Getting ready to leave Marathon!

The past week here has been fabulous!  After returning from Soren's B Day, we have kept busy provisions the boat for the next  2 1/2 months.  Key questions, like how many rolls of Marine toilet paper, Bloody Mary mix,  bottles of booze, etc. do we need.  We hear that US domestic beer in the Bahamas can go for $60/ case.  For our MN boater friends Karen and Reed met us for lunch on Tuesday, thank you for drivin over to see us.

Sunday night the Ocean Reef Yacht club moved in OMG!  Mostly 70- 130 foot yachts.  The most expensive was reportedly 25 million. Several had 34 foot Boston Whalers with Triple 300's as tenders. The attached picture of the power cat is 86 foot in length and a 34 ft beam!  Spot the captain on the bridge and you can see the scale!

We have enjoyed great biking out on the Flagler railroad trestle, we could see a 10 foot shark in the water 30 feet below us!  Swimming  at the  pool and just chill'n has been great.  Last night the Marina threw a great  hospitality night with free apps and drinks!

Our rigid plan of infinite flexibility is as follows.  We should leave Marathon some time this coming Sat. - Monday weather dependent,  still messing with Northerly winds blowing through. We will head to Plantation   Key just North of Islamorada and stay there until around the 14th.  We will be traveling with new friends DeVere and Carrol on Work Site ( 48 ft Sedan Bridge) and Tom and Julie on Sum Escape (47 ft Grand Banks).  Our plan is to catch a weather indoor and shoot straight to Bimini, then work our way down the Berry Islands to Nassau.  We will spend 2 nights at the Atlantis Resort and Marina and then head south to the Exumas and Stanley Kay.  We will then turn North and cruise up the Abacos to Marsh Harbor. From there we will follow the Islands north and then West to Freeport where we will cross back to  Stuart FL.  We will head across Lake   Okeechobee to Fort Myers and then home late May.  Our Proposed loop from Florida around the Bahamas and back to Stuart should be about 600 miles!