Marathon in the Rear View Mirror

                                             Leaving our slip in Harbor Cay Club

Hard to believe but our four weeks in Marathon are up and it's time to leave the wonderful Harbor Cay Club. It was a fabulous time making new friends and catching up with old, dear friends. Biking all around Marathon, Boot Key, Sombrero Beach and other local spots. Hanging around in Key West. And not doing many of the boat chores we intended to do while there. It was definitely a hard spot to leave. I can see why so many that visit the area end up staying. But the lure of the sea keeps calling us so with a good weather window we untied the dock lines about 3pm yesterday with hopes of a pleasant overnight sail to Naples. Although the winds weren't as strong as forecasted we were able to sail all but a couple of hours of the 90 mile plus passage. I am always astounded at the beauty of the sky and sea, day and night. We are so fortunate to be able to witness the amazing rising and setting of the sun and the moon at sea. The little sliver of a crescent moon emitted a surprisingly bright reflection on the water last night. The sky was brilliantly lit with the twinkling of stars. We glided smoothly through the light chop under sail like a phantom on the water. Sailing offshore of Marco Island beside several miles of lit skyline of mid-rise buildings felt hauntingly surreal as we slipped by in the dark. Sunrise found us coming up on Gordon Pass, the channel in to the city of Naples. After navigating the pass and the channel to Naples City Dock, Captain Maris did a superb job on backing Amekaya into a too small slip in between 2 large vessels. Several people came up and commended him for the excellent docking job. Then while Maris cleaned the salt of the deck I made a Sunday blueberry pancake breakfast accompanied by Mimosas to celebrate our arrival in Naples. We took out the bikes and did some sightseeing this afternoon but the rest of our stay in Naples will be picking up supplies and provisions for our upcoming passage and stay in the Bahamas before we move on to Punta Gorda for about a week to catch up with some friends. 
So time to go work on that shopping list!