Hunkered Down in Marathon!

We almost left Thursday morning to head up to Ft. Lauderdale, thinking there was still a chance Daren could make his flight Monday morning to CA. We only got as far as the fuel dock, where we discovered fuel in the bilge! Daren thought we might have a leak in the fuel tank, so we took a mooring ball at the City Marina. The tank's fine, and it's actually a good thing that we're here, as yesterday would've been an awful trip between Rodriguez Key and Miami, and then we'd still have a 3rd day up the Intracoastal to Ft. Lauderdale! So it all worked out, and we ended up getting new FL driver's licenses! No waiting at all, as we were the only 2 customers at the DMV! It was a lovely day and we secured the boat, but didn't take the sails off, just wrapped them up good. The mooring balls are rated for a category 3 hurricane, and we have 3 lines on it with fire-hose chafing gear, compliments of the marina. The weather experts keep downgrading the storm, so we decided to stay onboard instead of getting a motel, as we'd rather not be stuck onshore without our dinghy, which would be stored at the marina. This way we'll have everything we need, and not have to depend on restaurants for food. When Daren went through Hurricane Andrew ('92 in Nassau, with our trawler), he and Pete stayed in a hotel (its roof blew off!) and he had to eat out of vending machines for 3 days! I was on a trip for Continental, based in Newark, but made it to Ft. Myers from Ft. Lauderdale in a rental car and stayed at a motel near the marina in Ft. Myers with boat friends, but I digress! We're only going to have a Tropical Storm here, or at the worst, a Category 1. Today, it's raining hard and real windy, and lots of the anchored boats have decided to pick up mooring balls, and having quite a time of it. It's supposed to clear this afternoon, so Libby might get one more trip to shore before we secure the dinghy and motor. We'll see.... She's hopeful. Isaac's supposed to arrive Monday morning about 8 am. I was hoping for night, so we could just sleep through it! : )