2025 January: Butterfly Café

 2 - 4 January 2025

On Thursday, Clark suggested we go for a bike ride up to Faro Blanco to see who might be "at home" there. We biked the docks there and only saw two boats we recognized. Neither boat had people on board, so there was no one to say hello to. We did get to see the dockmaster there whom we recognized from our days there as tenants. We talked only very briefly as he was busy fueling and moving a big boat.

While there, Clark grabbed a picture of the anchor dropped for New Year's Day 2025.

Anchor says "2025"

We left Faro Blanco and biked to the Harbor Cay Club marina to see who might be there. It took us a while to find the marina, and then found ourselves locked out via a privacy gate. We tried to find a way to get around the gate with no success. Clark decided to come back via dinghy another day.

Later in the day, Clark went out and captured some great sunset pictures.

Reflections of a sunset in a boat window

So far, Clark's most recent attempt to fix the dinghy appears to be holding. Given that, on Friday, he decided we should take a ride to get dinghy fuel and look for a friend who might be at a nearby marina. It's good that he lights a fire under me on a somewhat regular basis and gets me off the boat on some new adventure. Today's trip to the fuel dock was definitely another adventure. 

Before fueling, we stopped at Harbor Cay Club Marina to see if we could find someone we know from Faro Blanco days. Unfortunately, he was not there. We did, on the other hand, see the boat Wine Speed and got to say hello to Mike whom we know via mutual friends. He was in the middle of a boat project. so we did not hang around. 

Our next stop was at Faro Blanco for Rec90 fuel for the dinghy. Clark entered the marina via the western-most channel entrance due to the rapid current. He felt it better to be pushed away from the fuel dock rather than under it. We have experienced both, and I agree fighting to stay out from under the fuel dock (generally my job while he fuels) is not fun. 

However, tying up to the dock with the fierce current fighting us was a serious challenge. It took a couple of passes for me to get a line on a cleat only to find out that I had it too tight for Clark to maneuver the dinghy to get on a stern line. I managed to get close enough once more to loosen the line giving him slack to work with. He then had the challenge of trying to grab a cleat while steering the dinghy. I could see us there for a good long time making many failed attempts. 

Several guys were just hanging out by a fishing boat being fueled. I hoped one of them was a dockhand and started yelling, "HELP! Over here!" It took repeated times for someone to finally hear me as with each yell I got louder and louder. Finally, one guy saw me waving my arms and sent someone else over to assist us - neither was a dockhand. He grabbed the line from Clark and got it around a cleat for us. 

We were positioned with the dinghy forming the hypotenuse of a triangle with docks forming the other sides of the triangle. The ladder up onto the dock was closer to me than Clark, so Clark had to climb over me to get to the bow of the boat to get off onto the dock.  The stern line was tied too tight for this maneuvering, so Clark first had to loosen the line to allow us enough slack to reach the ladder. The next trick was for Clark to grab the ladder, climb up the ladder, retrieve 2 gas cans from me, and fill them with gas.

He managed to reach the ladder and climb up. I managed to hold the dinghy close enough to the dock to hand him up the empty gas cans. I knew, however, that I would not be able to take them back from him when they were full of fuel. They would be too heavy for me to use only one hand to take them while holding the dinghy in place with the other arm. 

The fuel at Faro Blanco is self-serve, so once off the boat, Clark got busy filling the cans.

Meanwhile, I had a wild dinghy ride while I watched him work.

Eventually, a dockhand came over to see if Clark needed any help. When Clark said we would be fine getting off the dock on our own, I yelled out, "NO! We won't!" I told Clark to get in the dinghy, then have the dockhand hand him the gas cans, then help us untie. I said, "I'm not getting killed trying to stand up to untie that line in these waves!" For some reason, the dockhand thought that was funny. He did help us. We did get off safely and got underway back to Marlin Bay. Phew!

Meanwhile, back at the marina, Clark and I both seem to be finding plenty of opportunities to remain busy. Clark keeps busy cleaning the exterior of the big boat and playing his guitar while I continue to be entertained with jigsaw puzzles (my 2 friends and I finished another one) and other fun activities. 

To add to the fun at Marlin Bay, one of the staff held a bracelet-making class. Four of us boaters attended. Several folks from the condos here promised to attend but did not show up. The beautiful weather outside had something to do with that I suspect. Regardless, the four of us had a wonderful time learning new beading skills, and I was happy it was just us 4 boaters attending. The instructor was happy too as she was afraid she would be overwhelmed by participants. 

Terry, Heidi (instructor), and Marcy
busy at work beading

Heidi taught us how to bend sterling silver into clasp shapes and pound it with a hammer to harden it.

