Last week of December 2021
We found ourselves exceptionally busy during the Christmas season leading up to the new year. That, in conjunction with the fact that I use my laptop for streaming video since our satellite television stopped working back in October, has prevented me for working on my Blog updates in the evenings / nights.
21 December 2021
Being a windy night, we had a lot of boat rocking going on. Whenever the boat rocked, I could hear a slapping sound coming from the bow of the boat. The only thing I could think of was that one of the bow lines was beating on the hull as the boat rocked. I had already gotten into bed when I discovered we had this new, and very annoying, noise in our stateroom.
After a few minutes I walked out to the salon where Clark was reading with the television on. I asked him to check on the lines on the bow as the continual slapping noise was preventing me from sleeping. I assumed, sadly, that he would take care of the issue in the next few minutes. 45 minutes later I stormed back out to the salon, stressed to the max due to the "Chinese water torture" in our stateroom, and raved at Clark about the noise. Reluctantly, he put down his phone and went to investigate.
As it turned out, it was not either of the bow lines. When we pulled in the anchor from our maintenance run, the chain was left hanging down in the locker. The anchor chain swinging back and forth that created the slapping sound. Clark draped some of the chain over the anchor locker partition to stop it from swinging around. The anchor locker is right behind my head when I am in bed. No wonder I was crazed by the time he got around to sorting it out.
After he adjusted the anchor chain, I had blissful peace for the rest of the night.
22 December 2022 - Wednesday
With the lack of sleep during the night, I enjoyed a good sleep in the morning and did not get out of bed until 11:00. I guess that made up for a bad night. Since it was so late when we got up, Clark suggested pancakes for a brunch instead of us eating our normal cereal breakfasts.
Looking out the back of our boat, we have the view of a houseboat that is anchored between two shoals. Clark told me he uses the houseboat as a weather vane for wind direction. He can tell the wind direction by which way the boat is pulling on the anchor. Since the boat is anchored between shoals, current does not appear to have much effect on the anchoring direction.
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| Clark's wind direction finder! |
We had somewhat overcast skies and wondered if we would or would not get rain today. The cloud cover protected us from the heat of the Florida sun. Still worried about potential rain, and not wanting to get our bikes wet if it did rain, Clark suggested we walk to Faro Blanco. It is about a mile from our boat give or take.
When we got there, we roamed the docks to see who was around to talk to. It seemed very quiet, but we did find Joe and his dog, Taz, to talk to on E dock. We also spent time on F dock talking to Marsha and Steve on "Low Country Lady" as well as Mel and Anne on "Morning Star II". In passing we briefly spoke with Bill from "L'Attitude Adjustment". We wandered over to C dock and saw Yasmine, but she was deep in conversation with other boaters, so we did not get to speak with her.
We later found out that while we were at Faro Blanco looking for folks, Wendy Wilson and members of her family were on their small boat visiting Marlin Bay to see if they could spot our boat. No wonder we missed them when we made the FB rounds.
23 December 2021 - Pumpout Thursday
Thursdsay is the day the staff come around to pump out holding tanks on our dock. We have a monitor that shows the tank level. When I turned on the tank monitor, a yellow light lit up to show the tank at "Low" level.
Besides the "idiot light" visual on the tank, Clark has set up a meter that shows the tank level. At empty the meter shows a reading of 0.2, and at full it shows a reading of 1.0. Today, the meter was showing a number less than 0.2 which it never does. Hmmm?
Clark hooked up the hose for the pump out. I watched the lights expecting the green, empty light to start to glow when Clark reached bottom. All of a sudden the light changed - to RED!
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| Red light = Full, but tank is now empty! |
I stuck my head out the door to tell Clark the light had just gone red. Jokingly, I said, "Are you adding to the tank instead of pumping out?"
After the guys left, Clark played with the battery charger and the holding tank circuit breaker switches. He managed to get the light to drop back to yellow, but it refused to go green.
I decided that the gremlin came back to visit and hoped things would settle back to normal when s/he left again! Clark had a more sophisticated idea of the cause of the problem, i.e. a low-voltage issue.
24 December 2021 - Friday - Christmas Eve
Earlier in the week I asked Sandy if she would be going to the food store and could find room for me in her car. At the time she said she would be going Friday, so that is what we planned on. She picked me up right on the dot of nine and off we went. We made it a quick trip. On the way back to drop me off, she offered up a trip out in the evening to go in search of Christmas lights. Since this is something that Clark and I have always loved doing, I jumped at the chance without even asking Clark's opinion / availability.
