Getting It Up – Marathon, Florida, USA, March 20, 2025

Still sitting on the dock in Marathon, Florida we finally finished the rigging replacement and solar arch!  It has been about 6 weeks since we took possession of the boat and the list of projects has been long but is now complete.  The crane showed up and the mast was put back up today.  It took four guys to wrestle the boom and main sail back on and I am glad it was something we did not have to do ourselves.  Our amazing rigging guy Anthony did a great job from Onboard Rigging.  Thank you.  He was a lot of fun to work with and I think Ron really enjoyed the process more than expected.

Since we have been in the keys for nearly 6 weeks and simply in Marathon for 3 we have had a chance to make some new friends from Dockside Bar & Grill, where the $2 beers were great!  First off, the bartender “generator” & her husband were a lot of fun, then there was Mark and Rick, our two Michigan friends and fans.  Rick comes down for 6 months each year and I think Mark is a sheriff here.  Each time we went there the banter once he found out I was a vegetarian got intense and then when he found out I was an OSU graduate it got even worse.  By the time we were ready to leave I had a little going away present for him.  I found a t-shirt online that I simply had to have.  It said “Meet Dick, Dick is a Michigan Fan” then on the back it said “Don’t be a Dick.”  I wore this to Dockside on our last night just to even the score on all the references I took to bacon and OSU.  Anyway, we had a lot of fun with these two and now have two new friends.

Once again, per our nomadic lifestyle, it was time to go.  Our project list is complete and a weather window to make the jump has presented itself, so we are going directly from Marathon, Florida to the Berry Islands, Bahamas.  It will be our second longest sail, 198 miles, and 32 hours.  It is also our first test sail with the new rigging and solar.  We are leaving on Saturday Morning.