Day 283 - Key West back to Marathon, FL
Day 283 Friday, February 3rd: In spite of marginal weather predictions, we decided to leave Key West and head back to Marathon to have the broken bow thruster checked out there. We managed to get out of our slip without hitting anything and headed out of the marina.
We had been tied up in a berth back in the corner near the sailboats and behind the cruisers:
These are the resident workboats at the end of the marina pier:
As we passed south down the ship channel, we passed the ever-present cruise ships:
While the pictures look like the same ship, there were two. The ships have to be gone by sunset because they spoil the view of the sun during "Sunset Celebration" (see Day 281 log).
We turned east toward Marathon and the southerly seas were suddenly on our beam. While they were only about two feet high, Integrity rolled uncomfortably. The seas built to about three feet for a while, and then tended to ease back to two feet.
We got a call on the radio from our friends aboard Vagabond, a 36-foot Grand Banks. We had seen them in Key West and knew they were headed back up the keys today. We looked behind us and there they were!
We took pictures of each other. It is too bad the pictures don't show how much we were both rolling. Here's Vagabond:
We arrived in Marathon about 2:30pm and there was a strong southwest wind blowing to make our mooring more difficult. Nonetheless we tied up at Faro Blanco - Oceanside Marina again, the same place we were in before.
The technician from SALT came and did some more checks on the bow thruster. We could still find no definite problem. It was looking more and more like we needed to haul the boat out of the water. The tech promised to come back tomorrow, Saturday, in spite of it normally being an off day for him. Nice guy!
Larry and Wynn from WyLaWay dinghied in from their anchorage and we walked two blocks to dinner at "Castaways," a local favorite for seafood. We had a good dinner and a fun time.
Bill was a little depressed about the lack of progress in diagnosing the bow thruster problem, but maybe tomorrow..
Position tonight: N24 42.207 W081 06.490
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