Flying Iguanas

Chrisy's fears have been reasonably well chronicled in these posts, but you may need a refresher.  First, there were the rattlesnakes on Beausoleil Island. Roger mentioned that there was a slight chance of seeing one and that was enough for Chrisy to cancel all future walks on the island.  Then there was an actual bear sighting in John Harbor which meant that Roger needed to do all future walks for Millie. There have been numerous issues with alligators in the rivers and more recently in Cayo Costa where a cruiser's report of a gator and some potential paw prints keep Chrisy at a safe distance.  

The most recent incident came when a pre-historic-looking iguana fell out of a tree into the marina about 30 feet from where we were minding our own business giving Millie a much-needed shampoo and trim.  The beast was about two and a half feet long and allegedly has a nasty set of chompers.  Chrisy did manage to finish up with Millie, but she was on constant alert.

We had a very successful Gulf crossing from Marco Island to Marathon. The seas were dead, flat, and calm - perfect for Egret. After years of sailing, Roger is still getting used to defining "perfect cruising weather" as dead, flat, and calm.  We made the 80+ mile trip in a little over 5 hours, and our only obstacles were the untold number of crab pots along the route.  They put the Maine lobster pots to shame.  Actually, another obstacle was the depth of the water.  We left Marco Island at low tide - not our choice but we needed to leave early before any winds kicked up - so our route out of the anchorage at Smokehouse Bay was very shallow. The Gulf itself is also very shallow and we rarely saw depths over 25 feet.  The entrance into the Marathon Yacht Club was also very shallow.  We shoehorned ourselves into our slip at about 1:15 and we are very content.  We're not sure what the next week brings as we have over a week to kill before getting to Key West. 

Our statistics: we have traveled 3,514 nautical miles which for the landlubbers that's a little over 4,000 normal miles, used 1,718 gallons of fuel, and been underway for 366 hours.  Our average speed has been 9.6 knots and we've averaged a little over 2 miles per gallon.  Our trip has been a total of 251 days so far and we have been off the boat for 51 days. Of the 200 days we've been on the boat we have been in a marina 60% of the time, on an anchor 26%, on a mooring 2%, and on a free wall or a free mooring 12%.

One of the many fun aspects of being on the Great Loop is being able to catch up with friends that we haven't seen in years.  Such is the case with Michael and Eileen Strange and Andy and Mary Strange. We even managed to play pickleball with all the Stranges.

We're frequently asked if we do any fishing to which we frequently reply that we couldn't fish if they jumped in the boat.  Well, Roger tried to rectify that by going on a charter fishing trip out of Marathon. Look at that monster of the sea. A fisherman is born. 

E.A.G.L.E.S.

Super fun catching up with great friends from Chestnut Hill - the Jacobys - at their wonderful home in Marco.