2025 December: Christmas in Marathon

 

Christmas Tree at St. Columba Church
at the alter

24 December 2025

Today started out like every other Wednesday in December this year by dragging our laundry up to the washer and dryer for a morning spent at the Boaters' Lounge waiting for the washer and dryer to complete their work. Since we only have to tote the laundry within the marina now, I have no complaints! The lounge is a pleasant place to hang out while waiting to read or chat with folks that are coming and going for their morning cup of coffee compliments of the marina.

After that, a considerable portion of the day was spent catching up on our blog as it had been several days since it had been addressed. Afterwards, late afternoon, we made ourselves presentable for a trip to church for the 5:00 family candlelight service. 

at entrance to the Parish Hall

For once, Clark was not playing his guitar during the service, so we could sit together in the pew. We had been told that caroling would start at 4:30, and we arrived on time and found ourselves practically alone in the pews. Around 4:45 the choir started to sing, but neither Clark nor I were familiar with the songs performed, and the congregation was not invited to join in anyway. One member of the choir played the flute, and our friend, Nancy, played the violin during the service. 

By 5:00, when the service began, the pews were packed with people. Normally, on Sundays, we attend the Contemporary service, and this service was not that. Clark and I noticed that many of the prayers and songs were sung with a different melody than we are used to. 

Pastor Deb has made a tradition of giving out gifts at this service. Last year we received an angel. 

This year, Pastor Deb gave us three choices for gifts - a Christmas ball ornament, a candy cane and, the one that caught my eye, a beautiful "stone" in my favorite color - small (good for a boat) and beautiful.

Blue stone of beauty

Both the angel and the stone are proud components of "my space" on the boat. Sadly, my space is getting a bit crowded, but everything hear holds a special memory for me. Most have a nautical theme as well.

Service lasted until 6:00, so when we got back to the boat, I threw something together for dinner (most likely leftovers as I have no idea what we ate). Afterwards we watched a not-so-great Lindsey Lohan Christmas movie on Netflix. 

25 December 2025

To start the day, we walked up to the Club House (to use the toilets there and save space in our holding tank) and chatted with the very friendly staff. We found out from our Concierge Grace that Marley & Reef had flown off to the North Pole to be with Santa. They took off yesterday on pink flamingos. Sad to see them go!

They did not get the best report card for their time spent at Marlin Bay. They said they "tried". Maybe! I'm thinking a bit more on the naughty side of the chart.

This year instead of emailing us gift cards, Santa actually visited our boat, found my homemade, collapsible, cardstock Christmas tree taped to the door of our boat, and left actual presents for us to open! 

Santa left me fun things to work / play with. I got sewing and craft-related gadgets and books plus a party game designed for multiple players. Although Clark was thrilled with his gifts, I found the books he received on navigation to be more yawn-worthy than exciting. 

A tool he received has given him a boat project! Once Clark opened this gift, I thought he would never get to the other ones. He had to read the instruction manual and check this out in detail before moving on to the next present.

When he ran outside to test it on our power cord, he thought it was malfunctioning as it gave him a number circa 200ma and he was expecting a number less than 20ma. Uh oh!  He quickly checked our neighboring boats power cables and found them to have reasonable numbers, so it appears the tool works, and we have leakage of A/C somewhere. Now he has a puzzle to solve, i.e. what is the source of the leak!? Merry Christmas!

"Not liking these numbers!"

"Where to begin?"

Today, we had brunch late morning and skipped lunch because we had a community dinner planned at the boaters' lounge for 3:00. Several folks colluded on planning the dinner, so it was more than a pot luck and less than a formal dinner. Folks signed up in advance with their "dish", and those in charge made sure that all bases were covered from meats to sides to appetizers and desserts. 

The dinner went from 3:00 to 6:00. We had two tables - one for the main meal items and the other for hors d'oeuvres and desserts. 

Ham and Turkey

The planners made sure we had everything required for a holiday meal including green bean casserole!

Last year we did not have enough folks staying at the marina to make doing a joint dinner worthwhile. What a difference this year! Around 25 people of so signed up to attend, and we had more than enough food.

Our friendly dockmaster / elf, Kiya, facilitated our event by making the boaters' lounge available for us. The space is there for our general use, but tables had to be cleared and other tasks addressed for a big event like this.

Clark and Kiya

Our boater friends are our away-from-home family, and it is great to spend time with them. However, the icing on a great Christmas day were the video chats with our sons and grandchildren talking about gifts received / given and how everyone is spending this joyful season.

 26 December 2025

Today the weather was gorgeous with barely a cloud in the sky.

I saw two fat iguanas out enjoying the sunny day! They appear in the picture below, but they blend in well with the rocks / boulders.

Two huge iguanas hiding in the rocks

I ended yesterday doing homework for this morning. On Fridays, a group of women I know, mostly from art at the library, gather together to do art. Today the plan was "art in the park" in Key Colony Beach. Since I deem KCB too far for a bike ride (Clark of course could / would do it), I can only go if I get a ride - friend, taxi, Uber, Lyft. 

