2019: Faro Blanco Pickleball

1/24/2019 - 1/30/2019

It's been very busy over the past week including bike repair, boat work, dinners with friends, and fun activities.

Thursday 1/24/2019

The replacement spoke to repair Clark's bike came today from the bike shop in St. Petersburg. The shop owner there told Clark that he could not do the repair himself as the tire needed to be balanced. Since the hurricanes came through, there are no more bike repair shops in Marathon - only bike rental places. Clark found a bike repair shop in Big Pine Key.

Clark went looking for transportation to the repair shop, and Jim and Faith on "Third Degree" graciously agreed to drive us there. We agreed that we would make it an outing including lunch at the No Name Pub on No Name Key. Clark expected it would take a while for them to do the work, we could eat, and come back later to collect the tire. Surprisingly, they said they could have it done quickly, and in about 10 to 15 minutes Clark was walking out with the repaired tire in hand!

With the task part of our journey completed, we had nothing to do but go enjoy some good food and brews at the No Name Pub. The food is good here. The decor leaves one's mouth gaping open. Every surface, walls and ceiling, are covered with layers of one-dollar bills!

Pub that is hard to find but worth the effort

Ceiling at No Name Pub

We enjoyed our meals. When we left the parking lot, what did we see on the corner of the lot?

Picnic table near No Name Pub
Family of diners with dog

The weather this week has been less than stellar, and today was no exception.

Sunset on a Dreary Day

Friday 1/25/2019 - My Birthday!

Yesterday, before Jim and she drove us to Big Pine Key, Faith went out with Yasmine and some other boaters here at Faro Blanco to try her hand at pickleball. This sport, surprisingly (to me), has been around since the mid 1960s. It is all the rage here in the Florida Keys, and Key Colony has a free, municipal court that provides balls and paddles for interested members of the community.

Today, Yasmine, on "Yasmine Anne", drove five of us with her to play again. Every year for the past four years, I have enjoyed doing something I have never done before in my life. One year Clark bought us tickets for an airboat ride in the Everglades, last year he rented personal watercraft (waverunners) and took me out for a ride, and this year, for the first time ever, I played pickleball.

Evelyn - first time at the pickleball courts
(Looking a little doubtful)

We had a little bit of a setback upon arrival. A man "greeted" us as we exited Yasmine's car and politely asked if it was our first time playing. I said, "Yes". Someone else said it was their second visit. All seemed quite nice until he said, "Well, you can't play here if you are new to the game! You'll have to go to 7th Street to play. The league has the courts." I had no idea where we would find 7th street.

Some of the six of us in the car were long time, expert players; others were novice. We split up and four of us headed over to the court for ostracized players. The two excellent players remained at the main courts. Even though we had been sent away "in shame", the four of us had a marvelous time playing pickleball. It is like a crazy mix of tennis, badminton, and ping pong. The scoring is bizarre and takes quite some getting used to. Since I had no idea how to play (or score) pickleball, I watched YouTube videos last night for almost an hour to comprehend the rules.

All was going exceedingly well at play, and we were having a great time until Robin from "The Lower Place" tripped over the support wire for the net and literally fell on her face. With a few scrapes and sore muscles, her playing time came to an abrupt halt. The four of us walked back to the main courts to join the others in our group. Robin is a real trooper, and even injured, she said we should continue to play as she iced her injuries. I played four games today, and my side won two of the four. Given it was my first time out, I was ecstatic!

A couple of days ago, I asked Sandy if she could drive me to Publix when she had time. She heard today was my birthday and, conspiring with Ann on "Morning Star II", decided that we needed some girl time out to celebrate. She said she would take me to Publix today and had a couple more stops to make as well. When I asked, "Where?" She kept it a secret. I figured she had something planned, so I ate a light lunch.

The secret turned out to be my choice of either ice cream or a cupcake at Sweet Savannah's. I chose the ice cream, but when I ordered a small scoop, Ann told the server to make it a medium. I finally had to say, "Halt!" as she kept adding more and more to the cup. Sadly, since it was a combination of cookies and cream with Heathbar Crunch, I had no trouble eating all that she gave me! Ann bought three homemade cookies and gave me one as a present. I saved that for later!

After our tasty treats, we walked to the store next door and browsed around. Marathon has some great gift shops, and this was one I had never been in before. I was forced to part with some of my money as I found a couple of items I just could not pass up. We did eventually get to Publix, so I got groceries for my birthday as well!

The Lighthouse Grille restaurant at the Faro Blanco Marina offers free dinner to patrons who come in to dine on their birthday. Given the quality of the food, this offer is just too good to pass up! Last year, Clark set up a dinner at the restaurant with a large crowd. This year we decided to keep it small and invited Scott and Linda from "Ramble On" to join us. The restaurant was loud, so after dinner, we returned to "Sunset Delight" to relax and chat.

