We are here! After several months of planning, eight sailboats from PGSC made landfall at Vaca Key(Marathon) on Tuesday, April 17th. The sailors included Walt & Gaill Glasspool on Patience, Bob & Mary Anderson on JourneyOn, Bill & Jan Lorton On Satisfaction, Marilyn & John Lucy on More Therapy, Jerry & Kat Haller on Jammin', Bob & Sherry Schwalm on Reverie, Nancy & Ken Horn on Pan Sophic, and Matt & Sue Alaimo on Gettinair. The group left Friday the 13th of April and rendesvoused at Pelican Bay. The next day part of the fleet went to Estero, and part of the group took advantage of the afternoon seabreeze to get to Naples and attend the Easter morning church services.
The sailors met up at Marco Island on Sunday afternoon. They were joined by club members Diane & Jack Smith on Crosswinds and Jerry & Dianne Mergler on Voyager for the night.
The following day the fleet planned to sail to Little Shark River and anchor for the night. Patience and Gettinair decided to sail the 74 miles through the night in 20 knot winds arriving at Boot Key in Marathon at 3:30 am. The rest of the group got a good night sleep in the protected anchorage of Little Shark with NO BUGS to be found!
That afternoon, the rest of the fleet arrived at Vaca Key. Half the boats stayed at the local marinas while the others chose to anchor in Boot Key Harbor.
The winds picked up and were blowing N-NE at 20-25 knots, so we decided to explore Marathon for a couple days. We enjoyed the facilities at Sombrero Marina including their dinghy dock, $1.50 showere, and their numerous Happy Hours throughout the day. Note to cruisers: the vacant lot on the canal off Boot Key which has previously been used to tie your dinghy up has "NO Trespassing" signs up and can not be used. We used the Sombrero Marina dock and walked the 1/2 mile to the grocery stores and restaurants.
The group of 18 got together for dinner at "The Lighthouse of Blues" in Marathon and had a wonderful meal with great service. We were joined for dinner by new club members Edie & Peter of "The Blue Parrot", who were also down here enjoying the Keys.
Stayed tune for the second part of the article next month. You will find out the answers to questions...what really happened in Key West, which club member goes on stage at Sloppy Joes and gets a standing ovation, and which dinghies are confinscated by a marina dock master...
Sue Alaimo
(Part 2 of the Key's Cruise can be found HERE)
