No Boat Travel
We spent today on the boat.
Clark worked on getting the saltwater wash down to work. Although he tried "tuning" the adjustments, he is still unable to get it to work as designed. When he tests his work, I have to take part in the action because he cannot be on the bow and in the bilge at the same time.
With the wind blowing today, testing the hose was not any fun. Clark had the hose rigged so that when it was turned on, it would spray water over the side of the boat. In theory that seems like it should work. However, with the wind blowing as it was, by the time I got to the hose to turn it off as he requested (he was now down in the bilge working on tuning it), I was quite wet. The wind caused a mist that sprayed me with saltwater from head to toe before I could get to the nozzle to shut it off.
The second time we rigged it up, I stood upwind of the hose before turning it on. That would have been smart had I not dropped the hose. Of course it fell on the handle and I got a face full of saltwater. The fact that the results of his tweaking did not prove productive just added insult to injury.
When I got a chance to escape from Clark's project, I spent time baking, reading, and playing games on my tablet. Since I had an insufficient amount of butter to make Clark's favorite dessert - Martha's Applesauce Cake, I made an iced Blueberry Cake instead. I have minimal success using the oven on the boat as the temperature never seems quite right, and I have not spent the time to test it with an oven thermometer since I do not own one for the boat.
Instead of using the regular oven, I used my little toaster oven that is only big enough to hold one small loaf pan at a time. This turns baking his desserts into a multi-hour event. Usually, while the baking is happening, I stay nearby with my Kindle or my Tablet as I did today.
With the cold wind, it feels too nasty to sit out for docktails. I took a peek and noticed that folks are not bothering to gather around the lighthouse. Perhaps they will reconvene when the wind stops blowing.
Friday 1//19/2018
Boat trip out to the channel and back.
We started the day with a trip to the Home Depot to buy a new flashlight. Although we searched the boat multiple times, Clark's Ryobi flashlight that he uses faithfully has simply vanished from the face of the earth. He remembered using it last when we were docked in Key West.
On that fateful day, while Clark was busy washing salt off the boat, a man interrupted his work to ask for his help. The man's son had dropped his toy truck into a metal structure on the dock with a hole on top of it. He wanted to know if Clark had something he could use to retrieve the truck.
Before Clark could do much to help him, the man and boy took off to catch the party boat trip they had planned. While they were gone, Clark went "fishing" in the metal box and pulled out the toy truck. He used his flashlight to see what he was doing in there. That was the last he saw of his flashlight.
Whether he left it in the metal box or on the dock, we will never know. Clark called from here and had one of the marina dock hands check the box to see if the flashlight was still inside with no luck. We lost not just the flashlight but one of the Ryobi rechargeable batteries in that deal as well. The father and son came back after their boat trip delighted to see the toy truck sitting outside the metal box. We heard a big "Thank You!" as they gathered up the truck and left before Clark could even stick his head back out the door. At least one person came out of that arrangement happy.
After our stop at Home Depot we went on to Publix to pick up some supplies. Unfortunately, I had to pick and choose sparingly from my grocery list due to the limited space left in Clark's backpack. (We bought more than just a flashlight at Home Depot.) Even so, we were both loaded down to the max with groceries for the trip back to the boat. I mostly needed meat and vegetables which quickly add up in terms of weight and space.
Since, by the time we got done with our shopping, it was late afternoon, Clark surprised me by saying he wanted to take the boat out for a quick run to wash the barnacles off the bottom of the boat. I thought with the lateness of the day and the non-stop wind that he would decide to hold off until another day when docking would hopefully be less of a challenge. Nope! He decided we had time before sunset, so we should go.
We left our lines at the dock for our quick trip into Florida Bay. I let Clark deal with the bow lines. We have new pilings for our slip which are very nice except for the fact that there are no hooks on them to hang the lines. Clark pulled the boat over to one and then the other and laid the bow lines over the tops to collect when we returned from our run.
When we got back to the dock about an hour after we left, we found a small greeting committee of other boaters there to grab our lines and help us get secured at the dock. Clark later admitted that docking had presented a bit of a problem with wind and current as he angled his way into the slip. A wide catamaran that slightly sticks out in front of our slip added to the complexity of his approach backing into the slip.