Clark and Ev - Sunset Delight
Linda and Scott - Ramble On

Saturday - 1/26/2019

Having had so much fun at pickleball yesterday, we planned to go again today. However, the weather did not cooperate. When we played yesterday, we had winds up to 15 mph. It definitely made hitting the ball challenging. When we hit into the wind, the ball stopped dead mid-court. When we hit with the wind, it sailed into the next county.

Today, we had an overcast and chilly day. The winds blew at 20 mph, and so we decided not to bother.

One of the things the wind blew in today included a number of Portuguese Man O' War specimens.

Portuguese Man O' War - near our boat

The first time I saw one of these was last year. It looked like a balloon sitting on the water. Ann assured me that it was not and told me to stay far away from it.


Sunday - 1/27/2019

It seemed like my birthday went on for days as we still had one more event planned. The local theater group puts on plays each month. The current show is "Drinking Habits" - a comedy about nuns making wine without the Mother Superior knowing about it. We had never attended a show here before and thought it would be good to see one.

I guess we picked a popular one. The show was sold out for today - the first matinee ever to be sold out in the history of the theater. Also, this show has brought in more revenue than any other show. The highlight, however, turned out to be a member of the audience who attended today to celebrate her 102nd birthday. She did not look a day over 80!

Faith had seen the show on Friday night and told Clark, "It was good but had a slow start." In general, the audience seemed to enjoy the show.  Perhaps, if I were Catholic, I would have laughed more at the jokes. As it turned out, the second act had several very funny surprises. Clark and I agreed that we have seen better delivery of lines in other amateur productions back home in NJ.

We hemmed and hawed about the weather and whether we should walk or bike to the show. Clayton offered to drive us, but we wanted some exercise. Ultimately, we rode our bikes and took our bike covers to wrap them in case it rained. We got lucky and had no rain before or during the show.

After the show, we biked to the Florida Keys Steak and Lobster House for dinner with Karen and Mark on "Captain's Choice" and Mandy and Jim on "Shell Belle". We locked our bikes to a bench outside the restaurant and enjoyed dinner with our friends. Since both sets of folks plan to go to the Bahamas soon for their first time there, Clark regaled us with stories of our travels there in 2016.

We all walked back to the marina from the restaurant - the guys up ahead and us gals taking our time following behind. No sooner did we arrive back at the marina than we felt the first drips of rain. Ten minutes after we were safely on board our boats, it poured rain in buckets. How lucky were we?!

Monday - 1/28/2019

Once again we woke up to nasty weather and high winds. Faith suggested that the weather did not support a trip to the pickleball courts, so we passed for today. Later I discovered that four folks from here did go and played even in the challenging conditions. Still being sore from Friday's play, I was happy to wait before venturing back onto the courts.

Since the weather kept us inside, Clark worked on the install of the fuel gauges. He had undone the install he did a few days ago because the tank would not stop leaking fuel. After consultation with Scott ("Ramble On"), he determined that the part was tapped too deeply, so it caused the valve to not seal properly. Today he installed the new part he had ordered and it went well, i.e. no leaking!

Moving 800 or so pounds of fuel all to one side of the boat definitely makes the boat tip, i.e. increases the angle of list. My cupboard doors either wanted to slam themselves shut or fling themselves open depending on which way we tipped. At one point Clark said, "I feel like I'm walking uphill."

Tuesday - 1/29/2019

We played pickleball in the morning and got back at lunch time. After lunch Clark and I did our weekly boat maintenance run. As opposed to yesterday, we had little wind and calm waters. Besides cleaning barnacles and yuck off the bottom of the boat, Clark wanted to check out his handy work with the fuel gauge install. All went well on our outing.

Clark pointed out that the canvas cover for the upper helm had gotten quite filthy over the past weeks, so I took it and some other canvas up and threw it in the washer. While that was happening, we hosed the salt off the boat - our standard procedure after even a short voyage around here.

The weather this week has been cold, windy, and sometimes wet. Clark did manage to get a nice sunset picture today.

Wednesday - 1/30/2019

After pickleball yesterday, Yasmine, Faith, and I stopped by the Art Studio nearby to see what they offered in terms of classes and activities. We found several pieces of ceramic that we thought would be fun to paint and decided that we should come back today to try our hand at it.

Today, we played pickleball from 10:15 until 11:30 or so.

Getting ready to play

Once again, we found the courts very busy and decided to walk over to the 7th Street courts to warm up before jumping on the busy courts. Yesterday when the three of us played, Yasmine played against Faith and me. Today Faith played against Yasmine and me. Much to our embarrassment, Faith beat the two of us!

