2021: Almost free groceries and a birthday trip to the beach

 21 January 2021

Weekly Maintenance Run

Depart: Faro Blanco 3:10

Arrive: Faro Blanco 4:10

Conditions: Mostly sunny, NE wind, 70s

Since the starboard engine needed an oil change, we took the boat out for our weekly run to warm up the engines in preparation for the oil change. For today, he only removed the oil and planned to refill the engine oil in the morning. 

We saw nothing worth picture taking on our little maintenance run, but we did have a nice sunset tonight.

Sunset at Faro Blanco

22 January 2021

No boat travel.

Today turned into a nightmare starting first thing in the morning! When I went to flush a toilet full of #2, the water went up instead of down. I tried a second time, and the dirty water rose further. At which point I decided to run out screaming for Clark to come to the rescue. He said, "I'll put it on my list!" 

For me, emptying the disgusting toilet bowl would have been top priority, but Clark put it at the bottom of his to do list for today. Before anything else, he wanted to complete the engine oil change. He drained whatever oil had settled overnight, changed the oil filters, and refilled the engine oil. After that he had some urgent business to take care of on the computer. 

Finally, some time during the afternoon, he got to the head. I stayed as far away as possible as he opened up the pipes connecting to the holding tank to look for a clog. I cannot stand the stink. He found no large obstruction, but instead, a buildup of gunk and "crystals". He did not have replacement duckbill valves, so he cleaned the old ones as well as possible and reinstalled them. (After the repair, he ordered parts for next time.)

While Clark was busy with head repair, Kevin and Sandy from "Koastal Karma" came by to say hello. I slipped off the boat to sit with them for a while and chat. When I talked with them yesterday, they showed me a picture of their daughter's Welsh Corgy. I agreed to make a birthday card for her daughter from the picture. I finished it last night, so they came to get it today.

Lord Bean Burrito

We sat and talked for an hour. When they left the marina, Clark had still not completed the work on the head. He did manage to wave goodbye but that was all. 

When Clark declared himself done with the head repair, until he gets a new duckbill valve, he told me to be "gentle" with the toilet. I decided that my way of treating it with TLC would be to avoid it altogether. I decided to move to the guest head for the foreseeable future. The other motivator for abandoning the master head is the still dysfunctional sink. No matter how much sealer Clark puts on the pipe, it still leaks. Clark ordered a part for the sink. That part arrived, and now he will have to redo the repair with the new part before we can use that sink.

With Clark's full agenda, he found no time to take any pictures today.

23 January 2021

No boat travel.

This being Saturday, Sandy and I went to the drive thru farmer's market. Afterwards, we stopped into Winn Dixie to pick up some other food items. I quickly moved through the store and collected the items I wished to buy. Since many items on my list fell into the "buy one get one free" category, my cart was fuller than normal, so I went to the  non-self serve checkout.

The young gentleman that worked the belt was very friendly. I brought my own bags, and he packed them to the tippy top with as much as each bag would hold. He was proud of himself for getting so much in each bag. Fortunately, I could still lift them when he was done. 

When it came time to pay, I decided to use my debit card to get cash back for our next trip to the farmer's market. I requested $40 in change. I put my card in and entered the necessary information including the request for cash back. On his end, the cash drawer opened, and he slammed it closed - no change in hand. 

He muttered something I could not hear. When I asked him for my $40, he said I would have to go to the customer service desk. He showed me the receipt, and no where did it indicate the $40 in change. As I considered just leaving and getting cash another day, he made it clear to me that he had rung up the purchase as "cash", i.e. no charge went on the card whatsoever. 

I said, "You mean that if I walk out right now, the groceries are free?" 

"Yes," he replied, "but no no no, don't do that please!" 

With that revelation, I headed over to the Customer Service desk to take care of the payment. Unfortunately, two men were in line in front of me paying for groceries. As I stood there waiting, I thought Sandy must be wondering what happened to me as she saw me in line checking out when she left the store. 

