March 27, 2016
NM Today: 36
NM Traveled: 3864 (4447 Statute Miles)
So, today was the day! We left Faro Blanco to continue on our Great Loop adventure.
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| Last look at the Faro Blanco lighthouse |
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| Goodbye Faro Blanco Marina |
We did not have too far to go though - just east a short distance to Plantation Key that is part of Islamorada, Florida.
Before leaving the marina, however, Clark wanted to try to clean some of the growth off the bottom of the boat that we have collected sitting at dock for two months without moving. Right after a quick breakfast, he donned his lightweight wet suit, grabbed a rag and a plastic scraper, and jumped in the water. The boat is 37 feet long and 15 feet wide, so that is a lot of territory to clean while holding your breath. Clark has excellent lung power but the exertion of working under the boat forces him up for air more often than he would like.
He started cleaning around 9:30. We wanted to leave the marina around 11:00. By 10:30 he still had major portions of the boat that had not yet been touched with his rag and scraper combo. About that time Brent and Deb stopped over thinking they would be waving goodbye when we pulled out at 11:00. They saw how Clark was operating and offered to provide a full-sized dive tank with a 75 foot hose, so he could breath freely underwater with the tank on the dock. Amazingly Clark accepted the offer.
Right about when they came over Clark decided that he had chosen the wrong wet suit. He was chilled and did not want to get hypothermia. I managed to help him strip off the "shorty", lightweight suit. He dried off as best he could and then attempted to don the heavyweight wet suit. Thankfully Deb helped me get him into his suit, but we were both laughing hysterically by the time we were done.
Clark managed to get his arms down the sleeves just far enough that we could see his fingers wiggle but not far enough to be able to grasp any part of his hand to pull it out. Both hands were firmly wedged down the sleeves rendering Clark completely at our mercy. Deb managed to grab two fingers of Clark's left hand while I worked on pulling up the sleeve. Pull as hard as I might, it just would not budge! I finally managed to fold the sleeve back just enough to get his hand out whereby he could grasp the boat rail. Slowly I managed to inch the material up his arm one small pull at a time. I wish we had a video but we were too busy fighting with the wet suit to man a camera as well.
Just when all this was happening, our friends on Jammin Jane stopped by with their friend Chuck to say farewell. They were on their way to Easter brunch and wanted to be sure to see us before we left. With how much boat Clark still had to clean, it was not clear if we would still be there after they finished their brunch. We said our farewells and shared hugs just in case.
At noon Clark declared himself done even though there was more boat to clean. He said that low tide had snuck in while he worked and he kept hitting bottom with his flippers. Between this and his scraping, the water became too murky for him to see what he was doing. Besides those reasons we needed to depart if we wanted to arrive at our next stop before dark. Time to go!
I hoped we would be leaving the dock at 12:30, but as we pulled away from Faro Blanco, I noticed that the time rapidly approaching 1:00. At least we were underway! I entered our waypoints and the chart plotter calculated our arrival time as around 5:20 p.m. The trip to the next marina was pretty uneventful though we did pass through Everglades National Park along the way.
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| Guard birds protecting the park boundary |
Clark was focused on and less than pleased with the boat's performance today. Running at his usual RPM setting he expected to see 8 knots. He was barely managing 7. We arrived at Plantation Key approaching 5:30 as predicted, but by the time we had the boat secured, it was already 6 o'clock. As the dock hands walked away they told Clark that we were welcome to join a pot-luck Easter dinner at the marina if we wanted, but the dinner started at 6:00. Had I known I would have prepared something. As it was, even though I was hungry, I did not feel like running around like a crazy person to throw something together instantaneously.
Clark, on the other hand, was more concerned with the boat performance than he was with food. Although he had no desire to jump back into the water to go scrubbing again, he decided he better do it just to see what could be done. So, back in the water he went with a rag and a scraper. Primarily he said he was going into the water just to look at the trim tabs to see if they were fully in the up position. They were, but then he saw places he had missed earlier and started scraping away. I was concerned because this time he only had on his Speedo bathing suit with no wet suit and no tank of air.
