Faro Blanco - Birthday Dinner

Thursday 1/25/2018
No boat travel.

The big news for today was wind, wind, wind! Sunset Delight is a heavy boat, and I normally do not even feel movement on the boat when in a slip. Today, however, is the exception to that norm. When we woke this morning, we were rocked back to sleep with the motion of the boat.

Eventually, I managed to drag myself out of bed and into the galley for breakfast. Given today was my birthday and given the late hour that we managed to get ourselves around, I decided it would be a great day to have brunch. We feasted on pancakes and a cheddar/broccoli omelet! What a great way to start the day!

After brunch Clark headed up to the bow of the boat to test his saltwater washdown. Clark's analysis ... the manual off/on switch that he installed is handy and works well, but the automatic setting is still problematic. For now, he says, it meets his needs until he can get to an electronics store for some parts. Alas, Radio Shack is no more! Fortunately, we have a store called IEI in Hazlet near our home in New Jersey where he can probably find what he needs.

Thankfully, Clark did not ask for my help testing the washdown unit, so I stayed out of the wind and got comfortable on the couch with the puzzle sections of the USA Today from yesterday and today. While solving a crossword puzzle, I got a visitor. Faith from Third Degree stopped by unexpectedly with a birthday gift for me - a 6-pack of Yuengling and some local-art coasters to go with it. She and her husband, Jim, know I like Yuengling and that I do not buy it for myself. Now I'll have something to bring with me to the next few docktails gathering!

The windy, overcast weather did not draw me outside. I was quite content to lounge on the boat. Clark, on the other hand, kept appearing and disappearing, spending what felt like the majority of the afternoon off the boat. I only partially wondered where he was and what he was doing as I had a new "toy" to become familiar with. My son and his wife sent me an electronic picture frame so I can show off all my family and travel pictures. It took me several hours to get it up and running. I now have some pictures on there but need to add many more.

Faith was not my only unexpected visitor today. Even though the next person to knock on the boat was marina staff, she did come bearing a package for me. With my Christmas money, I bought myself two pair of biking shorts. With all the miles we put on the bikes, I was afraid the one pair I currently own would wear out from too much use! The shorts arriving on my birthday was a surprise to me as I expected them tomorrow, so it was like another birthday gift had appeared -- only this time from me!

At some point Clark appeared on the boat long enough for me to show him my progress with the electronic picture frame and ask him what happened to the gift he had bought me for my birthday. "Oh, yeah", he said, "What happened to that?" He went into the pilot house to search for it.

A few days ago, when we were in Home Depot looking for a replacement Ryobi flashlight for the one he misplaced, we found a Ryobi air compressor to 150 PSI. He bought that for my birthday present to use to inflate my bike tires. The Brompton bikes we use recommend a very high PSI for the tires (90 - 100 psi). Clark keeps the tires inflated to a much lower number, and I am constantly telling Clark to find a gas station to pump mine up. Now we will be able to do it right on the boat!

When he asked what I wanted for my birthday, I told Clark that I had dinner at the Lighthouse Grill on my birthday wish list, so we planned to go there tonight. He decided it would be fun to invite some other folks to join us. By the time he was done knocking on boats and extending invites, he had a head count of 16 for an impromptu birthday outing.

Because of the nasty wind, no one could possibly want to attend docktails at the lighthouse today. Dinner at the grill turned out to be a great alternative way to get folks together. The restaurant set up two side-by-side tables for us. It probably would have made sense to have a table for girls and one for guys, but the waiter insisted that if we wanted separate checks, we had to sit with our partners.

Clark and I realized pretty quickly that we needed to exchange seats. He tried to talk to Jim across from me about boat parts while I tried to talk to Faith across from Clark about crochet. Life became simpler when Clark and I switched seats!

Everyone seemed to enjoy the gathering, and I got a whole lot of birthday wishes!

Sandy - L'Attitude Adjustment
Ann - Morning Star II
Faith and Jim - Third Degree

Ev and Clark - Sunset Delight
Mel - Morning Star II
Bill - L'Attitude Adjustment

Bruce and Don
AC - Hour Plan
Patti - CRAIC

Tim - CRAIC
Jim - Hour Plan
Scott and Linda - Ramble On

Ev, Clark, Mel, and Bill

Clark planned dinner for 5:00 because, with no docktails, we could eat early and take advantage of the special, discounted price. While we ate, we talked of this and that, but naturally some portion of the dinner conversation revolved around the high winds battering the marina. We had a bit of a debate on whether the moisture we felt in the air was rain or salt spray blown on shore by the strong winds. Sandy said that she only felt the "sprinkles" when in front of Sunset Delight or Morning Star II and, therefore, concluded that it must be spray. Clark and I, on the other hand, contended that it was light rain.

The party broke up around 7:30 whereby we scattered and returned to our boats. With leftovers in my hands I could not figure out how to get on our boat. The wind pushed the boat too far away from the dock for me to step on without holding onto something. Clark was busy talking with Tim, but eventually I told him I was freezing and could not get on board without his help. At which point Tim took the opportunity to escape and ran for the warmth on his own boat.

Afterward, while sitting on board, I continuously heard the wind blowing with occasional wind-related sounds thrown in for extra entertainment. Whenever the wind is up, lines wiggle and flags flap around, but we have a unique sound on board Sunset Delight. As I sit in the salon, the noise comes from overhead and sounds like someone is bouncing a basketball on the flybridge.

I have noticed this noise a few times in the past year when we are underway and the wind hits the full enclosure. Depending on how the wind hits it, the plastic of the full enclosure blows out and then snaps back into place where it hits a support pole causing a twang. Tonight, the twang noise sounds repeatedly and I swear we must have a basketball enthusiast playing up there on the flybridge.

