2024: Mid-month Feb in Marathon

 1 - 15 February 2024

We decided to take a side trip to the Bahamas this year, so much of this month has been devoted to preparation for the voyage including getting our taxes our of the way. Our last trip there was while doing the Great Loop in 2016. We learned from that experience and are stocking up on food and doing boat projects in preparation. 

When not working on the boat, we have found some time for fun activities.

3 February 2024

St. Columba Tea & Fashion Show

The St. Columba Tea & Fashion Show hosted 80+ attendees this year. The proceeds go to support one of the many charity offerings provided by this wonderful church. 

Each table was set up with china tea cups and tea pots - all donations to the church. 

Ev sat with two church members we see every week working hard at the Farmer's Market named Janet and Dan. Ev's table setting is show below. 

Note the table centerpiece of treats. 
Ev's place setting is at front of picture with a
sandwich, scone, and other sweet treats.

Each place setting had a $5 coupon for the thrift shop operated by the church. One of the vendors at the Celtic Festival donated the Scottish shortbread favor that came with the coupon.

The food was served buffet style with many delicious tea sandwiches and desserts to choose from.

Many people who attended dressed nicely for the event. Some even wore fancy hats.

Pastor Debra

One of the attendees

Only one man attended the event. He participated as a model for men's clothing. He had three outfits on display - a golfing ensemble, a suit and jeans combo, and a Hawaiian shirt (not shown). He liked all three outfits so much he bought them to take home with him. All the displayed attire came from the clothing thrift shop. A woman from the church that volunteers there, Connie, who has a great talent for designing, did a wonderful job putting together ensembles from the Thrift Store offerings.

When not modeling men's clothing, "Johnny Live" can be seen performing at several local venues. He also sings along with the band at the church service we attend on Sundays. John told me he wished Clark had attended as he could have used some male backup.

Each model was given three outfits to wear for the show. Like Johnny, many of the models bought the clothes they displayed. A typical price for a dress was $8, shoes $6, and jewelry $4. 

Our now good friend, Nancy, (we just met this year) also bought all three of the ensembles she modeled. 

5 February 2024

Ev convinced Clark to go to see "Johnny Live" perform live at Dockside here in Marathon. Ev really enjoyed his show that we saw in January and wanted to go again. She thought the weather would be a washout, but fortunately, Clark said we could go. We arrived at 3:00 before the rain came pouring down (mid-show),  and left just after 6:00 when it had already stopped raining. We put covers over our bikes to keep them dry from the rainstorm.

"Johnny Live" at Dockside
Monday's 3:00 to 6:00 show

John walks out into the audience looking for requests. He stopped at each table. When he got to ours, Clark asked for "Telstar" as a joke. This piece of music has no vocals. Since singing is what he does, Johnny did not appear to be amused.

6 February 2024

El Nino has not been kind to us from a weather point of view. We have had much more than usual rain and the winds have been powerful. For two nights Ev had trouble sleeping as the bed bounced in the boat due to the 20+ mph winds hitting us from the northwest - the worst direction for us in the slip where we sit. We had two days /nights of rock-n-roll where for a good portion of that time Ev could not, or refused to try, to get off the boat. With a north wind our boat is pushed away from the dock. With a strong north wind, it is pushed far away from the fixed dock. Straddling the gap is one thing. Straddling the gap with the boat bouncing around erratically is quite another.

Using the new Cricut machine she got for Christmas, Ev used this time "stuck on the boat" to make Valentine's Day cards for the grandkids. Shame shame! She forgot to get pictures before sealing the envelopes. Between birthday cards and St. Valentine's day cards, she made up, and sent out, 11 cards to grandkids!

7 February 2024

Last month Clark worked on a fellow boater's electrical problems. They left Marlin Bay marina but remained in Marathon. They planned on leaving by the 15th of this month and insisted that we needed to go out for a meal together before they left. Ev suggested Burdines for two reasons - 1) it is located near the marina where they docked, and 2) Ev wanted Burdine French fries.  

Ev and Teresa - Fresh Catch of the Day

Ev & Clark at Burdines

8 February 2024

 Today found that the winds had settled down, and Ev was glad to see the end of those days. We even got to spend time in the pool since the sun came out to warm things up a bit.

We had a nice sunset tonight. 

9 February 2024

Today, being Friday, Ev went off to the library with JoAnn to photography class. Today we talked about dramatic lighting. The photography "coach" set up sets for us to take a few pictures.

Ev pulled out some of her knickknacks and tried some scenes of her own when she got back to the boat, but she did not have the black backdrop to get the full effect.

Frequently, when Ev returns from one of her outings, she finds Clark playing his guitar or reviewing the sheets of music for church on Sunday. Recently, however, Clark has been preoccupied with getting taxes done, and the boat readied, before we go to the Bahamas.

10 February 2024

Today was a Saturday, so it was off to the Farmer's Market to start the day. No sooner did we get going than Clark realized he had forgotten his sunglasses, so he went back to the boat while Ev continued on. As per usual, Ev checked her phone at 7:00 a.m. and emailed in an order of what we would like from the day's offerings. 

When Ev arrived at the venue, however, the truck was just pulling in - talk about fresh vegetables! With tents and food yet to be unloaded from the truck, we were in for a wait. None of the pre-orders had been fulfilled as they are completed as the food comes off the truck. Given that, Ev grabbed the box with her name on it and filled it herself as items became available. 