Surprisingly he said the water felt warmer than it had earlier. I could still see goose bumps on his arms, so he certainly could not have been all that warm. He finally quit scrubbing the boat bottom around 7:00 when he said that he was touching bottom (this time with his bare feet) and the water was becoming too murky from all his activity to continue. Instead of hosing himself off at the boat Clark grabbed his shower bag and dry clothes and took off to find a real shower.
Before leaving he asked me if I could rinse off his mask and scrapers and hose down the cockpit of the boat as it was full of dirty footprints. I told him to run get his shower and I would take care of it. The timing worked out just right as I had just finished rinsing the whole boat when he returned. I had him turn off the water for me at the spigot since he was walking right by it.
The one job I did not do was empty and refill our new 5 gallon water jugs that we bought to have extra water reserves on board the boat. Earlier in the day Clark mentioned how very heavy five gallons of water felt to move about. With that in mind, I decided that he could deal with them in the morning before we leave.
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| Two 5-gallon potable water jugs for our trip |
Sunset is somewhere around 7:30. I decided it would be good for me to get the "lay of the land" before darkness set in, so I could find my way to the restroom, etc. We locked up the boat and walked up the docks. We could just see the sun setting as we took our walk.
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| Sunset view by a highly-decorated Houseboat at Plantation Yacht Harbor Marina |
When we got to the end of our dock, Clark turned right and walked over to say hello to the folks having the pot luck dinner in a giant Tiki hut. They had eaten their fill and had leftovers, so low and behold, the folks we stopped to say hello to suggested we join them and take our fill of whatever was left.
I said I had nothing to offer to the meal, but they pretty much insisted. One person went off to find us paper plates while another went to get us plastic utensils. Talk about Southern hospitality! We ate chicken legs, lasagna, mixed vegetables, shrimp paella, au gratin potatoes, and chocolate cake for dessert. None of the food had retained any of its heat, so it was a cold meal but a very tasty one. We were both hungry and ready to chow down!
The folks we spent the most time talking too were Gordon and Jane from Lady J. Also with them were Sarah and Chuck from a small sailboat in the marina. Their dog Freddy took an instant liking to Clark which they said was completely out of character for him. Apparently Freddy is normally quite standoffish. Clark and I both thought that perhaps what Freddy really liked was the smell of chicken on Clark's fingers.
Gordon was very talkative. He had a lot to say about loopers as his home is on Kentucky Lake. When I asked if he was "on the loop", he said, "No, I live on the loop". He watches the loopers go buy his house every autumn. He brought his current boat, a 1975 Chris Craft, to Islamorada two years ago from Cincinnati and so has done a portion of the loop himself with his brother who came with him to help him move the boat.
He did talk quite a bit about a couple he met on that trip that called him and his brother "The boys". They considered him to be young at 70-something years old. The older couple's boat was a 55 foot Selene which "the boys" rafted with a few times as they traveled the western rivers together. Gordon said, "it was my two million dollar mooring ball at least four times!"
By 9:30 it was full on dark, and I still had not seen the "facilities". I told Clark that we should get going, and he said, "Oh, but I never got dessert" and off he ran to see what he could find. He came back with a piece of chocolate cake which he said was so good, he went back for a second piece. Chocolate? Clark? Really??!! Will wonders never cease! He said it tasted like an iced brownie.
I had two small pieces of chocolate from the broken-up Easter bunny as my dessert. I did not try the cake. Some folks said it was way too sweet which put me off. I indulged in the Easter chocolate instead. Mmmmmm! Sadly I expect to pay for my indulgence later.
I finally managed to drag Clark away by standing up and hovering over the table. It still took at least another 15 minutes for him to take the giant hint that I really, really wanted to leave. He walked with me over to the restrooms. When we walked back, he pointed me in the general direction of the boat and left me to join the folks at the table once again. Some very long time later he finally showed up back at the boat, and he says he is not the social one. Hah! Tell me another story!
During the course of the day I received some wonderful pictures of my beautiful granddaughters.
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| Sierra Rose - age 2 At brunch in her Easter outfit |
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| Lillian Martha - age 1 month |
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