3 December 2021 -- Happy Birthday to now-5-year-old Violet.
No boat travel.
Marlin Bay Resort and Marina is nearly empty at the moment. The woman at the front desk told us to enjoy the solitude while we had it as there would be a full house in January. I guess that explains why we have not been able to get a reservation here for January or February.
Being low on some essential items, Clark and I biked to Walgreens and Publix this morning. Google Maps indicated that the trip to Publix would be 1.4 miles, but it felt much shorter than the ride there from Faro Blanco. The weather was perfect for a bike ride. Although it actually felt a little chilly out at the dock, it was quite warm riding along Route 1.
We wanted to get a prescription filled at Walgreens. After sitting on hold on the boat for 45 minutes and still not getting anyone to answer the phone in the pharmacy, we decided to go there in person. In the store, I managed to get the request into their system by working with a very unhelpful pharmacy person. She said that due to the heavy volume of people getting vaccines, it would take until some time in the afternoon for it to be ready.
When we left there, we went to Publix next door to shop. Knowing that I would be going to the grocery store the next day meant I only had to buy what I needed to make lunch and dinner today. After Publix we stopped into Walgreens to pick up some items there and checked on the status of the prescription. It was not ready, and the unhelpful person at the desk basically said, "I told you so!"
While I ran in, Clark stood with the bikes in the shade to "protect" the frozen items from thawing out too fast. I hurried as much as I could, but the list of items I wanted to buy were spread all over the store. I should not have bothered to rush however as, when I came out, I found Clark deep in conversation with two men about our collapsible bicycles. I had to drag him away warning that the frozen food was melting. I swear he should earn a commission from he bicycle company as he never ceases to launch into a sales pitch whenever someone shows the least amount of interest.
On our way back to the boat, we passed by an exhibit that I have seen many times from a distance but have never gotten a close look. Since we were heading to Marlin Bay and not Faro Blanco, we biked on the north side of Route 1 instead of the south. I stopped to take a picture. Oblivious to the fact that I stopped, Clark continued on down Route 1 without me! Eventually he noticed that I was missing and waited for me to catch up.
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| Art exhibit moved to Crane Point from NYC |
No sooner did we step onto the boat than Clark got a text message that his prescription was ready! While I put away the groceries, he jumped on his bike and went back to retrieve his order. When he returned, we ate lunch. While eating, he got a message from NAPA that the fuel oil additive he ordered was ready for pickup at the local store.
So, after lunch, he jumped on his bike and went there to get it. He took his backpack to carry the gallon of additive back to the boat. I declined to go along as it is a long bike ride to NAPA (9 miles round trip). If only he had known that NAPA would be ready, he could have avoided the extra Route 1 trip to Walgreens in between. When he finally got back from his outings, he was tired! All told, today he biked about 15 miles.
I walked up with him when he left on his bike to head to NAPA. We saw a dockhand moving sea grass out of a slip. On Wednesday, when we were waiting for the okay to come into the marina on the 1st of the month, I made a joke - "What? Are they cleaning the slip like they clean hotel rooms before occupancy!?" Maybe it wasn't a joke after all.
After seeing Clark off on his third bike ride of the day, I walked back towards our boat in time to see a fishing boat backing into the slip they had just cleaned of sea grass.
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| Boat backing into cleaned slip. 4 dockhands standing ready to grab lines! |
As I walked back to the boat alone, I thought about how uncomfortable I felt the first couple of times I walked the cement docks to the outer harbor. Initially, I held tight to Clark's arm because I felt like I might fall off the dock otherwise. I mentioned it to Clark, and he said that he too found the docks unnerving as they are so high off the swirling water and rocks below. I found that surprisingly comforting as nothing ever phases Clark, so if he was a bit uncomfortable, it made sense I would be too.
The other day, when I walked up to the restroom, I spoke to another woman boater here. She said that she does not go out on those docks tough her reason was quite different than Clark's. Due to the sudden angles of the docks, she is afraid she will one day walk right off the end and into the water! More than one opportunity present themselves for this to happen!
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| Watch that bend in the dock, the next step might be a long way down! |
At sunset I went out and strolled around to get a picture for the blog.
4 December 2021
No boat travel.
It felt almost like old times this morning as my boating friend, Sandy, came and picked me up to go to the farmers market. The only difference being that she had to come to Marlin Bay to pick me up! We got to the farmers market just after 9:00 to find the tables out but lacking any produce! They were just setting up.
At 9:40 we finally left with our acquired fruits and vegetables. The food is fresh picked and well worth the wait. Besides, we got to visit with friends on "Fins" that I haven't seen since last winter. They came into Faro Blanco the same day Clark and I came into Marlin Bay.
From the farmers market we went to the grocery store. Before we left to head "home", Sandy asked if there was anywhere else I wanted to go. I told her it was not essential but I would love an iced tea from Dunkin, so we went there for a treat before heading back to our boats.
It is a rather long walk from the street to our boat, so I called Clark when we were on our way back to the boat to tell him to grab a cart and meet me at the entrance. As we were loading our groceries from the back of Sandy's car into the cart, I was surprised when a dockhand asked if we wanted a ride to our boat on a golf cart. We thanked him and declined. What a nice offer though!
While I was off having fun with Sandy, Clark took the opportunity to play his guitar and read his email. He told me that while I was gone some dockhands came by and pushed the sea grass out of our slip. I noticed that it was gone.
After enjoying a lunch consisting of items purchased this morning, I took a walk up to the restroom for a chance to look around. I noticed that a number of items were available for entertainment.
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| Ping pong I need someone to play against! |
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| Whatever game this is. |
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| Pool table. I love pool. I need someone to compete with here! |
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| Not my style! |
I grabbed a few other photos of the grounds as I walked around.
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| The tower when it is not time for the sun to set. |
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| Bright red deck furniture near the outdoor bar and "toys" area. |
While I was out walking, Clark was cleaning the boat. When he stopped, he told me he wanted to go for a walk, so I went with him. He wanted to walk the marina before the sun went down. We walked out on the cement dock on the opposite side of the outer harbor to where we are positioned. Here the docks twist in more directions than the one we are on. Once again I felt uncomfortable and glad that we are on the opposite dock.
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| From the dock, we could look down on a lot of birds perching on the rocks below. |
We walked around the inner harbor to the tower. Clark had been up in the tower in the past when we came to the marina to visit with friends on "Daybreak". I had never been up there. Up we went!
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| View from the top of the tower looking down on the spiral staircase. |
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| A view from the tower |
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| View of the spiral staircase from the bottom |
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| As we walked around, we saw this fishing boat with extremely bright 'headlights" barreling towards the marina. Apparently, he was heading in to Keys Fishery with a big catch. It looked like he was going to crash into Marlin Bay Marina. |
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| One of the few boats in the inner harbor. Clark counted something like a dozen fishing poles on this boat. |
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| View of the outdoor bar as we walked back to our boat. |
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| View of the almost completely empty docks on the west side of the outer harbor. Unfortunately, the pretty lighting does not show well in the photo. It's all green and red lights. |
Though I won't call anything this beautiful boring, sunset tonight looked very much like the one last night and the one the night before.
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| Faro Blanco Lighthouse nicely lit by the sunset. |
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