A Week Aboard S/V Sabado: 3/6/2022 – 3/13/2022

Hi hi! Before we jump into things- we’re back on YouTube! You can watch this week’s video here.

Last Sunday we ventured out, despite the wind, and headed to shore. It was a bumpy dinghy ride, but we were excited to be getting off the boat! We dinghied through a massive mooring field (this photo doesn’t even do it justice- it went on like this for miles!) 

and pulled into the Marathon City Marina, where we heard dinghy day passes were available. After an unnecessarily complicated sign-in process + a $20 fee, we were free to explore. 

The marina itself was pretty nice. They had WiFi, showers, etc., and a huge dinghy dock. 

We mooched some WiFi for a bit before deciding to haul our laundry to a nearby laundromat. We dropped everything off for a 24hr wash/dry/fold service, then headed over to Key Fisheries for lunch. Aside from that, it didn’t look like there was much to do in Marathon. We decided to head home, knowing we’d be back tomorrow to pick up our laundry and maybe some fresh veggies while we’re at it.

We spent the next few days doing nothing in particular. We picked up our laundry, had some beers at the local bar while waiting for our groceries to be delivered, tidied up, and relaxed. We watched a pod of dolphins that came through the anchorage regularly, and it looked like they had some babies with them!

By Thursday, we were tired of Marathon. We didn’t have good sailing conditions, but we decided to make a short hop to Summerland Key for a change of scenery. It was a gorgeous day- sunny and 80 degrees, perfect boating weather. 

We dodged lobster traps for a couple of hours, then threaded our way through some shallow waters before dropping anchor in a practically empty anchorage! 

We sat down and filmed a chatty little clip for our YouTube video, then decided to go to shore to check out our new town. This place is exactly how I pictured the Florida Keys- swampy canals, a mix of waterfront mansions and podunk shacks, tiki bars, and shallow blue/green waters. 

We found a restaurant with a dinghy dock and tied up for lunch and a cocktail or two. 

I’m happy to report that once it got dark, we noticed the switches on our control panel were no longer glowing (re: last week’s update)! Guess there was some weird radio frequency interference going on in Marathon…

The next day a cold front we had been anticipating arrived. One moment it was calm, warm, and sunny, and the next, we were surrounded by dark clouds and 45kn of wind! Luckily the anchorage was still pretty empty, so we weren’t stressed…it was actually pretty exciting! We sat out on the bow and watched the chaos until we started getting pelted with rain, then we retreated to the salon. 

The storm lasted a few hours, with 56kn being the highest wind measurement we saw. It’s still pretty windy this morning, but the sunshine is back! We’ll probably stick around here for a couple more days while things calm down before making our next move.

I hope you had a great week!❤️