Fortunately, one of the women who does the art leads an exercise group across the street from the marina at the City Park. I can walk there in 15 minutes from the boat and meet her as the exercise "class" ends to hitch a ride to wherever we are meeting. Today I packed lightly for the outing with just cardstock paper, my colored pencils, and the pictures on my phone from yesterday's research of ideas.

I decided to do a boat scene. It gave me something basic to work on while chatting with the other ladies.

I did not get a picture, unfortunately, of the artwork of two of the women there. They brought hammers to the gathering and used them to pound on flower petals to make an imprint on cardstock. One of them brought an hibiscus, which even she agreed was too pretty to pound into pulp, but she did it anyway! The effect is interesting. I might try it some time.

It is a lovely group and I am honored that they have welcomed me into the fold!

While I was out this morning, Clark pulled out his guitar to play / practice songs. While doing so, he received an invite from our friend John to meet at the church to practice together. I got back to the boat in time to make him lunch, and then he was off by bike to the church. 

Thus, I found I had the afternoon all to my self and had options on how to spend the time. After deliberating with myself, I decided to go check out the pool. I brought my phone (for games) and a book. I opened neither one as when I got to the pool, I found several boaters in the water and decided to join them. 

Almost three hours later I finally left the pool area - a bit more wrinkly than when I got there. I spent most of that time swimming in place (basically treading water) while chatting with my boating friends. I enjoyed exchanging boating stories with a couple of the guys in the pool. I talked engine repair with Ed and exchanged anchoring stories with Bill. How the time flew by. I couldn't believe I was at the pool for so long.

Just as I was ready to leave, Clark appeared. He said he found no one on the boat so he came looking. I was wet and chilly and headed straight back to the boat. He stayed for a while to listen to the live music at the pool bar, but came back by the time I was done with my shower because he said it got "gnatty". 

After dinner, I decided to continue working on colored-pencil art while we watched television. I put finishing touches on the piece I worked on in the park and then worked on a second picture. Neither one turned out as well as I would have liked. I will have to do some training exercises from the how-to-draw books I received for Christmas!

House on water reflection

Clark distracted me from my art when he asked if I had noticed the sun setting. He said, "It looks colorful." Since frequently I am too late, or too lazy, to go further than the bow of our boat to look at the sunset, the same boats oftentimes appear in my sunset pictures. Offhand, I do not even know which boats these are!

2025 December: Christmas Elves

 

Party time for elves at Marlin Bay

19 December 2025

When the winds come in from the north-northeast, the temps drop and we rock on the boat. When the winds come in from the south, the temps rise and we get sea grass.

It's so thick, the birds can walk around on the sea grass.

I thought about going out to help the sea grass move along but found no wind and no current. Given that I decided to wait until later in the day to try to tackle the grass with a boat hook. 

As the day progressed, dark clouds rolled in. Clark and I were walking around the marina and decided to walk around the docks to enjoy the cool weather. On the west side of the inner harbor, we found someone up scaffolding working on a palm tree. We had no idea what he was doing. Palm fronds and empty packages of Christmas lights littered the ground beneath the tree and scaffolding. Why only one tree?

Tree trimming?

He looked pretty comfortable as if he planned to be up there for a good long time. As we walked by, he called down a friendly hello. We had no idea who it was up there as he was covered from head to toe with only his eyes exposed. Mystery man! (We later learned it was Tony who is a friendly member of the marina staff here, and someone we talk with regularly.)

When we got to the tower at the end of the dock, we decided to climb to the top to get the bird's eye view of the area.

View for the birds!

Dark clouds hovering over Faro Blanco

and over the boats at Marlin Bay

On our "travels" around the marina, we walked through the pool bar area. Today an author, B. William Hoolihan, was on hand to do book signings. I actually picked up a copy of one of his books at the ship's store recently. I selected the book entitled "Pirates Promise" as it sounded like something I would enjoy. I had not remembered this was happening, did not have the book with me, and thus did not get his autograph.

Late yesterday afternoon our friends, Jean and Bill, arrived at Marlin Bay. We stopped by to welcome them "home". I climbed on board for a chat, but Clark just stood on the dock and peeked over the side of the boat. Cute!

Looks like a little kid!

We have made a habit of checking up on the elves and their latest mischief. Today we found them behind bars; in trouble for too many bad jokes!

Later, as the sun set, we walked the docks to capture the view.

20 December 2025

We started the day with a stop into the Club House to check up on Marley and Reef.

Apparently, they got the wrong idea of what it means to light up Christmas and got into the vodka!

Later in the day, we found out what was planned for the palm tree and the scaffolding. This evening Marlin Bay held the 1st Annual "Corona Tree" Lighting Ceremony. Tony was up in that palm tree setting it up with strings of lights for this event.

