Florida: Marathon - Crane Point Nature Trail & Museum

Day 210

With today being Saturday, we had several choices for activities. When we walked to the restaurant Thursday night, we saw a church advertising a Free Pancake Breakfast for this morning. Wednesday, when we went shopping, we saw the signs for the Pigeon Key Arts Festival at the Marathon Park. On that same outing, we saw the Crane Point museum and nature trail.

We skipped the pancake breakfast. In fact I remembered last night as I was going to bed, but totally forgot about it this morning and had my normal bowl of cereal. By unspoken agreement we both had in mind to visit Crane Point today. Clark and I had both forgotten about the Arts Festival. I only remembered that today was the day for it when we rode past a sign advertising the event on our way to Crane Point.

Looking at the weather the day before, we found late morning until mid-afternoon looked to be the best window for weather. We biked the two miles down the road and arrived at Crane Point just after 11:00. Perfect!

When we saw the price of $15 per person, we had a decision to make - pay or leave. The salesclerk applied a $1 per person discount coupon for us, so we decided to stay and explore the grounds. I am glad we did as we both enjoyed our visit very much. The property covers 63 acres of the "real Florida" as they like to call it here. As we made our way along the trails, we saw so many beautiful and interesting sights it is hard to know what to include in the blog.

We hiked almost all the trails on this map except Palm Trail.
We even walked part way down Palm Trail and decided it was
"more of the same" so we went back to the main road.

We started at the Cracker House, visited the Butterfly Meadow (we actually saw several butterflies), followed the Bahama Trail to Adderley House (Adderley Lane was too wet), visited Adderley house and learned all about George Adderley (a truly remarkable man), saw the exterior of the Crane House (closed now as it needs repair), walked out to The Point (loved the cool breeze), followed Sunset Boardwalk out to the water's edge (several hours too early for sunset), followed Crane Road as far as Palm Trail (nice but more of same views), backed up and returned to Crane Road (shorter distance), and finally came back to the museum and gift shop.

Some areas were nicely shaded

Some breathtakingly beautiful

Others dark and shadowed by the heavy foliage

Still others covered in the roots of the Red Mangroves

I was happy to see this guy on the edge of the trail.
I hate getting cobwebs on me while hiking.
Just where was that spider when the web went in my hair??

Many trails consisted of roots and limestone rocks

Here I am making my way through the growth

Sometimes I had to duck under the low-hanging branches
while watching for places to step

 I made my way through the trees, ducking low branches, avoiding the Poisonwood plant that is similar to poison ivy, watching out for spiders and webs (a few webs got me), and trying not to trip on roots and rocks. All the while I was thinking about the information I had read about the Cranes moving here when the land was still "raw". It said that as he used a machete to make his way through the growth, Mr Crane wondered at the beauty around him and wanted to preserve it for others. I am so glad that he did, but I would not expect myself to be making the same comments if I was dealing with wetlands, mangrove roots, snakes, spiders, and mosquitoes.

Tread carefully!!
I wouldn't want to stunt this guy's growth by stepping on him!

We found eerie-colored water around some Red Mangroves.

From the informational signposts strategically positioned throughout the property, we learned that Black Mangroves have roots that come up out of the water so they can get air. Clark referred to the roots thereafter as their snorkels!

We truly had to watch our step as we made our way along the trails to Adderley House. We did not take the wider Adderley Lane because I could see that the path was very wet with huge puddles. The Bahama Trail seemed slightly higher in elevation and dryer as a result. In some places dried out, old palm leaves were laid on the trail to provide some places to step.

George Adderly, a black man from the Bahamas, made his house using a recipe from home that took advantage of the shells on the land and made a kind of shell "concrete" for the walls. A restoration project is underway currently as the walls are showing their age. He built the house well over 100 years ago. Other Bahamians later came to live in Adderley Town as it came to be known.

Adderley House Sitting Room

 George Adderley was very industrious. He held church services in his own home for many years until a church was built in the town. He made money by making charcoal, a long and tedious process, to sell in Key West. He also went out sponging and used a bucket with a glass bottom to see the sea floor and find the sponges. Once he spied a sponge he wanted, he pulled it up into his dinghy with a three-pronged rake. He processed and sold his sponges to customers at market in Key West.

George Adderley - a True Pioneer!

Outside of Adderley House

Adderley Town consisted of five houses

 As we walked on towards the Crane House, we got a glimpse of the Gulf through the branches.

Sneak Peak at the Gulf

Along the way, we found the bird sanctuary
and followed the winged sign in for a look-see

 Although I enjoyed looking at the variety of birds on site, I felt somewhat sorry for the birds on display. They were all penned up in cages. I did get to look an osprey in the eyes and talk to him. He seemed quite interested in all I had to say. What a magnificent bird! They also had hawks on display.