Sandy and Bill picked us up at 6:30 and we went looking. Except for an occasional wreath or a single string of lights, the pickings were slim as far as views went. Sandy drove us by the marinas near Boot Key Harbor where we caught a glimpse of a very decorative boat traveling the canal. Being in a moving car with buildings in the way, we could not get a clear view of the boat.
However, we could tell that it was covered in lights from bow to stern. We noted two mermaid statues adorning the boat as it floated by. Bill commented that, since the boat owner had gone to all the trouble of covering the boat with lights, he was driving it around to show it off. Lucky for us for sure!
We weren't the only ones who thought the boat was amazing. It appeared in the Marathon Weekly newspaper as the cover photo!
Having had minimal success looking for lights in the local neighborhoods, Sandy drove us by the San Pablo Catholic Church. From the road we could see a lot of lights and people milling around. Sandy decided to park the car and let us roam around to see the what they had to offer. It was well worth the stop!
We did not know what we would find as we got out of the car and walked towards the church.
As we walked up, we saw a car decked out in lights. I thought it was just parked there as part of the exhibit, but then someone got in and turned on the headlights to drive away!
We saw lots of displays of lights. Someone worked for days to design and setup this array.
As I walked around, I realized that this part of the church property was set up as a meditation area with pictures and signs permanently setup to provoke thought. A tourism website states the following
" ... go for a stroll along the paved pilgrimage path to Saint Paul, featuring an abundance of shady trees, a man-made pond, and statues throughout. Make a pit stop at the pavilion located in the surrounding garden and relax in the tranquil environment."
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| Rectangular signs depict scenes from the Bible |
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| This sign, one of four near a pavilion, says "Joyful" |
A large section of trees had bright blue lights so intense it quite literally made me feel dizzy.
After our wonderful success at finding Christmas lights at San Pablo Catholic Church, we returned back to our respective marinas. Nothing could compare to what we had seen here and it was time to call it a night.
We got back to our boat at 8:30. Clark inquired about television and I responded with, "Watch what you like I am going to bed". For some reason, I think it was the blue lights, I had a pounding headache and could not wait to close my eyes. I figured I should do that in bed. I took a book in case I started to feel better, but I was asleep shortly after my head hit the pillow.
25 December - Saturday - Christmas Day
Our friends at Faro Blanco invited us to join them today for their Christmas Pot Luck Luncheon. We arrived shortly before the one o'clock designated time to set up our cook pot to simmer the vegetables that I had brought as my offering. All told we had a good number of folks in attendance and an abundance of food to choose from.
Anne took pictures of all the couples in attendance. We both dressed in red for the occasion.
Almost as soon as she saw Clark, Ella asked him if they could go out on our dinghy. Clark lets her drive. He told her they could go later, so at some point, I saw her run off to collect her boating license and her life jacket.
The first time they went out, it was Clark, Ella and Mia.
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| Can you tell Ella loves to drive the boat? |
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| Clark says she's good at it. |
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| Sisters! |
Later in the afternoon, Anna May decided she would like a turn driving the dinghy, and Ella went along for a second ride.
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| Clark shoving off from Mel's swim platform as he climbs aboard the dinghy. |
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| Clark shows no worries here as the girls navigate the poles to get out of the marina. |
Anna May took them on a fairly long trip - as far as Black Fin Marina and back. On the way they passed by Marlin Bay, and Clark could see our Marlin Bay friends enjoying their "Hot Hors oeuvres" Christmas party near the tower.
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| Christmas at Marlin Bay |
26 December 2021
This morning Clark declared the weather just right to go for a kayak ride to explore the nearby islands. Unfortunately, I was not anywhere near as enthused by the idea. I agreed we had good air temperature for a ride, but we had a bit of a wind and some current. I had other priorities so I told him to find someone else to join him or go alone.
We asked the folks on "Bagus 2" if they were interested. Kimberli was here visiting her parents. I thought sure she would want to go. They all said no. They only wanted to go on a hot sunny day. We found no one else interested so Clark went alone to explore while I stood on the docks taking pictures of him.
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| Clark heading out to explore. |
The island Clark wanted to explore is almost no bigger than a postage stamp.
He said it wasn't that easy to do. If he had trouble, you know it was hard!
He managed to get onto the island but did not see me taking pictures. He pulled out his phone to text me to let me know he had arrived.
Finally I yelled loudly enough to get his attention and let him know I was busy with the camera.
He looked for a place to get out of the kayak.