After the two men completed their purchases, I thought it was my turn. Instead the rep took off to assist a shopper at the self-serve lane. I cannot count the number of times that I thought, "It would be so easy to just turn around and leave, and no one would know I never paid." I waited! This store cannot afford to give away food for free.

When she came back and I explained the situation, i.e. that I had a receipt saying I had paid when, in reality, I had not done so, she turned a little paler in color and muttered something like "Mother of God" under her breath. "Thank you for being so honest!," she said over and over again.

She scanned and photocopied the receipt, typed somethings into the register, and then told me to insert my card. After I entered my pin, a screen appeared showing "Refund $205? Yes or No" I looked at her and said "Refund? This is getting better and better. Now you are paying me to take the groceries?"

She declared, "No no no! Oh my God! Thank you for being so honest!" 

When I finally got out to the car, I apologized to Sandy for the delay and told her, "Have I got a story to tell you!"

Clark was off getting pictures of the fast boats that came into Faro Blanco as part of a weekend poker run. Given my fully-packed, extremely heavy bags full of frozen food melting in the sun, I was disappointed that he was not on the boat to greet me, so I called him to "come home" and help me get the bags on board.

Clark decided he wanted to get the dinghy cleaned up with a coat of polish on the hull before taking it out for a run to make it easier to rinse off when we return. When he took the cover off the dinghy, he found a seam that had given way. I told him I would fix it in the morning.

24 January 2021

Dinghy ride.

Clark gave me the canvas and helped me pull out my sewing machine to do some sewing. Before giving it back I inspected the other seams and found no more in need of repair. Although Clark had done a beautiful job on the hull of the dinghy, the inside and seats were black from grime. I told him I was not going anywhere in that! The two of us worked on scrubbing it. We left it to dry while we ate lunch, and it was ready to use when we were done.

Folks we met at Faro Blanco two years back are staying at Marathon Marina, so Clark thought it would be a good plan to go visit them by dinghy. As we made our way out of Faro Blanco, we had a lot of waves splashing. Clark wondered if we would have a wet ride, and I told him I was already getting wet. With that he decided to go faster to cut down on splashing and that helped. I was dry while holding on for dear life.

When we got to Marathon Marina, we took a guess as to where their boat might be docked. We guessed incorrectly, but as a result got to meet Loopers on "Post Script".  They were new to the area and asked where they could go on their dinghy for lunch. I suggested Burdines, and they went there.

Cheryl and John --- "Post Script" 

I thought it was a long shot, but Clark asked Cheryl if she was familiar with the boat "The Lower Place". Surprisingly, she knew the boat and where it was located! Meanwhile, Clark got a call back from Charlie and told us the slip number to look for.

Robin on swim platform of "The Lower Place"

Charlie in his dinghy 

We ended up with an unexpected dinghy party as, while we chatted with Robin and Charlie, two more dinghies pulled up and tied off the "The Lower Place" swim platform.  Then the folks in the neighboring boat came back in their dinghy, so we chatted with them as well. Impromptu party!

"Ursa Minor" next to "The Lower Place"

Talking to Robin and Charlie, we compared marina pros and cons - Faro Blanco vs Marathon Marina. Faro Blanco has smelly sea grass. Marathon Marina has better sunsets.

Nightly View from "The Lower Place"

Sunset the same night at Faro Blanco

25 January 2021

Birthday Bike Ride to the Beach

For the last couple of years, instead of a gift, Clark has taken me on an adventure for my birthday. Last year, we did the parasailing trip, and the year before that, we rented a jet ski and went for a ride in Florida Bay. One year he bought tickets for an air boat ride in the Everglades. 

We talked about doing a dinghy ride to Bahia Honda this year, but we just did a dinghy ride yesterday, so I was not as enthusiastic as I would have been otherwise. I suggested we pack a picnic lunch and go to Sombrero Beach via bicycles to get some exercise and enjoy the day. 

