Fast Boats Invade Faro Blanco

2/21/2017

It rained and blew pretty hard for a good part of the day. Two guys from other boats came over and helped Clark add extra lines to Sunset Delight to keep the boat from rubbing up against the dock. Apparently the nylon lines all stretched when they got wet, so we had a lot more "slop" in them after the rains started than before.

Given the weather and this infamous time of year, we spent the day and well into the night working on taxes.

Evening sky in Marathon, FL

2/22/2017

The nasty weather from yesterday cleared, so I started the day by doing laundry. I hoped, since a large number of trawlers were "kicked out" of the marina to make room for the "fast boats" coming in today, that I would find the washers empty, but alas no such luck. Someone  else had the same thinking I did, so I had to wait in queue for the washers to free up. Thankfully, I only had a fifteen minute wait.

After I completed my two loads of wash, Clark and I took the car and went shopping. I needed fruits and veggies from the food market. Clark needed an odd-sized washer to try and address the latest winch / windlass problem. Between Home Depot and the Specialty Hardware store, we must have spent over an hour looking for something that he could either use or modify to fit. At this point, I know Home Depot's store layout in Marathon far too well.  Ultimately, Clark came away with a few assorted washers.

On our way to the Specialty Hardware store, we saw a truck that just begged to be photographed!

Sign on top of this Marathon, Florida truck says "Free Snow Removal".
Some of my friends in NJ should give him a call next time it snows.

We got back to the marina at 2:00 and still had not eaten lunch. Since we had a relatively late breakfast, I did not feel like eating lunch at 11:00 before we left. In retrospect, lunch before we left would have been a great idea.

Shortly after returning from our shopping spree and climbing on-board Sunset Delight, the whole marina felt like it was shaking, or perhaps that was just my chest cavity. A fleet of "fast boats" all came pouring into the marina at the same time. What a ruckus!  Those "cigarette" boats, as they are called, are so very loud. Not as many boats arrived today as the marina anticipated, but more are expected tomorrow. Oh joy!

A number of boats arrived together
causing the dock hands to need to be everywhere at once to help them dock.

These are a few of the boats that came in on our side of the marina.

Docking the noisy beast!

"Where are we supposed to dock?"

I noticed that the folks on trawlers, including ourselves, either stood or took front-row seats to gawk at the flurry of activity as the boats poured in. A helicopter and a drone added to the noise and excitement. Also, an 18-wheeler, fuel truck came in early afternoon and parked in the parking lot ready to service the needs of these gas guzzling boats.

As the boats swarmed in, a helicopter and
a drone flying overhead surveyed the activities.

Going in the slip just a few down from us.

Docking these looks dangerous to me.
I notice they always have bare feet when they come in to dock.

These boats just need a "little" extra horsepower to move as fast as they do.
I wonder how much fuel they burn in an hour?

Note the guy busy cleaning the boat.
This ritual was shared by all of the boats that came in.
Hose it down / wipe it down / wrap it up for the night!

The Marriott next door ran shuttles to carry the fast-boat boaters over to the hotel for the night. I got the impression that the folks on the boats sent their luggage to the marina via trucks as I saw folks picking their bags out of piles of them. I cannot imagine they had their hard-sided bags on wheels on the boats with them.

Expecting a large crowd, the marina packed the fast boats into the slips like sardines.

If they fit, they got packed in two per slip!

Several tents were set up in the parking lot. I have yet to determine their purposes, but they are definitely event related. The spot where we have been parking our car is now blocked by cones, so we had to park around the corner. However, by late afternoon, the entry to the parking lot was completely blocked off with saw horses and a sign saying "Authorized Vehicles Only". To get out of the parking lot, we will need to move a portion of the barricade. 

* Some of the pictures included above were posted by Mel on Morning Star II to Facebook (Thanks Mel!).

After the excitement of the fast boat arrivals died down, Clark started work on his windlass project. He spent the rest of the day drilling and filing, nylon and metal washers to bring them to the right size to be usable for his windlass. With all the time and energy he has put into a solution, I sure hope this fixes the issue that reared its ugly head when we went out a few days ago.