2020: Arrive Faro Blanco Marathon FL

 16 December 2020

Depart: Pumpkin Key Anchorage 9:20

Arrive: Faro Blanco Marina, Marathon, FL 5:40

Distance: 62 nm

Conditions: Sunny, Light Breeze, 70s

Although we scheduled to arrive at Faro Blanco on the 20th, Clark called the dockmaster and got the go ahead to come in early. Given that, we decided to go straight through from Biscayne Bay to Marathon. With opposing currents, shallow depths in places, and crab pots randomly popping up like mine fields,  it was a slow-going, tedious voyage. 

After the numerous, tall buildings in Miami, traveling through mangroves seemed like we had been transported to another land far far away. 

Mangroves! 

Passing through Tavernier, I noticed 3 large birds flying overhead. I did some research to confirm my sighting. They were Frigate Birds. 

Frigate Bird 
(picture taken from allaboutbirds.org)

Sailboats anchored to the mangroves

For mile after mile, the chart showed us somewhere in Key Largo. Just how long is this place anyway!? 

"Gas Station / Convenience Store"

Key Largo "Anchorage Resort" 

Last year when we passed here, the docks were full of boats.

Anchorage Resorts 11/2019

Neither one of us remember the sunken sailboats near the Anchorage Resort being there last year, and I see no pictures in last year's blog.

Nice, 2-masted S/V sunk

Gilbert's Resort across from Anchorage Resort
also looked deserted

Picture taken 11/2019
Note the huge difference in the number of tables

After the resorts, it was back to mangroves once more. The passages can get pretty tight sometimes. 

2 Jet Skis and a Paddleboard -
opposing traffic in mangrove

They appeared to have been waiting for us to pass so they could spread out. 

Clark noticed a boat sunken by the mangroves. Sadly, in Florida, sunken boats is an all too familiar sight. We had a debate as we passed by this one as to its size. Clark guessed it to be somewhere around 40' in length. That seemed an over estimate in my opinion.

Yet another sunken boat in Florida

I felt like a little kid, "Are we there yet?" Unfortunately, I could look at the chart and figure out we still had miles to go. I wondered if we would have any daylight left to dock. Clark pointed out that since we traveled west, the sun would go down later than on the east coast. We finally arrived at the marina just after 5:30. 

Coming into Faro Blanco at sunset

This is our 6th winter spent at Faro Blanco. For the first time, Clark recommended that we dock bow in as opposed to stern in. With the boat reversed, we get a view of the water instead of the parking lot. We get a cooler cockpit without the sun baking us if we choose to sit out. More importantly, we get privacy being far away from anyone walking by on the dock by the boat. 

Having never docked this way here before, it took an hour playing with the lines and the positioning of the boat to get docked. With the boat situated this way, we cannot use our doors located at the stern to get on the boat because the finger piers are not long enough to allow that. Since the docks at Faro Blanco are fixed docks, the distance from the bow to the dock goes up and down with the tide. 

When I woke early this morning, I could not get back to sleep as I thought about docking bow in at the marina. Would it work? How would I get off the boat at high tide? I remembered we could use the dock steps given to us by our friends Cathy and Franklin. I hoped that would be sufficient. 

As it turned out, the dock step is necessary. I am not sure it will be sufficient at high tide. Time will tell. 

17 December 2020

No travel.

Having been aboard for several days, Clark and I both had lists of things to address - packages to collect from the office, tokens to buy for the laundry, several loads of laundry to be done, garbage to be removed, parts to be ordered for the wonky refrigerator, and more. 

Since we came in after closing hour last night, Clark headed to the lighthouse first thing to look for packages. He came back staggering under a tower of packages. Debbie was actually on her way over to our boat with the bundle, so Clark took the stack from her and brought them back to the boat. He said he worried about climbing onto the boat without one or some falling off and into the water. 

Before settling down to go through the packages, I sent him back to the lighthouse to purchase tokens so I could get started on laundry. As soon as we had them in hand, I had him help me carry my loads up to the laundry room. While I got the laundry going, he opened packages. 

We had two packages from "Computer Gear" that we did not recognize. We opened the first and it was a black t-shirt with the description of an "Engineer" on the front. Well, that seemed like a likely gift for Clark but who sent it? The package had no gift card or receipt, so it was a puzzle. 

Then we opened the second package from "Computer Gear". Since this item of clothing was pink, we assumed it was for me. However, when I looked at it more closely, I found it was a 2-piece baby outfit for a newborn. Last time I checked 3 to 6 mos clothes did not fit me. 

So, who sent these gifts to us? Clark said I should call Amazon and find out. I tried but failed. All the woman I talked to could tell me was that they had not been ordered by me (duh!) and I would not be charged. I asked is she could check Clark's account and she said that Clark would have to call himself.

Clark called Amazon and got a different customer service rep. This one could tell who had sent the t-shirt to Clark from the tracking number provided. At this point it became a guessing game. The agent would not tell Clark who sent it. If he got the name right, the man would confirm the sender's identity. 

