Marathon (Boot Key Harbor)

Our original plan for this winter was to be in Boot Key Harbor before Christmas and to secure a mooring for a month. Boot Key Harbor is one of the major gathering places for cruisers in the winter. There are 246 moorings, ample room for anchoring, although it is tight because there are so many boats.. The major attraction is that it is a well protected harbor and the City Marina which maintains the mooring field is extremely friendly with good facilities. The delays for Windsong caused us to finally arrive here two months late. This turned out to be a blessing. While it is a nice place we are now glad we did not spend a whole month here, especially with the unusually cool weather this year for Florida. In hindsight spending the time in Cocoa was a much better option. We stayed a week in Boot Key Harbor and enjoyed our stay, but a week was plenty for us. We have concluded these large gathering places where cruisers stay for extended periods with organized activities is not our thing. John and Linda Piper now have their boat in Fort Myers. We last saw them in Solomons as they passed on their way south. They just returned to their boat after spending a couple months back in Ohio. They drove down from Fort Myers to Marathon (Boot Key) to visit with us. While the visit was short as they drove both ways in the same day, it was so nice to see them again and it was the highlight of our stop in Marathon. The troubles for Windsong continue. They discovered a leak in the hydraulics for their steering after arriving in Boot Key. That has been fixed, but then Ted developed some medical problems which required a trip to the hospital. He is feeling better now, but needs a followup visit before being cleared to travel. We have moved on to Key West without Windsong given the level of uncertainty that they will be able to continue. We are hopeful that they will catch up with us.