I am going to shorten the eleven days we spent here to a few highlights, and there are some good stories here…
When we arrived we stopped to top off our fuel and water tanks. We know we will be heading to the Bahamas soon and want to have plenty of fuel for that, plus we will be anchoring out for a while, so we need to have fresh water. After leaving Key West and Bahia Honda, we were pretty low on water. We stopped at the fuel dock at Marathon Marina and put about two hundred and fifty gallons in the tanks. Oomph. That always stings a bit watching the amount due go up and up, but its a part of the cruising life. We also had to pay fifteen cents a gallon for water! Thankfully we can go pretty far between fuel fill ups. I’ve been asked how much fuel we’ve used so far and I haven’t tracked it yet- we try to fill up when we find ‘cheap’ fuel prices regardless if we need it or not so we stay topped off most of the time. We filled our tanks and went to start the engine, and nothing. Our engine has this problem of not being able to re-start immediately after shutting down- something I need to figure out why, but it’s not on the top of the list right now. As of now, we just know we need to let the engine cool down a bit, which it did eventually- then it started right up!
Marathon Marina is right at the entrance of Boot Key, which has tons of anchored boats and a large mooring field. The mooring field has a three week wait or more to get a ball. We left the fuel dock and was scoping out a good place to anchor, but there wasn’t anything that looked good to us, so we continued on deeper into Boot Key. We kept looking for a spot, but again nothing was looking good- either too shallow, too close to other boats, or too much of an unknown to take the risk. We eventually ended up coming down a channel where we had docked on our first time through Marathon. We waved to some friends we had met when we were here before. We noticed the channel was fairly wide, and this being Florida, you can anchor almost anywhere, as long as you are not blocking a marked channel. Hmm…it looks like we could try to anchor here sideways and if we put out a stern anchor, we could stay out of the channel. Our phone rang and it was our friends asking where we were going? I asked if they had seen anyone anchor here? They replied they had not, but said it looks okay if you can stay sideways. The other concern they had was that the marina is in an old quarry, so maybe the bottom would not be good for holding an anchor, but they weren’t sure and said maybe we could try it? In theory it looked and sounded pretty good, but there were some big ‘if’s’… We circled around and I came as close to the side of the channel as possible. Depth was around twenty feet deep, so that wasn’t an issue so much as it was a concern. We would have to drop a lot of anchor line rather quickly to hopefully hold the bow in place, then back up, allowing the anchor to dig in, and then drop the stern anchor. We dropped the front anchor and let out a bunch of line, but the wind that was pretty non-existent to this point, started blowing us toward shore. Crap! Now I had to try to run down and drop the stern anchor to hopefully hold us off land and hoping the front anchor had grabbed hold. We kept getting pushed closer and closer to shore! I hopped in the dinghy to try to get the stern anchor out farther, but this was not easy as now I was battling the wind and the weight of the boat drifting onto shore! I was able to drop the stern anchor out as far as possible and made my way back to Klondike. I then tried to kedge the stern out from shore using the anchor and long line (Definition of kedge: to move (a ship) by means of a line attached to a small anchor dropped at the distance and in the direction desired). We were able to pull the stern off a bit, then had to figure out how to get the bow out since the anchor had held, but there was too much line out. Once the stern was clear, we used the engine, alternating between forward and reverse to try to get the bow out away from the shore. We eventually got the boat out a little bit and Lauren did an excellent job at the helm, while I jumped back and forth from the dinghy to Klondike keeping our stern out. Once we were far enough out I pulled the stern anchor and we were able to pull out, away from land. At this point I looked up and saw we had quite an audience! Obviously people were watching from their boats, probably thinking “What were they trying to do?!”. I was dripping in sweat and was just pleased we could get out of our jam. Lauren joked “just practice, people!” as we pulled out. Once clear we had a good laugh, but had to once again figure out where we were going to drop anchor and stay. We continued on to Sister Creek, which is a noted anchorage in our guide. It is indeed a ‘creek’, although wide, that runs from the Atlantic Ocean to Boot Key Harbor. It is also a known ‘hurricane hole’ where people bring their boats when a hurricane is approaching. The idea here was to drop an anchor and tie the stern of the boat to the mangrove trees that line the creek. The mangroves and small island protect the creek from heavy winds and the bends in the creek keep the waves from coming through with any velocity, although there is a fairly strong current that switches directions