Evelyn, Yasmine, and Faith (the winner of this game)

By 11:00 the courts thin out a bit. Especially today as a number of folks quit at that time to do volunteer work cleaning up the park. We managed to get a foursome of folks and play two more games before it started to rain and drove us away for the day.

Faith - "Third Degree" - serving
Tammi (in pink - "Liberty") on her team

I offered Clark's services to take Thorn (visiting "Flight") on the dinghy pub crawl today. Nine dinghies went to the Key's Fisheries for lunch. Several went on to Barnacle Barney's afterwards, but having eaten lunch, Clark decided he had done his duty and came back to the marina.

Besides the pickleball in the morning, Yasmine, Faith and I decided that we would spend the afternoon painting some ceramics. I grabbed a shower and a quick lunch to get ready to go back out again. I barely said more than "See ya later" to Clark as I ran out the door.

We spent about three hours at the art studio - first deciding which piece to make and then carefully painting our artwork. It is very hard to tell what the colors will look like while painting. The paint dries very faint in color. The tan color I used for skin tone was so pale that it did not even look like I had painted the piece. The items will be ready for pick up after 4:00 p.m. tomorrow. I am excited to see what they look like when done.

The before firing picture
Sea Horse Plate - Faith
Sea Horse - Yasmine
Mandy the Mermaid - Evelyn

We got back to the boats at 5:30, and after changing to warmer clothes, I walked over to docktails. Since we are at the end of the month, we have boats getting ready to leave soon and other, new ones coming in. Our friends on "Hour Plan", A.C. and Jim, arrived today. I did not see them at docktails but did meet some other boaters there whom I have not met previously.

2019: Faro Blanco Low Country Boil

1/22/2019
No boat travel.

Clark came back to the boat after docktails yesterday with the day's sunset picture. By the time he came back, however, I had already posted my blog update for the day. Here is last night's sunset.

Today, Clark and I each had our own agendas for the day. I had piles of laundry to do, and Clark had an engine room project he decided to start. We got a very late start on the day's activities. I slept until 10:30 and Clark finally got out of bed at 11:00. With a wee bit of a chill in the air, we snuggled down instead of getting up.

By the time we got from the master stateroom to the salon, we had to decide if we would be eating breakfast or lunch. I opted for breakfast, and Clark opted for lunch. We normally go to bed on the late side; 12:30 or 1:00 a.m. is not unusual. It is not normal, however, for us to sleep past 10:00 for sure!

Folks from Alabama sure now how to plan a party, and Mel and Anne on "Morning Star II" decided that we would have a "Low Country Boil" today at the regularly scheduled docktails time of 5:00 p.m. Mel and Anne took care of acquiring and cooking the food. All we had to do was show up with money, an appetite, and if we wanted, a dessert to share. That meant that whatever work Clark and I planned for the afternoon, we had to be done by 5:00.

While I had my laundry going this afternoon, I baked applesauce cake for the 5:00 gathering. I had a timer set for the wash (and then dry) that was underway up at the marina, and a timer set for the oven on the boat. It kept me busy running back and forth between the two. In amongst that activity, Clark decided that he needed me to help him for a while with his engine room project.

Whenever we take on fuel, Clark has to climb into the engine room repeatedly to read site glasses to see how full the tanks are. Our boat has a fuel gauge on the helm that always shows empty because it is not set up with sensors. Clark is rectifying that by installing the necessary parts.

This project required that he move all the fuel from the starboard tank to the port tank. After that, he installed an elbow, a valve, a reducer, and a sensor into the bottom of the tank. Once done with that, he transferred the fuel back to the port side to balance the boat. My job was to watch the overflow on the side of the boat as the tank became full to make sure no diesel fuel escaped. Fortunately, the tank got to empty with no overflow problems.

Given all the weight of the fuel shifted from one side to the other, the boat listed quite severely during this activity. Tomorrow he will do the port to starboard transfer and installation of parts. Once done with that work, he will need to run wires and work on the electronics part of the job.

We managed to wrap up all our jobs and make it to docktails on time at 5:00. Mel started the cooking process at 2:30, so when we got there, food was ready for the taking.

Mel - the Chef

Mel at work cooking dinner for the gang
(mirror image - photo taken into the glass door)

Cook pot with propane tank and burner

Potatoes, Corn, Carrots, Sausage, Onions

Normally the food is poured out onto newspaper on a table and folks dig in. Here, with limited table space, the cook decided to pour the food into a large cooler. The sun was out and the temperatures were quite pleasant, but we had very strong winds. The cooler kept the food out of the wind, so it remained hot for a good long time.

Ready with my empty plate to dig into the chest of food!

So much shrimp!!

Clark took an early picture of the dessert table, so it does not reflect the vast selection of desserts we had to choose from. Faith made her rum bundt cake, which I really enjoy. She insisted that Clark try some, and given he doesn't drink alcohol, we wondered if he would get drunk from eating it. He did not.

