Boating with Sunset Delight: 2019: Underway and Heading to NJ

3/16/2019 - Clark's Birthday Dinner

Our reservation to stay at Faro Blanco Resort & Yacht Club was through 3/15. That was until Clark remembered he could have a free dinner at the Lighthouse Grill if he stayed until after his birthday. I made reservations earlier in the week for four people, though at that time I did not know who else would be able to join us. Fortunately, when I asked Dorothy and Clayton on "Flight", they said they were available.

Claryton and Dorothy - "Flight"
Ev and Birthday Boy, Clark - "Sunset Delight"

Ev and Clark at his birthday celebration dinner
with Faro Blanco Lighthouse in background

After a scrumptious dinner, Clayton drove us to Sweet Savannah's for an after-dinner ice cream treat. When we got back to the marina, Clayton and Dorothy came on our boat and gave us the "inside scoop" on places to go as we head towards Miami and Fort Lauderdale for the first time ever.

We had a lovely evening together.

3/17/2019 - St. Patrick's Day

I totally forgot that today was St Patrick's Day but was promptly reminded almost as soon as I got off the boat. Ann from "Morning Star" took one look at me and said, "Girl - go find some green"! She was wearing an emerald green shirt that said "Keys Me! I'm Irish". I saw a number of those same shirts today. I went back to my boat and put on the green shirt I had on yesterday (see picture above).

Faith and Jim, on the other hand, went all out for the day. Jim wore his Shenanigan's shirt, and Faith wore a light-up headdress. They used the free cab service offered and spent the afternoon celebrating the day at the Overseas Pub.

Faith and Jim - "Third Degree"
with Clark

Sandy on "L'Attitude Adjustment" offered to take me to the food store in preparation for leaving to travel soon, and I jumped at the opportunity to get my last-minute supplies. Besides Publix, I convinced her to take me to West Marine and Home Depot. She even made an extra stop for me at the Dollar Store.

Shortly after I staggered onto the boat with my heavy bags of grocery and supplies, and before I could get my frozen food into the freezer, Kevin and Sandy, "Koastal Karma", stopped by to ask if we wanted to join them at the restaurant for cocktails.

Clark and I suggested that we meet them at the lighthouse (not the grill) at 5:00 for docktails instead. They readily agreed to that saying they had docktail supplies with them. I swear they should carry a card that says "Have Docktails, Will Travel"! They are always prepared - not just with drinks but they even had an amazing crab dip with them to share!

Kevin and Sandy are one of the first loopers we met before any of us were loopers. We attended the 2014 AGLCA Rendezvous and met them there - we had one very big thing in common - we owned Mainship 350s! Clearly we were meant to be friends!

Kevin and Sandy make Black Fin Marina their home in the winter. We have managed to spend some amount of time with them each of the last three winters, and they are always a lot of fun to be with. They were shocked this year to find out that the people sitting next to them at docktails are the parents of the folks that own / run the Hurricane Restaurant at the Black Fin Marina. That was good for a bit of conversation!

Kevin and Sandy - "Koastal Karma"

Ev
Sandy - "L'Attitude Adjustment"
Harold and Kay - "IDGARA" (parents of Hurricane owners)

3/18/2019 - Boat Chores Monday

Since we are leaving as soon as the weather permits, most likely Wednesday, we decided to do some cleanup work on the boat before we get underway. Clark spent time waxing the boat, and I cleaned sticky, black goo off the power line and the hose. I used Zep Citrus Hand Cleaner to clean them, and it worked amazingly well.

As I sat on the dock scrubbing, I got quite a few comments. A couple of people said they needed to clean their's. One person asked what I was using and took a picture of the product to text to his son at the store. If everyone acts on it, pretty soon Faro Blanco will have the cleanest power cords in Marathon!

One-by-one, we got to see just about every member of the Wilson family as they walked behind our boat. They have been waiting for some engine repairs to be completed, and that was happening today. As soon as the repairs were done, they planned to leave for Key West before the nasty weather, predicted for tomorrow, held them in Marathon any longer.

Finally, around noon, we heard their repairs were completed, and they would be on their way. Clark grabbed a picture as they exited the marina.

Wilson Family sans Nina
Leaving Faro Blanco on "La Cigale"
(Nina got to drive their car to Key West)

Clark and I got our chores done and headed over for docktails at 5:00. When we got there, Clark spotted a rainbow in the distance. Uh-oh! That storm they predicted must be on its way! Already the winds had picked up.

