Day 284 - In Marathon, FL
Home
The Adventure
The Boat
About Us
Contact Us
Day 284 Saturday, February 4th: We haven't presented a picture of the marina's sign where we are. Here ya' go!
This morning Bill and the technician from SALT (Sea, Air, Land Technologies) fussed over the bow thruster some more while Ruth and Wynn (WyLaWay) were chauffeured to various stores to shop for groceries and supplies by Barbara Lyon. Barbara and husband John had wandered up to Integrity at the dock yesterday and introduced themselves as veteran Loopers and offered to take us to the store. Ruth made the arrangements to go today. Meanwhile, Larry (WyLaWay) did their laundry using our marina facilities (WyLaWay is anchored in the basin here).
The ladies had more luck than Bill and the tech. The next step seems to be either haul the boat out of the water or hope the factory support reps can come up with another idea on what to check. Bummer!
One highlight of the day was the arrival at the marina of the 128-foot North Coast Yacht Lady Val. She's too big to fit into one picture:
There were plenty of spectators watching:
The storm was part of a fast, strong cold front that roared through in about one hour. The winds stayed strong all night.
A bit of background for what we did next (some of this has been posted on prior logs). We got an email a couple of weeks ago from John and Vicki, proud owners of a new Monk 36 like Integrity. They are Looper "wannabes," work in Naples, FL, near the boat and have a home in Big Pine Key between Marathon and Key West. We had missed seeing them in the Naples/Marco/Goodland area, but Marathon was another opportunity.
The deal was: Vicki and John would provide supper if we would tell them all we could about the Loop and what we did to get the boat ready and such. We, of course, gladly agreed!
Well we finally made arrangements to make it happen, and John and Vicki picked us up as soon as the storm subsided. They drove us to their extremely lovely home on Big Pine Key, gave us a tour of the grounds and home and fed us a gourmet, home-cooked dinner. We all chatted about boats, cooking, landscaping (their grounds are recovering from Wilma), the Great Loop and life in general. It was a delightful evening - one that lasted much later than any of us had planned - but much fun! We promised an open door to them for more questions anytime.
John and Vicki chauffeured us back to the boat and we bid adieux. However, they wanted to come take some more pictures tomorrow. We, of course, agreed.
It was a fun time and delightful dinner. Boat folks are the best! Sorry, no pictures of their home. It was twilight when we got there!
close this window.