depending on the tides and time of day. Obviously in a hurricane people use many, many anchors and lines to shore. We turned down the creek and came upon several boats anchored and tied to the mangroves. The creek was between ten and fifteen feet deep, all the way to the mangroves, so it was good depths for us. This was going to be a new experience for us to anchor this way. We picked a spot not too far down the creek and was trying to determine how to do this. We dropped the anchor, but the current was pulling the boat toward up river and I could not get the stern to swing around against it. As we were debating what to do, someone pulled up in a dinghy and gave us some suggestions. We chatted a bit with our anchor down, and they asked if they could use my manual bilge pump to pump out their dinghy? I said yes, but I was too worried about getting us straightened out to continue chatting. They took the pump from our dinghy and took off- I had told them to take it and return it whenever they could. Back to the task at hand- getting the stern back to the mangroves, when another guy pulled up in his dinghy and told me we couldn’t anchor here. What!? The other guy said it was good! This guy said it is the only deep channel going back to another ‘hurricane hole’ and that the Coast Guard would eventually come tell me to move. Okay- I wasn’t going to argue with him as that would get us nowhere, and he suggested a little further down the creek there is space. We pulled our anchor and continued on down. We saw a large gap past where boats that looked like they had been there for a long time and had many lines/anchors out and a lone boat at the end just before the last bend in the creek. We decided to go all the way down, but not too close, to the last boat. Again we had the same quandary of dropping anchor and figuring out how to get the stern around. The solution came by me taking many long lines and joining them so I had a single line about two hundred feet long. I took the dinghy and attached this line to the mangroves and brought the end back to Klondike. Now Lauren and I used brute strength to pull the stern back toward the mangroves. This was not easy with a nineteen ton boat and fighting the current! Once we were turned perpendicular to the mangroves, I tied a second line to the mangroves and brought that back to Klondike as well, so we now have two secure lines holding us to the trees. I then took our backup smaller stern anchor, tied it to the bow and put it in the dinghy and dropped it out at a forty five degree angle from the bow so we now have two anchors holding us in place. By the time this was all done we were happy to sit and relax a bit. The winds were expected to be in the 25+mph range for the next couple of days so all we could do was hope we picked the right spot and hope our lines held. Frank needed to get to shore, so we loaded up the dinghy and went to see what was around the corner. We were greeted with a beach! We had anchored right around the corner from Sombrero Beach, which is one of the only public beaches in Marathon! They had a spot to land the dinghy on the sand and it was pet friendly! We enjoyed the sunset and returned to the boat to ride out the wind that kept increasing. Our spot was awesome in that the wind didn’t really affect us much and there was no rocking and rolling. We were across from four large towers on government property that we were told sends radio propaganda directly to Cuba and is so powerful it messes with boat’s electronics. We were lucky I suppose that we didn’t experience any interference, but our neighbors mast lights would flicker due to the wattage being sent out!
The next day we hung out at the beach and took the bikes to shore. we had a great day. We returned to the boat for lunch and we watched as a sailboat pulled up to anchor in the space next to us. They pulled up and dropped anchor, then they were in the same quandary we were in yesterday- how to get the stern around to the mangroves. They were having some difficulty. I hopped in the dinghy and went over to offer a hand. The guy that I spoke to had a German (?) accent, and declined my assistance! I was trying to tell them they needed a stern line tied first, but okay…no help needed. I watched with amusement as they eventually figured it out and got their dinghy untied and ran the line from the mangroves to the boat. They eventually got situated and all seemed well. At least they weren’t too close to us! The next day was again uneventful- beach time and general island time. We took gallons of water to the beach daily and filled them at the water fountain- conservation is key! The winds continued to climb and we were comfortable at our anchorage, except we were being pulled a little too close to the mangroves. I realized the small stern anchor wasn’t holding very well with the winds and currents. It was now straight down from the bow and not really doing anything, but the main anchor was holding well. The night fell and we were happy with our anchorage- not too windy and no rocking from waves., although we were getting pushed closer to the mangroves, and looking at our neighbors on either side the same seemed to be happening to them. Not much we could do about it now as it was dark, so we went to bed. The river is a great place to be!
