Lorenzo & Delois Johnson

We are now docked in our slip in Marathon.  Very glad to be here at 1 palm tree court!!!

We left Ft Lauderdale on Sunday morning.  Heavy winds were predicted starting on Monday evening, so we wanted to get across Biscayne Bay before the heavy winds arrived.  We did not stop at Boca Chita as planned, but made a long day and stopped at Tarpon Basin on Monday evening. 

We anchored and rafted together to wait out the bad weather.  We were a group of four boats now.  While in Ft Lauderdale, We met a couple from Saint James, near Southport, who were on their way to the keys, and we welcomed them into our group.

We spent 2 days and 3 nights in Tarpon Basin.  Kaye caught catfish and was thrilled every time she got a bite.  We cooked and shared our meals, and had a really relaxing time.   Our dockage reservations start on Feb 1, so we had to wait for our slips to become available.

This morning, we left the anchorage to travel the remaining distance (60 miles) to Marathon.  It was a very tense trip, avoiding crab traps and searching for deeper water.  The depth alarm was almost continously alarming all the way across Florida Bay.`

We arrived at the seven mile bridge at 1:30, and saw Grover, our dock mate from Holden Beach, waving as we went under the bridge.  Passing under this bridge was our last challenge; we clear the bridge by only 1 foot. 

We had a happy reunion at the dock.  All of our Looper friends and friends from last year were here to meet us. 

We have had a really good trip.  We had challenges, and overcame them.  We had a really good time, and we are now looking forward to enjoying all that this area has to offer.  The weather is perfect, but we still need to run the A/C around the clock.

Tonight, our entire group met at the Dockside restaurant here on the dock to have their Wednesday prime rib special.  We really had a good time visiting and catching up on the tall tales.  Really looking forward to the next two months here.