Knight Key

After snorkeling Molasses Reef, we headed W to reach Marathon, a stop for laundry, groceries and a few sundries. The extensive mooring fields in the harbor were pretty full, and for vessels >45ft, there were none available. So with easy weather pending, we anchored out S of Boot Key. We were 1000 ft offshore, and had a breeze, so we thought we were safe. Nope - the Florida skeeters found us easily and attacked. We launched defensive measures including screens (just like Star Trek!), Thermacells, and Deet. In the end we had to use the Dustbuster to get them just before bed. Alexis is living on Benadryl.

Anchored nearby was Project Renegade, an Ocean Renegade sailing cat with twin 30kW electric motors. The owner said it's built in South Africa using a Granger hull design, then upgraded with the propulsion (Torqueedo) and solar/genset charging. He cruises on motors at 5kn, or sails at 8-10kn.

We were lucky to find an OCC member that lived at Marathon, Russell F. on sv Blue Highway. He was most generous and took us to Publix and Home Depot. We got the laundry done by dinghying to Bordine’s Marina and docking, then walking to the Air-Conditioned(!!!!) Marathon Laundromat.

One of the local attractions is the Turtle Hospital, one of very few places turtles are cared for. They deal with propellor strikes, tumor removals, and "bubble-butt" when air gets trapped under the shell, making their rear ends too buoyant. The latter is not curable, so those are lifetime residents after adding weights to level them out.

We had a dinner out at Dockside, where the ex-mayor did a creditable job on solo acoustic guitar (trop-rock). That was followed by an un-announced local band with pretty horrible vocals. We exited early after that started.

Next up: Looe Reef!Read more