Homemade Cornbread - Yum!
Lots of cakes and brownies came later!

Even with all the cooking Mel did, he also contributed to the dessert by making homemade sherbet - orange with pineapple!

Ice cream maker - orange sherbet for dessert!

Mel and Anne had sign-up sheets and planned on 40 people. Around 37 actually attended the boil.

After everyone had eaten their fill, the cooler still contained vast amounts of shrimp and trimmings. Mel handed out storage bags and told everyone to take some home for leftovers. We had such a good time that by the time we were done, the sun had set and it had gotten quite dark on the docks.

Walking back to our boats, Yasmine invited Linda and I on board her boat to see her sea glass artwork from the other day. Some how Clark found us and, after confirming it was not "girls only", he  climbed on board as well. Fortunately, he had the camera with him.

Yasmine's picture has a lot more going on than mine does!
Shells, driftwood, and sand dollars! Love the mermaid!

Before calling it a night, Clark and I walked the docks for a tiny bit of exercise. No one was out to talk to, so we had a very short walk.

2019: Faro Blanco assorted activities

1/15/2019 to 1/21/2019
Activities in and around Faro Blanco Marina

Someone asked me the other day, after learning that we will be staying on our boat here at the marina for a total of three months, "What do you do all day?" Surprisingly, it seems that no two days are exactly the same. We interact daily with the folks from our boating community here and frequently either become engaged in their activities or pull them into ours. Clark is quick to jump in when someone has a question about their boat or need something electrical looked into. For example, he has helped fix a bow thruster and worked on numerous battery-related issues while we've been here.

Of course, we have regular activities such as trips to the food store and Home Depot as well as visits every Saturday to the farmer's market. When I am not busy with friends or chores, I like to read. I just finished reading the first book in the Outlander series and have just started on book two.

Over the past week, Clark and I have participated in all sorts of things.

Art Class

Yasmine, on the sailboat "Yasmine Anne", told me about a Sea Art Class being held at the hotel next door. She convinced me to sign up to attend with her and another boater, Trish. The three of us spent a few hours being "crafty" with sea glass, shells, and epoxy. I have never tried this particular form of 3-D art and was happy with my first attempt.

The glass color did not show as brilliantly as I liked, so the next day, per my own interpretation of a suggestion from the instructor, I used my acrylic paints to provide a backing to the art to make the colors "pop"!

Several other boaters said they wish they had attended the session. Yasmine and I have talked repeatedly about perhaps, now that we know how it is done, getting a group together to do a class ourselves. All we need is supplies which just happen to be rather expensive to acquire.

Around Town -- Doctors and Shopping

On Friday I had my final recheck for my bout of pneumonia to confirm that I am now in good health. I passed with a clean bill of health albeit with a warning from the doctor not to overdo activities else the pneumonia might come back.

Boaters who have a truck here at the marina gave Clark and me a ride to the doctors. We took our bicycles with us to bike back to the boat via a shopping trip afterwards. We had multiple stops planned on the trip back.

When we came out of the doctor's office, we first stopped at NAPA to look for some Yamaha outboard motor parts. They did not sell what Clark needed and suggested a place in Key Colony - two lights down and a 1/2 mile beyond. Given the doctor's instructions to "not overdo" and not knowing the distance entailed in "two lights down", I decided to pass. Clark left me to head east and I headed west for the bagel shop and dollar store. I told him he could find me there when he was done.

The place was closed for lunch when he got there and decided to hang out for 45 minutes until they opened. Since he had time to kill, he looked around and took some pictures so I could see what I missed.

Atlantic Ocean - Coco Plum Beach

Key Colony - Coco Plum Drive
(looking east)

Key Colony - Coco Plum Drive
(looking west)

Broken docks off Coco Plum Drive in Key Colony

My doctor's appointment was scheduled at 11:00 a.m. We left there around 11:40 or so. We got back to the marina at 3:45 p.m. Since I only covered about 6 miles in that time that calculates out to about 1.5 mph! In truth, I spent an hour hanging out near the bagel shop waiting for Clark to return from Key Colony.

We stopped at numerous stores as well as the post office on the way back to the marina. Including lunch at the bagel shop, it turned out to be a lovely day out! I enjoy riding my bicycle especially at such a relaxed pace.

The bad news from today ... as we folded up our bikes to put back on the boat, Clark heard a pop and found that one of the spokes on his bike tire had just broken. Since our bicycles are our primary mode of transportation, this is a bit of a catastrophe. He immediately got on the phone with a Brompton dealer to see what could be done, and a replacement spoke is now "in the mail". When it arrives, the bike will need to be taken to a repair shop to have the spoke replaced and the tire balanced. I guess though, that after seven years of hard use, one broken spoke is not bad! If needed, he can use my bike while he waits for his to be repaired.


