Wmiii
Senior Member
It had been an interesting trip down to Marathon from Bradenton, FL.
We had 3 great days from Twin Dolphin Marina in Bradenton to Ft Myers beach, except for the one little 'Hiccup' with loosing my Brian and nervous system on my QSB 5.9 Cummins engine. Oh and also, I had to replace 4, 6 volt batteries. So all in all a pretty expensive stop in FMB.
We were looking for a 3 day window for the run down to Marathon for several days. It looked like we might have to make a 1 day run to Marco, then sit there until we could get another couple of days to hop on down to the Keyes.
We got up Tuesday morning and it looked like we finally had a good chance to go. Winds out of the NE 5-10 and seas less than 2. We made a quick dinghy trip to Topps, the grocery accessable by dinghy, loaded the dink and off we went.
We had a good day down to Marco and decided to go the 'back side' to Goodland, anchor to get an early start Wednesday morning. Due to low tides, we had to leave before 7, almost daylight. I had hoped that by avoiding Cape Romano Shoals, we would have a 'smoother' trip. It wasn't too bad, but after a while, we left the flybridge and went to the lower station for a much easier ride, The conditions a little choppy with an occasional 4-5 footer that would kick us around and back, then ease back down. Fortunately we had the seas off our port quarter as opposed to on the nose or beam.
We made it to Little Shark River and got the anchor set. Life was good!
Then I started checking the NOAA weather and it began looking bad for the last leg to 7 Mile Bridge and Marathon. Reporting winds increasing to 20 kts, seas 1-3 ft, small craft warning in the afternoon and scattered showers and thunder showers. YUCK!, that didn't sound good.
And not good weather for the next several days. It looked like possibly going back up to Goodland or Marco might be the thing to do or stay at Little Shark for????
Tuesday morning NOAA weather looked better, with wind not picking up to later in the afternoon, so we decided to go for it!
We put everything away that could move and got ready to go.
Turned the key and NOTHING! What??? Looked at connections, loosened and retightened connections, turned the key again and again and still nothing at all. My wife tried something and the key worked.....
Hoisted anchor and headed South, It turned out to be a GREAT day. Cloudy and 10-15 kt winds, but light choppy seas and much calmer that we expected.
It was a 6 hr run for us from Little Shark to Book Key harbor. Left at 7 and pulled in at 1:00.
Now life is good, We are at Dockside Marina and set for the next couple of months.
We had 3 great days from Twin Dolphin Marina in Bradenton to Ft Myers beach, except for the one little 'Hiccup' with loosing my Brian and nervous system on my QSB 5.9 Cummins engine. Oh and also, I had to replace 4, 6 volt batteries. So all in all a pretty expensive stop in FMB.
We were looking for a 3 day window for the run down to Marathon for several days. It looked like we might have to make a 1 day run to Marco, then sit there until we could get another couple of days to hop on down to the Keyes.
We got up Tuesday morning and it looked like we finally had a good chance to go. Winds out of the NE 5-10 and seas less than 2. We made a quick dinghy trip to Topps, the grocery accessable by dinghy, loaded the dink and off we went.
We had a good day down to Marco and decided to go the 'back side' to Goodland, anchor to get an early start Wednesday morning. Due to low tides, we had to leave before 7, almost daylight. I had hoped that by avoiding Cape Romano Shoals, we would have a 'smoother' trip. It wasn't too bad, but after a while, we left the flybridge and went to the lower station for a much easier ride, The conditions a little choppy with an occasional 4-5 footer that would kick us around and back, then ease back down. Fortunately we had the seas off our port quarter as opposed to on the nose or beam.
We made it to Little Shark River and got the anchor set. Life was good!
Then I started checking the NOAA weather and it began looking bad for the last leg to 7 Mile Bridge and Marathon. Reporting winds increasing to 20 kts, seas 1-3 ft, small craft warning in the afternoon and scattered showers and thunder showers. YUCK!, that didn't sound good.
And not good weather for the next several days. It looked like possibly going back up to Goodland or Marco might be the thing to do or stay at Little Shark for????
Tuesday morning NOAA weather looked better, with wind not picking up to later in the afternoon, so we decided to go for it!
We put everything away that could move and got ready to go.
Turned the key and NOTHING! What??? Looked at connections, loosened and retightened connections, turned the key again and again and still nothing at all. My wife tried something and the key worked.....
Hoisted anchor and headed South, It turned out to be a GREAT day. Cloudy and 10-15 kt winds, but light choppy seas and much calmer that we expected.
It was a 6 hr run for us from Little Shark to Book Key harbor. Left at 7 and pulled in at 1:00.
Now life is good, We are at Dockside Marina and set for the next couple of months.
