Boating with Sunset Delight: 2026 January: Hungrytown Concert and more

18 January 2026

Given the weather up north, we really cannot complain too much, but ...

Today we begged a ride from our friend John to get to church this morning as rain was predicted. We don't like to have our bikes out in the rain, and the other option was walking a mile in the rain. Thank goodness for good friends. It never rained although we did hear a couple of claps of thunder at the beginning of the church service.

While I had time before the church service began, I walked around and "hid" the rocks I painted at Marlin Bay this past week.

Normally after church we hang out and chat, but today, we had to get going right after service for two reasons. First, the person driving us back to the marina, not the one who took us to church, had to be at work by 1:00. Service ran over time, so we had to get moving. Secondly, our friend Deanne put together an MTOA gathering at the marina this afternoon, and that was scheduled to begin at 1:00.

Many more MTOA members showed up at the marina than I expected. We were so busy talking and getting to know people, we forgot to take any pictures of the gathering. It was a warm sunny afternoon and the boaters and MTOA members were really enjoying themselves talking, swimming, visiting the boats and enjoying the band which brought their own groupies. Around 4:00, some mean looking dark clouds appeared advancing southward from the north. There was no rain shown on the radar, but in just seconds, the sun was replaced by a strong cold gusty wind. Things were flying across the bar. A napkin landed on a lady's face as staff and boaters went running to nail things down. This quickly ended the beautiful afternoon as everyone scattered.

19 January 2026

It is a good thing that the MTOA gathering was yesterday because we woke up today to a strong wind and the thermometer showing 55 degrees in our stateroom. Compared to yesterday, when I took the lovely sunny day picture shown below, today I did not even want to get off the boat.

20 January 2026

We had wind and chilly weather again today. I decided it was the perfect day to work on a project on my PC. I never got off the boat. Clark, on the other hand, decided that he would do some chores today starting with going to the NAPA auto parts store to return the coolant pressure testing kit he picked up on our shopping spree a couple of days back. Unfortunately, the NAPA test kit did not work with our engine.

Fortunately, a friend with a car drove him to the store this morning to make the return. He picked up a better one from the Advanced Auto Parts store nearby. The person working at NAPA used to work at Advanced Auto Parts and knew they had a better test kit to lend out.

In the afternoon, Clark went to guitar practice in preparation for church on Sunday. He was gone the entire afternoon and only got back to the boat around 5:30 or so. While he was gone, I continued to work on my PC project of purging a ton of old pictures that are leftovers from years of blog updates.

With him coming back late afternoon and me heads down working on my PC, we both totally forgot about the MTOA meeting this afternoon until after 6:00 (it started at 5:00). Honestly the 20+ mph wind and "cold-for-Florida" temps did not motivate me to want to go to the park, so we let it go this week. I later learned that at least 30 people braved the wind and chill to attend the gathering. Apparently, the park is just far enough away from the open water that wind was not an issue there.

Meanwhile, my friend Cathy texted me a picture of New Jersey of deer and a fox walking in the snow. I found it interesting that these animals were spending time together.

21 January 2026

Every Wednesday morning I have a reserved slot for doing laundry at our one and only washer / dryer ensemble. While I was busy with that chore, Clark decided to return the pressure testing kit. It was a good test with the engines holding pressure for more than 15 minutes.

Unfortunately, Clark did not get a ride today and had to fight the brutal winds to get to the auto parts store to return the kit. The test kit was too large to fit in his backpack, but I figured out that we could use the carrying pouch for one of our folding chairs as a satchel.

While out, however, he visited Advanced Auto Parts to pick up some parts for a leaking head. Besides pressure testing the engines, Clark has been working on the toilet in the master head that seems to have developed a leak of smelly water. He found out that there is a hose that was leaking that could simply be capped off to stop the leak. Finding a plug to close it off has been no easy feat.

