2022: Exploring Marathon by Dinghy

 6 January 2022 - Thursday

Dinghy Exploration

A few days ago, "All Talk II" contacted us and asked us to join them to go exploring by dinghy. We had other plans that precluded us partaking of that particular outing. Having checked the weather, they asked us to join them for another outing today. Thursday is our scheduled holding tank pump-out day, so we said we could leave as soon as that was done. 

When we woke this morning, we had a strong wind generating waves in the bay. I wondered if that meant our dinghy trip would be cancelled. A quick check of the weather app indicated that the wind would drop off around noon. I had discussed an 11:00 departure time. Besides "All Talk II", another couple, Mike and Mary, planned to join us on our adventure. 

As 11:00 approached, there was no sign of the pump-out crew coming around. I started to worry about timing for our outing. While I waited, I used a boat hook to sweep away sea grass. After that I vacuumed the boat. Finally, the pump-out guys came by and we got that job done. 

Meanwhile, something had come up with "All Talk II" and they were not yet ready to depart, so we did some more waiting. The whole morning as I anxiously awaited our dinghy trip, Clark was in his work clothes polishing the starboard side of the boat - the same side he worked on all day yesterday. He's been trying to get it to look good and it has been tough going!

He stopped to do the pump-out, and then went back to it after. When the wind settled down, he took the dinghy down and topped it up with gas ready for our trip. We got word from "All Talk II" that we should eat lunch and go after, so at just after 1:00 we were finally ready to set off for the unkown.

The motors on our dinghies were not at all matched. "All Talk II" has a 70 hp, we have a 40 hp, and Mike and Mary had a 9.9 hp. I thought "this should be interesting". Before we got going on the exploration part of the trip, Mike said they needed to get gas at Faro Blanco. Clark decided we should take advantage and go visit our friends there. 

We met friends visiting Sandy and Bill, and we chatted with Mel on "Morning Star II".  What really caught our eye in the marina was a strange raft with a ladder on it. "What in the World?!" As we stared at the contraption, our old friend and staff member at Faro Blanco climbed aboard the raft. Someone yelled that we should give him a tow, so we through him a line and towed him away from the dock. We have towed a number of boats in our day, but this was indeed a first!

He asked that we drop him off at the first pole - one we used to be tied to when we stayed at Faro Blanco. His mission, should he be successful, was to put caps on the poles to keep the pelicans off.

Josh with black cap for the pole. 

No way on earth anyone would convince me to climb a ladder on a raft!

Josh ready to get to work.

Josh's last words to us as we pulled away to rejoin our dinghy caravan were, "I should have brought a paddle!" I am left wondering how he managed to get back to shore.

After some discussion, we decided to go look for the yellow submarine near Boot Key.  As we left Faro Blanco to start our dinghy voyage, we noted that we were not the only ones enjoying the now calm waters of the bay.

Kayak and SUP
Person on SUP was worried, but we made no wake for her.

Parasailing Trip further out in bay

Not surprising with our dissimilar engines, Mike and Mark came along in 3rd place.

Mike and Mary

Having just biked to the 7 Mile Bridge yesterday, I was interested to get the view from the water.

Park at entrance to 7 Mile Bridge

After passing under the 7 Mile Bridge, we saw the Sunset Grill restaurant. Lots of boats were zipping through this area and stirring things up on the water.

Sunset Grill in background

Susie and Steve on "All Talk II" Dinghy

Sadly, the wave action turned out to be too much for Mike and Mary. They told All Talk it was too rocky and turned around to return to Marlin Bay.  We continued on to find the entrance to the site of the yellow submarine.

We found a lot of boats, mostly sailboats, anchored near Boot Key. Clark traveled at no-wake speed and it took a while for us to get past all the boats at anchor. Finally, we got to the entrance to the mangroves where a number of sunken boats reside including the yellow submarine.

The entrance into the mangroves is shallow and marked with white sticks - some with red tape on them to show the way in.  As we got closer in, Clark lifted his outboard a bit for the shallower water.

White sticks show the channel into the mangroves

Bit of yellow ahead - must be the sub

Yep! There's the rusty, yellow sub

More sub pictures ...

Yellow sub with boat docked right around behind it

The bow is deep in the mangroves

All Talk wanted a closer inspection than we
were interested in!

With more than one path / off-shoots through the mangroves, we decided to keep going and explore some more.  We passed a place that is obviously set up for fish trap handling with long wooden ramps to move the traps in from any returning boat.

Fish trap landing

We saw many reflections of the mangroves as we
toured the area.

We found the end-of-the-line here at these boats.
"No Trespassing"!

The boats were wedged in at the end of the waterway with lines tied to both sides. Clark wondered aloud what was beyond the boats, and I worried that he would try to find out. I saw many ways to get into trouble here with lines tied across the waterway and very tight quarters. He wisely decided to turn around, but in the close quarters had difficulty getting the dinghy turned. I found it more than a bit nerve-wracking with things in the water and obstacles on the shore. We backed up to a wider point where All Talk had turned around and made an about face there!

Now "All Talk" is in the lead

As we left the area, we got another look at the area where the fish traps come in. 

After that we turned down another side channel to explore some more. I knew that, in the past, at the end of this part of the waterway, there was a boat graveyard. It was still there.

Most of this boat is underwater

The underwater hull can be hard to see.
I was worried when we got close that we might hit.

Other side of the channel - another "dead" boat.

Several sunken boats together.

Now we know where old boats go to die.

View of a different access point for the
fish trap processing setup.

After seeing the points of interest in the mangroves, it was time to exit and explore elsewhere.