We left some time after noon. With the 13 mph wind from the east slowing us down, we got to the beach at a little after 1:00. We found a table where we could eat our food. The wind was so strong that everything wanted to blow away as we tried to eat. We made short work of the food, left our bikes locked to a nearby fence, and went for a walk along the beach.

Boardwalk to beach

Coral
What the "beach" looks like under the sand.

Coconut on the coral

Ev in the Mangroves

Portuguese Man O' War washed up on beach

As we walked away after seeing the Man O War, Clark saw a boy walk up and try to pick it up in his hands. When I turned to look, the boy had switched to using a flipper to try to move it.

Flowers near the picnic table where we ate.

Since it was my birthday, we took a couple of selfies at the beach.

With the east wind pushing us, we got back to the boat a lot faster than we did going. Unfortunately, we returned to smelly sea grass. The wind had shifted southerly enough to be moving the sea grass away. Sadly, the area between our boat and the neighbor's seems to form a dam, and where most of the other slips were becoming grass free, we still had a full complement of smell.

My birthday present to myself was to pull out the boat hook and give the grass a push to move it along. Clark helped and after an hour of work, we managed to get it cleared. With the bike exercise followed by grass raking, I was done in for the day and took a nap until dinner time. Clark cooked steaks so I got some time off from galley duty.

Later, we got to do phone calls / video calls with the grandkids, so I was happy.

2021: Sink and Fridge Repair

 14 January 2021

No boat travel.

With the cooler temperatures combined with a northerly wind, we spent most of the day on the boat. Late afternoon, we went for a walk around the marina - what Clark likes to call a "Bed Check". 

We saw a pair of penguins? pigeons? What's the word again? Oh, Pelicans! (Clark was having a difficult time remembering the correct bird name - after all, they all start with P!)

Pair of Pelicans guarding the boats

The sea grass has been plentiful. It surrounds our boat and the neighboring ones. The fishing boats are dealing with the grass as well.

Sea Grass Hairdo for the Outboards

15 January 2021

No boat travel.

Another cool day with yet more sea grass. We went to see who was around for docktails as the weather did cooperate a bit better today. Yesterday no one appeared for docktails as it was just too icky out. When we arrived, we found Mel learning how to operate the drone he has on board.

He got it going but then did not know the next step. While he continued the read, the drone kept flying over to cozy up to him. Whereby he would say, "Get away from me!" as he read the manual.

Mel with his overly friendly drone

16 January 2021

No boat travel.

Sandy and I went to the drive-thru farmer's market today. We keep arriving just a little too late to grab a bag of green beans. As we waited for our turn to pull up to order, we saw the car in front of us buy two bags of beans. We hoped that there would be more as we like to buy one bag and share it. Alas, the car in front took the last of the green beans! I did get lettuce, tomatoes, sweet corn, and peppers, so I did not come away empty handed.

As soon as I got back from the trip to the farmer's market, Clark started work on fixing the sink in the master head. Yesterday, I found the drain mostly clogged as the sink was very slow to empty. Short of using harsh chemicals, I tried a number of things to unclog it. Finally, I looked on line and found a recommendation for salt and hot water mixed with a touch of dawn. 

Clark turned off the valve under the sink, and we let the solution soak for a while. This unclogged the drain. Unfortunately, the water I used was way too hot, so in addition to unclogging the drain, it melted the waxy substance used to hold the sink overflow hose in place. We found out that the water that couldn't go down with the valve closed found an alternate exit out the overflow hose and onto the cabinet floor.

So, now instead of a clogged drain, we have a hose problem to fix. Clark mixed up some 2-part sealing compound for plastics and applied that to the connection after filing away the old sealant residue. 

Sink Repair Needed
Clark removed the cabinet door

Where the overflow hose connects under the sink.

Difficult to line up the hose to the overflow hole
in the sink. There always seems to be a bit of a gap.

After completing the repair, Clark did not want us to mistakenly use the sink. He clamped the tap down with a rubber band and put a tube in the sink as a reminder to use an alternate place to wash hands. Since we have a second head, we basically abandoned this head for 24 hours to allow things to dry. 

