Caribbean – Diary – Volume II – No. 24
17.03. – 18.03.2025
Stranded in Marathon…
It's Susi and Gordon's last day on board. We want to explore where we can take them ashore tomorrow with the dinghy. We also want to visit Marathon Island and the Turtle Hospital.
After a more than sumptuous breakfast, we set off in the dinghy along the coast and then into the town's canals, accompanied by seagulls and pelicans.
Manatees are also said to be found here, and we hope to see them again. We keep noticing movement in the water and hope for another encounter. We reach the Castaway Restaurant, where we can use the dinghy dock.
From the roof of the restaurant, water from the air conditioning system drips into the water in a small trickle – a manatee prepares to drink from the water jet – it's not easy for the large manatee, but she's inventive...
After this uplifting encounter with wildlife, we set off on foot to the Turtle Hospital, passing a Starbucks and bravely crossing a multi-lane highway.
Unfortunately, we realize that no one was waiting for us there…"Do you have a reservation?"… "No…? Then it won't happen today – all the tours are fully booked…" So we leave without accomplishing anything and walk back to the dinghy.
We decide to have a drink and a bite to eat at the restaurant. We try the Florida specialty: Lime Key Pie, accompanied by freshly tapped beer. Gordon and Susi try conch fritters. Florian helps combat the lionfish plague and orders sushi made with this lionfish...
So strengthened, we make our way to the dinghy and watch as pelicans are fed with fish scraps across the street, and as soon as the fisherman turns on his hose to clean the jetty, the manatees frolic there...
So we take the dinghy closer to watch the spectacle. Four manatees are frolicking at the dock, trying to drink freshwater. "The manatees love freshwater," a local informs us...
We can definitely see this for ourselves and take great pictures and videos of this rare species.
We explore the extensive coastline a little more in search of the ideal disembarkation point for our guests and then we head back to the Joline.
An unpleasant surprise awaits us here. The wind and low tide have caused the boat to dry out... Joline is no longer swimming and is stuck in the mud... We just manage to get the dinghy to the port side berth. That morning, the neighbors had warned us, "It's about to get very shallow next to your anchorage..." Unfortunately, we couldn't find a better anchorage, as the bay is full of boats, so we decided to stay where we were in the stiff breeze. Now it turns out the warning was justified. Seaweed is popping out of the water all around our boat; it almost looks like we're water camping with the catamaran...
In addition to the low tide, the wind has pushed the water out of the lagoon, making the water level significantly lower than when we came in at the last low tide. Furthermore, the anchor didn't hold properly in the super soft mud, and we drifted a few meters. Florian and Bernd secured the boat to the side with a second anchor so that the wind didn't push us further into the shallow water in front of the mangroves. Then it was a matter of waiting. High tide was at 30 a.m. at night, but the maneuver was too risky in the dark. On top of that, the wind was blowing from the side at up to 13 knots. The next day, high tide was just before XNUMX p.m., and the wind was expected to die down. We hoped that by then there would be enough water beneath Joline again to allow us to make our way into deeper water.
After a final breakfast together around 10 a.m., the water level had risen significantly again. Bernd and Florian checked the shallows on Google Maps and then devised a plan to use the auxiliary anchor to turn the boat out of the mud and then pull it into a channel. And their efforts were crowned with success – the anchor winch and motors managed to move the boat. After a few minutes, we were swimming again, leaving behind a considerable patch of mud... It's a good thing our catamaran can dry out completely if necessary. A feature that definitely helped us.
Now the two anchors have to be pulled aboard in the tight anchorage, and then the search for a new spot for Joline begins. We sail back and forth between the boats, and several attempts to anchor fail – the bottom is super soft everywhere and doesn't hold our anchor, or we get too close to the other boats or the shipping lane...
After several attempts, we finally find a small place to stay – in time to say goodbye to Gordon and Susi and go ashore in the dinghy.
A beautiful, eventful, and, above all, wildlife-rich journey together is coming to an end. Florian will remain on board and accompany us to Key West.
After the exertion and excitement of the last few hours, we decide to end the day quietly in Marathon and not sail again until tomorrow – first of all, we enjoy the fact that we have a hand's breadth of water under the keel again... Just to be on the safe side, we have also dropped the second anchor.
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