No docktails again tonight due to the chilly wind. Even though I had just bought meat and vegetables today and had plenty of provisions to choose from, I did not feel like cooking any of it. I suggested pizza, so we walked down to 7-Mile Pizza. It was a short walk to the pizza place, so short in fact, that Clark almost walked right by. I had to stop him and ask where he was going as he continued to walk right past the set-back shop.
7-Mile Pizza sells an interesting combination of New York style pizza and Cuban Cuisine. Everyone in the restaurant, except the two of us, spoke Spanish. Even the specials were written in two languages. We knew from eating there on prior trips to Marathon that we would enjoy the pizza, and the staff are very friendly. I think the owner must have asked us at least four times if everything was to our liking.
Saturday 1/20/2018
No boat travel.
~9 miles bike ride
Having unsuccessfully searched Home Depot for some hose and connection supplies for his saltwater wash down work, we took a trip today to the True Value Hardware store at the other end of Marathon to see what we might find there. I dressed in layers for the bike ride as I find it always colder at the marina than it is on Route 1. I never quite know what I will find once I get underway on the bike.
Working hard on the bike due to the strong wind in my face, I "boiled over" after about 1.5 miles into the bike ride. Even though Clark was well ahead of me, I pulled over to the side and started stripping off layers. I took off my sweater but left my wind breaker on. Eventually, I saw that Clark had also stopped and took off his coat.
The folks on L'Attitude Adjustment docked next to us told us about a mini-farmer's market across from Publix. We decided we would stop there on the way to the hardware store. I did not need much in the way of vegetables having just stocked up at Publix, but we stopped to take a look as we went by on our way to the hardware store.
In 2016 we would go to the permanent farmer's market stands on the side of Route 1 because the vendor had a huge selection of great fruits and vegetables. In 2017 we came back expecting the same vendor and were disappointed to find he had sold the business. After trying the produce a couple of times, we never bothered to return as it was far from fresh. We stopped once this year to check it out. The amount of produce sold has been reduced by at least half of what it was in 2016 / 2017. The items I saw on sale were way past their prime. I will not return again.
The stock for this mini farmer's market was well picked over at 11:30 when we got there. Still, I ended up buying some tomatoes and zucchini that were picked yesterday at $1.00 a piece. When I inquired about the red peppers, the vendor threw them in my bag for free. With Clark's coat in the backpack, we had minimal space to choose from, so we tucked the veggies here and there in Clark's backpack and continued on our way.
The 4.3 mile bike ride to the hardware store took a lot of effort against the wind. Happily I noticed that Clark stopped to gawk at the airport on our way by. Two aircraft caught his interest. One was a mini helicopter with Boatpix.com written on the side. The other was a biplane with three people in it. Biplane rides at $59 per person are available at the airport.
 |
| Bi-plane Rides in Marathon, FL |
With three people in the plane, it appeared that the pilot had some business for a flight. They had the engine running and the props spinning, and while we watched they taxied down the air strip. Seeing the biplane reminded me of our Looper friends, Ben (Jammin Jane) and Bob (Knot Sew Easy), who went up together for a ride two years ago when we were all here in Marathon together. Clark and I sat there on our bikes for a very long time waiting for the plane to come back, but they never took off while we watched. Eventually we gave up and continued our bike ride to the store.
The True Value Hardware store in Marathon has an amazing inventory of goods for sale. By the time we left there I had picked up a bunch of items - mostly kitchen gadgets, and Clark had a variety of items related to his saltwater wash down project. We found a salesperson to assist in Clark's search for parts. Ultimately the salesperson built something custom right there in the store for Clark out of hose connections and PVC pipe cut to size. This pipe is about 4-feet long, and we joked about how we would carry it home on the bicycles. I suggested we could pretend to be jousting.
By the time we left the hardware store, my watch showed somewhere near 2:30, and I needed to eat lunch. Since we wanted something healthy and quick, we went to Publix to get whole wheat subs with Boar's Head meat. We sat at the tables provided there and enjoyed the food.
