2025 January: Butterfly Café

 2 - 4 January 2025

On Thursday, Clark suggested we go for a bike ride up to Faro Blanco to see who might be "at home" there. We biked the docks there and only saw two boats we recognized. Neither boat had people on board, so there was no one to say hello to. We did get to see the dockmaster there whom we recognized from our days there as tenants. We talked only very briefly as he was busy fueling and moving a big boat.

While there, Clark grabbed a picture of the anchor dropped for New Year's Day 2025.

Anchor says "2025"

We left Faro Blanco and biked to the Harbor Cay Club marina to see who might be there. It took us a while to find the marina, and then found ourselves locked out via a privacy gate. We tried to find a way to get around the gate with no success. Clark decided to come back via dinghy another day.

Later in the day, Clark went out and captured some great sunset pictures.

Reflections of a sunset in a boat window

So far, Clark's most recent attempt to fix the dinghy appears to be holding. Given that, on Friday, he decided we should take a ride to get dinghy fuel and look for a friend who might be at a nearby marina. It's good that he lights a fire under me on a somewhat regular basis and gets me off the boat on some new adventure. Today's trip to the fuel dock was definitely another adventure. 

Before fueling, we stopped at Harbor Cay Club Marina to see if we could find someone we know from Faro Blanco days. Unfortunately, he was not there. We did, on the other hand, see the boat Wine Speed and got to say hello to Mike whom we know via mutual friends. He was in the middle of a boat project. so we did not hang around. 

Our next stop was at Faro Blanco for Rec90 fuel for the dinghy. Clark entered the marina via the western-most channel entrance due to the rapid current. He felt it better to be pushed away from the fuel dock rather than under it. We have experienced both, and I agree fighting to stay out from under the fuel dock (generally my job while he fuels) is not fun. 

However, tying up to the dock with the fierce current fighting us was a serious challenge. It took a couple of passes for me to get a line on a cleat only to find out that I had it too tight for Clark to maneuver the dinghy to get on a stern line. I managed to get close enough once more to loosen the line giving him slack to work with. He then had the challenge of trying to grab a cleat while steering the dinghy. I could see us there for a good long time making many failed attempts. 

Several guys were just hanging out by a fishing boat being fueled. I hoped one of them was a dockhand and started yelling, "HELP! Over here!" It took repeated times for someone to finally hear me as with each yell I got louder and louder. Finally, one guy saw me waving my arms and sent someone else over to assist us - neither was a dockhand. He grabbed the line from Clark and got it around a cleat for us. 

We were positioned with the dinghy forming the hypotenuse of a triangle with docks forming the other sides of the triangle. The ladder up onto the dock was closer to me than Clark, so Clark had to climb over me to get to the bow of the boat to get off onto the dock.  The stern line was tied too tight for this maneuvering, so Clark first had to loosen the line to allow us enough slack to reach the ladder. The next trick was for Clark to grab the ladder, climb up the ladder, retrieve 2 gas cans from me, and fill them with gas.

He managed to reach the ladder and climb up. I managed to hold the dinghy close enough to the dock to hand him up the empty gas cans. I knew, however, that I would not be able to take them back from him when they were full of fuel. They would be too heavy for me to use only one hand to take them while holding the dinghy in place with the other arm. 

The fuel at Faro Blanco is self-serve, so once off the boat, Clark got busy filling the cans.

Meanwhile, I had a wild dinghy ride while I watched him work.

Eventually, a dockhand came over to see if Clark needed any help. When Clark said we would be fine getting off the dock on our own, I yelled out, "NO! We won't!" I told Clark to get in the dinghy, then have the dockhand hand him the gas cans, then help us untie. I said, "I'm not getting killed trying to stand up to untie that line in these waves!" For some reason, the dockhand thought that was funny. He did help us. We did get off safely and got underway back to Marlin Bay. Phew!

Meanwhile, back at the marina, Clark and I both seem to be finding plenty of opportunities to remain busy. Clark keeps busy cleaning the exterior of the big boat and playing his guitar while I continue to be entertained with jigsaw puzzles (my 2 friends and I finished another one) and other fun activities. 

