Marathon to Channel 5 2/17-2/18/18

I took Abby out for her morning bike ride over to Seven Mile Bridge and then made a quick trip on the BMW to Publix for a few things.  We have been trying our best to stock up on booze, wine, and groceries before we head over to the Bahamas hopefully this week.  I think we must have done a good job because the boat has developed a list to port where all of the wine and booze is stored!  We have never had so many supplies aboard so I hope we didn't forget anything.  The plan today is to go up the outside or Hawks Channel and cut over to the inside at Channel 5, then work our way north towards Tarpon Basin.  Right now the weather/wind forecast doesn't look for our crossing and we may need to hang out for a week until it settles.

The cruise this morning was windy but not too bad conditions. We turned out of Hawks Channel and into Channel 5 to rejoin the ICW.  Once we crossed under the RT 1 bridge the bay was fairly shallow but depth were consistent at about 6-8 feet.  We followed a sports fish in through the inlet and he didn't slow down at all so either he knows 1: there is good water 2: wants to stay on plane so he draws less water or 3: doesn't care its not his boat....  It took us about an hour to cross the sound and then we came to Bowlegys Channel leading through a narrowing in the ICW.  We saw lots of 0's on the depth sounder and once we made it through, dropped the hook to catch lunch.  Upon reading further reviews about the ICW from here going north we decided to turn around and head back to Hawks Channel.  Some of the comments were downright scary and most said don't do it. This was just too nerve racking and would not be worth it if we dinged the props or bent a shaft. We stirred up a lot of mud trying though.
Our anchorage tonight will be Lower Matecumbe Key anchorage just off of a marina and small development.  Our afternoon was busy with lots of small boats and jet skis zipping by but the evening and night were quite

The girls watching the sun go down