When time neared to light the tree, most people stayed by the bar, but we found Jean, and she wanted to walk over to where the tree is situated to watch the lighting from there. We decided to tag along with her.

Clark and Jean as the sun sets

We found Tony stationed at the tree ready to plug in the lights. He said the tree had 16 fronds and each one had lights going up and down. He was told to light the tree at 6:00. We could tell it was 6:00 easily enough but were the folks at the bar ready?? We were hoping for some kind of a signal that never arrived. A couple of minutes after 6:00, we told Tony to "go for it".

Our "Corona Christmas Tree"

After a long pause, we heard some cheers coming from the pool bar. Someone finally noticed!

Tony, having done his duty, took off on his golf cart to head home. Jean, Clark and I walked back to the bar to chat with folks there for a while and grab a picture of the tree from the pool bar point of view.

Our "Corona Tree" as seen from across the marina

21 December 2025

Since today was Sunday, we started the day with our weekly trip to church. On the way we stopped in to see Marley and Reef. They had been busy producing groan-worthy bear jokes.

22 December 2025

My friend, Nancy, offered to pick me up to go shopping for groceries in her car! An offer I couldn't refuse! She picked me up at 9:30, and I spent the morning in Publix stocking up on items too heavy for the backpacks. I even got to partake of the BOGO offers today! Yay!

After lunch, I decided to go up to the pool to hang out. North / northeasterly winds were gusting to 30 mph. Given that, I brought a book to read instead of a swimsuit to swim. Some folks were in the heated pool. We had noticed Saturday that some folks arrived to occupy the condos. Apparently, they are making the most of their time here - heavy winds or not.

After I read for a while, I went into the club house and checked out the jigsaw puzzle. Little to no progress had been made since my last peek several days ago. I managed to find a couple of edge pieces to move it along some.

Today is the last day of Hanukkah. A few days ago, our concierge, Grace, was struggling to come up with an idea for Marley & Reef.  I suggested a Menorah as part of their scene.  After we talked about it, I went back to the boat and dug around in the boat for parts to craft one.

I made it out of plastic straws, aluminum foil, card stock paper and cardboard.

Reef got the lighter ready to light the menorah.

But Marley damaged the menorah before that could happen!

Whoops!

Clark's exciting news today was that the new bike wheel he ordered for his bike arrived! He is getting to be a pro at working on the bike tires - unfortunately not a job he was looking for!

When he wasn't repairing his bike, he was taking advantage of the change in the wind direction to push the sea grass on its way out from behind our boat.

The sea grass is now gone, and the birds are back to standing on the rocks!

Sadly, as I admired the bird, some loudly-talking folks appeared and scared this one away from his fishing hole.

23 December 2025

Maria, the art instructor at the library, planned a buffet breakfast for this morning's session. We had far more food than we could possibly eat - cakes, cookies, McDonald's sausage biscuits, fruit, and various crackers with dips as well as coffee and tea.

Given the fun stuff, i.e. food, Maria had no real plans for what we should do for art. I grabbed a pencil, an eraser, and a sheet of card stock paper to do some drawing. 

In the afternoon, Clark rode off on his bicycle to church for band practice. I stayed on the boat to read my latest novel. A couple of days earlier Clark had told me that he was taking me out to dinner tonight to beat the Christmas rush. It has become a tradition to go to the Barracuda Grill this time of year. 

Clark left for the band practice around 1:30 because he said it would rain at 2:00, and he wanted not to be riding the bike in the rain. At precisely 2:00, it rained! He says it's no big deal that he can predict the weather given the radar apps we have now, but I still find it pretty amazing how on top of it he is.

Normally I would expect him back at the boat around 4:00 or so. Around 5:15 I started getting worried about him. Route 1 can be a pretty dangerous road - even when biking on the sidewalks as we do. I finally called him whereby he said he was just leaving the church. I reminded him we had dinner plans - he seemed to have forgotten. He pedaled back to the boat in record time, and we headed out to the restaurant. It opens at 6:00, and we arrived about 6:05!

As we ate dinner, Clark filled me in on his delay in leaving. It was a rather long story, but in essence he ended up talking with our friend, Steve, as a result of a fatal bicycle accident on Route 1 that left the highway too congested for travel. Steve had left the church but ended up coming back due to the backed up traffic. So, I was right to be worried about an accident on Route 1, but thankfully it wasn't Clark involved. 

The restaurant had several empty tables. Since she was not "rushed-off-her-feet" busy, the waitress stopped by our table several times to chat. We sat there a long time after we finished eating spending time talking to her. She talked some about the restaurant history. I noticed that the menu read "Barracuda Diego" instead of "Barracuda Grill". She told us the restaurant changed owners about 7 years ago, but the menu did not change.

We had walked to the restaurant as it is near the marina. We had a mini flashlight with us for the walk back in darkness, and we were in no rush to leave. It was a relaxing evening away from the boat.