2022: Windy Marathon

 11 January 2022

The prediction of high winds for the next few days proved to be accurate. With the high winds came some excitement / entertainment for those of us on the east side of Marlin Bay. We got quite a show.

Last month I posted a picture of the houseboat anchored near the marina that Clark uses as a wind vane.

Original position

Well, when he looked out this morning, the houseboat appeared to be out of position. The winds had caused some problems. We learned that the owner, who is normally onboard, was in the Bahamas and not available to tend his boat. 

As we watched throughout the day, the houseboat dragged its anchor across the water towards the rock wall bulkhead along the shoreline. We wondered how far it would get before it got stuck or hit the wall. 

As it moved along, the boat managed to travel between two small islands and get snagged on one of them. Clark said it looked like the boat was rubbing on the rough coral of the closer-to-us island. Amazingly, the boat eventually freed itself and continued its journey towards shore.

Heavy wave action moved the boat along.

We wondered where it would end up as it rocked across the water.

Ultimately, it caught on something near the rock wall and ceased its travels.

Stopped close to rocks

At one point Clark and I took a southerly walk along the docks to get a view of the dragging boat from a different angle. As we stopped to gawk, first one and then two more dockhands stopped by in the golf carts to offer their opinions on the fate of the boat.

Someone said that the boat was hitting the rocks and then bouncing away from the wall. Folks speculated that the running gear caught on the bottom. No one was quite sure of the true situation.

A little too close to those rocks!

The owner of the boat was contacted by folks who knew how to reach him, but with him being in the Bahamas, the boat was on its own until he returned.

Black line I drew roughly shows the path of the houseboat 
from north to south direction.

Meanwhile, throughout the day as the boat trauma was underway, Clark and I kept busy. While I went to the Farmer's Market in Duck Key and shopping with my friend Sandy, he played his guitar to keep in practice. Later in the day he pulled out his polisher and 3M compounding to work on sprucing up the boat.

Clark worked for hours on, what appeared to me to be the same spot on the boat, trying to get the compounding on the boat the way he wanted it. All afternoon the polisher was buzzing. He started with the shady side to keep cooler while he worked.

As the sun set, Clark managed to capture a great picture of the sky.

"Beam me up!"

12 January 2022

We had higher winds today than yesterday and more wave action. 

The houseboat remained under attack from the elements. It did not appear to shift from its last position from yesterday, but it was bouncing with the wind and waves. That could not have been good for the boat. Clark worried it would end up sinking out there.

Having compounded yesterday, Clark tried his hand at waxing today. He likes the weather we have been experiencing. The wind keeps him cool.

Lots of products, the white line across the 
cockpit is the hose, and the yellow is an 
extension cord for the polisher.

Clark had the polisher going all day long. Unfortunately, it sounded like the drill my dentist uses when filling cavities. Needless to say, I did not enjoy the noise.

As Clark was working, a young man came by and stopped to talk about the kayak we have currently sitting on our swim platform. He said that he had tried to rent a kayak at Marlin Bay Marina where we are staying, and they refused due to the high winds. He also tried to rent a kayak from a business down the street. Marlin Bay told him they would not let him bring the kayak into the marina. 

I was sure as they talked that the young man was in a not-so-direct manner asking Clark to let him use our kayak for his outing.  Clark suggested he go out another day when the weather was better. He said he was leaving town, and it was today or not at all. Clark did not bite on the guy's hints and wished the man luck as he went on his way.

Apparently, he found a kayak somewhere as Clark saw him out paddling later. Clark watched as the young man was pushed up against the rocks and had to struggle against the wind and waves to get himself out of that sticky situation.

Temporarily stuck up against the rocks.

13 - 14 January 2022

We had a couple of days of normalcy. I sat by the pool with a boating friend and talked. Clark compounded and waxed more of the boat. I did some baking, made cards to send to my grandchildren, and cleaned inside the boat. 

Walking around the marina, I saw a great boat name. Some folks get real creative, and it is often a fun way to start a conversation with "how did you come up with your boat's name?" Not sure I would ask that question on this one ...

"O Sea D" 

We walked past a boat that has its lines threaded through water bottles. Talking to this boat's neighbor one day, I inquired as to the purpose of this arrangement. The answer quite surprised me. Apparently, the water bottle on the line is to deter rats from climbing on board. I have not seen this to be a problem in any of my boating travel and I sincerely hope to never encounter such a problem or a need to deter the vermin! 