To add to the fun at Marlin Bay, one of the staff held a bracelet-making class. Four of us boaters attended. Several folks from the condos here promised to attend but did not show up. The beautiful weather outside had something to do with that I suspect. Regardless, the four of us had a wonderful time learning new beading skills, and I was happy it was just us 4 boaters attending. The instructor was happy too as she was afraid she would be overwhelmed by participants. 

Terry, Heidi (instructor), and Marcy
busy at work beading

Heidi taught us how to bend sterling silver into clasp shapes and pound it with a hammer to harden it.

Clasps I made from sterling 
silver and a hammer

We each made one bracelet. The class was listed as one hour. We were there having fun for more than two hours. 

My finished bracelet is shown below with my hand-fashioned clasp.

Jane, on PRFect Tide, laid her bracelet next to mine for a comparison photo. I used beads from a kit prepared by Heidi. It consisted of colors I love.

Marcy, on the other hand, designed her own bracelet to match her taste in colors.

Walking back to our boat after the jewelry-making session, I saw several couples heading out to dinner. First, I found the folks on Avalon and Moonglade on their way to Keys Fisheries for stone crab. A short while, later I saw Marcy and Terry (who had been at the bracelet class with me) on the way to Keys Fisheries for stone crab tonight with their husbands. Popular choice!

Clark and I had our own dinner plans. He suggested well before Christmas that we should go to the Butterfly Café at Tranquility Bay for a special dinner. However, we wanted to pick a time when it would be a little less crowded perhaps than Christmas week. He made a reservation for this evening (Friday night). The earliest time slot for tonight was for 6:45.  We decided that was fine.

We walked to the restaurant, which Google Maps says is 0.8 miles away. The suggested route, however, is impossible, so the distance is actually a small bit longer. We decided to leave about 30 minutes to get there and had a few minutes to wait for our table to be ready once we arrived. Dinner was delicious. 

I do not normally take pictures of our food. Tonight I could not resist taking a picture of the cheese cake presented to me. It came complete with heart-shaped strawberry accents, a chocolate straw, and a butterfly-shaped cookie! (Butterfly Café!)

Clark enjoyed his dish of vanilla ice cream.

When we left the boat to walk to the restaurant, Clark asked if I thought he should wear a windbreaker. Normally, we are cold on the docks and as soon as we get on Route 1, the wind dies down and we are fine. Well, not tonight! Clark was cold, and he walks fast when he is cold. I felt like I had to run to keep up with his pace. 

When we left the restaurant, it felt even colder out. The wind was brutal. We both kept up a brisk pace to return to the boat as quickly as possible. At least I got exercise to work off the cheese cake! Multiple times he remarked how his wife had told him, "You won't need a windbreaker. You'll be fine!" He'll never let me live it down! It felt great stepping inside the cozy boat!

Saturday turned out to be a bit busier than expected. I got a text from a boater friend who told me to meet her at the Boot Key Tiki Hut for the boater's flea market being held there from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. She invited me to join her book club and had the book for me to pick up from her at the flea market. I got my book from her and, in the process, met several boaters that she introduced me to. 

I use Google Keeps to keep a running list on my phone of boat names and their owners. I have been doing this for a while, and the list of names is now ridiculously long but oh so helpful. 

Marcy showed me a picture she took of an iguana here in Marathon. He was staring her down from amongst the plants hereabouts. 

I have been doing a lot of colored pencil art animals recently for fun. She sent me the photo so I could take a shot at reproducing it in pencil. 

I got interrupted partway through my artwork as Clark wanted to walk the docks. We had 10 boats come in for the month of January, and today yet more arrived. He wanted to check to see who was around to say hello to. 

On the way, we found long-time friends on Remember When as they were just finishing tying up from coming in today. They were in shorts, and it was too chilly with the strong wind to chat for long, so we will need to catch up with them on another day.

As we made our rounds, we came upon Jane who had been in the bracelet class with me, and she sent us out to meet her husband, Paul. Turns out they are from southern New Jersey near Cape May. Having talked to Paul for a while, we strolled back towards our boat and met a couple from Quebec, Canada who told us they come to Marlin Bay for 5 days every year. They had seen us before, but we had never met. We chatted for a while and took turns taking each other's sunset pictures.

After enjoying the sunset, it was time to walk back to our boat for dinner and a movie. Tonight's choice was Fall Guy. 