17 January 2021

No boat travel.

Our refrigerator started to fail on our trip south this year. On occasion, we could smell a "burning" smell that appeared to be coming from the fridge. By taking off the cover plate at the base of the fridge, Clark determined that the fan either did not spin or did not spin freely. He decided we needed a new fan. By poking it, he managed to get the fins of the fan spinning, and he babysat the fridge and the fan all the way to Marathon. 

Once we got here, he ordered a new fan motor. After it showed up, we hesitated to tackle the job as moving the fridge on the boat appeared to be a nasty job to tackle. We did not know if we could get it out, and if we got it out, if we could get it back in. Clark contacted a representative from our Krogen Express broker who sent information on what another KE boater experienced when they pulled out their fridge to install an ice maker. Their only caveat was, as I had already told Clark, the wood floor needs protection to prevent it from getting gouged.

We decided to tackle this ugly job today. I planned ahead to have frozen ice packs available, so I could empty the fridge. Clark thought that might be unnecessary, but I insisted that if I was going to lift a refrigerator, I was going to remove X pounds of meat and beverages before attempting to do so. I loaded up an ice chest as well as several insulated shopping bags.

Here's the recessed fridge
that we have to work on.

Here are my bags full of the fridge food
(plus the ice chest not shown here).

After much debate on the best way to protect the floor, Clark suggested we take one of our rugs, turn it upside down, and use that to slide the fridge out. Before we could get the fridge onto the rug; however, we first had to maneuver it over a "lip". Fortunately, the back of the fridge had two rollers (one each side) which aided us in pulling the fridge out once we got over that lip.

Once we had the fridge pulled out, Clark was trapped in the galley. The only way he could escape would be climbing over the peninsula.

Fridge out! No escape from the galley!

Given Clark had no means of escape, I got put to work. Get the vacuum. We have special, small / miniature attachments for one of the vacuum cleaners we have on board. Perfect for cleaning delicate / hard-to-reach spaces.

Clark pulling out the vacuum cleaner from the green bag.

My other jobs included getting tools from the tool box and scrubbing the port side and top of the fridge where several years of grime had accumulated. Clark cleaned the starboard side and back of the fridge as well as the walls and floor of the recessed space.

Fridge sitting on the carpet we used to slide it around.

Peek-a-boo! Clark behind the fridge.

Good thing he is thin -
not much room to get behind the fridge.

When Clark extricated the fan motor and compared it to the new motor, he declared that he had found the "smoking gun". The new motor spun freely where the old one was much harder to rotate.

The old fan motor

old fan motor

Of course, I knew not to throw away the old part. Clark took it apart, cleaned it up, sprayed contact cleaner on the bearings, and applied 3-in-1 oil to lubricate it. It now spins well, and he will keep it as a spare. He is pretty sure he put it together correctly and the fan will spin the right direction when / if it is used.

Before declaring success and putting the fridge back in place, I suggested we at least try to turn it on and see what happens. Clark told me to flip the breaker to check it out. Whoops! No can do! The fridge blocked my access to the breaker panel. I got a long extension cord and plugged the fridge in to an alternate outlet. Success!  The fridge started up with the fan rotating briskly and blowing any remaining dust around! Now we had to put the fridge back in place.

The only hard part of putting the fridge back in its hole was getting over that lip. We had to lift the fridge to get it up and over. Once that was done, it rolled back into place nicely. I told Clark we should tape up the power cord so that it did not fall down and get in the way as we pushed the fridge back in. It plugs in behind the fridge, and once we started pushing the fridge in, we would have no access to keep it out of the way. We tied a long string to the cord and then taped the string to the top of the fridge. It worked like a charm. 

Once we got the fridge back in place, Clark reattached the wood trip above and below the fridge. 

Applying finishing touches on reinstall on fridge.

