The Marathon sojourn cut short--we find a buddy boat and head out

Leaving Marathon, Feb 21, 2011

First light.  We got up at 5:00, readied Sevilla for a long day at sea, heading to Rodriguez Key.  Our buddy boat for the day was Ariosa, a 45 foot Beneteau, rigged up to be sailed single handed by Captain Mike Pittinger, an electronics/electrical genius from Baltimore.  He was accompanied by his friend Ed, who is a fellow Singles on Sailboats member from Philadelphia.

On the way out of the channel we passed several fuel stations.  Note the prices.  Faro Blanco was another marina and fuel station that was destroyed in one of the hurricanes a few years ago.  That valuable property has not been rebuilt.

It was extremely low tide when we left; you can see how the birds were practically standing on little islands.

We were motor sailing assisted by the jib, gingerly avoiding the crabpots along the Hawk Channel until midmorning, when we seemed to hit something.  Sevilla shuddered, the engine growled and groaned; she halted; Glen turned the engine off; hoisted the mainsail,  and started searching for the problem.  The big noise seemed to have been under the stern in the propeller.

Please, don’t let it be our new transmission, I prayed as I nervously steered her.  We sailed fast;  Glen was checking the oil that he had changed just a few days before.  We started passing Ariosa; too close, and he hailed me on the VHF to “veer off.”  Which, of course, I immediately did, so embarrassed to have found myself even passing him.

So Captain Glen couldn’t find anything wrong and thought we might have gotten tangled in a crab pot or fishing line or some such nuisance in the propeller.  Since we were headed 50 miles down to Rodriguez Key and had favorable winds, we just kept sailing.  All the while we were planning for any contingencies.  Unfortunately, Jim Brittingham wasn’t there to return the towing favor that we had give him a few years back on the Chesapeake, so we were at the mercy of the breezes and our ingenuity.  I forgot to mention, that the waters were full of an armada of Portuguese Men of War.  Little blue devils with tentacles from hell floating everywhere.  We were not too keen on diving to check the propeller, nor was the captain of our buddy boat, so we just pressed on, knowing that there would be CCYC help awaiting us in Rodriguez Key.

To the rescue!  Once again, the Blisses from Brunelle, who, with Andiamo and Pekabu, were awaiting the early Tuesday morning departure from the Key to the Bahamas.  Dan had been diving that day, doing some last minute adjustment to his new propeller and had diving gear ready to go should we need it.

We sailed up to R. Key, dropped the main, kept the jenny up and coasted a ways into the anchorage.  Dan suggested we put the gear in reverse and forward to see if we could ditch the entanglement.  Common sense.  And it worked. I saw a bunch of sea grass and a fat Man of War pop out from under the stern. We started the engine; she sounded OK.  And we proceeded to drop an anchor.  Dan and Martha dinghied over to us, and, using their glass bottomed bucket, checked out our propeller.  It still had some grass on it, but we think it was pretty clear.  They also checked our anchor holding and gave it their approval.  It was going to be a windy night in the anchorage.

So we said our good byes, and wished them fair winds as they started the Bahamas phase of our sailing adventure.  Alas, Sevilla had  to start northward and would not be sharing their fun.

But we have plans of our own!  On to Miami and South Beach!  Let the fun begin.

Our best to all,

Glen and Maureen

Rodriguez Key, FL

February 21, 2011