We moved from the transient docks to the long-term docks yesterday here at Marathon Marina. This morning we woke up to the news about closures throughout Monroe County, where Marathon is located. Beginning this coming Sunday, all hotels, campgrounds, short-term rentals, and other lodging establishments will close, due to the increase in COVID-19 cases in South Florida (Miami-Dade County, which has the highest number of COVID-19 cases, is a little over 20 miles from Key Largo, or 100 miles from Marathon). Monthly or multi-monthly renters will be allowed to finish their stay. Our marina is not accepting any new reservations. We are grateful to be in a beautiful spot at an exceptionally well-run, well-maintained facility with top-notch staff.

Now we contemplate whether to stay here and assess the situation day-to-day for the next 29 days or so, or leave and head north with anchorage-only overnight stays while hoping marinas remain open for fueling. Hauling out our boat here for long-term storage and renting a car to drive home is not an option, as the marina’s yard is already to capacity.

In the meantime, a repairman came today to look at a problem we’ve had with our refrigeration. We are lucky he is from Marathon, as the marina is not allowing contractors in from outside the area. He replaced the relay board, added a small amount of freon, and will check back with us on Monday to make sure things are working properly. How nice of him!! Then again, what else would you expect from Jimmy Carter’s nephew!!?!! (he showed us several family photos).

With our newly assigned dock, located next to the marina office, we are able to watch cable news on Doug’s iPad for the first time in many months. It is somehow comforting to me to have this connection in addition to our daily online news from the NYTimes and Washington Post.

We do go out for a dinghy ride every day for a change of scenery, and we stopped over by Sombrero Beach last Saturday. It looked like people were trying to heed the advice on social distancing – the beach was not very crowded for a weekend.

We’ve heard from the Alexandria and Chicago gangs, who are beginning their new-normal routines with online home school schedules, outdoors-only activities for the kids in non-group settings, and adjustments to work/travel schedules. We pray everyone avoids this virus and remains healthy.

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