Sea Grass -- Removal and a Turtle Rescue

When a northerly wind blows, the marina collects sea grass. By Friday, after several days of northerly winds in a row, we had "wall-to-wall" sea grass blanketing the marina.

Sea Grass Collection by Boat

The sea grass became so thick that the birds walked across the marina on top of it. The visual effect it presented made it look like the boats were moored in a field! The sea grass is heavy and like straw. I tried to push some away from the boat with a boat hook so we could lower our dinghy. After several minutes of considerable effort, I gave up having only opened a 2-foot-square section of water.

I noticed that the jellyfish took immediate advantage of the opening and come up towards the light. The brown-striped jellyfish in this marina look nothing like any jellyfish Clark or I have ever seen before. The water in this marina is full of them!

Jellyfish peaking through sea grass to get light from above

Everywhere we go down here we see signs telling us that the sea grass is "good for the environment" and cannot be removed. However, Eric on "Slow Lane" spied a poor, little turtle struggling on top of the sea grass. Try as hard as he might the baby turtle could not penetrate the grass to get to the water below. Eric scooped him up in a net to help him out.

Sad and exhausted 3"-to-4" sea turtle

Eric original planned to release the turtle in open water, but given its sluggish behavior, he called the nearby Turtle Hospital instead. They immediately came to take the turtle back to their facility for tender loving care.

When we woke on Saturday, we saw a reprieve from the sea grass. Overnight a southerly wind had come in to start blowing the sea grass away from the marina. Given that the piled up grass had started to stink under the heat of the sun, we were only too glad to see it moving out.

Mel on "Morning Star II", Clayton on "Flight", and Roy on "Yasmine Anne" decided to give the sea breeze a helping hand to get the sea grass removed sooner. They all started their engines to blow it out - Mel and Clayton started their motor vessels, and Roy went around on his dinghy getting into the close-to-the-dock areas.

Roy from "Yasmine Anne"
blowing out the sea grass with his outboard motor

While the engines did their magic, Clark and I grabbed boat hooks to push the weeds out from around our boat into the path of the outboard wash. It took a while, but low and behold, we once again had boats moored in water - not grass!

Demos and Presentations

A boater walking by on the dock behind our boat told Clark about a water-maker demo currently underway over by the lighthouse. We immediately left to check it out. A two-hour presentation preceded the dock demo of the Rainman portable desalination system. Unfortunately, we do not listen to the Marathon boater's net where the presentation was announced, and so we knew nothing about it. Luckily, the passing boater told Clark about the demo, so we could attend at least part of the show. Clark is very interesting in their products for future purchase when we are ready to make another trip to the Caribbean.

Reading one of the boater forums, Clark learned about a presentation to be given by the local US Power Squadron. Since his bicycle was out of commission, he walked to the marina hosting the presentation. Had he known, multiple boaters from here drove to the talk and he could have gotten a ride. While there, however, he found Brent from "Change of Pace". Brent is staying at the Marathon Marina like he did last year and dropped Clark off at Faro Blanco on the way by. Clark always enjoys learning "local boater knowledge" and collected some useful, takeaway knowledge from this talk.

Boat Work and Maintenance Runs

Clark has a never-ending list of boat projects. Often, whether I want to or not, I get pulled in as a "volunteer" to assist. Repairing the dinghy cover recently became one that ended up in my task list. The cover is relatively new, but wind causes movement and any pressure points become rub spots and holes can appear. Chafing had occurred over the outboard motor and two decent-sized holes needed to be addressed before it got worse.

Using my handy-dandy, 50-year-old, portable Singer sewing machine that I brought along on this trip, I managed to do a decent job patching the worn area. Having watched Faith from "Third Degree" patch our old cover, I had a pretty good idea of what I needed to do. I cut open and flattened an old eye-glass case and sewed that over the holes to use as protective material to prevent further chafing.

Given what I had on hand, I thought matching the canvas color would be an issue, but, as luck would have it, the dinghy cover had an extraneous flap of material that Clark always tied back out of the way. I cut it off and used the material from the flap to do the repair.

My handiwork - Square patch on top of outboard 

When we were home in Rumson, we replaced the window and porthole screens with screen material rated to withstand gnats. However, we forgot about the hatch coverings. On our trip home in December, we collected some more screening material and brought it back with us.

Clark and I make a pretty good team. Working together, we managed to do all three of our hatches, and they look professionally done. Removing the old spline was a royal pain in the a$$ and took the largest amount of the time! Whoever did the work, glued the spline in place. We had a devil of a time digging out the old spline to have a clean surface for the new.

New screens installed for our hatch covers!

Clark was thrilled to be able to remove two items from his work list!