Clark started guessing the last names of all of our relatives but came up batting zero. With a hint of a first name, "Jeff", Clark was still stumped. I offered up the suggestion that it might be someone we knew from Faro Blanco. Under pressure, Clark could not recall Jeff's last name. He checked his contacts, and Voila, he gave the right answer. We now knew who had sent the t-shirt to Clark, but the pink baby outfit, however, remained a mystery. 

We had one hint on the address label that did not become apparent until after we knew the Jeff that had sent the package. It turned out that the address had Clark's name but Jeff's slip number from last season. Interestingly, the pink baby outfit had the same slightly incorrect address, so it would appear to have been sent by the same person.

However, via texting Jeff, we found out that Jeff had sent the t-shirt but did not send the baby outfit to us or anyone else. So, who was it meant for? Why did it have Clark's name and the same slightly incorrect Faro Blanco address? I guess we will never know. Now, if I only knew someone expecting a baby girl, I would be all set with a gift!

This morning as I did laundry and we worked on the package puzzle, I suffered under the heat and humidity. By the time I finished the laundry, I was beet red in the face and dripping wet from perspiration. Mid-afternoon, a cold front came through, and the temperature dropped significantly. We went from hot in shorts to chilly without a jacket. Where earlier I was wishing for air conditioning to be turned on, now we went through the boat closing windows.

Throughout the day, the area surrounding our boat was visited by a variety of birds. One could say that Faro Blanco has "gone to the birds". 

I am guessing this is a "Green Heron"

Pelican

Sea Gull

Unfortunately, some pigeons live under the docks near our boat. When I went to take the laundry up, three of them were strutting along our finger pier. I jumped to make as loud a noise as possible to scare them off. 

Besides a bunch of familiar birds, Clark spotted the barracuda that likes to hang out in our corner of the marina.

Barracuda at Faro Blanco

As I wrapped up yesterday's blog submission, Clark came by and invited me to go for a walk around the marina with him. Exercise was just what I needed, so we grabbed our jackets and went for a stroll. We checked out the boats on the east side of the marina and then headed over to the west side. As we did so, we passed by the folks by Ann and Mel's boat sharing docktails. We stopped and said hello.

When we docked last night, Mel helped us with our lines and filled us in on who was here and who has left. Several folks that were here last season sold their boats (or are trying to sell their boat) and are gone or will be when their boat is sold. A couple of years ago we had 5 or 6 Jim's with their boats here. Clark joked that all the Jim's are gone and most are now boatless.

After chatting for a while, we continued on our way to check out the big boats on the west side. One of the boats, "Fins", was decorated for Christmas.

Smack!
Looks like Santa got in the way of "Fins"!

Further along the dock we came to a boat named "Bravo Zulu". The owner heard us mention his boat's name and came out to tell us that the name is temporary because he (Jeff) just bought the boat from someone that used to be Navy. After Jeff told us his boat names all have to do with Pink Floyd, Clark and he went into a long discussion on guitars and music. The conversation later evolved into other topics. An hour later I finally dragged Clark away, so I could get back to the boat and make dinner. 

Clark was disappointed to learn that the owner of "Bravo Zulu" would be leaving at 6:30 the next morning. Otherwise, I am sure they would have gotten together with their guitars for a jam session. They took our boat card and promised that they would look us up if they come up the coast this summer. 

18 December 2020

No boat travel.

Our settling in chores continue. As I knock something off my list, something jumps on. My goal for today was food shopping. Given we woke to a temperature of 60 that felt like 58, I suggested that we wait until the afternoon to ride our bikes to the grocery store. I found a few miscellaneous tasks to occupy my morning. 

Clark finished the last of his applesauce cake last night, so I decided to bake him another. I used my small electric countertop oven for the cake, and that led me to a second, unplanned project. I pulled out my fabric scraps and made a cover for the oven while I waited for the cake to cook.

After lunch, we got our exercise by biking to Publix that Google says is 2.2 miles away. Before we could leave, however, we had to figure out a way to get off the boat. With a strong wind from the northeast, the boat was too far from the dock for even Clark to get off! I saw him struggling to move the boat closer to the dock and came out to help. I failed to budge the first line he pointed to, so he suggested I try the bowline. 

Pulling hard on that one, I moved the boat enough that Clark could secure it close enough for me to get onto terra firma! Once we got ourselves, bikes, and backpacks off the boat, we were ready to go. On the way to Publix we swung by the Municipal Marina to dispose of 2 gallons of oil from our oil change in St. Augustine. Clark had the oil in his backpack. Heavy!!!

When we made our way back to the boat, we both had full backpacks with additional bags attached to our bikes. If I had bought one more item, I do not know where I would have stashed it. We were loaded. Fortunately, that easterly wind blew us back to the marina, and we got back in practically record time. 

At 5:15 I thought about going to docktails. I looked at the getting-off-the-boat situation and decided against going anywhere. Besides the boat still being blown away from the dock, the tide had come up and the distance to the dock had grown to an uncomfortable level. I settled down to work on blog instead.

Tomorrow's exciting agenda includes running the vacuum and dusting inside the boat. While I do that, Clark will probably clean the outside hull to clean away all the salt from our travels.