We got up late today and started this job at noon. When I emptied the fridge, I grabbed what I would need to make lunch in case the fridge blocked galley access for a prolonged period of time. We had the fridge repaired and back in it slot by just after two o'clock. I cleaned the fridge, as I could not see putting the food back in without wiping it down first, and then put everything back in.  It was 3:00 by the time I was done with clean up and finally able to make lunch. 

While we worked on the fridge, I could hear music coming from the area by the pool. That is normal for Sunday afternoon. A wedding made today special, however. The ceremony and after ceremony events were short starting around 2:00 and being done by 3:15.

Bride and Groom exchanging vows.

Bride mingling with the attendees after the ceremony.

Having been on the boat again all day today, we did our "bed check" walk around the marina just to stretch our legs and get some air. With temperatures in the 60s today, we had to wear jackets for our walk. As we walked around the marina, we talked about our fridge-fix success. Clark said that he was glad I emptied the fridge as it did lighten the load considerably. Also, the fridge door did open at one point. Had there been food in there, we might have had an unpleasant mess to clean up.

Since we both worried about the fridge repair, we did not hesitate to congratulate ourselves on a successful mission being accomplished. Now, we hope that the fan repair is all that was needed to prevent fridge failure. Only time will tell.

2021: Getaway to Newfound Harbor

 January 2021

No boat travel.

I found some sunset pictures hidden away on Clark's cellphone that he has taken since the beginning of the year. 

Sunset New Year's Day 2021

Sunset on 1/3/2021 at Faro Blanco 

Sunset on 1/6/2021 at Faro Blanco

7 January 2021

No boat travel.

We had a southeast wind today for a change. The sea grass that had accumulated around the docks started to drift back where it came from. I decided to give it a helping hand and ended up with a blister on my thumb from using a boat hook to push the sea grass back out to sea. Seeing a grass-free slip for even a short while made the effort worthwhile. 

Sea grass moving on out 

10 January 2021

No boat travel.

After the 7th, the wind shifted around to once again come in from the north or northeast and with it came the sea grass. This time with a vengeance!

Needing some exercise, I went for a walk around the marina. Clark stayed back  to do some compounding / waxing on the boat. 

Clark polishing the boat

In all the time I have been here, (this is our sixth season), I have never seen the marina so thick with sea grass!

When the sea grass comes in, sometimes some sea life comes with it!

Portuguese Man o War

As I walked around the marina, this is what I saw!

View from the SE corner of the marina

Looking at the boats surrounded by sea grass

View of Florida Bay

View from the NE corner of marina

This is the slip that held
"Hour Plan" last year.

When it was Clark's turn to take pictures, he decided to focus on the beautiful sunset instead of the nasty sea grass.

Sunset at Faro Blanco on 1/10/2021

Zooming in, he even captured one with a pelican flying by ...

Sunset at Faro Blanco on 1/10/2021

11 January 2021

Depart: Faro Blanco Marina 2:40

Arrive: Newfound Harbor Anchorage 5:30

Distance: 23.5 nm

Conditions: slight SE wind, 70s, overcast skies

Once a week we take the boat out for a maintenance run to knock off the weeds and animals that have attached themselves to the hull and exercise the engines. Looking at the favorable weather conditions, we could not decide what we wanted to do. We dilly-dallied around until mid-afternoon when we started untying our lines. Before we pulled away from the dock, Clark added water to our almost-empty water tanks to bring them up to the 1/2 full mark. That should be sufficient should we decide to stay out overnight or longer. 

Clark considered just taking the boat for the maintenance run of about one hour, going for a short one-night stay at a nearby anchorage, or going for a multi-night outing and heading off towards Key West and possibly beyond. When he told our boat neighbors, Bill and Sandy, he was considering going to the Dry Tortugas, Sandy laughed because she thought he was joking. When they realized he was serious, we got a lecture from Bill as Sandy ran for her iPad to check out conditions for such a voyage. 