Weekly, every Monday if weather allows, we take the boat out for a maintenance run. Most folks staying here do not move their boats for the duration of their stay whether that be one week or four months. Clark, however, insists on running the boat weekly to keep the growth and barnacles off the bottom and props. He would rather enjoy a boat run than pay a diver to scrape off the scum and, with it, the bottom paint.

Our maintenance trip is not very exciting and lasts less than one hour. We found that going straight out from the marina to the John Sawyer Bank avoids the majority of the fish traps. We still find a few but they are easily avoidable. It makes the trip more pleasant when it can be done without continually maneuvering around traps. Additionally, with the recent north winds, we find it more comfortable to be cold driving into the wind on the way out and warmer, with the wind at our backs, on the way into the marina.

Baby Shower and a Wedding

The Hyatt Hotel, Faro Blanco Marina, and the Lighthouse Grille all share the property here. On an occasional Saturday, we will find a wedding taking place on the grounds. The wedding party holds their ceremony out at the beach on the point and then, weather permitting, has an outdoor reception catered by the restaurant. One such event happened Saturday night.

Since Hurricane Irma, the "wedding island" had gotten a lot smaller! Only small weddings fit!

Wedding on the point
(violinist on extreme right-hand side played nice music)

Wedding Reception at
Faro Blanco - Lighthouse Grille

Docktails just happened to be underway during the wedding ceremony. We spied on them from across the marina. When the folks attending the wedding applauded the wedding couple, we joined in!

Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m., a baby shower was held for one of the workers at the marina named Devon, whom Clark and I have known since we started coming here four years ago. Since Devon's due date was towards the end of February, it looked like a good day for her friends to choose. Surprisingly, when Devon went to the doctor's on Friday, the doctor decided that the baby should be born immediately, and Devon went straight from the doctor's office to the hospital for a Caesarean section.

With Devon doing well, I was told that the shower would be held as planned. Having been delayed by an earlier event, I arrived at the shower 45 minutes late to find the party attendees but no guest of honor. When we departed at 1:00 the new mother had still not arrived. Although Devon had been told she would be checked out of the hospital at 8:00 a.m., it did not happen on time. I finally got to see Devon and her tiny, new baby a couple of hours later just as she was leaving the marina.

Decoration Station and
Gifts at Baby shower for Devon

Task: Choose a onesie or bib and iron on a decal

End results - I did the pink elephant one!

Cupcakes from Sweet Savannah's
(champagne in pink and carrot cake in white icing)

Wear a crown 

Sandy from "L'Attitude Adjustment"
modeling the flower crowns at the baby shower

Visitors

Friends came to Key West for a long weekend this weekend and drove to Marathon to meet us for brunch on Sunday morning. (The activity that made me late for the baby shower.) Clark and I belonged to the Mainship Owner's group many years ago and attended several events held in Long Island where we met other Mainship Owners. Our friend, Dave, is one of those folks. Although we have not seen each other in many years, Dave and Clark still keep in touch. Dave brought his wife, Michelle, whom we had never met with him, so we could meet her.

We ate at the Sunset Grille. I checked out their menu ahead of time and found it to be a more-than-suitable brunch menu. Dave, for example, had the Florida Seafood Omelet - certainly not your usual menu item. We all enjoyed our food very much!

I hardly had a chance to talk with Dave. He and Clark talked nonstop on their side of the table while I chatted the whole time with Michelle. Michelle used to be a member of the New York state assembly, and I found her very interesting to talk with. We all had a great time, but the visit was far too short.

Dave and Michelle on their boat "Uptick"

Eclipse of the Moon and Sunsets

Sunday night we got to see glimpses of the Super Blood Wolf Moon eclipse. Sadly, we had heavy cloud cover, so glimpses were all we were able to catch. I would have forgotten to even look if it were not for Clark. He dragged me outside to stare at the sky around 11:30 p.m. Around midnight Anne from "Morning Star II" and Sandy and Bill from "L'Attitude Adjustment" came out for a look as well. We all got pretty stiff necks trying to look up at the sky. Clark and Sandy actually laid down to get a better view, but I could not get myself to lie on the walkway. Clark tried for a picture but failed.

Amost Full moon - picture taken on 1/19

No, it's not a slice of bread in the sky
Clark's attempt to capture a picture of the eclipse!

Clark is always busy with chasing sunsets. Since they look pretty much the same every night, he has taken a few inverse images like the one below to provide some diversity.

Sunset Reflection at Docktail's Time

2019: Gunkholing near Marathon Florida

1/13/2019
8.4 NM Dinghy Trip 
10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

At the ice cream social held last night, in lieu of standard docktails, Jim from "Shell Belle" announced a planned dinghy "pub" crawl to be held today.  He and his daughter, Michelle, organized the outing. Jim's wife, Mandy, planned to stay at the marina to play with her grandson.