Heading back towards the Atlantic Ocean.

A few days ago, Sandy drove us around and showed us Coconut Cay Resort, which is near the Marathon Airport, from a car point of view. I wanted to see it from the perspective of the water. We set out for this new destination. We had to pass back under the 7 Mile Bridge, past Faro Blanco, past Marlin Bay Marina, and further on until we approached the airport. We could see and hear planes coming and going. 

The waterway into Coconut Cay is all manmade canals. On practically every dock we saw a "no wake" sign warning us not to speed through the area. Before entering the canals we saw an amazing sight.

The Proverbial GLASS House!

People who should not throw stones!

What a difference to go from sunken and derelict boats to nice homes on the water.

Entrance to canals

"Idle speed no wake on almost every dock"

Some folks exhibit a lot of creativity / imagination. The house shown below has a fenced property. It looks like there is a hedge at one end. It is not a hedge. They took outdoor carpet / fake grass and hung it on the fence to make it look like a hedge. It is a little obvious up close, but from a distance looks quite nice and must be so much easier to maintain than a real hedge!

Nicely decorated home with fake hedge

They even have their very own Tiki Hut.

Other boats at dock on the canal

We came to a V in the waterway. From the chart Clark believed that Coconut Cay would be on the right fork. We took the left fork first and were surprised by what we found.

Hidden behind the brush, we could see an RV Park
with lots of large motorhomes.

They even had a dinghy dock area for the RV
owners.

We knew we found Coconut Cay because all
the white chairs said so.

After passing by the entrance to Coconut Cay Resort, we came into a wide and deep section of water.

Tree house - complete with child's easel and chair.

Nice docks for private home.

After exploring all the nooks and crannies of this end of the canal, we made our way back out to check out the other canal branch.  We turned at the colorful chairs to make our way down the other side of the V.

Lovely pastel chairs.

One never knows what one will see on the water. It can be very interesting and creative. 

Boat ramp with its own garage.

Boat named "Conchtail Hour"

Uh oh! If we wanted to explore we would have to pass through a section clogged with sea grass. Clark plowed ahead!

Sea grass ahead

Looks pretty thick

In the midst of sea grass, we can see a clearing ahead
and a kayak enjoying the sea grass-free waterway.

The path through the sea grass had a shallow 3-foot depth, but the far side was deeper and free of grass. When we got to the other side of the sea grass, Clark put the dinghy in reverse to clean out the sea grass from the props. I could not believe how much grass floated out in clumps.

As we passed along some docks, Clark said, "What IS that?" I looked at something that looked like an old rubber carpet moving up and down in the breeze / waves. Upon closer look, I realized it was the flapping tail of a manatee out of water. By the time I recovered from my shock and grabbed the camera, the picture had passed. The manatee is only slightly visible as it swam away underwater.

We continued until we found the end of the canal where we saw a prominent sign for Coconut Cay Resort.

"Coconut Cay Resort"

Rental Units

Kayak Rentals with nice launch area

We got a good look at the canal construction here. 

Canal carved out of the coral

Having reached the end of the line yet again, we turned around to head back out to the bay.  Clark liked a house there on stilts.

After that, we had to cut our way through the sea grass. We could see our path where we came in before, but we still had to plow a field to get through. As we progressed Clark said the dinghy became more and more sluggish. When he commented our situation to Steve on "All Talk", Steve replied, "It's not so bad back here!" Of course they were traveling through on our trail!  Clark replied, "I wonder why?"

One more trip through the sea grass then
on to cleaner water

My picture taking ended at that point. When we reached the bay, we had a decision to make - tour more or return to Marlin Bay. With a 3 for and 1 acquiesce, we decided to explore the other resorts / marinas between our current location and Marlin Bay. Clark was ready to head back. The rest of us were okay to continue exploration.

We found our way to Crystal Bay Resort where we could see nothing of interest due to the boom they had in place to keep out sea grass. Unfortunately, it kept us out too. Curious as to what we missed, I stole a picture from the internet.

Aerial view of Crystal Bay Resort 

 Leaving there somewhat disappointed, we moved on to poke our noses into Black Fin Marina. All the boats appeared to be stern in, so we could not read any names. With no "Koastal Karma" or "Nuclear Fishin" there to greet us, we departed and headed over to see Banana Bay Marina. There we saw the boat "Reflection" - we met the owners of that boat on the Great Loop. They too are from NJ. No one appeared to be on board.

My next stop was back to the boat. Clark and the folks on "All Talk" went into the inner harbor to see Mike and Mary before putting away the dinghies. I desperately needed a restroom break, and knowing how Clark likes to talk, I did not dare take the chance on going with him to meet folks.

All told we were gone on the dinghy tour for almost 3.5 hours and traveled about 15 nautical miles. Clark showed me the path we took as displayed on our charting software.

The yellow line shows our path for 
all of today's travel.

When Clark entered the inner basin, he did not find Mike and Mary, but he did find two folks he wanted to meet on a boat of the same manufacturer as ours. Ellen and Kevin bought Hull #16; we have hull #8. They bought the boat last year. Clark and I have met the previous owners when we first took possession of our boat. When they stopped around to introduce themselves, we practically dragged them into the boat and asked them to show us how to operate the stove - it was that new to us!

When he got back to our slip, Clark used the dinghy to facilitate washing the port side of our boat - the side we cannot reach from the dock. The hull had salt-spray residue all over it and desperately needed to be cleaned. He used Awlwash to give it a good cleaning.

As the sun set we returned the dinghy to its stowed position, and enjoyed a quiet evening of shows on CBS (the only television station we get).