Cute sign for those who remember the S.S. Minnow

 After almost an hour and a half of hiking and looking around, we finally arrived at Crane Point.  The clerk at the sales desk had told us that we could walk out to the point and back in 1.5 hours, or we could take all day depending on our interest in the area. Seems like we were somewhere between those two extremes.

Spectacular View! No wonder the Cranes built their house here.

Planning to sit for a moment and enjoy the view!

We loved the cool breeze at the point, but all too soon we realized that we needed to head back to the museum. We still had at least a mile to go, time was getting on towards 2:00, and we needed to figure out lunch plans.

We saw several cacti today like this beauty.

 On the trail back we passed by Sunset Boardwalk, and of course we needed to walk out to the end.

Sunset Boardwalk

 What must it have been like to work in this wetland terrain with the bugs to build this walkway (and others like it)?

One last view - Looking up!

We asked at the shop desk, when we got back to the museum, if we could go find lunch and return to complete our tour. She gave us a pass to come back and suggested several alternatives for lunch. We opted for buying subs at Publix basically across the street. It was close and they use Boar's Head brand. Yum! We came back with our sandwiches and a bottle of water and made use of the picnic tables to eat our meal. Then we went into the museum to learn about Marathon history.

Adderley Town - built 1904
Flagler Railroad Project - completed 1912 (took 7 years to build)
Railroad destroyed by hurricane in 1923

When we left Crane Point, my watch showed the time to be 3:00 or so. All told, we walked almost non-stop for well over three hours including our walk to the grocery store and back again for food to keep us going. I suggested we stop by the Pigeon Key Arts Festival on our way back to the boat. We did stop there, but for two reasons we did not enter the festival - first, the admission price seemed high to me at $7, and second and more importantly, the skies looked threatening. I expected to get drenched by rain at any moment and wanted to head for the boat as fast as I could peddle.

Luckily, we made it back to the boat without rain; however, Clark stopped to demonstrate his folding bike to a neighboring boat. He was fine because he had folded his bike as part of his demo, but then it started to rain, and I got caught in the rain trying to collapse mine to bring it on board. The bike and I only got a little wet. Shortly after we were both on board, the skies opened up and it poured and poured and poured.

The temperatures dropped along the way, and we went from the hot almost 80 degrees of the afternoon to a chilly 65. By 8:00 most of the rain appeared to have moved on, but by then the winds had come in! All through tonight and throughout tomorrow we are expecting winds in the 22 to 27 mph range like yesterday. Fun, fun, fun!

At least we had a beautiful mid-day today. I cannot complain given the spectacular day I had!

Florida: Marathon - never-ending gusty winds

Day 209

With the lack of sleep last night I found myself slow-moving today. The Faro Blanco marina delivers a newspaper directly to the boat in the morning. We said we preferred the Wall Street Journal, but they have been delivering USA Today. It does not matter. This morning I read it cover-to-cover. It had an entire section devoted to the Super Bowl which I found particularly interesting. Having not followed the regular season I have very little knowledge of the Carolina team.

As I read through the paper I found the puzzles page and that was the end for me. I did all the puzzles (crossword, Sudoku, word search, etc.) After that I read my latest Mary Balogh novel, and suddenly it was time for lunch already. Having just sat on the couch for the entire morning instead of walking or biking several miles, I hardly felt like eating, but the clock said it was time, so I put food on the table.

While I was enjoying my leisure time this morning, Clark was prowling around the boat doing odd jobs. One in particular he took care of today pertains to the starter battery for the generator. He knew that the battery had one cell that was going bad. Usually we do not use the generator, but when we anchor out for multiple days  in a row, we need it.  Since we have some anchoring in our relatively near-term plans (April / May), we want a generator that will start when we need it.

As a test, he started the generator today, and it almost said, "Oh no. I won't go."  It certainly thought about whether or not it wanted to start before it finally capitulated and turned over. Finding that to be the case, Clark decided we definitely needed to make a trip to the store to buy a new battery.

Now, it is one thing to drive a battery to a store in a car to get a replacement. It is quite another to have to carry it there. Clark planned on doing just that!

Folks who follow my blog may remember this picture from last month:

The box he carried several blocks weighed 45 pounds. After that episode and in conjunction with the fact that I wanted something a bit larger to carry my laundry in, I bought a new trolley / cart. It came last week. Surprisingly, I actually had some difficulty convincing Clark to use it today for the battery portage, but eventually he agreed to use it.

I tested the weight of the battery and found that I could not even lift it off the floor. I could not understand why he would hesitate to use a cart to help move it. The new cart / trolley has a removable bag which, once removed, turns the trolley into a hand truck. Ta da!  It worked "real slick".

