2025 March: Key Colony Beach

 With the time change to DST, I got to see the sunrise for the first time in a long while!

Taken from the stern of our boat
at Marlin Bay Marina

7 March 2025

For the first time since last March, I (Ev) got to attend a Photography class at the library. For the past month Maria has met with me several times for one-on-one instruction, but today was the first scheduled class. Five of us attended the session. Instead of taking pictures with a camera, we took pictures using the sun.

First, Maria, our instructor, showed us some sun prints she had done.

Maria

Maria had us layout our design on plain white paper first. The sun print paper starts to develop as soon as light hits it, so there is no time to "fool around" once the operation begins.

My planned picture

We transferred our plans onto the sun paper in a darkened room. Then we placed them in trays to be taken outside and exposed to the sun. We placed a piece of plexiglass over the picture to hold pieces in place. Next we placed big, heavy books over the art to hold it in place and block sun. Then, Maria suggested I place my coat over the books to further protect my picture.

My black jacket protecting 
the art from light

We carefully rolled our carts through the library, downstairs via the elevator, and outdoors. We had to guard against bumps caused as the cart rolled over the entrance to the elevator, doorway jambs, etc. 

Maria recommended we set timers for 4 minutes of exposure. We uncovered our pictures and let the sun expose the print. When the timer sounded, we replaced our books and jackets on top of our art and went inside to complete the process.

We removed everything except the sun print paper from the tubs and added copious amounts of water to the  tub. The water washed away the chemicals thus stopping the effect of light on the paper. At first we were disappointed in the results as the pictures were very faded in color. Maria then added a few droppers full of peroxide to the water, and voila, the paper darkened up dramatically!

Ev's end result

My picture is clearly light struck on the left side. Although I had the necklace wrapped around the design on white paper, I left it off to save time on the transfer. When I removed all the items from on top of my artwork, I found that pieces had shifted significantly. I had to work rapidly to get them back close to their original position. 

Marcy did a design reminding her of a combination of boating and her trip with her husband Jeff to see the Monarch butterflies in Mexico in February.

The class was scheduled from 11:00 to 1:00, but just after 12:00, Maria announced that we would not have time to do a second print as we had hoped. Marcy and I chose not to believe her and rushed to do a second picture each! On the second attempt, we used Marcy's recommended time of 4.5 minutes which proved to give a better picture.

My second attempt -  end result
(on butterfly shifted left - boo hoo)

Even with doing the second print, we finished well before the 1:00 time and helped Maria with the final cleanup of the classroom. Marcy and I rode our bikes to class. Given that, I was even back on the boat before 1:00!

After a leisurely lunch while finishing my latest "lady sleuth" novel, I got picked up by my friend Nancy for a food-shopping trip. Clark had a letter for me to mail, so our outing included a fast stop at the post office before hitting Walgreen's and then Publix. 

When I returned from the food store, I discovered Clark in the boat salon playing his guitar. He was playing his favorite tunes instead of songs for church. He sure has gotten a lot of guitar playing time in on this visit to Marathon. He said he spent some time as well on what he called electronic paperwork.

Marlin Bay has been doing a lot of activities this year. Every Tuesday, for example, they have "Yappy Hour" at the bar and have the dogs do tricks or get decorated as a competition. Tonight the marina had someone playing music at the bar. Clark and I walked up to check out the performance and chat with folks at the bar.

Afterwards, we had dinner on the boat and then watched a Netflix mini-series on television.

8 March 2025 - Saturday

The Seafood Festival was in full swing all day today. When I went to bed last night, I was thinking I would like to go just to see what was there. Clark had no interest whatsoever. We attended many years ago, and I wondered if anything much had changed over time. By the time I got up this morning, I decided that I was a victim of FOMO (fear of missing out). I decided that I truly had no desire to go stand in the hot sun, eat greasy fried fish, or spend money at the craft booths on things I did not need.

Instead, I stayed on the boat this morning and did computer stuff, which may very well have included a game or two or more on the AARP website. Meanwhile, Clark did research on his computer related on a request from our friend Mike with the fishing boat on an DC-to-DC converter for charging his trolling battery from his 12 volt batteries. 

Given the weather today, after lunch we decided to hit the pool. We expected most people to be at the Seafood Festival, but we had a full complement of boaters in the pool. Marcy who was most anxious to attend the festival was there. She said it was unbearably hot at the park with minimal breeze. After two hours there, they decided to return to the marina and jump in the pool to cool off.

After several hours at the pool, we returned to the boat for dinner. Earlier in the day, Mike had stopped by with some fresh-caught snapper to say thank you for the boat help. The snapper was light, tender, and delicious. 

Having enjoyed the Netflix 4-part series the night before, we opted for another. This one, "The Queen's Gambit", had 7 episodes. After watching four of them, we decided we should watch the remaining 3 on another night. However, as Clark teed up episode 5 for later, he got interested, so we ended up watching that one until the end as well. 

Unfortunately, tonight was "spring ahead" on the clocks. The clock in the salon showed just after 11:00 when we finished watching the show. A not-so-quick change of the salon clock was made, and we quickly progressed to going to be after midnight. The clock has to be taken apart to change the time. It is very nautical and pretty, but a pain to adjust. Clark found the batteries to be weak and had to replace them as well.

Ship's Clock - hard to reset time
(Barometer underneath)

9 March 2025

We had a full schedule for today. Before church we weren't sure what we would be doing. Our plans would be made once we met up with Steve and Nancy after services.

