*WE START OUR LOOP!

March 14, 2023

So there we were in Marathon Key at Marlin Bay marina in mid March. We had been talking about the great loop for several years at this point and this was the date we had set to begin our journey. We had experienced disappointment in the recent past with boat issues and other circumstances which let us to truncate several other planned voyages. So, we were slightly tentative as to whether this was really the start of our loop or just a journey up the coast with a different decision about destinations by the time we reached the Chesapeake Bay. In retrospect, there was a lot we didn't know and could not anticipate.

Our stay at tropical Marlin Bay marina had been so nice, so relaxing and invigorating that leaving was somewhat painful. We were also a little hesitant about repeating our experiencing transiting southeast Florida, particularly the area just north of Miami. (Little did we know.)

However, undaunted, we slipped our lines, left the marina and headed under the 7 mile bridge into the Hawk channel, heading north for Dinner Key, just south of Miami. The passage was slightly windier than anticipated, and we were entertained for several hours by a moderate sea swell on the starboard beam. Soon after leaving Marathon one of the connectors to our Loop flag broke, leaving the AGLCA pennant hanging upside down. Was this a portent of things to come?.