Marooned in Marathon and the Tree of Knowledge



Boot Key Harbour Mooring Field

We are waiting here in Boot key harbour Marathon for a teak mounting bracket for the Chart plotter  we bought.  Hopefully this will be done this week and we can then wait  some more for the right weather window to cross to the Bahamas.  The teak guy is a Canadian who came here 23 years ago and never went home.  This is recurring story we have heard,  from the waitress at the Schooner Warf bar, the clerk at the southernmost hotel and many expat Canadians anchored here.   We have blogged earlier about the place and some about the interesting neighbours in “the hood”.  Brenda has some additional observations on the men  and life here in "the hood".

What is it with men and their hair?  I am sitting opposite a young fellow, mid 20’s, working on his computer.  He has gross dreadlocks.  I was wondering if I offered him some shampoo and scissors would he do the world a favour and cut his hair.  Another young guy in here had long curly red hair but it is tied back so he doesn't look too bad.  There are many old guys here in the marina with long straggly gray hair and beards.  Are they angry at their mothers, their ex-wives or the world?  They certainly are hoping to be single for the rest of their lives that is for sure.

Tree of Knowledge

Remember when you were in high school and there was a designated smoking area?  Well here at the marina there is a smoking tree.  The taxi drivers refer to this tree as the Tree of Knowledge.  All the smokers go out to the tree in the morning with their coffee, case of beer (yes! - a true breakfast club) newspapers and crossword puzzles and spend some time, discussing world problems and solutions and  telling some wild stories no doubt.  There are a couple of rickety chairs, a log to sit on and a blue box where everyone puts their tin cans for the local homeless man.   

Only tin cans have recycling trade in value in Florida.

Marathon is okay.  It is narrow with the highway running right through the middle but we have met some folks here, everything is handy and we get daily long walks to the grocery, the raw bar (fresh seafood) & West Marine.   We have been here in Boot Key Harbour for four weeks. You may wonder how we entertain ourselves.  The Harbour is a busy place. There are 275 boats all liveaboards and cruisers. So that is about 500 people, likely 100 dogs and an unknown number of cats. Everyone makes several trips daily to the marina for showers, garbage dumping, grocery getting or pet walkies .  It is a small village.  Several days a week there is a line up in the laundry room. Usually one of either the six washers or dryers isn’t working. It is an opportunity to meet the neighbours, get caught up on gossip, or compare notes on stain removal. Occasional harsh words are spoken if the lineup is too long six washers isn’t a lot for 500 people.
 

One of the Dingy Docks

This week we attended a very informative session at the Chiki hut  about celestial navigation. The presenter was a very knowledgeable and made it seem easy.  Yoga takes place three mornings a week at the Chiki hut. There is also boccie, dominoes ,baseball and tennis.

One thing we don’t do is watch TV. The Capt.and I made a decision not to install one on Tango. We have watched some of our favs on the computer but here in Marathon our wifi reception is not good enough.  So we have learned to love the radio again.  We have 2 favourite stations.  One is NPR(National Public Radio) from Miami. Currently I am listening to Garrrison Keillor - A Prairie Home Companion. There are other great shows on NPR. Unfortunately unless the boat is pointing in the right direction we can’t get NPR.   The other station is  Conch Country Radio out of KW. The morning show is BigD and Bubba. There is a little bit of news a little chatter and a whole lot of C &W music.  I have several favourite songs.     My Red Solo Cup,   Why Don’t You Love me Like My Dog Do,  a song about a car painted camouflage and one about wondering if the tide will be coming up to my chair. 

 In the harbour there are several hardcore sailors.  They are young keeners.They delight in putting the rest of us to shame by using sailing dingys to get from their vessels to the marina.  They usually sail faster than the motorized dinghies because motorized dinghies leave a wake if they are driven at any speed at all.  Wakes are big no nos.  We have been yelled at more than once for travelling at greater than 1 mile an hour.

And of course we read. We read all the free newspapers thoroughly.  We read all the other papers through the glass box windows. We read all the Bahamas charts and Bahamas books.  We read other books,too . Currently I am reading a book of France, Chris a book of Viet Nam.  Gotta jet, er, I mean, walk leisurely  up to get my laundry. Boot key has a live cam here http://www.ci.marathon.fl.us/index.aspx?NID=600