A Week In Marathon

Friday, February 26 - Our plan was to spend a week here at Faro Blanco Marina in Marathon.  Early in the week, the weather was stellar, sunny and warm.  We went to the pool a couple of times.  By Wednesday, a cold front came through with the same strong northerly winds that we experienced in Venice.  We originally planned to leave on Saturday, February 27, but Florida Bay is simply too rough.  The waves are from the north and we would be traveling easterly in beam seas, not comfortable at all!  The water is also very shallow and it would be hard to find and obey the day marks, in order to stay in the channel, with the boat rocking and rolling.  To let the water settle some, we will now depart on Monday, February 29.  The cardinal rule of Looping is to change your plans when the weather or water does not cooperate; Nancy is much better at this than Carey is!

                                             Lighthouse At Faro Blanco Marina

LeeLoo In Slip At Faro Blanco Marina.  Although The Docks Are Fixed, Notice The Long Finger Pier.

                                Picture Taken From The Dinghy On A Fair Weather Day

Today we went to The Turtle Hospital near the marina.  It was a very interesting facility and totally funded by the admission fee.  There are 68 sea turtles living there, approximately 58 will be returned to the sea once they are healthy enough.  The other ten or so would not survive in the wild and thus are permanent residents.  Many of the turtles were injured by being hit by power boats or by swallowing large fish hooks.  Sometimes, as a result of injury, the turtle gets air trapped between its internal organs and the top of the shell.  This causes the turtle to be positively buoyant and it is not longer able to dive down to the bottom to feed.  This is known as "bubble butt syndrome.  Once the turtle has been nursed back to health, the treatment for bubble butt syndrome is to epoxy lead weights to the top of the shell.  Other turtles have a virus that causes tumorous growths on their legs and around their eyes.  Ugh!  Yet others were inured by predators (sharks, alligators etc.).   The hospital staff does amazing work in rehabilitating these turtles.  They have the same equipment that you would find in a regular hospital such as x-ray machines and a surgical suite.  

                                      X-Ray Machine At The Turtle Hospital

                            Operating Room At The Turtle Hospital (not a real turtle)

                                                       Green Turtle Up Close                    

                                                      Another Green Turtle

    A Loggerhead Turtle (like the one we saw on the passage from Shark River to Marathon)