As Sandy shared her info with Clark, I got a scary lecture from Bill on the hazards of traveling to the Gulf at this time of year. He talked of waves so large that the boat would survive but people aboard (i.e. us) would be dead should such bad conditions suddenly appear. Basically, the picture he painted for a trip to the Dry Tortugas was grim to say the least. 

Before we left, we did get a confirmation from Bill that we could make it to Newfound Harbor to anchor before nightfall. We decided to take it one-step at a time and headed there as our first stop. As we pulled out of the slip, a pelican came to roost on the post by our slip. Being very brave, he stood his ground even as I walked right up next to him and waved my arms. They are too used to being fed by the fishermen here to scare off.

Ev explaining to the pelican that it
should find somewhere else to perch

We traveled west until we got to Moser Channel and then went under the 7-mile bridge and out into the Atlantic Ocean. I drove through the bridge as Clark snapped some pics.

Because of the directions of the wind and current, our stabilizers did not completely stop us from being tossed about. However, we observed only a slight chop to the water, so it was not an issue. What quickly became a pain in the bottom was the abundance of fish traps. Clark thought that perhaps if we headed further out into the ocean, we would see less traps. This, sadly, did not appear to be the case. We ended up traveling west about 1.5 miles from shore, watching for, and maneuvering around traps for the entire trip. 

On the ocean, we saw nothing but water, traps, and sky for the duration of the ride. With heavy cloud cover, we hardly even saw the sun. On occasion, however, it tried to break through.

Ray of sun peeking through the heavy cloud cover

Although it felt like we were hardly moving, we did manage to travel at about 8.5 knots for our time on the ocean. Eventually, as planned, we arrived at the entrance to Newfound Harbor.

Entrance to Newfound Harbor

We wove our way into the harbor following the channel markers until we got to a spot that Clark selected for us to drop anchor.  As we explored the area, I pointed out to Clark the weather blimp that flies over the lower Keys. "Fat Albert", as the blimp is called, has appeared in some of my prior blog updates. Here he is again!

"Fat Albert" over Big Pine Key

We hoped for a good sunset. Here is what we saw.

Clark's sunset picture 

Ev's sunset picture taken a short while later

We simply kicked back and relaxed watching a movie on television and finally called it a night around midnight.

12 January 2021

Depart: Newfound Harbor Anchorage 12:00

Arrive: Faro Blanco Marina 3:15

Distance: 22 nm

Conditions: Breezy, 70s, Overcast skies

Amazingly, we both slept until 10:30 this morning. We had no marina noises, or any other noises for that matter, to disturb us, so we were not woken up any earlier. By the time we finished breakfast, it was almost time for lunch. Even so, Clark thought it a good idea to eat before leaving the anchorage, so I made him lunch.  

"So," I said, "where are we going today?" With that, he pulled out his iPad to check on the weather. Although the weather looked good for the earlier part of the day, he saw a front that would come through later that he did not care for. We both agreed that returning to Faro Blanco, instead of venturing on towards Key West, might be the better plan for today.

Around noon, we departed the anchorage to make our way back to the marina. Having no success with going further offshore on our way to the harbor to avoid traps, Clark decided we should try closer to land for the trip back. We still found traps - perhaps not as many. As we neared Moser Channel, we saw a boat moving from trap-to-trap emptying any contents and dumping the trap back in the water. 

The practiced moves of the men hauling in the traps was fascinating to watch. Unfortunately, by the time I grabbed my camera to try to capture their activities, I was too late and we had passed them. Their actions appeared almost automated. As they pulled a trap in, they brought it onto a hinged  metal plate that lifted the trap to a horizontal position. Once they emptied the trap, they dropped the metal platform and the trap disappeared back into the water. It took only seconds to complete the work and move on to the next trap.

Men working on trap boat

Shortly after we passed the trap-collecting boat, we arrived at the 7-Mile bridge.

When we pulled into the marina, we noticed that our neighbors, Sandy and Bill, were gone. Instead of being greeted by them, we were greeted by a slip full of sea grass. Sigh!