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| Clark (or should I say Robinson Crusoe) waving hello. |
After staking out this island as his own, he got back in the kayak and explored the other islands in the immediate area. He did not walk around any of the other ones though.
While Clark was out on the kayak, I decided to tackle the sea grass problem near our boat. With the abundance of sea grass floating around and the direction of the wind, it has piled itself extremely deep between the docks and the rocks. The egrets have no trouble walking on it while they fish for dinner.
I pushed as much of the sea grass as I could reach with a boat pole away from the stern of our boat. It starts to be quite odiferous if left to sit and gets in the way of using the dinghy and the kayaks.
27 December 2021 - Monday
The post office was open today, so Clark and I rode our bicycles down to mail the "fairy" cards that I had created. Since we would be down that way, Clark decided we should add in a trip to Skip Jack Marina to see if the folks we met on "Black Swan" would be around to say hello.
We found Skip Jack Marina, and we even found "Black Swan". Unfortunately, no one was home. We walked our bikes up and down the docks there to see if our friends were anywhere in the area. All we found was a very hot dock with almost no wind and a carved decoration at Skip Jack.
We are pretty spoiled at Marlin Bay with the breeze. Sometimes it's a little stronger than we might hope for, but we are happy with the air flow regardless. We found no air movement at Skip Jack whatsoever and man was it hot! I was glad when we abandoned Skip Jack and headed back to Marlin Bay.
The sea grass is omnipresent. There is so much of it that it is impossible to get rid of. As soon as we push some grass out of the way more moves in to fill in the gap. I spent more time this afternoon shoving grass on its way. It is fun to see it sail away on the current. One clump was so large, it looked like a floating island! I try not to think too hard about the fact I am shoving the sea grass on its way to go collect around some other boaters hull.
After my raking exercise, we got together with our new boating friends on "All Talk II". We chatted away a big part of the day and then watched the sunset from the stern of their boat.
28 December 2021 - Tuesday
Maintenance run on Sunset Delight.
I had suggested we do a maintenance run yesterday as a way to escape the sea grass. I thought that if we took Sunset Delight out for a trip then some grass would find a way to move on to be someone else's problem. Clark, however, said he was not ready to go as he was waiting for a replacement boat part that was due to be delivered.
Clark sent away the damaged screen for the starboard-engine, electronic gauge to be repaired. The repaired gauge showed up midday yesterday. He installed it today. We left just after noon, did our run, and dropped anchor at 1:00 to eat lunch. Shortly after lunch I laid down on the sofa to "just close my eyes" and woke up 90 minutes later. We pulled up anchor at 4:10 and were back at our dock at 4:45.
Susie and Steve on "All Talk II" had invited us to join them at the pool around 3:45. We never made it! I did wander up there around 5:00 after we got settled at the dock, but they were no where to be seen.
29 December 2021
Sometimes Clark has boat projects that require my help. Today was one of those days. I was minding my own business reading my Kindle or doing some crossword puzzles when I saw him pulling out his step ladder. "What ya doing?" I asked. "Going to look at the satellite dish to see what might be wrong with it!" "Uh oh!" I thought. That is not a one-person job.
Sure enough, before I knew it, he was up there and needing my "go fer" help. Before I knew he would be doing this job, I had arranged with my friend Sandy to go out shopping. I told Clark that I had afternoon plans to be sure he knew at some point I would be disappearing from the marina.
Climbing up and standing on our hardtop 17 feet in the air on a rocking boat is not for the faint of heart. Clark always looks like a contortionist as climbs back down. Once he is up there, he tries to stay up until the job is done. That means I have to fetch and carry for him.
We have steps up to the flybridge that are almost as steep as a ladder - built that way to take less floor space. I felt like I had spent the morning on a StairMaster and I certainly got a lot of exercise. Besides getting tools or wires or whatever, Clark had me turning the unit on and off repeatedly while he took measurements. Up down, up down, back and forth I went.
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| Steep stairs to the flybridge |
Sadly, Clark found no easy fix and his tests were inconclusive to even pinpoint the problem. Meanwhile I had pulled the sofa in the salon apart to get to the satellite controls, and we had tools spread out all over the floor on the upper helm. We put it all back together and then had lunch.
Sandy and I went out at 2:30 for our shopping spree. Initially it was supposed to be a trip for food shopping. When I got in the car, Sandy said, "Are you in a hurry to get back?" I laughed and replied that I had intended to ask her the exact same question. "Good", she said, "we're going to start with the gift shop Marooned in Marathon!" Needless to say we were gone for at least a couple of hours having fun.