We did have one problem however. With the force of the winds today, the gap between the boat and the dock was huge. I tried to pull the boat closer, but fighting the wind was a loosing battle. With battery in hand Clark tried to step off the boat as I held it, but I could not hold it long enough. He ended up with one foot on the dock and the other on the boat as the boat continued to move further and further away from the dock. Fortunately he did not end up doing a split or going for a swim. We managed to get the dock over, and he got himself and the battery off the boat.

Clark toting old battery to store for replacement

The Marathon Marine Supply store is very dog friendly. Every day appears to be "Bring Your Dog to Work" day. Two times we have been in the store, and both times we were immediately greeted by a chocolate lab carrying a Frisbee in his mouth requesting play time. Besides the chocolate lab, today we saw a Golden Retriever and a dachshund. All three clearly spend every day at the store.

The chocolate lab kept hitting me with the Frisbee until I gave in and tried to take it from her to throw it. That was not her game. Her game is tug-o-war. As soon as I touched the Frisbee she started shaking her head back and forth savagely to "re"claim the toy. The clerk behind the counter said, "Oh yeah! She'll take your arm right off fighting for it." He did not mean she would bite. He meant she would pull my arm right out of its socket! Regardless of the danger to my right arm, I continued to battle her for ownership of the Frisbee for a while as Clark looked at his battery options. I never did manage to get that Frisbee away from her.

After careful consideration Clark selected his Deep Cycle battery, tied it on the hand truck, and we made our escape to go back to the boat. It took several minutes to find an opening where we dared try to cross the street. This town definitely needs some crosswalks! We finally managed to get back to the marina.

As I worked on my blog entry from yesterday, Clark installed the new battery and did some standard boat provisioning, e.g. filled the water tank. He also did some work on taxes (yuck) and banking (double yuck) -- better him than me for sure! When I am writing or reading, I am focused. I was barely aware of Clark's activities. The rest of the afternoon flew by and at 5:00 he surprised me by saying , "Docktails?"

With the winds today, I did not feel like venturing out - either that or the lack of sleep sucked all the energy out of me. Regardless I put on my coat and walked over to the lighthouse with him, but when we got there - no docktails. Since we were over that way, Clark suggested that we walk the docks. The boats were definitely rocking in the wind. The boat in the slip we were originally assigned upon arrival here was bobbing like a cork in the high seas.. Although the move put us away from the heart of the marina, or maybe because it put us away from the heart of the marina activity, I am glad we moved when we did.

Clark took some photos earlier in the day trying to capture the waves on the Gulf and the spray as the water crashed up on the shore. Unfortunately the spray refused to hold a pose for his camera. The picture below did not capture the spray, but it does show the white-caps out on the Gulf today.

Turbulent waters in the Gulf today

Rumor has it that further out on the Gulf folks saw 7 to 10 foot waves.

When we were out roaming the docks, Clark stopped by our boat and picked up his wind gauge. As he held it up, it regularly clocked winds of 22 to 24 mph, and at least once he saw it hit 28 mph. We noticed as we walked back to our boat that the boats with the best view along the beach now have a layer of sand and grit at the backs of their boats. All their lines and electrical cords are sitting in and covered in sand. I like my slip more and more. Ginger from Roaming the Blue said that the sand brought in by the wind is a real problem today - they are one of the boats with the best view!

Since we found no one for 'dock'tails, we decided to head back to the boat for an early dinner. Using a combination of leftovers and new side dishes, I got dinner done pretty fast. We decided to watch some television shows that we missed this week online. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we get only two stations at this marina, and both are in Spanish. I envy the folks with satellite television on board.

Before getting settled in front of the computer screen, we walked up to the building to use the head. We planned on a quick run up there and then back to sit and relax. The trip to the head took a lot longer than anticipated.

First we ran into Liz and Bob from Knot Sew Easy. They were out walking Brandy, their dog. We stood and talked for quite a while and then I suggested that if they were going to walk their dog, we could walk with them. We ended up taking a walk around the perimeter of the hotel on premises. After the walk, Brandy insisted that they walk down the dock towards our boat, which happens to be in the opposite direction to their boat. Brandy knows that there are boaters on our dock that have doggy treats, so she wanted to go visit them not us.

As luck would have it, the folks on Liquid Assets were home and had dog treats. As Brandy had her treat, we became engaged in a conversation there. Then, as we were all talking, a couple staying in the hotel here walked by and saw that Liquid Assets is from Nashville, Tennessee area and joined in the conversation. The hotel couple, Mick and Jan, also hale from the Nashville area.

As we talked, we learned that Mick and Jan had just purchased a new-to-them boat and were interested in the Great Loop. Of course Clark told them all about our trip and our Triangle Cruise in 2012. He even invited them back to our boat to show them our Garmin Blue Charts and Active Captain cruising tools. They finally left our boat at around 9:45 to head back to the hotel.