We typically see some folks at the Farmer's Market that we recognize.  A friend with a boat at Marlin Bay offered to carry our veggies back to the marina in his bike basket, so we could go directly to Publix shopping for our other food needs. Otherwise, Clark would bike them back to the marina and then bike back to Publix while Ev went directly on to Publix to start shopping. 

When we were at Dockside a few days ago, Ev saw a couple she recognized from church and introduced herself. Now it seems that wherever we go, we see this same couple - Stephanie and Roger.

12 February 2024

Two of my favorite people had birthdays today. My son Jeff turned 40 and his daughter, our youngest granddaughter, Zoe turned 4.

13 February 2024

Today being Tuesday, it was off to the library again for Ev with her friend JoAnn for art class. The instructor / coach spends her time focused on watercolor. That was perfect for JoAnn who got a set of watercolors for Christmas. Ev, however, still prefers acrylic paint.  

Ev missed art class last week due to lack of sleep on the rocking boat. JoAnn did not attend either. That class introduced the subject matter for today's session - painting rocks with watercolor. Neither of us wanted to go down this path. JoAnn made a watercolor Valentine's Day card for her husband, Jim. Working from a photograph taken during our travels, Ev painted a water scene with acrylics.

14 February 2024 - St. Valentine's Day

Maintenance Run & Sightseeing Tour Boot Key Harbor

Depart: ~ 11:00 a.m.

Return: ~ 2:30 p.m.

We invited our church friends, Steve and Nancy, and our boating friends, Jim and JoAnn, to come out on the boat with us today for a tour and pot luck lunch. Steve, who works part time at the marina, got a different perspective being on the boat rather than on the dock. We had way too much good food and a lot of laughs. It was a fun trip.

Steve, Nancy, JoAnn, and Jim

Everyone got a feel for what it is like to go under the 7 Mile Bridge without going all the way down to the Moser Channel. We "duck" and go under the bridge at Knight's Channel. With everything folded, i.e. mast and antennas, we can slide under with about a foot of overhead clearance. It can be a bit unnerving to watch as the bridge gets closer and closer.

Picture taken by JoAnn
Between the old and the new 7 mile bridges

We passed by Burdine's restaurant on our journey. JoAnn's son used to live in Boot Key Harbor in his younger days. JoAnn took the picture below to send to him.

Burdine's Restaurant

Boot Key Harbor is packed with boats on mooring balls or anchors this time of year.

Our excursion took us past Dockside where our friend, "Johnny Live", performs on Mondays. 

We later learned that someone we know from the MTOA boaters' group saw us from their boat at Skip Jack Marina. Ev looked as we went by, but she could not tell one boat from another as she is not familiar with their vessel.

In the marina at the end of the waterway, we found a row of "Aqua Lodge" boats. These are like mini apartments on the water.

We passed an unusual vessel consisting of, what appeared to be, a tent on a pontoon base.

No trip to view Florida's waters would be complete without seeing at least one sunken vessel.

Sunken Sailboat near Boot Key

We got a glimpse of Sombrero Beach.

Instead of returning the way we came, Clark took us into the Atlantic Ocean for a faster trip back to dock. The waters were calm, and it was time to eat, so we dropped anchor for a while and enjoyed lunch. JoAnn took the picture below of "too many cooks in the kitchen" (galley). The picture shows the vast quantity of food we had to choose from.

We had to scurry when we got back to dock. We arrived at the marina circa 2:30 and Clark, Nancy, and Steve planned to play their instruments up by the marina pool at 3:00. We got the boat tied up, and they took off. Ev did some tidying up and then walked up to enjoy the show. It was a good performance but lacked amps, so only those close by could hear the tunes.

None of the instrumentalists have a strong singing voice. During the performance a woman, whom no one recognized, walked up and said, "I'm a vocalist. May I join you to sing?" The group was overjoyed to have her as an addition. After a few songs, she disappeared just as mysteriously as she had appeared. She walked away, and "Poof!" she was gone.

Clark, Mystery Vocalist, Nancy, and Steve

15 February 2024

Today, as Ev walked up to the marina, she saw Robin and Del busy using their boat and boat anchor to remove sea grass from one of the slips. A friend's boat was coming in and would be in that messy slip. They decided to clean it out for them. As Ev walked by, she decided that they shouldn't have all the fun and grabbed a long-handled rake to help push the nasty, smelly stuff on its way.

Unfortunately, the sea grass had been allowed to pile up over several weeks, so it was high and rotting. Ev was glad to be up on the dock and not face first into it like Robin. Ev worked on it for an hour, but it was noon on a sunny day. She was hot and tired and had no sunscreen on, so one hour was enough. Robin and Del continued until they had the slip cleaned out. We heard later that the marina staff then cleaned out what remained from the slip next over.

The Marathon Library has concerts periodically from visiting artists. Tonight they had two performers who travel together - Marc Douglas Berardo and Louise Mosrie. They took turns singing folk songs and playing their guitars. For the two closing songs, they performed as backup to each other. 

This is the second music show we attended at the library. We enjoyed them both very much. Clark bought several CDs from the first show we attended performed by "Hungrytown". He decided to pass on buying the ones from tonight's performance and took a picture of them instead for future reference.

The performers are shown below.

Being in the same spot in a marina for almost three months, the sunsets closely resemble each other. Even so, here is one to close out this update to the blog!