Boating with Sunset Delight: 2022: Start Heading North

27 March 2022

Starting next month we will begin our trip back up the east coast. The last few days have been busy getting in the last minute items on our list of things to do.

Some of those are chores. It took Clark a lot longer than he wanted to get oil for an oil change for both engines. Mid-month, he ordered the oil he needed but only half the order showed up. The second box got as far as Georgia and disappeared. When the company agreed to ship a replacement, they originally gave a delivery day way after our departure date. When Clark asked for his money back, they suddenly found they had oil on hand to ship.

Although a bit windy, we took the boat out Saturday so Clark could warm up the engines for the oil change. 90% of the oil change he can do on his own, so I stayed clear. However, one place on the starboard engine presents problems whereby he needs an extra set of hands. Geared up in my gloves and paper towels nearby, I helped him pour the last of the used oil into the containers to be disposed. The task proceeded well until Clark's shoe pulled a hose out of a bucket whereby oil spilled onto the floor, his shoes, and even his one sock. What a mess! He was in such a position that he did not even know he had dislodged the hose until I shouted. Just glad to have that job out of the way.

Some of the items on our checklist are pleasure. We have boating friends we met in 2015, when we did the Great Loop, that came to Marathon for the month of March. It took until the 27th for us to get a date to get together, but in the end we managed it. John and Susan, on "Nuclear Fishin" have a car, so they picked us up to go out for dinner at Havana Jack's in Key Colony. That is a place I have often heard about but have never been to due to its location. The coconut shrimp were jumbo-sized and yummy.

I liked their coconut weather forecasting system.

As if we had not eaten enough food for dinner, Clark suggested we go to Sweet Savannah's for ice cream. How could we say no?!

John had a musician that he wanted to hear play at Docksides, so after our sweet treat, we headed over there. So crowded! So loud! The band performing when we arrived played great Eagle's music.

Too bad it blew us off the dock in decibels. Each band plays about 3 songs for open-mike night, and then another performer / band comes on.

Unfortunately, John's friend did not appear to be in attendance this particular evening. When the next band was announced to be someone other than John's friend, we decided to bail out. While listening to the first band, Clark took his sunset picture for the day.

Sunset at Docksides near Boot Key

When we got back to our marina, Clark invited John and Susan in for a tour of the marina and our boat (they knew our looper boat - not this one). While they chatted, I worked on a project in Shutterfly. If I could finish it before midnight, which I did, I could get my project completed for 50% off the regular price plus and extra 20% off with a coupon. I was motivated to get it done. (Also on my to do list before leaving Marathon.)

30 March 2022

For four days Clark has been trying to take the old oil from the engines to the City Marina for recycle. Every day he called they said, "Not today. The barrels are full." Finally today they had emptied their barrels, so Clark took 6 containers of oil to recycle. He had to make two trips as he could only fit 3 at a time in his backpack. It sure looked heavy when he buckled the backpack on for each trip! It probably would have taken me 6 trips to complete the task!

While Clark was busy with the oil, I did the laundry and vacuumed the boat to spruce the place up before departure. I did have "get more groceries" on my to do list, but we picked some items up over the last couple of days. I have enough to make it to Vero Beach where my friend Cathy said she could take me via car to get provisions! So nice to have friends with cars while boating!

When he completed his oil run, Clark suggested that we bike over to see the Marathon Public Library. We have biked past it repeatedly whenever we traveled west on our bikes. Today we finally took the initiative to look inside. Since we leave in two days, membership this month does not make good sense. They have various activities scheduled every month, such as art classes, so it should definitely be on our agenda to sign up next season.

Marathon Public Library

The building is pristine as it is brand new. The adult section is on the ground floor with children upstairs. My oh my, they certainly took a lot of trouble to make it a place kids want to come! We saw kids working on computers together as well as looking through the books.

Surprisingly, they had Lego-type building blocks there for the kids. Some structures had sticky notes with names on them for kids to continue working on them next time they come in the library.

Lego Buildings currently under construction
and Assembled "Small" Knex Ferris Wheel

Six-foot tall Knex Ferris Wheel -
spins for 5 min every hour on the hour upon
request. It is huge!!!

Section of ceiling in kid's section of the library

Even the furniture is fun like the two swinging armchairs they had hanging from the ceiling.

Our actual departure date from Marathon is up in the air at the moment. Clark is waiting for a critical piece of mail that may not arrive before we had hoped to leave. As soon as we have that mail in hand, we will be underway. We leave the marina on the 1st of April regardless. We may be hanging on the hook nearby if we have to wait for the mail to arrive. Clark paid for 2-day delivery, but tracking seems to imply it could take 4 days to get here!!

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Even though I have not been diligent in blog updates, Clark has been faithful in his sunset photography. Here are a few samples of his recent work.