Note: I expect that most people who are mechanically inclined could have done this whole job in one afternoon…
Earlier this week Coleen got a real live civics lesson as we attended a special town meeting. It seems Marathon was selected as one of 5 Florida communities to be involved in pilot program. The purpose of the program seemed somewhat fuzzy – to promote use of mooring balls, deal with derelict boats, protect the marine environment, etc… The local boating community and BoatUS seems to think it’s another attempt to regulate anchoring and live-aboards. Unfortunately derelict, abandoned boats are a real issue that are not only a hazard to navigation, but the removal is a huge cost to tax payers. The purpose of the meeting was to solicit ideas for a solution, but in my opinion it was not successful – except that perhaps they now understand that increasing the number of moorings is in no way a solution.
Last night I talked DJ into babysitting, and had a night to myself. I met up with a couple of other cruisers and we headed over to the local Sail and Power Squadron meeting hall to see a film on marine sanctuaries. Then we spent a couple of hours in one of the local nightspots sharing cruising stories. It was a pretty good time, and I got some tips on how to find, interview and select crew.
Today we are headed to Bahia Honda state park for a beach day with the local home school group. It’s just across the 7 mile bridge and is supposed to be the most beautiful beach in the Keys. It should be an adventure as we are going to figure out how to get there by local bus…. More on that later….got to get busy and make a picnic lunch.
OK back from our Bahia Honda adventure. Note to self: do not wear flip flops when going on an adventure! We had a short bus ride across the 7 mile bridge and were dropped off at the entrance to the state park. Little did we know that we still had a 2 mile walk to get to the lovely beach! Bad idea in flip flops. Thankfully we did have the foresight to bring our little rolling cart for our beach gear. A park ranger passed by us in his speedy golf cart at one point and commented that we really should go back for our car as it’s a very long walk! The beach was lovely, long stretches of white sand and clear green water. Coleen had a wonderful time playing on a body board in the waves with a friend.