Marathon to Key Largo

Here’s why the last post was so brief…

While waiting in Marathon for the new water pump belt, I kept calculating and re-calculating my LPD – Last Possible Time for Departure. I had already lost 1 day being towed, and most of another day waiting for the replacement belt to arrive.  I didn’t want to lose another day, because the winds are expected to increase as the week proceeds.  (I lost two fairly calm days getting towed in and waiting for repairs.) I figured I could make it to Key Largo by sunset if I left by 3PM. I didn’t want to arrive after dark.

I FINALLY got underway at 2:45 PM!

Sea conditions were moderate, and the repairs seemed to be working fine: we were making 19 knots and the engine temperature was normal (178 degrees).

The waves abated as the afternoon proceeded, and we made it to Key Largo just as the sun set.  In fact, it grew dark as we finished tying up. WHEW!

We had dinner at a nearby restaurant – outdoors with live music.  The diners looked like a bunch of old hippies, but there were BMW’s and Maserati’s in the lot! I hope I live long enough to outlive every band who keeps playing those tired old 1970’s playlists… Does anybody really need to hear “Black Magic Woman” or “Ramblin Man” one more time? Come on people, they were good songs, but you’ve been listening to the same stuff for 50 Years!

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BTW, in my post last night, I was dictating into my phone, and I forgot to check the spelling…I meant to say that I was “tucking into” a Hogfish sandwich.  (It’s an expression I picked up from my UK travels.)  I will correct the post.

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It’s 6:45 AM now on Friday, and Guinness is bugging me for a walk. He’s very subtle: he just plants a paw in the middle of the keyboard and looks me right in the eye. If I ignore him, he repeats the process and adds a sharp bark.

Today was supposed to be an easy 4-hour trip to Ft Lauderdale, but sea conditions have worsened overnight, and we expect to encounter 5-foot seas off Miami. We’ll just have to take it slow. Time to get moving.