it. It was very calm and quiet. A far cry from the noise in the marina. This is much more to our liking.

We made our daily trips to the city marina to play either Bocci Ball, Pickleball or Dominos. We also made it for a Friday night Happy Hour that is the social event for the week. 

A beautiful night in our little basin. 

The best part of our lifestyle is reconnecting with some great friends. We had met Geoff and Marcia back in 2019 and it has been so great spending time with them again. 

A day on the Bocci Ball courts. 

Our last night in our beautiful little basin

We were on our way to the marina and saw this catamaran looking for a place to anchor. We stopped them and told them about our little slice of heaven. They joined us and stayed for a couple of weeks through some strong storms.  

On January 3rd, we were up in the marina main building, which is a large room which houses the marina office and a bunch of tables. That is where we play dominos. I had asked the person working the desk about any progress on our mooring ball and she told me she needed to talk to the manager. While I was sitting there playing dominos, she gave me the come here finger sign and I sprang to my feet. She gave me our mooring ball assignment. What a huge relief. We had some strong winds coming in the next few days and even though I am sure we would be fine in our little basin, I would much prefer to be on a ball. 

The forecast was for very light winds the following morning. We were up early and moving to our new home. We attached to ball C-12 and then let out a huge sigh of relief. It felt like the end of a long journey that had started on October 31 in Brunswick, Georgia. The goal all along was to get to Marathon and enjoy the months of January and February on a mooring. We were here and now let the games begin!

Why were we so looking forward to getting to Marathon? I will tell you all about our life here in my next entries.