The next morning we woke up and all was well. We were still sitting about ten feet from the mangroves, but there was plenty of water under the boat. I pulled up the smaller anchor and took our other large anchor in the dinghy and dropped it where I had originally dropped the small anchor- about forty five degrees from the bow and hoped this would hold better. After this was done we went to the beach and hung out. We returned to the boat later in the day and had a late lunch and lounged about. I noticed our catamaran neighbors messing with their anchor. At this point it was later in the day- around 5pm or so. I watched as they were trying to pull themselves a bit farther away from the mangroves, but ended up pulling up their anchor completely! Now I was watching with interest- I told Lauren what was going on and I was ready to go help them if I could. Lauren cautioned me not to go as it was getting dusk and the winds were really blowing. I sat on our back deck with a cocktail and watched as they got blown around- they had released their stern lines and were now floating down the creek out of control! WTF!? They eventually got control of the boat and came back to where they were anchored and dropped the anchor, but now the current and the wind were preventing them from getting their stern to the mangroves. I poured myself another drink and donned my life-jacket, just in case, and continued to watch this go on. One guy eventually got in the dinghy and was trying to get to the line still tied to the mangroves. He reached it and was heading toward the boat when he ran out of line- they had dropped anchor farther out than before so it wouldn’t reach! He was communicating with the other guy still on board the boat and I saw him tying lines together, but now the guy in the dinghy was floating off down the creek! I watched as he kept trying to pull the cord to start the engine to no avail. Damn. Now I had to act! I went in and told Lauren I was sorry, but I had to go help- I jumped in the dinghy and raced over to him as he was getting close to the other side of the creek. He looked at me and I said I would pull him back to the boat if he had a line? He told me there was one on the bow of the dinghy so I reached out to grab it, but as I pulled it got pulled back out of my hand. Hmmm…This was not good! I came around to the side of his dinghy and grabbed hold, maneuvering us to the channel and back toward his boat. I again asked if he had a line and told him the line I grabbed was not working. The look on his face when it dawned on him that the line was wrapped around his prop I’ll never forget. “Do you have a knife? The line is wrapped around the propeller!” he yelled to me. Ughh. I left Klondike in a hurry and didn’t grab the knife I usually carry with me. “Hold on!’ I told him- “I’ll grab one and be right back!” I let go and turned toward our boat where Lauren was standing there watching. As I was heading toward Lauren I noticed our other neighbor who I had not seen until now standing on his bow watching us. He waved me over and I raced up to him and asked if he had a knife handy? He gave me one and said he would be right there to help as soon as he lowered his dinghy into the water. I took the knife back to the stricken dinghy and he went to work trying to cut the line free. In the mean time our neighbor had launched his dinghy and came out to assist. We introduced ourselves and I found out his name was Jimmy. Jimmy helped get the line cut from the dinghy and we all motored over to the boat that was still anchored in the middle of the channel. At this point the guy on the boat had tied lines together to give us hopefully enough to tie to the mangroves and back to them. We took the line and realized we were about twenty feet short. We waited while they found another line to add to the link and Jimmy and I chatted. Once the lines were long enough, I took the line and ran it to the mangroves and tied it on to the largest branch I could find. Jimmy and I then used our dinghies to push the stern of the boat around to being lined up perpendicular to the creek while they winched in the excess line to hold them in place. Now they were back and secure in place, we all parted ways and went back to our own boats. Lauren was waiting for me with some sparkling wine which we enjoyed after the harrowing events and the rest of the night was uneventful compared to that.
