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.