We only had about 20 miles to go today so we took our time cleaning up and having breakfast. The forecast was for a south wind of 15 to 20 knots but when we left there was just enough breeze to move the boat out of the harbor. Soon enough though the wind picked up and we began to make good time close hauled on port tack, which would be our point of sail for the whole day's trip. I reefed the main and then the boat balanced very well with the working jib. We arrived at Marathon about 2:30, docked at a nice little marina here, and walked to the nearby Publix for provisions. From here our course will be up the southwest coast of Florida which is completely wild from Flamingo at the tip of Florida all the way around to near Marco. So we wanted to make sure we have enough goodies to keep ourselves happy for several days. While Sandy did laundry I was talking with other boat owners at the marina, who warned of a cold front which will come through tonight with possible high winds from the southwest. The slip where we were docked would have left us fully exposed to a strong southwest wind and would have made us pound against the dock. At their suggestion we moved the boat across the marina to a better protected slip. Sandy cooked up a skillet full of delicious corned beef hash with eggs to celebrate St Patrick's day dinner.
The rocks around the edge of this marina are full of spiny lobster, and there is said to be a resident manatee which we have not yet seen. Sandy saw a little leopard shark here in the marina also.
The most amazing thing today took place during our sail. A flight of about a dozen cormorants flew across our bow from right to left in single file. As expected, they were all black except that the lead bird was snowy white. It looked otherwise like a cormorant but our Sibley's bird book indicates that cormorants are never all white. We have no explanation. But the one white bird leading a string of black ones was a spectacular sight.
The weather forecast for tomorrow is lousy. We may stay here an extra day rather than fight a strong headwind all the way across Florida Bay.
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