As per usual for a Sunday, we started our day with a quick breakfast and a bike ride to the church with Clark's guitar strapped to his back. We arrived around 10:00. Service starts at 11:00. Clark went off to practice with the group while I took a seat in the atrium. I found my friend, Joseph who has the house in Haiti, so we sat together and talked until time to go into the sanctuary. 

He told me about the orphaned children that live at his house in Haiti as well as the living conditions there. In particular we talked about the farming the children do on the property to grow crops for food. He said that every Monday water is delivered to the house that must last until the next Monday delivery. To keep the crops alive, the children collect buckets of water from a well Joseph put in to water the plants and trees on the property. It is very labor intensive and all the children ranging in ages from 5 to 12 must work the farm. 

The pastor announced that the Haitian dinner held a week ago Friday raised $2200. She said that Wenise is so frugal that all but about $100 of that will go to aid the orphans. The congregation applauded!

After services, we adjourned to the dining hall for lunch, drinks, and/or cookies for dessert. This week, Nancy was in charge of food. We had a delicious selection of minestrone soup, pasta salad, bread, and of course cookies. It takes a while after church service for Clark to appear as he has to pack away his guitar and assist with music stand cleanup, etc. While waiting for him to come, I sat with Joseph and talked with him more. 

Afterwards, when Nancy came in, I moved to sit with her to plan the afternoon's activities. She had a proposal that sounded great! Nancy had a 3-part plan. They would pick us up at 3:30 for our outing.

First, we stopped at the "Nearly New Furniture Store" for a peek. The church has operated this thrift shop as well as the clothing-store thrift shop for a number of years. Clark and I had not visited there before and found it interesting. It does not look like much from the street, but inside is well-organized and packed full of great stuff at a low-low price.

Furniture & Lamps

Art for sale displayed on walls

Knick-knacks

Novelty items

The store has a word of caution for customers.

After our tour of the store (it was closed but Nancy had a key), Nancy drove us to her condo in Key Colony Beach (KCB) where we found Steve waiting for us. From there we walked a short distance down their street to a park where the Rick Leider Band was playing from 4:00 to 6:00. When we arrived, the place was packed with people. Nancy had told us to bring folding chairs, so we found a shady spot and sat down to listen. 

Beside the music, we saw a hot dog stand and a vendor selling KCB t-shirts. Nancy explained to me that any money raised from the seasonal concerts is donated to a variety of charities.

Rick Leider Band in Tiki Hut

Silhouetted front view of band

Boaters on the ocean, anchored and 
listening to the band

Hot Dog anyone?

The view from our seats

View looking up from my seat

With a crowd that size, I was shocked to see people I recognized. I saw a fellow boater who is on a boat here in Marlin Bay Marina - Bill from "Buckeye". When we were looking for a place to sit, I saw someone I knew from Faro Blanco. It took me a while to remember who he was, but once I remembered, I knew I 'keep an eye' out for his wife. 

Our seats were such that I had a clear view of the restrooms. I saw my friend, MaryAnn, when she went to stand in line there, so I knew she was around. As I was busy talking with Nancy, I did not go to talk to her. Later, when Nancy stepped away briefly, I went looking. To say I was seeking a needle in a haystack would be very accurate. As I stood at the back of the crowd thinking I was on a hopeless mission, MaryAnn turned around in her seat to talk to the folks behind her. She was 2 rows of chairs in front of me!

MaryAnn is a talker and filled me in on the Faro Blanco scuttlebutt. We talked about other things as well like the Seafood Festival she attended yesterday.  I found out from her that I missed nothing important by passing on the event. She said the booths were very much the same flavor as those seen at the Celtic Festival. Several times I said I needed to get back to my hosts, but then she would come up with another topic! 

MaryAnn related a humorous story. The sun beating down on the park was unforgiving and MaryAnn was hot. Her husband, John, had gone to the hot dog stand and came back with a snow cone, which he gave to MaryAnn. To her it looked to be only ice, and she proceeded to dump the ice down her shirt to cool off. John said, "What did you do that for? It was a Pina colada!" Turns out, the reason I saw her earlier in line at the restroom was to wash the Pina colada off her body! The ice had traveled the length of her -- all the way down her legs!

After sharing a few laughs, I eventually made it back to Nancy, Steve, and Clark for more listening to the band. When the show was over at 6:00, we walked back to the condo. 

Nice pedestrian paths in KCB

While Steve walked their dog, Diesel, we strolled over to look at the view from their condo. Nancy told us the condo building is shaped like a boat when seen from the air. We went to look at the "bow"!

Several trees here have
orchids growing on them.

After returning Diesel to the condo, we set off on foot to walk to Havana Jack's restaurant for dinner. Nancy decided this would be a good way to end our day together as our mutual friend and church band member, Johnny Live, was performing there this evening.

Once again, we were able to walk to our destination. I saw a fountain on the way and insisted on taking photos!

Steve, Nancy, and Clark

Clark and Ev

Since I took no pictures of Havana Jack's itself, I grabbed a couple from the internet.

Our seating area - on the ocean

View from our table 
(birds now own the pier in disrepair)

Johnny likes to walk around as he sings. He came to our table to thank us for coming to see him perform.

"Johnny Live" at Havana Jack's
restaurant in Key Colony Beach

After a lovely evening out, we walked back to the condo where Steve found a very sad Diesel. He brought Diesel to the car, and he came along with us for the trip back to the marina to drop us off. 

As we made our way back to the boat, we found our friend Trish going for an evening stroll and chatted with her before making it back "home". When we were finally back on board, we decided to finish of "The Queen's Gambit" Netflix series before going to bed. Whew! What a fun-filled day!