Ev, Dorothy, Mandy, Michelle, Jim and baby, and Mel
Docktail's Photo of dinghy ride planner (Jim)

When we gathered at 10:30 this morning, the designated start time for the pub crawl, we had six boats and twelve people attending the event.

Our leaders - Jim and Michelle
"Shell Belle"

Ev and Clark -  "Sunset Delight"

Robin and Charlie - "The Lower Place"

Karen and Mark - "Captain's Choice"

Chris and Mark

After a few minute's wait to make sure we had no late arrivals, we were underway!

Robin and Charlie

Jim and Michelle

Gail and Keith - "Southern Style"

Jim planned three stops - Burdine's, LazyDays, and Sunset Grill for the dinghy crawl.

Our first stop, Burdine's, up ahead

Having tied up the dinghy's and gotten a table at just after 11:00 a.m., we had to decide whether to eat lunch here or at a later stop. Clark decided to get a salad. I decided to steal some of the french fries Jim planned to order. He was right when he said that one order of fries served as many as four people. I agreed with someone at the table who said they were the best fries he had ever eaten! Delicious!

Since Michelle was visiting from Salt Lake City and would soon be going home, it was agreed that she had to order the deep-fried key lime pie for dessert.

Michelle and her deep-fried key lime pie

Looking at the above photo, the reader can see that I have my eyes on that dessert! Michelle kindly cut the "pie" into four pieces and shared her treat with three of us. The 1/4 piece I had was rich enough to be a full dessert serving! Amazing!! As Michelle said, "It was to die for!"

Next door to Burdine's, construction (or more accurately destruction) is underway to prepare for the rebuilding of the Faro Blanco Oceanside Marina. We could see the work site from inside the restaurant.

Clark took this picture a couple of days ago 

and this one as well

Today's picture of same location -
definite progress has been made

and another one taken today 

Having sampled the best of Burdine's (fries and deep-fried key lime pie), we were ready to be on the move to Lazy Days South.

Onward to Lazy Days South Restaurant

Ev watching the dinghies up ahead

Only beer and wine are available at Burdine's. At Lazy Days, folks decided to go for the Bloody Mary's. Clark got a Virgin Bloody Mary, i.e. pure tomato juice. Since I cannot stand tomato juice in any form, I had an iced tea.

Salut!
Toasting our gathering at Lazy Days with lots of celery!

Since we had already eaten some food at Burdine's, Clark and I decided to order one sandwich and share it. The grilled grouper we ate here was fabulous!

When it came time to leave and head on to Sunset Grill, Clark and I decided to bail out and do some exploring in our dinghy instead. Clark had heard of a place with a yellow submarine that was hidden in the mangroves somewhere. We went off to find it.

As we headed out into the Atlantic Ocean, Clark told me to keep my eyes open for channel markers heading off into the mangroves. I saw some typical Florida channel markers, i.e. some white PVC pipe sticking up in the water. As we traveled along the channel into the mangroves, we had to watch the depth carefully as we could easily see the bottom.

As the markers ended at the entrance to the mangroves, it became clear that we were going gunkholing!

Going Gunkholing in the mangroves

Given the depths we had seen coming in here, and the fact that we came in with the outboard on the dinghy tilted up, I wondered how large boats with deeper drafts managed to get into these waters. I could see some up ahead.

Boats up ahead!?

Clark had heard about the "yellow submarine" located in these waters. We found it, but it looked more like the "rusty submarine" to me.

Rusty Submarine in the mangroves!

At the submarine, we could turn left or right for more exploring. We went left first. The condition of the boats here - mostly sunk, and the docks - mostly wrecked, made me wonder who owned these properties. It seemed impossible that anyone could be living here while at the same time appeared that might just be the case. We saw no people around as we explored.

Mix of sailboats and powerboats in among sunken boats.

Is this someone's condo complex?

The docks looked rickety and uninviting. Looking through the mangroves we could see a parking lot with many rusty file cabinets standing side by side. Hmmm - storage area!?

One of many boats under water.

The engine on the dinghy kept cutting out as we checked out the various vessels above and below water. I kept worrying that it would not get started again or that we would drift into one of the lovely vessels surrounding us. Fortunately, every time it cut out Clark got it restarted.

When we got back to the submarine, we turned left to explore further. Seeing a nicer looking vessel ahead, I decided this must be the "high-rent" district. Upon closer inspection, I changed my mind.

Private Property - No Tresspassing
(as if I would want to!)

One of these properties, perhaps the one pictured above, had what looked like a still. Looking closer I saw that it was more like a cistern with a drainpipe connecting the eaves trough on a shed to the "still", located below, to collect drinking water.