The next few days were fairly uneventful. We met our neighbor Jimmy again at the beach where everyone pulls up in their dinghies. We chatted a bit and met his wife Laurie. There was a day when I was sitting on the back deck of our boat and watched a fairly large boat come charging through rather fast. Most boats came through slowly as it is a ‘no wake’ zone. I had looked up when I heard the boat coming and noticed there were some kayakers coming down the river with a guide, which was a daily occurrence. The guide passed us and I watched as the stragglers were coming down the river. The wake the big boat caused was rocking them pretty good, then one woman tipped over! I got up and looked around for the tour guide, but he was already around the corner with some of the others and hadn’t noticed her tip over at all! Damn. I couldn’t just let her struggle, so I jumped in the dinghy and motored over to her. She had on a life vest so it wasn’t the worse situation, but she clearly could not get her kayak turned upright, let alone get into it. At least her husband was still by her side in his kayak! I asked her if she was okay and she said she was. I offered to help and she was quite thankful, but said she could not get back on the kayak. My thought was to get her in the dinghy, but she couldn’t do that either. Hmm…Okay- “let me pull you to a boat and you could use their ladder or swim platform to get in the dinghy.” She agreed and I pulled her slowly to a nearby boat which I saw had a ladder deployed over the side. She climbed up the ladder and got in the dinghy, then I went back to the kayak and pulled that behind us to get her back to the beach where they departed from. Her husband paddled along side and we returned her to the group waiting on the beach. The conversation on the way in was not too kind toward the guide and I don’t blame her! Her husband tried to give me some money for helping, but I declined to accept it- that would be bad karma in my opinion- if someone needs help, then I will help. The guide thanked me (kind of) and I returned to the boat where Lauren had watched the whole thing. We had dinner and returned to the beach for another wonderful sunset before retiring…
The next couple of days were again uneventful until Jack arrived. It was awesome to see someone from home! He brought our mail and some items we had wished we had brought from home. He arrived around mid afternoon and we met him at the beach. We took him to the boat and hung out for a bit enjoying cocktails and catching up. Eventually we got hungry and decided to go for happy hour to a nearby restaurant: FLA Keys Steak and Lobster House. Jack left to check in to his hotel and we dinghied over to the municipal dinghy dock, We had to dinghy there because the city does not allow dinghies on the beach after sunset, but it worked out perfectly as the restaurant was right across the street. We spent some more time catching up and ended up ordering dinner there as well as our happy hour snacks. We were all feeling pretty good and called it a night.
Day two of our visit the weather wasn’t cooperating with us. We were supposed to meet for breakfast but it started to rain overnight and not let up. We woke up to a torrential downpour, and since we were anchored out the dinghy was the only way to shore. We were not going to try to get in in this weather! Eventually it slowed down enough for me to take Frank to the beach for a poop walk, but it was still raining. He did his business and we returned to the boat just as it started to rain harder. It was around 1pm by the time we finally were able to make it to shore to meet Jack. He picked us up at the beach and we went for lunch as he had already eaten breakfast while waiting for us. We felt bad about this, but such is boat life. We ended up at the Island Fish Company. We enjoyed a good lunch overlooking the water, albeit inside due to the rain. After lunch we made some stops for some oil for our boat and a dollar store for some items we wanted to pick up. We went back to the boat and relaxed for a while since the rain had now passed. After some more time together, we agreed to meet for happy hour again and we wanted to take him to a couple of places we had visited our first time through. We met at the city dock again and found our way to Keys Fisheries for some $3 stone crab claws and fresh shucked oysters. After that we went to The Hurricane Bar and Grill for a pizza and some live music. At this point it was getting late so we called it a night and made plans to meet for breakfast in the morning. Jack is driving back to The Villages tomorrow so we will get an early start so he can be on his way by 11am. The following day we met at the beach again and we went for breakfast at The Cracked Conch Cafe where we had an enjoyable breakfast, then Jack ordered some conch fingers so we could all share some conch. It was delicious. After filling our bellies, Jack took us to the grocery store to pick up some supplies- this was a huge help as we could really load up a lot more than we usually do as we normally have to carry everything on bikes, but with the car we could really buy in bulk. By this point it was around 10:30am and we didn’t want to hold him up any longer as he was planning on leaving by 11am. He dropped us off at our dinghy with all of our groceries and we said our good-bye’s. It was sad to see him leave after a short visit but we all have somewhere to be. Unfortunately the weather was going to keep us here for a couple more days as tonight was going to be more high winds. Oh well.
