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Leaving Marathon for Certain

 

lori and cathy

Lounge Ladies

R&R was the theme for Cathy’s visit. Our third visitor awarded Ortolan 5 stars for a perfect-weather getaway in the sun. Cathy left the cold and snow behind in CT and we played in the beautiful weather with her for several days. Kayaking, sailing, swimming, beach-ing and a day in Key West – we did it all.  For a more authentic experience, we threw in marina showers and a chat with one of the marina’s ancient mariners. On Cathy’s last day we jumped for joy at the chance to take a car for groceries; such a treat.
Today we prepped for heading off on Sunday. The strong NE winds are finally easing back and we are eager to move. Our trip north officially begins and it will be a S L O W one. We’ll stop at some fav places and try a few new ones in Georgia which we’d completely zoomed by on the trip south.
Although abandoned by Cathy and Sanuk last Tuesday, we had the good fotune to acquire a new neighbor on the ball next to us; s/v Celise/Spirit, a 48 ft catamaran. Yep- larger than us, but they still wanted to be on our boat! They (Carolyn and Cort) are part time cruisers and half owners of Celise/Spirit.

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Still Messing Around

Tracy shots

I Love Mixology Class

How does this happen? That a one week planned stay turns into three..and it’s perfectly fine because we are enjoying  hanging out , not being on the go constantly and we like visitors! Our friends Chris and Tracy on Sanuk (a Baba 30′) stopped at the harbor on their way north from Key West. They’ll be inching slowly toward home (on the Chesapeake) as the weather warms along the southern states.
Tracy brought the ingredients for a new shot they’d learned: Pineapple Upside Down Cake- Vanilla Rum, Pineapple Juice and Grenadine. You can see just how to make it from Tracy’s demo above.
Over breakfast at the Stuffed Pig on 2/22 we all decided the day was perfect for a trip out to Bahia Honda aboard Ortolan.  An hour and ½ motoring trip took us right off the beach on the ocean side and we dropped the hook in 6 feet of clear water. Dinghied in close to shore where the water was very clear and no sea grass at all. Checked out the park and the tiny harbor (even smaller than No Name) and the water lovers in the group took a dip in the clear water near the dinghy. Back aboard, Russ and Tracy (thanks!) jumped in to scrub the bottom of the hulls.  Once we dropped in hand-hold lines, the relatively easy scrub job became much easier. The hard part is staying with the boat as it bobs in the water. Even in calm conditions, there’s always movement. Dedicated sailors we are (plus, Chris wanted to see the huge sails) we raised the main for the trip back to the harbor. During the short-lived luffing stint, we were rewarded with a sea turtle sighting; could see him swimming near the surface then come up for air. Water depth was about 25 feet.  Sailing very slowly has some advantages!
Next visitor was- ok I’m stretching things a bit here- a marine electronics guy who was to perform warranty work on our chartplotter and install the new antenna sent to us by Maine Cat.

Bahia Honda

Bahia Honda, FL Keys