After they left, Clark turned to me and said, "Do you want to make a trip to the head?" I laughed and said, "I'm not sure I dare. The last trip there took almost three hours." We never did manage to watch any television shows tonight or anything else for that matter. Clark got on his computer, and I got on mine to do my blog.

The high-velocity winds have not let up all day today. Tomorrow's forecast shows high winds in the morning, slackening off a bit late morning into early afternoon, then picking up again and being wild all through Sunday. It is more than a little tedious to be blown about constantly.

Now it is time to call it a day and see what tomorrow brings.

Florida: Marathon - Bat Mobile and Manatee

Day 208

We relaxed on the boat and hung out at the marina Thursday morning with plans to head out to the post office to mail a letter in the afternoon. Although it definitely does not take two people to mail one letter, I knew that I would go with Clark to the post office. I never know what sight-seeing opportunity might present itself when we are out and about on even the most mundane of outings, and I do not want to miss anything.

During the course of the day, Clark captured some great shots like the ones below. For example, we have seen many pelicans on our trip starting way back on the Illinois River, when we first sighted some as well as all through Florida. However, my favorite by far is the one on the sailboat next to us.

Wooden Pelican Mascot on Namaste

We went to the post office as planned as well as the Office Max located in the same strip mall. While we were there, we spied an ice cream shop and decided to check out the quality of their ice cream. I had a "twixie" which was vanilla ice cream with Twix and Caramel mixed in - yummy and not too sweet. Clark settled on plain vanilla because the store did not sell sherbet as they said it was not a big enough seller to keep in stock. "I only stock what sells", he said.

Sign in the Ice Cream Shop - Ain't it the truth!!

 As we were standing in the store eating our cones, I looked out the window, turned to Clark and said, "Hey look! It's the Bat Mobile!!" Clark ran out, cone in hand, to grab a picture before Batman took off for his next fight with the Joker.

"Bat Mobile"

We got a closeup of Batman but no signs of Robin anywhere.

 Still interested in finding a stainless steel piece of tubing for his lighting project, Clark suggested we see what The Home Depot had on hand. That turned out to be a big fat nothing, but we did find out that The Home Depot in Marathon actually has a marine department. A sales person there suggested trying a canvas shop. I just happened to know where we could find one just a couple of blocks down next to Walgreen's, so we went there next. We had no luck there either. The shopkeeper told us to order what we needed online as no stores stock what we want.

After finishing our errands, we headed back to the boat for a dip in the pool. Having been out biking in the sun for a large portion of the afternoon, I was ready to cool off. We found Liz and Bob from Not Sew Easy sitting by the pool with their dog Brandy, so I grabbed the lounge chair next to Liz. Since the pool water is heated to a very pleasant temperature, I had no need to edge my way into the pool as I got acclimated. I stepped in and dived under - heavenly!

One thing I really enjoy and do with no effort on my part whatsoever is float! I just relax completely and I bob like a cork. Sometimes I think I could even sleep like that. As I was lying on the water on my back, I felt Clark grab my hand and then start to pull me along like a raft. Next thing, he was spinning me in circles. He "played" with me in the water like that for quite a while until he finally got tired of the game. He was gentle enough not to cause any wakes to crash over my face, so he could have dragged me as long as he wanted. It was fun but I found it hard not to laugh.

We watched our time in the pool because we had dinner plans for the evening. Five o'clock was the magic hour that I needed to pull myself out of the pool, so I could be ready to meet our dinner party at 6:00. While I finished getting ready, Clark walked down the docks and found a manatee. I never saw it, or even knew he had seen it, until I sorted through the pictures on the camera for the blog update. When I asked Clark where and when he took the picture, he told me and said, "It was huge!"

Manatee by the dock, next to a dinghy

Manatee says, "I see you!"

Throughout the day JoAnn from Namaste collected a number of looper / boater friends and planned an outing to the Steak & Lobster House just down the street from our marina. We had looper representatives who walked to the restaurant from three different marinas. Loopers from Faro Blanco on the west side of the restaurant included Namaste (Jim and JoAnn), California Lady (Nancy and Mike), Blue Haven (Lila and Allen), and us (Ev and Clark) on Sea Moss. Sea-to-See (Vickie and Ron)  joined us from Banana Bay Resort and Marina on the east side of the restaurant. Jackie and Dwain on Lydia came from yet a third marina to join the party. We had one non-looper couple who also joined the group, but sadly I do not recall their names.

Looper Dinner
in Private Room at Steak & Lobster House in Marathon, FL

Jason, our very friendly and efficient waiter, took the group dinner picture, so we could all be included in the photo. What a great evening!