The next morning I woke up and was looking at our stern lines run to the mangroves and noticed one of the lines was still tied to a branch but the branch had completely broken off the tree! The branch was still tangled in the mangroves but was essentially floating free. I pulled the branch to the boat and untied the line, then hopped in the dinghy and found a sturdier trunk to tie it to. The rest of the day was uneventful- just waiting for good weather to leave, but that isn’t tomorrow yet according to the forecast.
The night was windy again and we felt pretty secure. I was woken up in the middle of the night by an intuition and a strange sound. I went outside to inspect our rigging and found that one of our front anchor lines was hanging limp. WTF!? I pulled the line up and there was nothing on it! Where is the anchor?! It is 3am and the wind and current has the boat being pulled, but the stern lines are holding and the remaining anchor is holding tight. I had left our stern anchor on the front of the boat ‘just in case’ and was I glad I did. I rigged up some line to it and tossed it in the water, figuring it was better than nothing. After assessing the situation I figured there wasn’t much more I could do at this hour and since everything else was holding well (fingers crossed!) I went back to bed and would deal with it in the morning. Once the sun came up and we were having our coffee I explained to Lauren what I had found last night. We discussed our plan and I went on an exploratory mission to see how deep the water was where I think I lost the anchor. I used an seven foot pole and tried to reach bottom to no avail. I duct taped two poles together and tried again. I could just barely reach bottom with my hand under water, so it was at least fifteen feet deep. Now we had to try to find an anchor and chain lying on the bottom of the creek which we could not see. I tried to line up where I thought it was and was doing my best to drive the dinghy or hold it in place as I leaned over and poked/dragged for the bottom, hoping I would feel it. I was doing this to no avail, although once I thought maybe I felt something when our neighbor Jimmy saw me poking around. I went over and explained what I was doing and the situation and he offered to help. Great! I asked if he had a grapple by chance and he did! Now I was hopeful we would be able to find our anchor- I was not going to leave without it either way even if I had to pay a diver to come find it. Our lost anchor is over forty pounds and would cost several hundred dollars to replace, so I would pay a diver a hundred bucks to find it if I had to, though I would not be happy about it! The grapple would be better as we could drag it across the bottom of the creek and hopefully snag the anchor chain was my thought. With two of us, one could drag for the anchor while the other steers the dinghy. My biggest fear however as we started was snagging and pulling up our only remaining anchor! As we were criss crossing back and forth where I thought it may be, our new neighbors who came in a couple of days ago when the Germans left called us over. They were preparing their dive gear to work on their boat and offered to dive for my anchor if we needed them to. WOW! That was awesome they even offered to do this- this is what we mean when we say boaters look out for boaters! Jimmy and I continued dragging for our anchor and he soon told me he felt like he hooked something! I circled the dinghy around and we were pulling on the grapple hoping not to lose whatever we snagged. Whatever it was was not budging! Now I was concerned we would lose his grapple if we couldn’t get whatever we caught up or get it untangled. It was a struggle for a bit, then he said he felt like he had an anchor! NO WAY! We continued to pull and try to finesse whatever we had and it felt like we had a sunken boat or car on the end. We continued to struggle with it, both of us pulling at it, and he then said he felt like maybe he had some chain! We continued at this for a short while when we felt like we really had some chain now! Now we didn’t want it lose it, but it was not coming up very easily… It took both of us pulling, with me eventually leaning over the dinghy as far down as I could reach to see if I could grab the end. Eventually I felt chain and grabbed hold! Jimmy helped me bring it up a little more and we were able to heave the rest up, including our lost anchor! HOORAY! I shouted out to our dive neighbors “WE FOUND IT!” and they were happy for us. They did their dive on their boat anyway, but it felt great to be able to retrieve the anchor! It was like a needle in the haystack and we found the needle! I was stoked, BUT now I had to figure out how to re-attach it to the line. Again I was thinking I would have to pay someone to splice it for me, but Jimmy said he knows how to do it and would be happy to teach/ do it for me. OMG! The day gets better and better! Jimmy had to return to his boat for tools and said he would come back in a bit. I returned to the boat and waited patiently. He eventually came back and taught me how to splice three strand rope. We even used my propane torch to melt the end and ensure everything was secured. After we were done with our ‘class’, I re-set the anchor, then Lauren and I took Frank to the beach and we relaxed for the rest of the day, basking in the good fortune we had.
