Day 80 - 24 February

Today was one of the more relaxing days we've spent on the trip. The sky was blue, the sea was green, the wind was on our nose again, but it was light. The captain even got a chance to take a power nap about halfway between Rodriguez Key and the turn into the channel leading to Boot Key Harbor and the town of Marathon.

We elected to tuck into the Marathon Marina which is just before the bridge. The marina is pricey and a bit "down at the heels" compared to other marinas we've stayed at. However, the people are friendly and almost all the showers, laundry and heads are working, so we aren't complaining too loudly. Also, there doesn't appear to be any other marinas that are any better...less costly, but not better...and we are close to the showers, head and laundry, have fresh running water, cable TV, and power to run our air conditioner.

It's tempting to pick up one of the many mooring balls in the inner harbor at $20/night with dinghy docking privileges, showers, heads and laundry all included. By comparison, Marathon Marina charges $2.50/foot which includes showers, heads and laundry, and cable for a daily transient cost of over a hundred dollars/day, tax included.

About an hour after we arrived and were in the final stages of organizing our lines, etc., our friend Phil arrived. Phil is a former coworker of Sarah's and a sailor..that/s Phil and Sarah on the right. We've been trying to get our cruising non-schedule and Phil's work and travel schedule aligned and we think we may have done so. Phil will be accompanying us aboard our cruising home for the next week and we hope to get the sails raised again soon. After our guest's arrival, we hailed the Marathon water taxi, Smorgasboat One (http://www.smorgasboat.com/), to pick us up at our slip and take us downtown to Docksides, a popular local water hole for some camraderie and dinner. Unfortunately, Docksides also has live entertainment each evening and we were gathered right behind the bandstand. So, we probably missed some interesting conversation. We had cruisers from six different Whitby Boat Works boats and more combined cruising experience we could measure.

After dinner, we caught a local taxi to take us back to our boat which is west of the harbor area by approximately 4 miles.