After a very filling and delicious meal, we split up and went our separate ways. The six of us on Namaste, Blue Haven, and Sea Moss walked back to Faro Blanco together. As we left the restaurant, Jim from Namaste tried to convince us that we needed to do the "looper shuffle" on the way back. When he demonstrated that maneuver, the rest of us identified it as skipping. We all agreed that more calories would be consumed that way, but none of us were willing to even attempt to make it across the parking lot in that mode of movement let alone a mile down the road. The weather provided a pleasant cool breeze on our walk back to the boat. We talked briefly about the rain forecast to arrive during the night and the high-velocity winds expected to follow.

Exhausted, I decided not to do anything other than get ready for bed and read a bit before turning out the lights. I do not know what woke me, but just around 2:00 I came awake and decided to check my Rainy Days phone app for the weather. I could see a band of yellow, orange, and red heading our way and almost upon us. When I saw the red in the radar picture, I even wondered if I was going to experience another tornado warning. A short while later the heavens opened up, and we got hit with one heck of a rain storm. Fortunately no tornadoes came our way this time -- at least none that I know of.

The Weather Bug app on the phone showed the expected wind speeds to be 27 mph with gusts over 30. For sure we had that. The boat movement in the slip did not concern or bother me, but the AGLCA burgee (flag) on the bow of the boat was whipping around and making a huge racket of metal clips on the metal pole, which made it impossible for me to sleep. Finally, at 5:00 a.m. after having exhausted all possibilities including earplugs, I woke Clark and asked him to tie up the burgee. He grumbled but he did it for me. What a great guy! After that I managed to sleep until construction noises started at 9:00 on the hotel under construction next door.

Florida: Marathon - Trip to Publix and City Marina

Day 207

We thought we fixed the flat tire on Clark's bike, but when he went to check it the next morning after the repair, the tire was deflated and soft. Darn! While I went off this morning to join the water aerobics class, Clark stayed on the boat to investigate the bike leak.

The water aerobics class started at 10:00 with a fellow boater offering to lead us based on her experiences in classes back in Buffalo, NY. Today was the first class as Monday's session was canceled due to weather. Including our instructor six of us showed up for class today.

Sometime during class Clark must have checked up on us because I found a telltale photo on the camera when I went to compose today's blog entry. At the moment he snapped the picture, we were walking in a circle making jokes about playing 'ring around the rosy' like we did as kids. Bob from Knot Sew Easy was the only male participant.

Water Aerobics Class at Faro Blanco Marina Pool

The class ended around 10:45; however, the water felt so refreshing that a few of us stayed in after the session ended and just chatted while we luxuriated in the pool. At some point before noon I made my way to the shower and then back to the boat for lunch. I truly wanted to go back to sit by the side of the pool and enjoy the sun for a while, but my shower had washed off all my sunscreen so I did not dare.

I needed to make a trip to Publix today, so after lunch we pulled out the bikes. Clark said that he thought the problem might have been with the tire valve, and he tightened it to see if it stopped the leak. During lunch, he checked his tire pressure a couple of times and decided it might be holding. "Of course", he said, "we have to take pV=nRT into consideration, so there will be some fluctuation on the pressure." "Of course!" I responded.

With the tire holding steady but slightly under-inflated, we set off for the grocery store. We stopped along the way to inspect the goods at the farmer's market that is just down the road and open seven days a week. Yum! We decided we needed to come back this way after we finished our shopping at the grocery store.

Besides stopping into Publix, we also visited Walgreen's and K-mart. I was looking for something for my phone in both of those places but neither sold what I wanted, so I came out of each empty-handed. Meanwhile Clark had heard this morning about someone with a stainless steel rod that was available for sale. When we weren't in stores looking for what I wanted, we were biking all around to various marinas looking for this stainless steel pipe. Clark thought it was at one place, stopped there, and was told it was at another.  As we shopped and he searched for the pipe, we got to explore as we, quite literally, biked this way, that way, and back again.

We found a museum and nature trail to explore at a future date. It is always good to have activities on the "to do" list. We will come back here to travel the trails when we have more time.

Entry to the Museum and Nature Trails
(We biked in and looked around to scope it out for another day.)

Along the way, we did stop at the farmer's market, and I bought the lettuce and tomatoes I needed. As I paid, Clark roamed around and came up with the idea that we should buy a pineapple, so I paid for that too. As per usual his backpack was weighing him down by the time we were done shopping. He said he felt a difference in weight immediately after I put the whole pineapple in the backpack.

Clark's search for the pipe took us to the Marathon City Marina where he eventually found the pipe and discarded it as not meeting his needs. After all that looking, the pipe was way too fat in diameter to be of use for Clark's purpose. While at the City Marina, we checked out the layout. Before we found a spot at Faro Blanco, we thought we might be trying to grab one of the large number of mooring balls floating out there just to have a place to spend the winter months.

