Sunday Summary #59

Embrace the PIVOT!

Hi ,

Welcome to Scho & Jo’s 59th Sunday Summary. This edition of the Sunday Summary was written in the Monroe County Public Library in Marathon, Florida.

Last Week.

We re-started our Great Loop in Key West, Florida; the southernmost point of the continental United States. Our time in Key West was short due to the lack of good anchorages in the area and the high cost of marinas ($6/foot per day, which is $204 + electric; not in our marina budget). We hope to explore this area more when we return upon completion of our Great Loop!

We spent one night in Key West before we pulled up our anchor and started making our way

north

for the first time since May 2021! We cruised to New Found Harbor and checked out Picnic Island for an evening. The following morning we pulled up our anchor and headed to Bahia Honda State Park. We enjoyed walking around the park and quickly understood why it’s a highlight for Loopers visiting the Keys! The park had picturesque clear water and was surrounded by the natural Keys landscape. We didn’t have a reservation at the state park marina, so we had to continue on to our next destination. As we left Bahia Honda State Park, the weather started to pick up a bit and we had a rougher ride than expected to Boot Key Harbor in Marathon, FL. Although the wind was forecasted to be coming from the east, hitting us on our bow, the wind seamed to be coming from the east-southeast, hitting us more on our beam and giving us a not-so-fun ride to Marathon.

Just a few days into our Great Loop we are having to embrace the PIVOT...We had plans to stay in Boot Key Harbor for one night so we could do a load of laundry, provision, and refill our water. After getting a late start to our morning, we had to make the tough decision to stay in Boot Key Harbor longer than we expected due to the bad weather coming in. We had plans to cruise to Curry Hammock State Park for the severe weather, but had to make the call that the previous days weather made for a fairly uncomfortable cruise, that we decided to stay. It was a really hard decision to stay because Curry Hammock State Park is gorgeous as the anchorage is surrounded by mangroves (we stayed there during our work month for several days), has much better wifi and connectivity (hence this email is being written in a library), and is quieter and less congested (Boot Key Harbor is by far the most packed anchorage we’ve ever been to). Sadly, we had to change our plans and that’s just part of life. We adjust and keep going.

We’re expecting strong winds of 24 knots (27 mph / 44 kph) this weekend with gusts of 28 knots (32 mph / 52 kph) and are happy to have our heavy Mantus Anchor and a protected anchorage to wait out the blow. The US Coast Guard has put out a marine small craft advisory and reported 8 foot (2.4 meters) seas in Hawks Channel, just outside of our protected anchorage in Boot Key Harbor. Although we’re having to change our plans and embrace the pivot, we’re happy for the safety of our harbor and we’re excited to check out the fun things in Marathon on Monday!

"Pivoting isn’t Plan B; it’s part of the process."-Jeff Goins, author

This Week.

Today we’re enjoying a much needed rest day! Getting back into filming daily vlogs means we’ve been editing daily. What you don’t see in our videos is the 6 hours we spend at the end of the day editing, writing blog posts, editing photos, etc. So it’s not surprising that we’re exhausted after staying up well past our boat bedtimes and adjusting to the schedule of of daily vlogs.

We’re looking forward to visiting the Turtle Hospital this Monday, which came to us by a recommendation from one of our viewers, Brian, who we met at the Looper Sunset Celebration last weekend. The Turtle Hospital is a non-profit who focuses on the rescue, rehab, and release of injured sea turtles from boating accidents. Most commonly these turtles get injured from a boat strike, creating a cut in their shell. As their shell heals, it has an air pocket in it causing them to float, making it impossible for them to dive and get food. Many sea turtles become paralyzed in their rear flippers due to the strike. The Marathon Turtle Hospital the largest turtle hospital in the country and we’re going to tour it!

Later this week we’ll be cruising to Islamorada and the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo before leaving the Keys for Miami. We’re excited to return to the Keys next year for the completion of our Great Loop so we can put more of the beautiful spots we’ve explored over the past month and a half into videos, but as for now we need to make our way north!

 Videos. 

No video since our last Sunday Summary that came out on Thursday, but don’t worry as this week will be the beginning of many, many videos coming your way!

 Blogs. 

Incase you missed it, here are all the blogs we’ve released since our last Sunday Summary:

• How We Do Our Boat Engine Maintenance

 February Stats. 

We partnered with Nebo for our Great Loop! We installed the Nebo link as a way for us to track our cruises. Nebo Link is a small device that tracks our cruise and allows us to connect with other Loopers. It automatically turns on and records our boating activity as soon as we start our engine, so we can focus on the important stuff. Best of all, Nebo sends us an email at the end of every cruise as well as some monthly statistics of our travels. As February has come to a close, here is our Nebo travel log:

Nights at a marina dock: 0Nights on a free mooring ball: 1Nights on a free dock: 0Nights on anchor: 27

 Great Loop Recommendations. 

We are looking for recommendations for destinations and spots along our Great Loop to go see, visit, and enjoy. It's been a real challenge for us to keep track and stay organized with the many wonderful recommendations we've received thus far. So we've created a Google Form to help us stay organized.

 Book & Resource Recommendations. 

We are looking for books, websites, or resource recommendations for the various environments along the waterways on the Great Loop. We want to learn more about the plants and animals in the various ecosystems in the ever changing waterways along the loop. If you know of any great books to help us learn more about the regional environments we travel through, please email us!

 Gratitudes. 

As we’ve read the news about Ukraine, our hearts go out to those who are suffering. We’re grateful to have a place to have a safe place to sleep at night, food on our tables, and that our lives aren’t being turned upside down. It’s heartbreaking to see and our gratitudes go to all trying to make a difference in this terrible situation.

Peace and love,Jenn + Elliot