Depart: Faro Blanco Resort & Yacht Club 10:30
Arrive: Faro Blanco R&YC 12:40
Clark reminded me when we woke this morning that today's agenda entailed a boat trip to the fuel dock. He neglected to remind me that fueling is only open until 11:30 at the Fisheries where he planned to fill up the tanks. One minute I sat leisurely reading my novel, and the next I was pulling lines in so we could get going before it was too late to get there and have enough time to take on fuel.
The passage into the Fisheries fuel dock is somewhat narrow. The hose for the fuel pump is too short to reach both fuel fills on the boat. Clark decided to fill the starboard side first and then "spin" the boat around to allow access to the port side fuel fill.
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| Fisheries Fuel Dock |
We have come to this fuel dock before, so I knew not to expect anyone waiting to take boat lines. I lassoed three poles and tied us up. Then Clark went off to find a person to turn on the pump for us. He finally came back with Jorge to help us.
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| Jorge at Fisheries Fuel Dock |
Some pumps are dead slow, and some are super fast. Clark asked how fast the pump worked, and Jorge said, "Medium". The true answer should have been slowly! We needed about 150 gallons of fuel for each side. When we saw how long it took for the meter to read 20 gallons, we knew we should get comfortable because we would be there for a while.
When he completed filling the starboard side, Clark told Jorge that we would need to spin the boat. Jorge suggested a couple of alternatives way to try to reach the other fuel fill with the hose, but ultimately, Clark opted for turning around. Jorge thought that Clark would want to spin the boat right there by the dock, but Clark decided that he needed more room and backed out into the bay to turn around before backing into the Fisheries to tie up port side.
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| Narrow space for maneuvering ... Clark backed out to turn around and then backed in. |
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| The pelicans had a front row seat at the Fisheries to watch us come and go. |
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| Boats on the opposite side helped us make the decision to turn around outside. |
On our return, as we backed up to the fuel dock, Jorge sat there waiting to help with lines this time.
We finished fueling around 11:40, and our timing could not have been better. Just as I pulled in the last line to leave the fuel dock, it started to sprinkle rain. Since the day felt sticky from the humidity (quite a contrast from the last few chilly days of wind), the light rain hitting me as I pulled in the line felt refreshing.
We had a brief rain shower with too much rain to leave the front panel of the full enclosure open and no visibility with it closed. Clark decided to drive from the pilot house / lower helm. Before going below to join him, I decided to use an old towel and the rainwater to wipe down the upper helm console. By the time I was done it looked spotlessly clean. Just as I finished cleaning, the sun came out, and we could reopen the front panel for Clark to return to the upper helm and pilot from up top.
Fueling was only part of our excursion task. Clark wanted to get the boat up to speed and run some water under the bottom to wipe away barnacles and growth. As we toured around the bay, Clark took note of some interesting cloud formations.
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| Clouds on the Horizon |
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| Clouds over 7-Mile Bridge |
When we returned to dock about an hour later, Jim from Hour Plan met us at our dock to help us tie up. After we got settled in, we ate lunch, and then I lounged on board for the rest of the day. I thought about going to the pool for a swim, but ultimately it felt like too much work.
What I really wanted to do, and should have done, was take a brief nap to get refreshed. Instead I fought it all afternoon and got nothing accomplished as a result. As I struggled to stay awake in the salon, I could hear Clark in the pilot house making a number of phone calls to businesses about boat parts.
At 5:00 we headed over to docktails and found a nice crowd had gathered. Tonight, three crates had been pulled together to form the table allowing for more food to be set out than last night's single crate.
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| Several dogs attended tonight's gathering including Riley (the giant labra-doodle shown here) and a little black dog called 'Dumdum' |
A little dog called Dumdum attended tonight's docktails and went around begging everyone for scraps. At one point, Dumdum studied Clark and tipped his head back and forth in that quizzical ways dog have when studying a person they don't comprehend.
Dumdum started to bark at Clark when Clark decided to give the dog the same quizzical treatment. Apparently, Dumdum did not like being mimicked. Clark turned red with laughter as he found this incredibly funny behavior from the dog.
Clark and I met the couple on board Yasmine Anne tonight (Yasmine and Roy) and Yasmine's sister Laurie who is visiting them from Syracuse, New York. Mel from Morning Star II has a reputation as an excellent story teller. He told one of his favorites at docktails tonight. He reels in his listeners bit-by-bit as he weaves his story. Tonight he managed to reel Laurie in. She fell for his tale hook, line and sinker. At the end she nearly jumped out of her seat as he barked at her like a vicious dog as part of the punchline. In response she said, "Payback is coming!"
We enjoyed the typical docktail fare with crackers and dips and such, but today we had a couple of unique contributions to the table. Sandy from L'Attitude Adjustment brought roasted chestnuts last night and chocolate-covered pretzels tonight. She said she bought several unusual items (the above included) as after-Christmas specials to make docktails more interesting.
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| Sandy handing out chocolate-covered pretzels. Yasmine, Anne, and Me sampling. |
By special request, Mitch from Fat-N-Sassy made a large plate full of hand-cut, homemade french fries and fried plantain. This dish proved extremely popular with the crowd!
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| Enjoying homemade french fries at docktails. Scott & Linda - Ramble On Pam & Jim - Evermore |
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