Marathon City Marina

The city marina offers picnic table areas so the boaters
on moorings can come in and relax and socialize.

We have never seen such a large dinghy dock arrangement or
so many dinghies making use of it.

And yet more dinghy dock space populated with dinghies!

Clark did not capture a picture, but I found the number of bicycles at the marina's extensive bike rack arrangement truly amazing as well. Bicycles of every shape, size and color on bike rack after bike rack. Until I saw the dinghy situation, I could not fathom why there were so many bicycles. After I understood that all the boats were on moorings instead of docks, I realized that the boaters brought their bikes ashore and then left them to have transportation whenever they came over by dinghy.

Boats on mooring balls in every direction.

 I am so glad that Clark got us a spot at Faro Blanco. The mooring ball option is fine, but a totally different experience from the resort where we are staying. Being at the docks makes socializing and getting around so much easier, and I love the pool! The two options are a world apart in comparison to each other.

Sign post at City Marina

 I saw a boat named Great Old Broad and laughed out loud. Clark got the message and took a picture for me.

What a great name?! "Great Old Broad"

 On our travels we also passed by the City of Marathon Community Park.

Community Park in Marathon

We spied a tower, and I knew I was lost. Clark has never seen a tower he has not wanted to climb. I was not the least surprised when I watched him maneuver his bike into the park. He ended up disappointed, however, as the interior stairway was closed for a paint job today. We will have to come back another day for his climb to the top! Perhaps on an alternate day I will even hike up there with him.

Tower in City of Marathon Community Park

Looks like we might want to come back this way this weekend
to check out the art festival.

When we left the park, we decided that it was time to head back to the boat. After all, the time was approaching 5:00, and we did not want to miss the nightly "dock"tails gathering at the Faro Blanco lighthouse. "Dock"tails is a great way to get to know the other boaters and learn the local scuttlebutt. We had a full house tonight and had to add extra seats to accommodate all the folks. The gathering is a BYOB affair. However, quite often participants bring an appetizer / snack to share. We had a nice spread of food tonight with veggies, chips and dip, cheese and crackers, candied pecans, and assorted flavors of popcorn. (I brought the popcorn mix and was happy to see it was popular.)

At "dock"tails Bob was working on Clark and trying to convince him to join water aerobics on Friday, so he (Bob) is not the only guy there. I wonder if that will happen and how that will work out if it does.

Clark brought his shower bag with him to 'dock'tails, and so, when the event concluded, he headed for the showers, and I headed for our boat's galley.  Before leaving the docks, however, he managed to capture this "fiery" sunset.

"Fire and Smoke" Sunset at Marathon

I told Clark to expect spaghetti and meatballs for supper, but when he came back, I had potatoes and meatloaf on the stove instead. When I pulled out the meat to start cooking, it reminded me that I was in the mood for meatloaf so, with cook's prerogative, I changed the menu! He said he liked my change of plans, so we were both happy!

Florida: Marathon - Shopping at West Marine

Day 206

We had no set agenda for today and, with no plans, not much happened from my point of view. After breakfast we decided to walk over to the West Marine boat-supply store. Clark needed boat soap, but I think mostly he wanted to check out their inventory.

Crossing the garden between the Faro Blanco marina and the associated hotel where we are staying, we came across an outdoor chess board. I honestly can say that even having been married to Clark for almost 36 years, I have no idea if he knows how to play chess. I know the rules but none of the strategies, so we admired the chess set but made no attempt to play a match.

I'll start my play with my white knight!

Crossing the street to get to the West Marine store turned out not to be quite as challenging as we had expected. We had been told that if we waited long enough, believe it or not, we would get a break in the traffic, and sure enough, we got an opening where we could get across the street without having to run for our lives. We stopped into a Yamaha dealer and marine supply store first. I was ready to leave within about 5 minutes of entering the store, but Clark managed to find enough items to examine to keep us there for a good long time.

West Marine is located right next door to the marine supply store, so we did not have far to walk to get there. This particular West Marine seemed to have a fairly large stock of clothing and an abundance of fishing gear - not that we needed or wanted either of those. I found the boat soap for Clark. Unfortunately he found lots of other items to analyze, with the bulk of his time focused on an LED Flood light that he became fascinated with. He wants a light of this type for our fly-bridge, but he could not decide how he could mount the model they were selling. He finally pulled up the model number on his phone with a Google search and read about the mounting options.

Later, when he was looking at some other possible items to add to our boat inventory, I suggested that he take a picture with his cellphone, so he could do research later on the available models. He liked that suggestion so much he took photos there and then ran back and took a photo of the LED light and mounting materials as well. Ultimately we spent over an hour in the store and left without the LED light or any mounting materials to go with it. Instead we had one bottle of boat soap in hand and a few pictures on Clark's cellphone that I will not bother to add to this post.

