2022: Excitement at the Marina

 16 January 2022

We could see on the radar that we would be hit with a hefty storm today. The radar line looked thin but strong.

The sky gave us our first sign that the storm was getting closer.

The sky was a wall of black that made the cerulean blue of the water stand out that much more than usual.

As the storm approached the winds kicked up to be gusting at 40 knots. We heard thunder in the distance. The weatherbug app indicated that lightning strikes were just a half mile away.  Then came the rain. Poking my head out the door to check on the storm, I spied a brand new life jacket floating by the boat. It had probably just blown off the deck of a boat on the other side of the marina.

I had no hope of reaching it from our boat and no desire to venture out into the storm to try to retrieve it from the dock.

It passed under the dock and kept on going heading towards other marinas east of us. Perhaps someone at Banana Bay or Blackfin got a new life jacket for their boat.

The rains came quickly when they came and poured down on us. As the storm passed overhead the winds became scary in their sounds. I truly thought there was a distinct possibility of a tornado based on the noises the storm made. 

The question in my mind was where to go if a tornado did appear. We had nowhere we could get to quickly and trying to venture off the boat and navigate the twisty turny dock in a wind and rain storm would be treacherous. 

Thankfully we did not have to face that issue. Unfortunately we heard on the nightly news that folks in the Fort Meyers area and other parts of southwest Florida did sustain damage from tornadoes. We got lucky this far south.

18 January 2022

Sandy picked me up in her car and drove us to the farmer's market in Duck Key. Some of the vendors we expected to see were not on site. Perhaps the cool and cloudy day kept them away. As we left the venue, I snapped some pictures of the area. I would have no hope of visiting here if not for Sandy bringing me by car.

The vendors sell a nice variety of items. One booth is full of fresh fruits and vegetables. Others sell varieties of breads or pastries. Some sell clothes. Others specialize in dog treats. Another sells cheese. 

Clothes for young children. The bibs along the
top had creative sayings on them.

19 January 2022

Today, when we walked up to use the restrooms located by the pool, we found a congregation of people including dockhands standing at the end of our dock. The young boy named Morgan on the sailboat on our dock has trash duties for his boat. When he took the trash up this morning, he made a gruesome discovery. A sea turtle had washed up on the rocks by the dock.

One of the staff climbed down onto the rocks to examine the turtle and declared it dead. The shell had been severely damaged most likely by the propeller of a boat or jet ski. 

Someone called the turtle hospital located nearby to report the dead turtle. They said they would send someone right over to collect the turtle. Although the turtle was dead, people speculated that if the turtle carried eggs, they might survive if harvested quickly. 

A while later the turtle hospital crew showed up to remove the body.

Recovery Crew from Turtle Hospital

Large sea turtle in its carrier

Being loaded into turtle ambulance

8-year old Morgan who discovered the turtle
with his sister Brooklyn (5)
and the turtle hospital crew.

We have spent a lot of time on the boat this past week. Clark has been compounding and waxing to take advantage of the cooler temperatures. Being held prisoner on the boat because the leap to the dock was too much for me to handle, I have been doing a lot of reading and word puzzles to keep myself entertained.