We pulled out of Boot Key Harbor in Marathon, FL on Sunday – headed north and east. Bo (and certainly my lovely self) has never sailed these waters before – so every day is a learning day!

Marathon is apparently the “Cruiser’s mecca” and all normal sailboat cruisers (like us!) are supposed to love it here and never want to leave. Um…about that. I was ready to leave. I don’t know if it is because I never got over my funk when we first arrived, or I had just settled into the traveling routine, or what…but 3 weeks in “Cruiser’s mecca” wasn’t exactly mecca.

I should preface this with the fact I flew home for 13 out of the 21 days here, so I wasn’t exactly IN Marathon for much time. But the place really didn’t hold much charm for either one of us.

1. We were kinda lonely. We are both such social people & have strong friend networks just about everywhere we go. In Boot Key we met some great people, but really struggled to find friends. It felt isolating to be out there all day on your boat with no buddies.

2. Mooring Ball life is rather inconvenient. We are glad we did it, and glad to figure out we (and Selah) could get by on the energy produced by our solar panels and water in our water tanks, but life is just more complicated. Some people LOVE it – we will be the kind of people that love paying some extra $$ to live in a marina, if given the chance in 90 degree summer weather.

ps – not our boat…just an example of a mooring ball

To take a shower, take out the trash, workout, go to the store, get ice, check mail, etc, etc…we loaded up in the dinghy and motored over to land. Not a bad ride, and certainly pretty easy – but just about 10 more steps then you want life to be. It is great for a few days – kind of a hassle after 3 weeks. Especially toting laundry, groceries, etc….not to mention sweating through your clothes multiple times per day.

(Also – I have failed to successfully start the dinghy myself – so Bo must drive me around. Which doesn’t do much for independence. The last time I tried it ended in tears and the F word. It’s a work in progress…)

Dinghys all tied up waiting to go…

For those of you wondering about a Mooring Field – consider it like a giant parking lot for boats. Each parking “spot” is a mooring ball – looks like a giant, floating balloon. You attach your boat lines to a line on the mooring ball and it holds you in your parking spot. Like being at anchor without having to drop your anchor.

We paid about $300 for our parking spot and there we sat. No power or water – so basically you are at anchor – without the anchor.  Make sense?

3. Hot. South Florida in the summer is hot. Thank you, Captain Obvious. In your tiny, powerless (no A/C) house it is pretty much a nightmare. It was 90 degrees in our bedroom on the regular. Let’s just say that boat was most definitely not rocking – so feel free to come knocking. Especially if you come bearing a fan or cold drinks….

4. 4th of July was weird. We were grocery shopping at 8pm if that tells you anything. We started out with grand plans that were derailed by the public bus system, but we still rallied. All the way to the Key Lime Pie championships, at which we were judges.  Then we rode the blessedly air conditioned bus 90 minutes back home to the grocery. Unloaded groceries just in time to shower on deck while the fireworks did their thing. Told ya it was weird….

We did make it to a great spot to have my favorite drink of my whole life.