By the time we got back to the marina, half the day was gone and I had little to show for it. I was more than ready for lunch, but on our way back to the boat, we saw, and stopped to talk to, Kenny and Jeanne on Daybreak just to say hello, or so I thought. By 1:30 I told Clark that I could not wait any more I needed to eat lunch and left him there chatting. How he can forget to eat is beyond me, but he had indeed forgotten that we had not yet had lunch.

After lunch I decided to start reading my latest downloaded e-novel, and Clark got busy on his laptop researching the items he had seen in West Marine. As I got a little ways into my book I realized that I have read this one at some point in my past. I do not remember enough to know what will happen next, but as I read each section, I knew I had read it before. I have decided that this particular book is not good enough to read twice even with not remembering what happens next.

In fact I found it so non-stimulating that it did a good job of putting me to sleep. I went and laid down and had a nice nap. Around 5:00, Clark was still busy doing his research on the laptop, but I reminded him that "dock"tails happen at 5:00. We grabbed our drinks (water bottles) and headed over to the lighthouse. Today, as opposed to yesterday, we found a large group already there. We joined them and the time flew by as we talked to folks we knew and some we had not met previously. I had to 'drag' Clark away when the time got to be almost 6:30 as I had to get back to make dinner.

I am not sure when he saw the sun set as I totally missed it today. I probably had my hands full and my focus on preparing dinner. Nevertheless he got a photo of the event.

Looking across Faro Blanco marina from our boat at sunset 

After dinner Clark went back to his online research. If nothing else, he is tenacious!

Florida: Marathon - pelicans tug-o-war

Day 205

We woke this morning at 8:00 to pouring rain which made me roll over and go back to sleep. A while later I woke and could no longer hear rain, but the wind had picked up and was blowing like crazy. I wondered how much rocking we would have experienced if we had not changed slips. According to my Weather Bug app the wind was coming out of the south-east at 9 mph. Clark and I both agreed that the wind had to be stronger than 9 mph with the way it was blowing out there. Since we were told that our original slip was only really bad in northerly winds, I expect it was not too too bad.

The good news was that the wind must have completely blown away the rain. By 9:30 when we made our morning trip to the restrooms, the rain was gone - poof! I do not know if the water aerobics class in the marina pool happened today or not. The start time of 10:00 might have been too close on the heels of the pouring rain. I saw Liz from Not Sew Easy on her way there and she asked me if it was canceled. I said I did not know.

Kenny and Jeanne from Daybreak volunteered to drive me to Publix to stock up on food supplies. They have temporary use of a friend's car. The offer of transportation was just too good to refuse especially after the heavy rains of the night before. Deep puddles remained along the roadway due to the excess of rainwater, and biking would have been messy at best. Since I had a choice between the water aerobics class at 10:00 and the car ride to Publix, I made the practical as opposed to the fun decision and went shopping.

Food shopping here in Florida always seems to take much longer than it should. First, every store we visit is new to us and we need to wander around to find the items we want to buy if they even stock what I am looking for. Second, everyone in the stores, i.e. the customers, seems to move at a snail's pace if they move at all.

I stopped in one of the aisles to try to locate my Prego spaghetti sauce I wanted. As I stood there looking, a woman who was 90 if she was a day came up on me and very loudly yelled, "Excuse me". I have to say that she made me jump right out of my skin. I never said a word; I just moved ever-so-slightly, which to me seemed totally unnecessary, for her to pass. As she passed me I heard her say, "Jumpy aren't we?" After she went by me, she stopped just a few feet down, in the middle of the aisle, to talk to a friend. By that time I needed to pass her and I wondered if I should yell, "Excuse me" to see her reaction. I decided that I could wait to get around her.

The line at the checkout was a proverbial "zoo" with a long queue at every open line. I picked one lane because the last person in the queue had a lightly loaded cart. Then I realized that the man was waiting his turn by the cart while at least four family members scurried around the store picking up items and then bringing them up to drop in his cart and then running off again to get more items. I quickly decided that I needed to be in an alternate lane.

Perhaps I overbought today. It is very hard to make quantity decisions, and the stores exacerbate the problem. Not only do I have to decide if I want to buy an item, I have the dilemma of what to do when the price is a "two-for" such as cereal normally $3.99 but buy two and the price is $5.00. Should I buy two? Do I need two? Can I store two? How about the "buy one get one free" offers? I passed on at least one of those today for margarine. Refrigerator space is particularly precious and that free margarine was going to be a "ruddy pain in the neck" as my Aunt Gladys would say. Yet, I feel like I am "leaving money on the table" by leaving it behind.

