Florida: Marathon - Super Bowl Sunday

Day 211

We were naughty and stayed up late last night catching up on episodes of some television shows that we like to watch. Consequently we were late to rise this morning. When we did wake up today, we found the weather to be cold, overcast, and windy with wind gusts consistently measuring in the high-twenty mph range once again.

Sometime in the last couple of windy days, Clark added a line to the boat because the dinghy was hitting the dock to our stern. The additional line does its job to hold the boat off the dock, but now the gap we have to cross to exit the boat is significantly wider. The lines are tied such that we cannot pull the boat all the way over to the dock to step off without taking a very long step. Every time I get off the boat I am very glad I have long legs.

Waves and splash
Note the waving flag showing the force of the wind

By the time we had walked up to the restrooms and taken our showers, we returned to the boat late morning. I decided that it was a perfect opportunity to have a Sunday brunch, so I made eggs and pancakes. Once again the weather made me feel lethargic. Clark and I both sat and read after brunch, but eventually we decided to head out on our bikes to explore a bit.

First we headed down to the Turtle Hospital to find out their hours and times. At $22 per person admission fee I seriously have to think about how interested I am in sick or injured turtles. We left there with a brochure so that if we decide to come back we can reserve a time slot for our visit.

After leaving there Clark went looking for a place on the other side of the highway where we could potentially launch kayaks. I followed him up and down and all around the various side streets as he scoped out possible options. We really did not find any very good options. We did find some very bad ones though.

As we wandered around looking for a place to launch a kayak, we followed one street that ended at an area with a number of fixed, cement docks. These docks were totally unacceptable for even attempting to get into and out of our kayaks (for me at least). While we were there, however, Clark managed to snap a picture of the Boot Key Harbor bridge.

This bridge is out of commission as the bascule is missing. The bascule part of a bridge is the movable section of road that allows tall boats to pass through.

Boot Key Harbor and
Boot Key Harbor Bridge

After scoping out the kayak situation, Clark wanted to do more exploring, but my heart was not in bike riding today. I did not have the energy to fight the 20-something mph winds. Puddles flooded the side of the main road where we needed to bike, and where we could find dry spots, we were forced to bike on rocks. My fold-able bike with very small diameter and width tires is not made for riding on rocks.

I told him he could continue to explore if he wanted, but I was going to go back to the boat and hopefully get myself back on board. Thankfully he abandoned today's mission and came back with me. I seriously doubt that I would have even attempted to get on the boat without him.

We decided to watch the Super Bowl in the marina restaurant tonight. As I mentioned in prior posts, we get two Spanish-speaking stations on the TV and none other. We certainly could not watch the game on our boat. We spoke to lots of other boaters today - many with satellite TV on board, but we did not get any offers to come party. Knowing that we needed to get to the restaurant, specifically the Captain's Lounge, early to get a seat, I decided to make an early dinner to get it over with.

At 5:30 we headed up to see who was at the bar and claim seats before the game. Fortunately, shortly after we arrived, Kenny and Jeanne from Daybreak walked in. They grabbed a table, and we joined them. The game is always better when shared with others. This is the first time in more years than I can remember that we have not gone to a Super Bowl party at my friends', Janet and Rich's, house.

The Captain's Lounge has a large flat-screen television. Thinking that we would have nice weather for game day, the marina brought in a huge TV screen with the plan to put it up for folks to watch the game outdoors. With the high winds and the low temperatures, the TV had to be put up indoors instead. It took up a very large portion of the lounge as it covered most of the length of one whole wall. In the picture below both screens are visible. The one to the right looked large until the other one was set up next to it.

Talking to Jeanne from Daybreak during the big game

As we were talking to various boaters today who are more familiar with Florida's climate than we are, we learned that these cold temperatures and high winds are far from normal. Everyone says it is due to el nino. Before getting here, I was worried that I would find Florida too hot and instead I find it too chilly. Go figure! 

As I was leaving the game to go back to the boat, I saw the person who volunteered to lead us in water aerobics class. So far we have had one session out of three as two were canceled last week due to lousy weather. She asked me if I would be attending aerobics tomorrow. I said, "That is entirely weather dependent. I am not one to go swimming when the temperatures are in the 60s". When Clark and I got back to the boat, he checked the weather. The high tomorrow is 68, but I am sure that we will not see the high at 10 o'clock. I can guarantee that I will not be participating in the water aerobics class tomorrow morning.

For those of you with the right device and browser, here is a video of today's windy weather ...