Clasps I made from sterling 
silver and a hammer

We each made one bracelet. The class was listed as one hour. We were there having fun for more than two hours. 

My finished bracelet is shown below with my hand-fashioned clasp.

Jane, on PRFect Tide, laid her bracelet next to mine for a comparison photo. I used beads from a kit prepared by Heidi. It consisted of colors I love.

Marcy, on the other hand, designed her own bracelet to match her taste in colors.

Walking back to our boat after the jewelry-making session, I saw several couples heading out to dinner. First, I found the folks on Avalon and Moonglade on their way to Keys Fisheries for stone crab. A short while, later I saw Marcy and Terry (who had been at the bracelet class with me) on the way to Keys Fisheries for stone crab tonight with their husbands. Popular choice!

Clark and I had our own dinner plans. He suggested well before Christmas that we should go to the Butterfly Café at Tranquility Bay for a special dinner. However, we wanted to pick a time when it would be a little less crowded perhaps than Christmas week. He made a reservation for this evening (Friday night). The earliest time slot for tonight was for 6:45.  We decided that was fine.

We walked to the restaurant, which Google Maps says is 0.8 miles away. The suggested route, however, is impossible, so the distance is actually a small bit longer. We decided to leave about 30 minutes to get there and had a few minutes to wait for our table to be ready once we arrived. Dinner was delicious. 

I do not normally take pictures of our food. Tonight I could not resist taking a picture of the cheese cake presented to me. It came complete with heart-shaped strawberry accents, a chocolate straw, and a butterfly-shaped cookie! (Butterfly Café!)

Clark enjoyed his dish of vanilla ice cream.

When we left the boat to walk to the restaurant, Clark asked if I thought he should wear a windbreaker. Normally, we are cold on the docks and as soon as we get on Route 1, the wind dies down and we are fine. Well, not tonight! Clark was cold, and he walks fast when he is cold. I felt like I had to run to keep up with his pace. 

When we left the restaurant, it felt even colder out. The wind was brutal. We both kept up a brisk pace to return to the boat as quickly as possible. At least I got exercise to work off the cheese cake! Multiple times he remarked how his wife had told him, "You won't need a windbreaker. You'll be fine!" He'll never let me live it down! It felt great stepping inside the cozy boat!

Saturday turned out to be a bit busier than expected. I got a text from a boater friend who told me to meet her at the Boot Key Tiki Hut for the boater's flea market being held there from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. She invited me to join her book club and had the book for me to pick up from her at the flea market. I got my book from her and, in the process, met several boaters that she introduced me to. 

I use Google Keeps to keep a running list on my phone of boat names and their owners. I have been doing this for a while, and the list of names is now ridiculously long but oh so helpful. 

Marcy showed me a picture she took of an iguana here in Marathon. He was staring her down from amongst the plants hereabouts. 

I have been doing a lot of colored pencil art animals recently for fun. She sent me the photo so I could take a shot at reproducing it in pencil. 

I got interrupted partway through my artwork as Clark wanted to walk the docks. We had 10 boats come in for the month of January, and today yet more arrived. He wanted to check to see who was around to say hello to. 

On the way, we found long-time friends on Remember When as they were just finishing tying up from coming in today. They were in shorts, and it was too chilly with the strong wind to chat for long, so we will need to catch up with them on another day.

As we made our rounds, we came upon Jane who had been in the bracelet class with me, and she sent us out to meet her husband, Paul. Turns out they are from southern New Jersey near Cape May. Having talked to Paul for a while, we strolled back towards our boat and met a couple from Quebec, Canada who told us they come to Marlin Bay for 5 days every year. They had seen us before, but we had never met. We chatted for a while and took turns taking each other's sunset pictures.

After enjoying the sunset, it was time to walk back to our boat for dinner and a movie. Tonight's choice was Fall Guy. 

2025 January: Happy New Year!

 1 January 2025

Last night we said farewell to 2024 and ushered in the new year of 2025. The marina held a special event late afternoon, and some boaters pulled together a follow-up event that took us past midnight before finally ending. 

At midnight, Clark had his phone out taking pictures during the display of fireworks coming from all around us with most of the better ones a tad south of our location. 

Clark took far too many pictures. Some of the better results of his picture-taking efforts are included here.

Prior to the fireworks we enjoyed the Marlin Bay hosted event complete with entertainment, food, and a champagne toast compliments of the marina. Last year, before we left Marlin Bay to return to New Jersey, we introduced our friend "Johnny Live" to April on MB staff. As a consequence, John was tonight's entertainment. He puts on a wonderful show to which I know all the songs and the words to most of them. Clark and I even got up to dance and received many accolades for our rusty efforts!

Johnny Live on the Mic

John has told us that he receives requests for "Sweet Caroline" at every performance, and many times multiple people request that song. He sang it for this event upon request. A little girl, a toddler - too young to appreciate his efforts named Caroline, was the recipient of tonight's rendition.

John singing "Sweet Caroline" 
out in the audience

In preparation for toasting in the new year, April, who explained that sunset is considered the end of the day in the Keys, poured glasses of champagne ready for consumption at the appropriate time.

At sunset Clark ran over to grab pictures as the crowd gathered to toast in 2025!

As an added bonus, we had a boater with experience blowing the conch! What a treat!

Cheers to 2025!

The marina-hosted event and "Johnny Live's" performance ended at 7:00. As that wrapped up, folks started wandering to the site on the docks where we held the boaters' party.  Shortly thereafter, Lou, on Califrenchies supplied music from speakers on the bow of his boat, and the smells of wings cooking on the grill spread throughout the marina.

Even though the marina provided a buffet dinner consisting of sandwiches, chips, fruit and cookies, people still seemed ready for more food as the table filled up with a variety of delectable treats contributed by the folks attending the boaters' party. Besides the wings, we enjoyed salads, an interesting selection of hors d'oeuvres, and someone thought to bring a variety of cupcakes for dessert. I had the red velvet cupcake while Clark partook of the carrot cake cupcake.

We enjoyed talking with boaters we knew and met boaters new to us. We even met another boater named Evelyn! In informal situations she goes by the name "Evy". What fun! We are still waiting to meet another boater named Clark.

Just before 10:00, I bowed out of the party and headed back to the boat. Clark was enjoying himself too much to come back with me. Given free rein with the television, I turned on the movie "Diehard" and sat back prepared to thoroughly enjoy the rest of the evening. I am a firm believer that "Diehard" is a Christmas movie.

At ten minutes to 12:00, Clark came back to the boat to inform me that I needed to come see the fireworks as midnight approached. Reluctantly, I left my movie at a critical point and walked up with him to see in the new year. I had to remind him at 12:10 that there was supposed to be a kiss at the stroke of 12:00. He was too busy taking pictures of the fireworks to remember on his own!  

I got a quick peck out of him (hardly worth the walk up to the docks)! After a while I said I wanted to return to the boat. "In a minute", he replied. After my third attempt with the same response, I left him and went back to my movie! He finally appeared on the boat in time for the exciting conclusion of the film.

At 1:00 a.m. we finally called it "a night" and climbed into bed. It had been a long day. When we heard about the boaters' party, we had nothing on hand and decided to make a trip to Publix this morning to find some goodies to bring to the table. On our way to Publix, we stopped by the church so Clark could get more information to help them solve a phone / Wi-Fi issue they are having.

He collected some data after band rehearsal on Monday, made a block diagram, and needed more details to understand the situation. He is trying to puzzle out the wiring to help with their concerns. He works on wiring puzzles! I work on word and jigsaw puzzles.

With it being a rather warm day, we later took advantage of the heated pool. I paddled around talking to friends while Clark swam laps. Around 3:45 we pulled ourselves out of the pool to get ready to listen to "Johnny Live" when he began singing at 4:00.  By 5:00 the party was in full swing with many happy celebrators sitting around the bar, listening to his music, and making requests. Clark requested John sing his own, original entitled "Islamorada" - a lovely song!

Clearly we had a great day and made many memories along the way! 

Happy New Year to our readers! We appreciate you!

2024 December: Keeping busy in Marathon

 24 - 29 December 2024

The weather this past week has been, as they say, "for the birds"! We have had cloudy skies, threats of rain, and a torrential downpour complete with booming thunder. We have a pelican who enjoys fishing near our boat and then spreading his wings to air dry. With a cold north wind, I think he would want to keep his wings wrapped around himself for warmth!

Quite the ballet!

When I sneak out to take a picture, he gives me the look!

Over the past few days, we have watched the sea grass come and, with some help from Evelyn, go. Sometimes the sea grass has objects resting on top. Frequently the item taking a ride on the sea grass is a float that has become disconnected from its trap. We saw something new this week, and we do not know what it is. It appears to be some sort of sea creature like an aquatic porcupine.

This creature was not next to our boat, and we made no attempt to assist it off the grass or poke at it.

The weather being mostly cloudy motivated us to work on outside boat cleaning and polishing. While Clark polished the hull, I grabbed the "Barkeeper's Friend" and went to work on all the railings and chrome on the boat. We now sparkle in the places we managed to work on. With a long boat, it takes a long time to cover all the areas that need work.

For the third, and we hope last time, Clark worked on the dinghy. We sent it in for patch work repair on leaks in Satellite Beach and then again when we reached Vero Beach. Finding yet more leaks happening when we arrived in Marathon, Clark called and got instructions from the repair folks on what he could do on his own. He ordered a special product to assist with this effort, waited for the optimal weather conditions, and went to work.

Clark was a bit frustrated because the latest place to be found leaking air was a place he had patched that was not leaking until they replaced his patch with one of their own. 

Bubbles!

Sikaflex for the dinghy repair

Clark wanted to make sure the "third time was a charm" on this repair exercise. He carefully and meticulously went over all the seams.

As of this posting, several days after the repair, the tubes are staying inflated. Fingers crossed that it stays that way!

Due to the poor weather and the holidays, it has been very quiet at the marina this week. Several boats expected to arrive in December did not come in. Many boaters, who were here, left their boats and went to visit family for Christmas. 

Our friend from church, who sings professionally at local restaurants, came to visit one day for lunch, music, and computer talk. Once John and Clark got to the computer discussion part of the visit, I excused myself and went to work on the jigsaw puzzle I have been tackling with Annette and Marcy (other boaters here at the marina). 

This African Safari puzzle was a doozy and took all three of us several days to complete. At the end we had 3 pieces to put in, so we each took one to finish the job. The pieces sometimes fit in places where they did not belong, and with similar coloring, we found it difficult to know a mistake had even been made. For example, Annette had to rearrange the zebra pieces because the legs did not line up properly!

Thank goodness this puzzle came with a large paper showing the puzzle detail to help identify where pieces might belong.

Finished!

We took a few days to enjoy our success and then started a new 1000 piece puzzle. This one is a picture of a city in Europe. It appears to be going faster as the colors are more discrete. The box rates this new puzzle as a 5 out of 7. If this one is a 5, then the last one was a 10.

In the evenings, Clark and I have been enjoying watching movies. Some are just okay. We have found a few good ones. We recently watched Mary and The Six Triple Eight - both highly recommended movies.

On Christmas Eve, our friend John (mentioned above) came and picked us up to drive us to the 11:00 service at St. Columba church. I was thrilled that I did not have to ride my bike at midnight!! Only a few people came to that service. Pastor Deb said that the 5:00 service had 120 people, i.e. it was packed. The 11:00 service was the candlelight service which we enjoyed.

Before we went into the church to celebrate the birth of Christ, Clark took some pictures of the lights on the houses across the street from the church.

When we exited the church at midnight, some of the lights had been turned off, so it was a good thing he took the pictures when he did.

On Sunday the 29th, we called upon our friends, Nancy and Steve, for a ride to church. Early in the morning the radar showed the skies clearing with only a 15% chance of a shower. Clark said we would be able to use the bikes. Well, that radar lied! By 9:00, we realized that neither biking nor walking to church would be practical. 

Walking up to the marina roadway at 10:00 and waiting for our ride meant we were dripping wet when we got in the car. When we arrived at church, it was still raining. When service started at 11:00, the rain was so fast and furious that we could hardly hear the pastor's sermon. The deluge came complete with some thunder for emphasis. 

Talking to Pastor Deb, we learned that the road to the church has been known to flood in heavy rain and hold people captive at the church until the water recedes. A woman leaving after the service announced that if she did not return that meant the roadway was passable. She did not return! Fortunately, John drove us home, and his vehicle sits high off the ground.

The church serves lunch after the 11:00 service. For a change, Clark and I both partook of the food - specifically the desserts on display. I had pumpkin pie, and Clark had both pumpkin and cherry pie. Having had our dessert first, we ate lunch later after we arrived back at the boat. 

Before he was ready to eat lunch, however, Clark had some work to do for his guitar playing. The mixing board at the church provides phantom (48V DC) power required for some of the microphones to work. Sadly, there are not enough instrument inputs, so he has to use a microphone input. Unfortunately, the mix board supplies this phantom voltage to the guitar. This voltage causes a static sound when the volume control on the guitar is rotated. He ordered another XLR to 1/4 phone adaptor wire for connecting the guitar to the mix board to insert a DC blocking capacitor. On the 28th he had all the wire and capacitors and hacked the capacitor into the cable. Unfortunately, he could not test it on the boat. 

When he used the cord at church, it failed to work as expected. As soon as we got back onboard, he went into sleuth mode and found that a second conductor was bypassing the capacitor. It has now been modified and is ready to be tested again with the mix board tomorrow. 

We have taken no sunset pictures due to cloud cover.