I had to wonder as I saw these "sketchy" vessels who, if anyone, lived on them. We kept thinking we must be at the end of the "creek", and then we would find another bend and yet more area to explore with yet more boats.

"Martinique" looks good from afar
(not so the sailboat next door)

On the property connecting the vessels above with the vessel below, I saw a clothesline hanging with the wash put out to dry. Clearly, at least one of these vessels is home to someone. I could not tell who owned the laundry but clearly someone put it there!

End of the line - no way around this vessel!

Having reached the end of the line, we turned around and headed back out to open water. I felt like I had been spying on their neighborhood and breathed a sigh of relief to be back out in the open.

We headed back towards our marina. To get there we had to pass Sunset Grill, so we drove by slowly to see if we could see our friends. The place was quite busy. We saw dinghies tied to the dock and assumed they were still there but kept going. I was not precisely sure what Clark's thoughts were on "where to next" but given the amount of water and iced tea I had drunk, there was only one stop I wanted to make - a restroom!

He agreed to take me back to Faro Blanco. As we pulled into the marina, he started looking for a place to tie up where I could climb out. We could not find any ladders to get up onto the dock and the dinghy was too low in the water to get out without one. We ended up tying up next to "Sunset Delight" and getting off that way.

When we returned from our restroom stop, I discovered that Clark intended to go back out exploring again. He had one more place, a nearby marina, that he had heard about and wanted to check out. So, back into the dinghy we went for another outing. By the time we finally finished our dinghy excursions, we had been out for almost six hours and had traveled a total of 8.5 nautical miles.

With the north winds we currently have, the sea grass located around our boat and in the marina is very thick. Someone suggested that it is thick enough for the birds to walk on, and I can definitely belief they would have no trouble doing so. The sea grass is problematic for the boat engines. The outboard, for example, did not like it one bit. When we finally put the dinghy away, we had to clean a lot of sea grass off the bottom and out from around the engine.

It was almost time for docktails by the time we finished putting away the dinghy. Just before it was time to go, we got a surprise visit from folks we had met years ago while in Michigan doing the Great Loop. Karen and Mark have been following my blog all this time, saw our boat at the marina, and stopped by to get reacquainted.  We took them to docktails with us.

Karen and Mark made the trip to the Keys from Wisconsin to look at buying a used boat located in Key West. We spent a lot of time discussing the pros and cons as they were disappointed in the condition of the boat. The pictures from the broker hardly told the whole story.

Sunset at Faro Blanco

We left docktails after the sun set and went to dinner with our visitors from Wisconsin.

I am quite sure I have never eaten as many french fries in one day as I ate today nor as much grilled grouper! We walked to Barnacle Barney's for dinner since it was nearby and offered something other than pizza, which Clark and I had eaten relatively recently. Even though I had some of Clark's grilled grouper at lunch, I ordered it here. I decided it would be healthier than fried grouper.

Clark ordered a burger. We decided ahead of time to split our meals 50-50. I am glad we did because I enjoyed his burger a whole lot more than I did the grilled grouper! Now I know what to order next time I come to Barnacle Barney's.

When we were heading back to Faro Blanco after our gunkholing experience, Clark spied a Krogen Express heading towards Boot Key. I managed to catch the name "Blue Moon" and recognized the name from the Krogen Express rendezvous we attended last year. After saying our farewells to Karen and Mark, we headed back to "Sunset Delight" and Clark called Steve from "Blue Moon" on the phone and talked to him about KEs.

What an action-packed day we had today!!



1/14/2019
Maintenance Run on Sunset Delight

Today we did our weekly maintenance run with "Sunset Delight" to wash off the growth that forms on the boat's bottom when not in use. Our typical run is only about 45 to 60 minutes long. Today, being a bit on the chilly side, we did not stay out long. Most folks seem to stay put. We are one of the few that actually run our boat out to clean its bottom.

When we got back from our run, Clark set to washing off the salt spray and bird droppings we have collected over the past week. I had my own list of chores for today. Since I was sick for several days, I have not done much in the way of cleaning. Clark helped me drag two loads of laundry up to the washers. While that was going, I pulled out the vacuum cleaner and cleaned the boat from bow to stern. I worked on the inside while Clark worked on the outside - seemed fair!

Every time I went to sit down I thought of something else that needed to be done. We finally stopped for lunch at 3:00. (Since we had slept in until 10:00, this worked out about right.) After lunch, I had time for a shower before heading up to docktails. Folks did not stay long tonight as they complained about it being too cold. It was in the 60s.

At docktails, Clark took a sunset picture reflected in the window in the door of the lighthouse.

Sunset Reflection!

He took a similar picture two nights ago at docktails.

Reflection of docktails at sunset

Since we ate lunch at 3:00, we watched the news and then I made dinner for 8:00. Afterwards I worked on the blog update for the rest of the night.