Friday evening, we had guests onboard. Our boat neighbors on "Bagus" came over to share a combo dinner. We each prepared a portion of the meal and it worked out very well. She surprised me by making brownies and serving them with whipped cream and raspberries! Nice!

Anette and Bill from "Bagus"
Ev and Clark "Sunset Delight"

15 January 2022

Maintenance Run on Sunset Delight 1:15 to 2:30; 7.7 nm

Today got interesting as the houseboat saga got underway again. The owner of the houseboat returned from the Bahamas, and today he took on the job of ungrounding the boat. At first he tried to move the boat himself using a method called kedging whereby an anchor is dropped away from the boat and used to pull a boat off. It did not work. 

Mid-morning Tow Boat U.S. showed up to help get him unstuck. I found it hard to take my eyes off the "show" which lasted for well over an hour. The tow would get the houseboat to move only to have it get stuck again. It went on for a very long time.

Tow Boat U.S. is on the job.

As we watched the tow boat struggling to get the houseboat moving, we saw a man in a kayak insert himself in the middle of the action. 

Not sure what the guy in the kayak planned to do.

They got it moved a short distance, and it planted
itself again.

After a few times of the boat getting stuck and then stuck again, they finally managed to have the boat drift and it moved backwards to land itself against one of the little islands out there. 

I guess the boat got too close to the island nearest us as the owner jumped off his boat into the water to push the houseboat away from the island.

Man in the water

Pushing the boat away from the island

They must have found deeper water once they got away from the island. The excitement ended with the houseboat being towed away into Florida Bay. We wondered where they were headed with the boat. We had wondered if they would just drop anchor back where they were originally, but no, they kept on going.

Finally on its way somewhere

Later in the day, we talked to some boaters at Marlin Bay who went out for a dinghy ride to check out the local area. They told us they saw the boat being towed into Boot Key. I wonder if / when it will return here.

Besides watching the houseboat saga, we kept busy with other activities. Clark went back to compounding / waxing the boat. I ended up doing quite a bit of socializing. That started when I decided to take the garbage off the boat. In my search for an empty trash can to drop it into, I came across a boating friend on "Rowe Boat", and we talked for a long while as we watched the tow boat struggle going on in the water near us. We have a number of mutual friends and had lots to talk about. 

Later in the day, as I was working on the Blog update, Anette from "Bagus" invited me to sit by the pool with her to chat. I abandoned the blog and walked up with her. She was dressed to go in the hot tub. I had on jeans. When she headed for the hot tub, I headed back to the boat. 

Just as Anette said she wanted to go in the hot tub, Clark texted me to say he was ready to take the dinghy out for a trip to Faro Blanco. He had the dinghy down as part of his "spruce up Sunset Delight" project. As long as it was down, he decided to take advantage and go visiting. I said farewell to Anette and scurried back to the boat as quickly as I could to jump in the dinghy for a ride to more socializing.

Pulling into Faro Blanco, we first saw Joe and his dog Taz and said hello. Taz was ready to jump in the dinghy and go with us anywhere we might want to go. Joe held him back. Next we stopped at the boat of new friends on "Sea Gypsy". They just moved from Marlin Bay (where we met them) to Faro Blanco today. After that we moved on the say hello to the crew on "La Cigale". Finally, we pulled up behind "Morning Star II" and climbed out to join a fairly busy docktails going on beside Anne and Mel's boat.

As we spoke to the folks there, we were told to "look up"!  A drone was flying overhead!

Clark and I are standing near the table and behind
Anne in a bright pink shirt. (Me blue hat and Clark green hat)
(Drone picture provided by Wendy Wilson Facebook post.)

Drone picture of sunset at Faro Blanco
(Also Posted by Wendy Wilson on Facebook)

I had to push Clark to get him moving. I wanted to get back to Marlin Bay before full dark to make it easier to look for fish traps along the way. As we left Faro Blanco and came into Marlin Bay, I managed to grab a couple of sunset pictures of my own making.

Sun shining on the tops of some dark clouds.

Near full moon shining brightly.

View of sky as we left Faro Blanco

View of sky after we returned to Marlin Bay

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As some of the readers of my blog entries know, I grew up in the small town of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. I lived in a house located on the road to Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon and have many fond memories of the town and the canyon. My mother always told me that the canyon was 1000 feet deep and 5 miles long. I know not where she got those numbers, but I did not question her data.

Clark hiked down into the canyon for something to do on our wedding day. His best man was not amused! We got married late afternoon, so Clark needed something to do to pass the time before the ceremony!

Someone recently posted a picture I fell in love with on Facebook of the canyon, and I decided to add it here for sentimental reasons.

Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon