Florida: Marathon - Manatee and Awful Music

Day 246

Manatee moving from dock to dock at Faro Blanco

Clark worked on Namaste until past midnight to diagnose the VHF radio problems. After finishing that job I asked him to fill the water tank so we would not run out of fresh water in the middle of the night while flushing the toilet. After completing the water tank job he decided he absolutely needed to take a shower. By the time he got back to the boat, had his "midnight" snack, and finally climbed into bed, the clock showed somewhere around 4:15 a.m. Of course the time change did not help as he lost an hour in there as a result.

The bad news on the VHF radio situation was that there were actually two independent problems. The good news on the radio investigation is that Clark managed to come up with a work around that addressed both issues together. The solution required Jim to buy a speaker, so even after being up way past normal bedtimes, Jim was up and waiting at the door when the West Marine store opened at 8:00 a.m.

I expect Clark had the speaker on his mind as well since he was out of bed by 8:15 with less than four hours of sleep. Before breakfast he was already back talking to Jim about the radio. I could only groan since I lost a lot of sleep through the whole process. Even though I was not working on it with the guys, my sleep was interrupted by lights and activity on our boat throughout the  night. I wanted to stay in bed, but I dragged myself out mostly to be sure I could say goodbye to Jim and Jo Ann.

If I had stayed in bed, I would have missed the manatee that came visiting bright and early. To get some good pictures, Clark laid down on the dock and hung off the edge with the camera in hand.

The green vegetation that grows on the dock pilings must be yummy.
The manatee moved from piling to piling cleaning off the growth.

Manatee coming up for a breath of air.

I can honestly say that I do not know where the days go! My only true agenda item today was grocery shopping to get supplies in before my trip to Connecticut. I am leaving Clark with the boat for a few days and going to visit my new granddaughter (Lillian) whom I have not yet met. I have been counting the days for weeks! Clark will have enough trouble remembering to eat while I am gone without finding the cupboard bare when he finally remembers to look for food.

Namaste planned to depart today. Whether it was the radio issue that delayed their departure or the rainy weather that produced showers off-and-on throughout the morning that was to blame, I was happy that they decided to stay one more day. Just before Clark and I took off on our bikes for the food store, JoAnn suggested that we get together for joint docktails and dinner. Since Sea Moss has the upper helm seating / dining area, we decided to gather there at 5:30.

JoAnn and Jim from Namaste on Sea Moss for dinner

Ev and Clark on Sea Moss for docktails and dinner with Namaste

Today, once again, the marina hosted a wedding party. This one consumed the entire marina facility. The pool, the restaurant and the surrounding grounds were all off limits to the boaters. Some of the boaters find it more annoying than others that we are paying full price and receiving limited services. I only get annoyed when I walk up to use the restroom and get challenged by one of the staff as to my intent on approaching the building. Once I tell the "guard" that I need to use the toilet he lets me go -- annoying for me and (I expect) embarrassing for him.

The wedding crowd at the marina

Our boat is one of the farthest away from the wedding celebration venue. The wedding ceremony started around 6:00, and we could see that a number of the boaters near the pool area watched the ceremony from their boats. We could not see much from our boat, but once the reception started the music was loud enough even on our boat to be quite annoying. I cannot imagine how the boaters right next to the facility felt about the noise level all evening long.

With the time change sunset is now an hour later. We enjoyed a lovely sunset during our docktails with Jim and Jo Ann.

Sunset at Faro Blanco - lighthouse

Sunset over the boats at Faro Blanco 

Jo Ann put together a nice assortment of treats for docktails after which, we enjoyed a shared dinner. She planned on a pork loin for the four of us which would have been fine except for Clark's allergic reaction to pork. I threw on a couple of steaks and cooked some asparagus to augment Jo Ann's wonderful culinary offerings.

The dinner was bittersweet, however, as Namaste is definitely leaving here tomorrow and traveling a very different path than we are. We do not expect to see them again on this loop trip. Perhaps our paths will cross again at some point in the future. We certainly hope that will be the case.

As Clark finishing clearing dishes etc from the upper helm, I came down to the main cabin. Just as I went to open the screen for our sliding glass door I heard a cat meowing very loudly. I stopped and looked all around but could see no cat. I shrugged it off and turned to enter the boat and heard the cat again just as loudly as before. I thought, "Where is that cat?"

I heard the cat one more time and when I looked into the dark cabin, I saw that the cat was inside our boat! We had all the screens closed on any open windows and doors. Clark did some looking around and found the hatch cover to our master stateroom open. It had been closed; however, I expect the cat may have tried to walk across the screen and gotten a big surprise. It has a hair trigger and opens with the slightest touch.

That cat must have gotten one heck of a surprise when it shot open, and the cat dropped into the boat. My speculation is that the smell of the cooked steak attracted the cat to the boat. It did not look starved, but it probably couldn't resist the alluring smells emanating from the boat. I opened the screen and of course the cat ran further into the boat. I called to it and coaxed it to come out. S/he shot past me like its tail was on fire and flew onto the dock and out of sight in a hurry.

Every night (or almost every night) I record our day's expenses as we track our costs for the trip. I had to laugh when I pulled out today's receipt for the Winn Dixie grocery store. I spent $6.28 on two items I could not find at Publix. The receipt was a "mile" long!

Winn Dixie grocery receipt for two items
costing a total of $6.28. Really?!

As I finished off today's blog I sat here shaking my head. The wedding reception party was still in full swing until well after 11:00. The later it got the louder it got. The atrocious racket coming from the reception was just unbelievably awful and exceedingly loud. Why at 11:30 at night do I have to hear music more suited to an African jungle ceremony complete with shouting (or perhaps chanting is a better term) and a multitude of drums banging? At some point the language changed from mixed English and Spanish to all Spanish, so I could not even understand the shouted chants! It didn't help that all our boat windows were open since the weather tended to be on the sticky side tonight.