Log Book: February 8th

Conditions: 10 knot ESE wind

Location: Marathon

We left Rodriguez Key early this morning for Marathon. I don't know if it was that we are now unaccustomed to being under way, or that we didn't sleep well, or that the sun was beating down on us all day but the trip was exhausting. Dad and I both agreed that it seemed like we had been sailing for days. On the way we saw mile after mile of untamed mangrove islands. There aren't many beaches in the keys because the shores are over taken with the trees. They're gorgeous but after a while we got sick of them. We also saw more than a few Portuguese man o' war and a baby sea turtle that shot off like a bullet away from the boat. I fell asleep on deck and got a sunburn while Dad relaxed behind the wheel with a beer. When we got to the Seven Mile Bridge in Marathon the mooring field we expected to find was no where in sight. Somewhere around here there is about a hundred moorings hidden, we just couldn't see them. We dropped the hook out by a few other sailboats and called up the city marina to see if they had any space available for us. Unfortunately Dad and I had no set plan so we didn't call a marina ahead for a reservation in Marathon, big mistake. Every place we called said that we could get on their 'waiting list'. Finally we got a bite with a marina on the Florida Bay side of Marathon. The marina was only a two hour sail but were so exhausted and already quiet settled that we told them we would get there in the early morning. We plan to take and early afternoon bus into Key West tomorrow and see what all the fuss is about. Dad and I went for a swim to cure the slight seasickness we were feeling and called it a night.

What we ate: leftovers