After fueling up at Poncho’s, we passed through the Marathon Mooring field on our way to Sombrero Resort Marina. We had heard from Barbara and Ken aboard their 50 foot Marine Trader” Barbara” that they had a great experience hanging on the mooring ball last year, had only planned to stay a few weeks and ended up there for 9 weeks.
I imagined Bob and I doing a similar experience and looked forward to waking up at anchor with a revolving 360 degree view throughout the day. Bob was not as enthused and focused on the more practical points—we would have to dinghy in to shore for everything, the new restroom/shower building was not open yet and boaters were standing in lines to use 2 bathrooms. With 240 mooring balls occupied mostly by sailboats with at least 2 boaters per boat, that is a pretty long line for the bathroom.
Practicality won out after many rounds of compromising by each. I agreed to go to a marina in Marathon if Bob could find one with a good monthly rate, a pool and a location so that we could bike or walk to Sombrero Beach. Sombrero Resort Marina met this criteria and I was happy.
This changed to apprehension as we approached the marina and the dock master, Kyle, directed us to the first slip pictured above. Our boat, Baby Grand, is 32 feet long and 12 feet wide and he assured us that we would fit. We proceeded in slowly which was hard due to the wind and current. Our more slender bow area made it past the rear pilings but as the girth of the mid-section of the boat entered----whoa. The pilings were tight against my beautiful teak that I had obsessively varnished all last summer. Peggy was not happy.
By this time, a crowd had gathered on shore and all were concluding that we were really stuck. Kyle was very apologetic, and with the help of other boaters, gradually pushed us off from either side of the dock so that we could squeeze back out without too much scratching. I protected the teak with towels, and with this great team work, we emerged unscratched.
The dock master directed us to slip 22 in the mega-yacht section, next to a 58 foot Kadey Krogen and 60 foot Offshore—I think we fit in, don’t you?
I imagined Bob and I doing a similar experience and looked forward to waking up at anchor with a revolving 360 degree view throughout the day. Bob was not as enthused and focused on the more practical points—we would have to dinghy in to shore for everything, the new restroom/shower building was not open yet and boaters were standing in lines to use 2 bathrooms. With 240 mooring balls occupied mostly by sailboats with at least 2 boaters per boat, that is a pretty long line for the bathroom.
Practicality won out after many rounds of compromising by each. I agreed to go to a marina in Marathon if Bob could find one with a good monthly rate, a pool and a location so that we could bike or walk to Sombrero Beach. Sombrero Resort Marina met this criteria and I was happy.
This changed to apprehension as we approached the marina and the dock master, Kyle, directed us to the first slip pictured above. Our boat, Baby Grand, is 32 feet long and 12 feet wide and he assured us that we would fit. We proceeded in slowly which was hard due to the wind and current. Our more slender bow area made it past the rear pilings but as the girth of the mid-section of the boat entered----whoa. The pilings were tight against my beautiful teak that I had obsessively varnished all last summer. Peggy was not happy.
By this time, a crowd had gathered on shore and all were concluding that we were really stuck. Kyle was very apologetic, and with the help of other boaters, gradually pushed us off from either side of the dock so that we could squeeze back out without too much scratching. I protected the teak with towels, and with this great team work, we emerged unscratched.
The dock master directed us to slip 22 in the mega-yacht section, next to a 58 foot Kadey Krogen and 60 foot Offshore—I think we fit in, don’t you?
