{"id":1254,"date":"2016-02-19T22:10:46","date_gmt":"2016-02-19T22:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2016-02-19T22:10:46","modified_gmt":"2016-02-19T22:10:46","slug":"stuart-to-marathon-february-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/?p=1254","title":{"rendered":"Stuart to Marathon: February 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marathon here we come.\u00a0 The weather forecast looks good for our overnight run.\u00a0 The big question of the day is what time do we push away from the docks.\u00a0 There are lots of parameters to consider: \u00a0\u00a0leave at slack tide here at the marina, be to the shallow areas of the St. Lucie River at high tide, be to the inlet at slack tide, reach Miami and the Hawk Channel in the daylight, and reach Marathon in the daylight.\u00a0 All of these wishes are not compatible.\u00a0 We compromise some of these desires and decide to leave at 12:30 PM.\u00a0\u00a0 This puts us about one hour after slack tide at the marina and we will have a high tide when we reach the shallow areas of the St. Lucie River.\u00a0\u00a0 Exiting the breakwater inlet at 2 PM, we find 3-4 ft. swells and a slight breeze.\u00a0 We should have a great overnight run.<\/p>\n

Christopher and Alexandra aboard Sweet Ride, a 44 ft. Krogen at Sunset Bay, are thinking of running overnight also and ask us to let them know the sea conditions once we get outside the inlet.\u00a0 We call them on the VHF and tell them to come on out conditions are acceptable.\u00a0 They are already on their way and are about one hour behind us.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We decide to do circles and give them time to catch up.\u00a0 It is always nice to have a buddy boat when doing these overnighters. \n\t\t

\n\t\t\t \t\n \"sweeet-ride\"\n\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Running just one mile offshore, we find the seas lumpy but very doable.\u00a0 Fish are jumping out of the water all around us. \u00a0We think they are baby Mahi.\u00a0 Jeff has a cold and doesn\u2019t feel like setting up the lines so we forego fishing. Sweet Ride does wet a line and soon has a small tuna aboard as a reward for their efforts.\u00a0 The seas continue to improve during the day.\u00a0 Reaching the Jupiter inlet at 5:00 PM, the seas are flat calm so we decide to move farther offshore as darkness is approaching.\u00a0 This will give us an extra margin of safety from the fishing boats running close to shore and also should keep us away from any lobster pots.\u00a0 Out 2 \u00bd miles from shore, our speed drops considerable while the seas continue to build.\u00a0 We must be catching part of the Gulf Stream and have lost 3 knots of speed.\u00a0 After an hour of this, we radio Sweet Ride and the decision is made to move back closer to shore.\u00a0 Sure enough, our sped picks up to the normal 8 knots.<\/p>\n

The overnight is uneventful.\u00a0 Jeff gets lots of practice using his new FLIR.\u00a0 \n\t\t

\n\t\t\t \t\n \"image_0\"\n\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n It is nice to be able to visually confirm the boats and buoys that we pick up on the radar.\u00a0 Nearing Port Everglades at 3:30 AM, our AIS lights up with several cruise ships.\u00a0 We divert our path staying well out of their way.\u00a0 5:30 AM finds us approaching the busy Miami port.\u00a0 Ideally it would have been nice to transit this area in daylight.\u00a0 There are several container ships anchored along with two cruise ships on the approach to the inlet.\u00a0 We again divert our course and stay well out of their path.\u00a0 Sweet Ride follows close behind.<\/p>\n

The sun is just peeking above the horizon as we reach Key Biscayne and our entrance to the Hawk Channel.\u00a0\u00a0 This route will take us inside the barrier reef all the way to Marathon.\u00a0 With lots of crab traps, we timed our travels on this section of waterway to be during daylight.\u00a0 Other than dodging the many traps, we have a pleasant trip and are soon to our anchorage off Rodriguez Key.\u00a0 \n\t\t

\n\t\t\t \t\n \"dsc_0013\"\n\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n Christopher and Alexandra graciously invite us to lunch aboard Sweet Ride. The Tuna that Christopher caught yesterday is soon on the grill.\u00a0 We say our goodbyes to Christopher and Alexandra as they will be making the jump over to the Bahamas in the next few days.\u00a0 Back aboard IT, it is early to bed for us as we are tired from our overnight passage. \n\t\t
\n\t\t\t \t\n \"image_2\"\n\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n <\/p>\n

We are underway early the next morning for our six hour run to Marathon.\u00a0 The Hawk Channel is somewhat rough today with seas building to five feet.\u00a0 We are glad to see the Sombrero Reef Light and our entrance into Boot Key Harbor. \n\t\t

\n\t\t\t \t\n \"dsc_0025\"\n\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 As we approach Marathon Marina we see a group of our Krogen friends on the dock ready to catch our lines.\u00a0 We immediately begin to feel at home here as many of the other boaters come by and welcome us to Marathon Marina.\u00a0 Most of the boaters here are long time winter residents.\u00a0 Due to its location at the entrance to Marathon Harbor and the western sunset views of Seven Mile Bridge, reservations here are hard to come by. \n\t\t
\n\t\t\t \t\n \"image\"\n\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \u00a0 We reserved our slip a year in advance.<\/p>\n

Meg and Jamie aboard Wanderers Rest invite us to dinner aboard their Krogen this evening.\u00a0 \u00a0Paul, aboard the Krogen Bulldog Sally joins us.\u00a0 It is a great way to begin our two month stay here in Marathon.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Wanderers Rest will be leaving tomorrow on their way to Key West and then on to western Florida.\u00a0 We end the evening with goodbyes and hope our paths cross again soon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Total Miles This Trip: 222<\/p>\n

Total Miles This Year: 222<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marathon here we come.\u00a0 The weather forecast looks good for our overnight run.\u00a0 The big question of the ...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1254"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1260,"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254\/revisions\/1260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}