We left Key West and The Perry Resort and Marina on New Year’s Eve. It was bittersweet leaving, hated to leave the wonderful amenities but it was time to move on! If I stayed any longer I was going to try to get a job!! Relaxing and trying to have no agenda is harder than it looks!! We met so many nice folks in Key West and especially enjoyed Patrick and Dana from “Exhale” and Graeme and John from “Aquaholic’s”. We traveled about 4 hours out in the Atlantic and arrived at our next dockage, Bahia Honda State Park. The waves were rolling and about 2 feet, a little queasy!! (had nothing to do with John and Graeme’s happy hour!). We spent 2 nights in Bahia Honda Park. The park was part of Henry Flagler’s railway holdings. The railway was completed in 1912 but later destroyed by a hurricane in 1935. the railroad remains were converted to US highway 1. We were able to walk out on the old bridge and get some great pictures.
Leaving Key West after fueling up.
January 2, 2023 we left Bahia Honda Park and headed to Marathon, Florida. We did go outside into the Atlantic for our 2 hour boat ride. We had 2 foot seas and light winds..so not bad! We arrived at Skipjack Marina and are planning to stay here till January 9.
Mike always finds the airplane enthusiasts! Marathon has an Experimental Aircraft Association chapter with a museum. We rode our bikes there and Mike and the “guys” watched planes landing and enjoyed conversations about planes and flying.
Marathon has a turtle hospital! The first state-certified veterinary hospital in the world for sea turtles! Sea turtles are getting debilitating viral tumors called Fibropapilloma. These tumors are uploaded by polluted sea grass and can cause internal and external tumors that can be fatal if not removed. Other ailments such as flipper amputations caused by entanglements from garbage, fishing line and trap lines are treated. Shell damage caused by boat collisions and intestinal impactions caused from ingestion of plastics are treated. It was really interesting and educational. If the turtle has shell damage form a boat strike, gas is released and causes buoyancy issues, the turtles need to have weights glued to the shell to help them swim and dive.
Pictured on the left is a rescued turtle with weights attached. The s gas entrapment syndrome is commonly called “bubble butt syndrome”, and the turtle will not be able to be released to the wild. If the weights came unglued the turtle would perish from malnutrition.
Since arriving here in Marathon we have met some really nice folks. We were greeted on arrival by fellow loopers Gary and Lisa Vidor on their boat Perfect Seas. Gary and Lisa invited us over for a visit. They are planning to travel on to the Bahamas. Our dock neighbors have an evening happy hour on the dock and have been so much fun. The couple next to us, Barbara and Bill have been married 60 years and still cruise to the Keys for winter. The AGLCA (Americas Great Loop Cruisers Association) has an app called Nebo, loopers can keep track of one another with this app. We will attend a looper meeting tonight to meet other folks in the area who are doing the loop. We are planning to ride our bikes to the 7 mile bridge tomorrow, we got halfway there today and I had a flat tire!! The day was not a loss, we stopped at the “Stuffed Pig” for a great breakfast!