As I was putting my groceries away (we did go food shopping as part of the outing), Clark told me we had been invited to join some friends at the pool bar. Once I had things cleared away we headed over. Clark said if he was getting that close to the pool, he was going in, so he wore his suit and headed directly to the pool for a dip when we got there.
Neither Clark nor I are big drinkers, so I decided to order a Virgin Strawberry Daquiri. The bartender, Stacey, told me they called them "slushies". I should have changed my order right then and there. When I tasted the drink, it was way too sweet - basically strawberry syrup poured over crushed ice. I tried, but was unsuccessful in drinking it. I pushed it away and ordered a Mojito instead. That was definitely not non-alcoholic and had quite a punch!
Sitting at the bar, Susie and I were joined by Jean from "Jean Marie", and after talking for a while, they decided that we should go for a shopping trip for clothes. Needing some new shorts, I decided to tag along.
30 December 2021 - Thursday
Having agreed last night to meet near the bike racks, I stationed myself there just before 10:00 to be sure I did not miss out on the fun trip planned. Jean has a car at the marina. It's showing its age but it serves its purpose well. It got us where we wanted to go!
Jean took us first to Bealls Outlet where she got swimsuits, and I amazingly found several pair of cheap shorts! As it turns out, not one of us likes to shop. Jean and I were there out of necessity. Though I did convince her to try on a couple of items, Susie was there mostly to get off the boat and have a "girl time" getaway.
From Bealls we went to a place called "Curvy Conch Clothing". What a shock! We went from tickets showing $12.95 to nothing less than $40 and closer to $70 being the average price. We bought nothing. Moving on, we drove to the shopping plaza that contains the "Nearly New Thrift Shop" and "Anthony's". At the thrift shop Susie tried on a skirt that cost $6.
At Anthony's we struggled to understand the prices. A simple dress cost almost $100 while something that looked like it should have cost more than the dress cost "only" $48. Needless to say, we left empty-handed. The "Anthony" branded items appeared to cost much more than other merchandise, but it was all out of my price range. We all live on boats! Anything nice is in perpetual danger of being ruined.
The Marathon Ale House is located in the same plaza as the thrift shop and Anthony's. It was an easy decision to go in and eat. Other than the fact that I felt like a sardine squashed in a can sitting in the squeezed-in booth they assigned us, lunch out was a real treat. The last time I ate in a restaurant was when we visited Beverly in North Carolina a couple of months ago. What a treat to have someone other than me make lunch!
I wondered as I walked back to my boat after the shopping / lunch spree if Clark would have even eaten lunch. After all, it was only 1:30. He might well have waited until I got back to eat. As it turned out, he not only made his lunch, he made lunch for a fellow boater, Steve - Susie's husband. He made tomato sandwiches which is one of the few sandwiches in his repertoire. Given Steve is the son of a chef, I wondered what he thought of Clark's choice for lunch.
Being Thursday, it was "Heavy Hors d'oeuvres" night at Faro Blanco. Anne had told us some folks would be moving on soon, so we decided to ride our bikes up to participate. Since all our old ones died, I bought Clark and myself new bike lights for Christmas. Tonight we got to try them out. They are LED and they are bright.
We stayed until the bitter end when I finally dragged Clark away as I was being eaten by mosquitoes. The lights worked well to make us visible but did not do well as far as lighting the path along Route 1 back to our marina. I know from biking the route many times that there are lots of bumps, dips, and broken glass along the way, so I took my time biking back to avoid all the hazards.
Neither Clark nor I can ever make a meal out of the Heavy Hors d'oeuvres offerings. Once we got back to the boat, I made dinner. Then we watched and old Barbara Streisand movie, "The Mirror has Two Faces", on Netflix.
31 December 2021
I have decided that I have to do laundry every 5th day if I want to stay on top of it. Our washer is so small that is all we can manage and even so, I have to do two loads! Well, today turned out to be day 5, so I had my plans made for me! Other than laundry, the entire day has been spent catching up on the Blog.
Faro Blanco will be "dropping their New Year's Eve anchor" again this year, but we will not be there. The last thing I want to do is ride my bike along Route 1 at 1:00 in the morning on New Year's Day. That does not sound at all safe!!!
We will most likely watch something on Netflix and then call it a night!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Here's hoping 2022 will be a good year!
NOTE: I appreciate all the folks who let me know they enjoy the Blog updates. It keeps me motivated. Sorry this one was way too long!
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