22 January 2026

Today, Clark had to return some of the parts for the head repair. The hose spring clips for a 1/4" cap are not 1/4" but the next size up. While I relaxed on the boat doing art and reading, Clark rode off on his bike to visit some stores. We still had high-volume winds today, so Clark said the bike ride east was brutal. At the easiest gear setting, he was moving slowly towards his destination. Besides going to Advance Auto Parts to return the parts, he stopped at Publix to pick up some food items we needed, hit Walgreens, and then Home Depot. I was glad he went without me!

The weather improved as the day wore on, and I decided I had been on the boat far too long. I noticed the sun would be setting shortly and went out to get a good view. Many folks had the same idea as I found a crowd gathering at a popular sunset viewing site. As I stood talking to friends watching the sun go down, Clark came riding up on his bike having just returned from his shopping spree.

The sunset was impressive.

View to the east
from the stern of our boat

Views to the west as the sun sank in the sky ...

We had a nice group to watch the sunset with.

Note Clark still wearing his bike helmet!

A wedding will take place this weekend at the marina. While we watched the sunset, a man with a drone was busy taking pictures of the sunset. We boaters figured he must be related to the wedding. Whoever he was, he got some great sunset pictures with the drone.

As the party broke up, we got an unexpected invitation to go to the recently-opened "Key Colony Inn" with boaters Donna and Lou. We have not had the pleasure of a dinner date with this couple before though we have known them for several years. We gladly accepted the offer.

The old "Key Colony Inn" closed and the restaurant recently reopened with new owner / management and a new menu. The food was excellent and the staff attentive.

Mirrored wall

Dining area

Colorful Liquor Bottles on Display

Clark at the bar

We shut the place down from a food point of view as they stopped serving at 10:00, and we walked out the door around 9:50. We were joined at the restaurant by friends of Lou and Donna, so we were three couples for dinner. Then at the bar, we met two folks that knew Donna's friends, so that made 8 at the bar together. Clark and I were not drinking alcohol, and the others were - some quite heavily. It made for an interesting evening.

23 January 2026

Once again, Clark and I went our separate ways this morning. He went off to practice guitar with his band member, John, while I walked over to the library for sewing class. My friend Pat told me that today's project would be a Japanese Knot Tote Bag which sounded intriguing. The class started at 11:00 and we had to be done by 12:45, so we had to work fast if we wanted to complete the project. I managed to get about 90% done before I had to pack up sewing equipment. I later finished the project at home.

I had to hurry back to the boat from the library to meet up with Clark, make and eat lunch, and get back to the library by 2:00 for the live concert there featuring the duo called "Hungrytown". We heard them last year and loved their tunes.

A cartoonist created a moving picture to go along with one of their songs called Tuesday Sun. They are also on Spotify. I "followed" them and listened to more of their music when we got back to our boat.

The performers have great voices - she is an alto and he is a tenor. They harmonize very well and sing some songs acapella. She plays the guitar; he plays multiple instruments.

He's playing the banjo

He's playing the guitar and
harmonica for this song

Of course they had a display of t-shirts and CDs for sale.

Clark and I stayed after the show was over and talked with the performers was quite a while. Clark and the male musician got into a long technical conversation about the production of music. Much of their tech talk went way over my head, but the two of them truly enjoyed the conversation.

The library has two performances in February. We have not seen either of these folks before. Gladius is on a Thursday morning right when we get the holding tank pumped out. Not sure we will make that show.

In March, The Kennedy's will be performing. We saw them last year at the library and are looking forward to seeing them again.

When we finally left the library, we walked back to the marina passing by the Keys Fisheries site where men were busy loading a lot of netting onto a boat.

There seemed to be no end to the netting being loaded onboard.

While I finished sewing my mini tote bag, Clark had his head under the toilet putting a spring clip on a recently installed plug. I finished my bag and decided to go check out tonight's sunset. I found some folks there (not as many as last night) to watch the sunset with.