Finally we’re on departure day! We plan on going to Islamorada, Fla to anchor out as one of our last stops in the Florida Keys before we head to the Bahamas. The time here has been wonderful (and free anchoring) but it is time to move on. Our challenge leaving will be all of the lines and anchors we have out. We will need to release the stern lines, pull in one anchor at a time and deal with the currents and wind. My plan was to use the dinghy to release the stern lines, then pull myself to the boat as Lauren steers from the helm while simultaneously pulling the slack anchor up, then turning up current and pulling the last anchor up. Solid plan. All was well as I released the stern lines. I then returned to the boat and climbed aboard and ran up front to the bow to assist with pulling the anchors. I failed to shorten the line from the boat to the dinghy. Lauren was doing another excellent job getting us turned in the right directions and retrieving the anchor when the engine just stopped. I looked up at her and asked “did the engine just quit?”. “Yes!” she replied “Why?” I wasn’t sure what was going on so I ran inside and tried to start it up again and got nothing but a short crank. FML! What is going on?! Then the thought crossed my mind- the dinghy was on a long line so I could reach the mangroves and get back- did it get wrapped around the prop? that has been one of my fears every time we anchor or dock and we always pull the line in close to ensure this doesn’t happen. I looked down at the line and could indeed see it pulled taut running under the boat. UGGHH!!!! Lauren was looking at me and I yelled to her “The line is around the prop! I have to dive on it!”. Before doing anything I made sure we still had an anchor down and were not moving. We were indeed stationary, albeit being pulled sideways in the middle of the creek. A couple of boats came by and looked at us funny, but whatever. We have an emergency here and I am not looking forward to what I am about to attempt. Lauren gave me the snorkel mask and I stripped down to just shorts and jumped in. I adjusted the mask and took my first dive down to see what I could which wasn’t much until I got really close to the prop. The way our prop is situated is behind the rudder, about four feet deep and five feet back, not including the swim platform which adds anther couple of feet back. The first dive I could see the line wrapped tight around the propeller. I came up for air and asked Lauren to loosen the line from this end. The next few dives I tried to unwind it from around the prop and ended up slicing my hand on the sharp propeller blades. I came up for air and saw the blood coming from my fingers and my first thought was “sharks are going to smell the blood and come after me”. I tried to shake that thought from my head and went down again and again, making a little progress each time. One time when I came up for air, our neighbors (not Jimmy) again offered if I needed them to, they would don their dive gear and assist, but I told them I would keep trying and let them know if I couldn’t succeed. A few more dives and I was almost there! I could now make out the last couple of wraps, but now had to get the line out of the shaft part…eventually I was able to get it all undone! I finished the task and came back aboard bleeding from a few fingers, a palm and forearm. Lauren attended to the wounds and helped me get them cleaned up and bandaged. I was quite pleased with myself for getting it undone and even more happy I never saw a shark! Now that all of the line was free, we tightened everything up and went to start the engine. Nothing. Again with the ‘engine won’t start after it has been running for some time’. We stayed put in the center of the channel and I smoked a few cigarettes waiting for the engine to cool down. Eventually I tried it again and it fired right up! Away we go! We got the last anchor pulled and turned toward the channel to head out. We waved good bye to our neighbor friends and were on our way!
That concludes our time in Marathon, Florida. It was both uneventful and eventful, highs and lows, and everything in between. We hope to not have to deal with as much ‘drama’ in the future, but such is boat life- a bad day on the water is better than a good day at work! I hope you enjoy reading about it, and to be clear, we are having a great time! We look forward to the next adventures and are a little nervous about the jump to the Bahamas but we are doing our best to ensure everything is ready to go. Cheers!