On Saturday, Clark's birthday, when we were at the Lighthouse Grill for dinner, a wedding was happening at Faro Blanco. We heard from the boaters that went to docktails that night that it was quite an affair. Even from the restaurant, we could see that a sailboat was part of the ceremony. We later learned that the sailboat brought the groom to the wedding!

When we went for our walk around the marina, we headed over to the much-smaller-than-before-Hurricane-Irma segment of beach where they hold wedding ceremonies. We heard there was a sand sculpture there left over from the wedding. Winds continued to pick up as the storm approached.

Strong winds at the marina

Tahitian-looking Sand Sculpture
left over from Saturday's wedding

For Tara and Ryan obviously

3/19/2019 - Tea and Cake Party

We woke this morning to the promised high winds and pelting rain. With no desire to go out and about, we sat around in the boat. Clark read some newspapers, and I read my latest novel. Since I knew docktails would not happen today, I decided that, with us all "trapped" on our boats, I should invite a small number of folks to come sit on our boat with us to have tea and cake instead.

Sadly, my photographer forgot to do his job. Our little party consisted of ...

Sandy, Bill, and Lucas (visiting from Sweden) - M/V "L'Attitude Adjustment"
Kenny and Jeanne - M/V "Daybreak"
AC and Jim - M/V "Hour Plan"
Carey and Robert - S/V "Paradyme"

Carey and Robert are new boating friends that Clark and I met just this year. They have a sailboat (S/V) and are from Canada. The others are good friends on motor vessels (M/V) from previous trips south.

Fortunately, the rain stopped and the sun peeked out before our party began at 3:00. We had just enough room in the salon for us all to sit around the table and chat. In addition to cake, we served Tillamook ice cream. It was a big hit! The party broke up at 5:00, and since we had just eaten cake, Clark and I decided to walk around the marina to say goodbye to folks before we leave in the morning.

3/20/2019 - Goodbye Marathon
Depart: Marathon 9:20
Arrive: Anchorage near Pumpkin Key 5:30
Distance: 65 Statute / 59 Nautical Miles
(ICW MM 1185 to MM 1120)

Although the winds continued to blow this morning, and other boaters thought for sure we would postpone departure, Clark and I pulled in our lines as planned to head towards home via Miami and Fort Lauderdale. We had a small crowd wishing us well and helping us with lines. Even Maxx the dog from "Flight" came to say goodbye!

Overall the trip was uneventful and rather boring with an occasional crab trap popping up unexpectedly. Clark says boring is good. Eventually, I needed tea to just stay awake!

We did have a bit of unnecessary excitement at the beginning of our voyage when we could not find Clark's prescription sunglasses anywhere on board. I looked in all the usual places including under furniture and in tote bags and pockets. It looked grim.

I took the helm, and Clark went to take a look. He looked in one place that I never thought of - the engine room. Unfortunately, he came back empty-handed. So, what happened to them? Did he leave them in the men's room at the marina?? I texted Jim on "Hour Plan" to take a look next time he took a walk in that direction. Then I decided I better check out the engine room for myself.

I hardly had the door open to the engine room, and I saw Clark's glasses sitting right there in plain sight on the starboard engine. When I picked them up, they were warm to the touch from the engine heat. We had only been running a very short time. I wondered what kind of molten mess they would look like if they sat on the hot engine all day long!? I quickly texted Jim back to say "forget about looking for them".

After that, we had a rather uneventful trip.

Water so blue - I thought we were in the Bahamas today!

Dolphins playing in our wake!

I missed some dolphins that came to visit earlier when I was scouring the boat for Clark's glasses, so I was happy to see these guys come to play. Later, I saw a dolphin jump at least two feet in the air as he played by the boat. I was busy cooking dinner as we moved along. By the time I had my cell phone in hand to take a picture, he had moved on.

We went from open water to cuts through mangroves back to open water on today's ride. At one point, as we followed the markers, it looked like we would navigate right into the side of an island. Then, low and behold, a cut-through appeared.

Cut through mangroves

Route 1 Bridge near Key Largo
(Resort near bridge with beach, pool, and Tiki hut-style buildings)

Wrecked ship across the way - almost looks like a pirate ship

Since I cooked while underway, putting dinner on the table after we dropped anchor was a non-time-consuming affair. I cook while underway to use electricity while it is being generated by the engine, so we do not have to run the generator later. It works quite well. As we ate dinner, we got quite a nice light show including clouds, the sun, and even the moon.