Clark convinced me that since we were already in Publix, I should buy some of the items I could not buy the day before due to lack of space. However, with the vegetables from the farmer's market and the items from the hardware store already taking up space, I still had to be extremely conservative on selecting items to buy. To carry it all, Clark had to wear his coat on the bike ride back to the boat to make room in his backpack.
During the evening / night, I watched television shows via the internet while Clark searched the internet for a short-length, 3/4" hose that he has been unable to find in any of the local stores.
Sunday 1/21/2018
No boat travel.
~3 miles by bike.
With two projects in mind (saltwater wash down and varnishing), Clark tried to plan out his day. He wanted to varnish early and then take a trip to Home Depot. The weather did not quite cooperate with his varnish plans as it sprinkled rain off and on during the morning. Also, he wanted to consult with another boater about the work before taking the next step in the varnish work. Eventually the weather turned sunny and he found the boater for his input allowing Clark to put another coat of varnish on the wood trim on the bow of the boat.
While he was busy doing that, I took a walk around the marina matching boat cards to boats. We have met a lot of people here again this year and always find it extremely difficult to remember names. I thought associating people names with boat names would help me. In the process I met folks on a Looper boat that just came in yesterday named CRAIC (pronounced crack). I learned that "What's the craic?" in Ireland means "What's happening?" or "What's new?" They are traveling with their dog Riley.
Later in the afternoon, we took a bike ride to Home Depot to look for items to complete the saltwater wash down project. I had a hard time raising enthusiasm for yet another visit to the Home Depot. I finally decided that I needed the exercise, and I could tell Clark would like my company for the journey. Route 1 is rather dangerous so I knew I would worry until he returned if I had him go alone.
Using some imagination on how we might tweak things to make them work, we basically found what Clark needed to continue his wash down project. When we got back to the boat, however, he set to doing varnish prep work instead of working on the wash down. As I typed away on the computer working on the blog, he sanded and scraped the wood trim on the port side of the boat. As he stood out there working hard, anyone who walked by noticed and made a comment about how industrious he was being.
Shortly after 5:00 I saw a couple of boaters walk past our boat carrying drinks and food. I assumed they were on their way to docktails. I thought about stopping my computer / blog work to join them. Before I could do that, though, I saw them go back the other way less than 10 minutes later. I gather no one else was there so they decided to take their treats back to the boat to enjoy instead of out by the lighthouse.
Clark's scraping effort made a huge mess along the side of the boat. He asked me to retrieve a vacuum cleaner, but I thought a broom the more appropriate tool. We used both. Interestingly, while sweeping away, we saw that a pelican came to float nearby to watch us intently. Clark said, "That guy must think the broom handle is a fishing pole, so he came for dinner." The pelican went away disappointed.
 |
| "Hey there Sunset Delight ... Got any Fish?" |
 |
| "No? Well then I'm leaving!" |
The above picture shows quite well the mess Sunset Delight is sitting in at the dock. The windy weather has blown all the chopped up bits of grass into our corner of the marina. Sometimes it looks thick enough to walk on!
Later, as I cooked dinner and then while we ate on-board, we could hear live music being performed near the Faro Blanco pool. Last weekend Clark heard John Bartus for the first time and bought two of his CDs. Tonight John Bartus performed again. Last week I did not motivate myself to go listen as I was involved in blogging. Tonight, however, I insisted we go up and listen even though we could somewhat hear the music from the boat.
We arrived just as he started to play the last song before his break. When we showed up and sat down, however, he played one more song just because we had appeared. During his performance, he asked for requests and Clark had a few. First Clark asked for a song about John's wife Marlene, then he requested the Eagles, and finally he asked John to play anything off one of his CDs. All songs were well-performed and very entertaining, so we had an unexpected, lovely evening of live entertainment.
NOTE: Enjoy reading our blog? For automatic notifications of blog updates visit cmosboating.blogspot.com and subscribe to email receipt of blog entries. Thank you for reading our boating journal.
No comments:
Post a Comment