Who knew that when we moved onto a sailboat we would end up having the most active social lives we have ever had? I certainly wouldn’t have guessed it. I imagined myself having lots of time to read books, meditate, etc, and I guess I could be doing those things, but more often than not hanging out with other interesting sailors wins out.
Just as we are getting ready to leave Marathon, we have been having increasingly good times with the friends we have been making here. This weekend was packed full of outings and gatherings, starting with going out with a crew of people on Thursday night to a local bar where we ended up knowing a dozen other people there. The next night we went to see our friends Kurt and Christina at their first local music gig. Half of Boot Key harbor came out to support them and it was quite the night. Dancing, sing alongs, and wonderful music all night long. K. even got to drum with them for most of their set.

The next day was a great wind day for flying K.’s big kites, and our new friends Dave and Ginnea came along to the beach, where K. and Dave succeeded in getting up on the kite board for the first time! We had such a nice time hanging out with them we ended up going back to their boat for a tasty shrimp pasta dinner. Then live music at the tiki hut….the fun just never ends!
And to top it all off, Sunday night we were invited to our new friend Jamison’s boat, Baby Blue. He is a generous man who is constantly with a drink in hand, and he has a wonderful big boat that is perfect for entertaining. 5 other people came over for dinner and drinks, including our new friends Ricki and Sophia. Ricki is Irish and has THE most charming Irish accent ever. He’s a fabulous musician and can play the guitar like nobody’s business. Sophia is from Sweden and her parents used to have the same boat as us! They are a sweet couple we’d like to hang out with more. We had a super fun night with lots of wine, great fish, and even dancing! (his boat is big enough for dancing!!!)
In the midst of all this socializing, we are TRYING to get some projects done on the boat, and K. has been installing the bargain wind generator we got awhile back. Of course it is taking longer than expected, and our boat is a big mess with tools and parts everywhere. I’ve also been continuing to weave, and here is a little photo of my latest experimentation in card weaving, a portable form of weaving that I just discovered.
I got to weave on the beach! There will be a series of bracelets available for purchase soon.

So we had an idyllic weekend at the beach. We even had a day working in our island office. K. found an electric outlet next to a picnic table and worked his computer job all day while I was weaving and going for a little swim every so often.

That night we were both up half the night checking on the boat, which was rocking and moving quite a lot with the strong current in the anchorage. Cap’t K. had even tried the new ” rocker stoppers” that we just got, which cut our rocking down remarkably. Our new friend Wes, who also has an Albin Vega called Gemini Dreams, came and anchored right next to us, and he was rocking about 10 times more than we were! (without rocker stoppers) It has been fun seeing another Vega, and comparing notes on all the details of the boat. Here is a photo of the twins in the Bahia Honda Harbor.

The next day was one of those days where nothing goes right. It all started first thing in the morning when a motor boat sped by us very fast while I was making coffee, causing the boat to rock so hard that the coffee spilled ALL OVER EVERYTHING! The entire floor, the cushions, pillows, clothes, my yarn, and more were all covered in coffee and coffee grounds. A total disgusting mess!

Then we decided to pack up and leave because the winds were forecasted to shift in an unfavorable direction for that harbor.  Our entire getting the boat ready to sail process was frustrating and not smooth.  The GPS, depth sounder, and auto pilot were all either not working or acting funny.  Then as soon as we lifted the anchor and started out the harbor, a giant rain cloud came overhead and so we decided to turn back and wait for it to pass.  Then, as we were re-anchoring, the tow line for the dinghy got caught in the propeller of the boat’s motor.  Arrrrgggh!  We managed to get it off relatively easily, and thank goodness there was no damage to the motor.   We finally set sail an hour later and sailed slowly in light winds all the way back to Boot Key harbor.  We got to use our “happy” rainbow colored spinnaker sail, which helped to lift our spirits!

Returning back to Marathon left me with mixed feelings.  It was lovely to come into the marina after we returned and have people exclaim how much they missed us and inquire about our trip.  We felt so loved!  But truthfully, aside from our friends here I am really over this place and am looking forward to moving on.  K. is going to finish this computer job and we have a few more boat projects to do, and then we’re outta here!

Today the wind has shifted and is blowing really strong.  This afternoon I had the horrific and stressful experience of returning to the boat after running some errands to discover that our anchor was dragging and we were headed straight for a huge catamaran next to us!  K. was working on the computer in the marina, and so I was alone to deal with it.  We have worked out an excellent routine for anchoring as a duo, with one person on the motor and the other person up front dealing with the anchor.  But I had never had to do it alone before and had no idea how to handle the situation all by myself.  I was panicking!!!!  I started the motor and tried to keep at least from hitting the other boat, when an angel named Dave came over in his dinghy and offered to help me.  THANK GOD!   He pulled up the anchor and I motored us to a better spot, where we re-anchored with no damage done to anyone.  Now the wind continues to howl and we are checking often to make sure we aren’t moving.  We are missing that safe, easy mooring ball we were on right about now!