2025 January: Happy New Year!

 1 January 2025

Last night we said farewell to 2024 and ushered in the new year of 2025. The marina held a special event late afternoon, and some boaters pulled together a follow-up event that took us past midnight before finally ending. 

At midnight, Clark had his phone out taking pictures during the display of fireworks coming from all around us with most of the better ones a tad south of our location. 

Clark took far too many pictures. Some of the better results of his picture-taking efforts are included here.

Prior to the fireworks we enjoyed the Marlin Bay hosted event complete with entertainment, food, and a champagne toast compliments of the marina. Last year, before we left Marlin Bay to return to New Jersey, we introduced our friend "Johnny Live" to April on MB staff. As a consequence, John was tonight's entertainment. He puts on a wonderful show to which I know all the songs and the words to most of them. Clark and I even got up to dance and received many accolades for our rusty efforts!

Johnny Live on the Mic

John has told us that he receives requests for "Sweet Caroline" at every performance, and many times multiple people request that song. He sang it for this event upon request. A little girl, a toddler - too young to appreciate his efforts named Caroline, was the recipient of tonight's rendition.

John singing "Sweet Caroline" 
out in the audience

In preparation for toasting in the new year, April, who explained that sunset is considered the end of the day in the Keys, poured glasses of champagne ready for consumption at the appropriate time.

At sunset Clark ran over to grab pictures as the crowd gathered to toast in 2025!

As an added bonus, we had a boater with experience blowing the conch! What a treat!

Cheers to 2025!

The marina-hosted event and "Johnny Live's" performance ended at 7:00. As that wrapped up, folks started wandering to the site on the docks where we held the boaters' party.  Shortly thereafter, Lou, on Califrenchies supplied music from speakers on the bow of his boat, and the smells of wings cooking on the grill spread throughout the marina.

Even though the marina provided a buffet dinner consisting of sandwiches, chips, fruit and cookies, people still seemed ready for more food as the table filled up with a variety of delectable treats contributed by the folks attending the boaters' party. Besides the wings, we enjoyed salads, an interesting selection of hors d'oeuvres, and someone thought to bring a variety of cupcakes for dessert. I had the red velvet cupcake while Clark partook of the carrot cake cupcake.

We enjoyed talking with boaters we knew and met boaters new to us. We even met another boater named Evelyn! In informal situations she goes by the name "Evy". What fun! We are still waiting to meet another boater named Clark.

Just before 10:00, I bowed out of the party and headed back to the boat. Clark was enjoying himself too much to come back with me. Given free rein with the television, I turned on the movie "Diehard" and sat back prepared to thoroughly enjoy the rest of the evening. I am a firm believer that "Diehard" is a Christmas movie.

At ten minutes to 12:00, Clark came back to the boat to inform me that I needed to come see the fireworks as midnight approached. Reluctantly, I left my movie at a critical point and walked up with him to see in the new year. I had to remind him at 12:10 that there was supposed to be a kiss at the stroke of 12:00. He was too busy taking pictures of the fireworks to remember on his own!  

I got a quick peck out of him (hardly worth the walk up to the docks)! After a while I said I wanted to return to the boat. "In a minute", he replied. After my third attempt with the same response, I left him and went back to my movie! He finally appeared on the boat in time for the exciting conclusion of the film.

At 1:00 a.m. we finally called it "a night" and climbed into bed. It had been a long day. When we heard about the boaters' party, we had nothing on hand and decided to make a trip to Publix this morning to find some goodies to bring to the table. On our way to Publix, we stopped by the church so Clark could get more information to help them solve a phone / Wi-Fi issue they are having.

He collected some data after band rehearsal on Monday, made a block diagram, and needed more details to understand the situation. He is trying to puzzle out the wiring to help with their concerns. He works on wiring puzzles! I work on word and jigsaw puzzles.

With it being a rather warm day, we later took advantage of the heated pool. I paddled around talking to friends while Clark swam laps. Around 3:45 we pulled ourselves out of the pool to get ready to listen to "Johnny Live" when he began singing at 4:00.  By 5:00 the party was in full swing with many happy celebrators sitting around the bar, listening to his music, and making requests. Clark requested John sing his own, original entitled "Islamorada" - a lovely song!

Clearly we had a great day and made many memories along the way! 

Happy New Year to our readers! We appreciate you!