We loaded my umpteen bags of groceries into the trunk of the car and drove the two miles back to the boat. The road through Marathon is a four-lane highway and making a left-hand turn appears to be a near impossibility, so each time Kenny needed to do a left, he went right and found a place to make a U-turn to go the opposite direction. Heaven help us when we go out on our bikes or God forbid want to cross the road to get to the West Marine on the opposite side of the highway!!

Kenny kindly drove the car to a parking space directly behind our boat. As he backed into a parking space, he made jokes about seeing if he could "dock" the car. He has an interesting sense of humor. From what I learned at yesterday's "dock"tails, he was a high-up executive for Southern Wine and Spirits. I gather he worked very hard from what he said, but one of his tales that made me laugh was the one where he said he regularly hid under his executive-sized desk when someone came to the office when he did not want to talk to them. No one knew he hid there. He also hid in his closet sometimes and occasionally jumped out and scared the people coming to see him. What a character!

I made my way onto the boat with my supplies and had the unpleasant duty of trying to figure out where to put it all.  I have to say I failed. By 1:00 I still had three bags to unload and no place to put the items. I decided that I needed lunch as I was too hungry to focus, and I had no idea where to put it anyway. However, before making lunch, I asked Clark if he wanted to walk up to the restroom.

When we stepped off the boat to make a "quick" run up to the head, we met a couple who came to visit JoAnn and Jim on Namaste next door to us. Only JoAnn and Jim were not on their boat. Now, I do not know quite how it happened so quickly but before I knew what was happening, Clark and Dwain were deep in a discussion on how to remove impellers from difficult-to-reach places on boats. After a while I sighed and sat down on the wall next to Dwain's wife Jackie to wait for the excitement to die down, i.e. the conversation to come to a close.

Fortunately JoAnn and Jim came along saying they were starving and that broke up the conversation. We walked with the four of them up to the restaurant where we turned and went off to the restroom while they continued on in search of lunch. On the way back to the boat, we found Kevin from Chasing 80, and that made another delay in getting back to the boat for lunch. Eventually we did get on board and eat, but I have no idea what time it was by the time we managed it. Good thing Clark gave me 4 potato chips before we went to the head - that sustained me!

The day rapidly slipped through our fingers, and suddenly the clock said 4:00. I wanted to get my laundry done today. Clark desperately wanted to get a shower. He thought that we should either try our luck at crossing the street to West Marine or we should go swimming in the pool, but both of those options were contingent on showering first. I decided that I could run the washer while I showered, so I packed up my shower bag and my laundry cart, and away we went.

We never made it to the pool or to West Marine. After putting the laundry in to dry, we decided to walk over to see who was around for "dock"tails. We were told that they happen every night at 5:00. We arrived about 5:20 and there was not a sole in sight at the "dock"tails seating area. However, there appeared to be a lot of excitement on the over side of the lighthouse, so we went to take a look.

Faro Blanco Lighthouse

We found a crowd gathered around a man standing at a fish-cleaning table cleaning two huge Wahoo fish that he had captured on an overnight fishing trip.

Wahoo Fish

The one he was working on when we arrived was just over 30 pounds, and the second one, covered in ice in his cart, weighed around 45 pounds he said. As he worked, he talked to his audience and told them that the fish resembled Sea Bass in texture and taste.

His audience, however, consisted of more than just people. He had a fish-cleaning clean-up crew on hand in the form of numerous pelicans who were aggressively vying for the scraps he tossed out to them. One old "guy" stood on the dock instead of sitting in the water with his relatives. He was the wise one because every once in a while the fisherman would throw a piece right to him, so he did not have to fight for his dinner like everyone else.

Feeding frenzy on fish scraps

Here is a video of the pelicans, which may or may not be view-able depending on the device and browser you use to read the blog ...

After watching the pelicans for a while, Clark said he wanted to walk down the dock as we had not explored this area before. As we walked along, Clark took a few pictures of the marina area.

Looking East from Lighthouse

Zoomed in view

What? Not interested in fighting with pelicans for food?

When we walked back, the pelicans were still tussling with each other over the fish scraps. Clark videoed a 6-minute clip of the pelicans playing tug-o-war over the fish skin. The skin was long enough for four pelicans to each get their beaks on it to try to have it for him/herself. With so much tugging it is a wonder the skin did not break or rip! Clark stopped filming for a while and then started again later when eventually one of the pelicans won the day and got a belly full of fish skin!

By the time my timer went off to tell me it was time to take my clothes out of the dryer, the sun had decided to set. I left Clark recording pelicans playing tug-o-war with fish skin while I ran back to fold my clothes. On the way back to the laundry room, I stopped to capture tonight's sunset.

Sunset at Faro Blanco Marina