Marathon at last!!


What a day today turned out to be. We hauled the anchor at 8.30. When it broke the water it had a line draped over it with a couple of small wooden stakes attached. I flipped it off with the boat hook and the Admiral drove the boat forward. She heard a strange noise like something hitting the prop but nothing felt like it was attached. We have a special blade attached to the shaft to cut any line like a crab or lobster pot.

We proceeded out the inlet and had an uneventful run down the coast to Marathon. The wind varied between 5 to 10 and the seas were 1 to 2 ft most of the day. Just what cruising is all about! Little did we know how things would change as we entered the harbor. We had called for a mooring ball and had to wait in the channel for notification from the office of what ball to pick up. That was when all hell broke loose. The wind was blowing strong on our bow and I had to turn and go back down the channel one more time. I put the boat into reverse and before I knew what was happening something wrapped around our prop and the engine stopped dead. We were in the middle of a very narrow and busy channel with nowhere to go and no power. We dropped the anchor right away to stop our drift but to no avail, it would not catch. Within minutes three men arrived in their dingys and began to get us under control. We drifted up against one boat but no real contact thanks to Jane jumping aboard to hold us off. She had to be picked up by one of the dingies and brought back aboard Kinvara. While handing lines to the guys she slipped into the anchor locker and got a nasty scratch on her knee. I think after her heroics last week going up the mast and her handling of today’s crisis she deserves a special treat when we find a nice jewelry shop or perhaps a wine shop this week. The guys tied their dingies up to our sides and bow and eventually towed and pushed us to a mooring ball. It was not our assigned one but the dock master had the occupants pick up the one intended for us. We were lucky they were not on their ball just when we needed it. While on the helm I had called Boat Us for a tow but he told me it would take 30 minutes to get to us. He arrived when we were safely tied up to the ball and he agreed that we did the right thing having the guys help us to the mooring. He will have to get paid but that is why we have Boat Us Towing.

Jane's leg injury.

When we both calmed down and relaxed for a half hour we dropped the dingy and went in to the office to check in. Tomorrow is another day. I will have to contact a diver and check out the damage and have it taken care of. We paid for a month, $275.00 plus $20 tax. This includes one pump out a week, free wifi and TV in the cruisers lounge, showers, laundry and lots of activities. How can you beat that? That is just about what we would spend on golf for one week in Solivita. The harbor is packed. They have 280 moorings and they are all full. We were very, very lucky to get assigned to one. It is on a first come first served basis. There were only 5 available today. Once we get through this ordeal I am sure we will have a great time here. I believe it will be in the low 80s all week and in the 60s at night. Just remember the old saying: Cruising is fixing things in exotic places.