We spent the last day of February doing some boat cleaning, getting the salt off, really have to keep up to keep the shine with the stainless. We put the bikes together after our hard work and headed to the beach on the Atlantic Ocean. Real nice beach and probably a 2 mile ride from the boat. Lots of sea grass in the water and beach, it was nice to see people on the beach and in the water.
We decided after that ride that it was time to get bigger and softer seats for the bikes. Went to K-Mart where they had some nice soft seats which our now on the bikes with the small old ones stored far back in a cupboard. There was a diver here when we got back cleaning boat bottoms. People that had been here since November had some serious growth on their bottoms. I asked him if he had time to check my strainers, bottom and props. We have been feeling a vibration since we got into that log jam flow on the Tenn River. He said bottom and strainers looked great but one blade on each prop had a slight bend but no tears or nicks. Lin & I decided to have him replace them with our 31's we had fixed and balanced. I think we get better fuel economy with the 31's we will see. He is coming back on Wednesday to do the switch. Now for me it is back in the engine room to haul the props out. Hopefully he won't drop the key or nuts but the water is really clear here and not too deep. He says he will lower the props by rope, should be interesting to watch.
March 1st.
Today we decided to take the bus from Marathon to Key West. No one was really sure of the bus schedule nor did they have one. Some said it came on the hour some said 20 after and others said 20 of the hour. With that in mind we headed out hoping on the hour. At the bus stop we sat with a women who could not understand or speak English. We waited for over an hour for the bus to come. Finally it arrived and we were on our way To Key West. The ride took us thru all the keys From Marathon to Key West, also got to see the Naval Air Station on the way. I had forgotten that was here in the Keys. After an hour we arrived at the Sears Mall and were told it was only a short walk to Duval Street, WRONG it took us an hour and half plus some sore legs to reach Duval Street, but we can now say we have seen Key West. We went to the southern most beach and pier in The United States. We were only 90 miles from Cuba. We did walk up Duval Street and visited most of the shops along the way. Off the beaten path there were some old houses and hotels. The weather was great but we could have stood a little breeze. We stopped at Willie T's for a refreshing beverage, not the Willie T's in BVI but the beer was cold. They estimate there are 10,000 $1.00 bills stapled on walls, ceiling, and any flat surface there.
Only seeing local tour buses and not many caps we figured we could make the walk back. We did not want to miss the last bus back to Marathon at 9:45. When we got back to Sears we had over an hour wait for the bus, so sounded like ice cream time to us. The ride back was uneventful as it was dark and had no idea where we were, but did know the last stop was Marathon. From the bus stop it was about a 15 minute walk to the boat. We certainly got our exercise in today.
March 2nd
Rich the diver who checked our bottom showed up at 10am to replace the props.
I had dug the props out early in the morning and had them on the back deck.
I was on the rope to bring the props up to the dock and lower the new ones down to Rich.
First prop went off and on with out much problem, but the second one was not so easy.
When we caught the log it had some how twisted the cotter key which made it difficult to get out. After about an hour he was finally able to get it out using an allen wrench as a drift pin.
After the key was out things went better and the old was off and new on. It was now past 1pm. There was a presentation being given at 1pm on traveling from Marathon to Norfolk by a member of the AGLCA, so up went Lin with charts and note pad. Once I was done with Rich and the props I headed up to the presentation. It was very informative and gave Lin and I a better feeling and handle on our adventure from here up to Norfolk. He gave marinas and anchorages along the way, both ones he would use, ones he would not and ones he has not tried. Also gave fuel stops along the way. He gave us a nice handout with stops and mileages. Overall it took about three hours and was well worth the time.
Lin & Rich
Sombreo Dockside Marina
Marathon in the Keys
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