Trip to marathon

Sitting on the dock this morning in Marathon key at Key Colony marina The sky is clear but already the winds have increased from the south to the south west ahead of the impending weather. The dock is quiet as the sun rises. Temps are balmy but nice with the breeze. Coffee always seems to taste better at sunrise on the dock.
I arrived at the boat yesterday morning and found the winds had become quite brisk. I had debated for the three previous days as to if we should leave and when. As usual weather was the main factor. If i did not get down here yesterday we would not have made it here till wednesday or thursday as the weather (winds) here in the keys are going to be shitty for the next four days. We left at 5 am and as we cleared Tampa bay we had 4 foot on our bow and lots of spray. We ran the boat slow and the ride was not that bad. I wondered if i had made the right call to leave. As we worked our way south a big ground swell reared up from the south west. But after an hour or two it subsided. Normally florida bay is the roughest part of the trip. As we got to the shallows of florida bay the winds and seas backed off and the last 30 miles were real nice. We made key colony at 5 pm. Twelve hours for a 7 hour trip. But we save a bunch of money in fuel and we beat the weather.
The other reason I wanted to get here a few days early is that I knew we would have some issues. What I mean is the Blue Heaven has sat for months now. We have run all the systems and checked them all out as we serviced them. But things never break at the dock. My assumption was correct. We had a generator go down about an hour into the trip, a battery back up on the bridge died, we developed a steering fluid leak and a bilge pump died. I would rather breAk this stuff while stateside than when I am down island in the bahamas. Here, I can still get parts.
Holy crap. Kyle just walked out on the back deck. He is never up at sun rise. Though we were in bed by 9:30 last Night
I had someone ask me why I call the blog reportsfromtherip I have always called the scripts I send out reports. When I started a formal blog, I needed a catchy name. The rip is any place where two opposing currents meet. The interaction of those two currents cause temperature changes in the water and bait fish tend to aggregate along the rip. also bill fish patrol these rips. Thus the rip is also where you will find sportfish boats plying the waters It is common to hear one captain say to another on the dock... "see ya on the rip". It also has another meaning to me. Just as those two opposing currents pass each other, I am always traveling and passing and meeting up with new people and old friends.
Looks like we will be getting rain around mid day and it is not to hot yet so I am going to slip some shoes on and go for a morning run. With no gym to go to now, I gotta keep the lbs coming off. Walking does just not get it anymore.
I just hope I don't rip anything!!!!!!