 With the numerous birthday wishes I received today, either in person or via email and Facebook, I am humbled by how many wonderful friends I have made over the years. Thanks to all who thought of me.

Faro Blanco - PWC ride

Wednesday 1/24/2018
No travel on Sunset Delight.

The day started out with Bill and Sandy on L'Attitude Adjustment offering to drive Clark to the Home Depot and the Specialty Hardware store - an offer he just could not refuse! When he came to tell me of his good fortune, I was dawdling over breakfast while reading my Kindle. I waved him away and told him to have fun. Ah! Bliss! Just me and my Kindle.

After breakfast, I decided to do some sewing that I did not get a chance to work on yesterday. I got everything out and set up to begin when Clark returned from his outing and announced that he needed my help sanding the boat trim for his next coat of varnish. Given the humidity of the day, I thought I had escaped the varnish torture for a day. Wrong!

I set my planned sewing to one side and changed into grunge clothing to go out and get coated in sanding dust. Clark is several inches taller than I am. With three sections that needed to be sanded, he assigned me the one of the three that meant I could not reach a portion of the wood to be sanded. I know not what goes on in his brain - it is a scary place!

I did what I could and left him the rest while I went around to check on his work and try to clean up some of the sanding dust to further speed him along on his varnishing task. At noon the sun starts to shine on the port side of the boat where he is working, so he raced to get the varnish on before it got hit by the direct sun.

As soon as I could, I escaped and grabbed my sewing to start my own project. I have a dress that makes me itch when I wear it, so I am adding a bit of lining to the top. Too lazy to pull out my sewing machine and too uncertain of the outcome if I did use a machine, I am hand-sewing this project. It takes longer but because it is very stretchy fabric, I believe I will have a better end result than with a machine.

After finishing today's coat of varnish, Clark came inside and I realized it was time for lunch, so I put down my sewing to get us something to eat. Afterward, I picked up my sewing again to continue my work. When, out of nowhere, Clark asked me if I would like to go out on a jet ski / personal water craft (PWC) today.

Two years ago, for my birthday, Clark bought us tickets to go on an air boat through a section of the Everglades. Today, he came up with the idea of renting a jet ski as my birthday gift. He said he had called to check on prices for rentals and availability for today. The person he talked to said that we could rent today, but he was obligated to advise us that "a small craft advisory" was in effect for today, i.e. we might get wet. Whereby Clark responded, "Isn't that the point?"

In case I did not find the jet ski idea an attractive offer, he suggested the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon as an alternative. I like dolphins, but I could not turn down the jet ski option. I gave Clark one of my "are you kidding me looks" and said that between the two options, hands down the PWC wins! By the quick little smile he gave me, I knew I had made the right choice. He said, "I thought you were the adventurous sort!"

With temps in the low 70s, cloud cover, and a breeze, we had to think about how to dress for our expedition. Clark decided to wear his "shorty" wet suit. He has not one ounce of fat on his body and needs help staying warm. Sadly, I do not have that same body composition. I put on a long-sleeved sun shirt over my swimsuit and hoped for the best.

We took nothing with us except two towels (in case we accidentally went for a swim) and our pocket camera. Having paid for a half hour, I wondered, with no waterproof watch between us, how we would know when the time was up. Clark asked, and we found out that the odometer on the PWC also clocks hours of operation, so we could use that to know when to return to dock.  When we left the dock, it read 160.2. We needed to return at 160.7 hours.

Clark had the attendant take our picture. Neither of us have ever ridden on one of these, so we wanted to capture the moment and record it in the blog! We asked him to hold onto the camera while we took our little trip.

Our first ever PWC ride!

Two people on one jet ski was half the price of two PWC since they charge by the water craft. I really had no interest in learning how to drive one. I was very happy to hide behind Clark and just hang on.

Before we even left the little area surrounded by sea wall, I thought we were going to go in for a swim. The PWC tipped precariously over to one side, but we stayed on. After that I handed my sunglasses to the attendant and asked him to keep them until I returned. If I went in swimming, I did not want to lose them in the water. I had nothing else on me that might fall off if I went for an unexpected dip.

We discovered that the hours portion of the odometer display only appeared when Clark turned off the PWC. Every so often he would stop and check the time. The first time we looked, we found the display at 160.5, so we had about 10 more minutes of fun left.

While we drove around out there, I was glad that Clark was driving and my job was just to hold on tight to him. We had a run down of instructions that we had to initial that we understood before taking out the PWC. One that they stressed was the need to not let up on the throttle when turning. Clark said this was hard to remember to do. I guess that is why they stressed it so much.

A few times I wondered what Clark was doing as he seemed to slow down and wiggle / rock the PWC back and forth.  Sometimes he would go slowly and "wiggle", and sometimes he would go fast in one direction or another. When I asked about his antics later, he said that "following seas" made the PWC behave strangely, and his maneuvering depended on whether he was head into the seas or had them following.

Once more checking the time, we found it had moved up to 160.6. After that, however, it seemed to take a very long time to go from 160.6 to 160.7. Clark stopped multiple times and each time it displayed 160.6. Clark chuckled at one point perhaps thinking the thing was permanently stuck at that number. I think we were both ready to return to dock but wanted to get our full half hour in. As soon as it said 160.7, Clark headed back to dock.

Later, he told me that he thought he would have been bored had he paid for a full hour of time. Now we know what it is like to ride one, we both agreed that we do not see buying a PWC in our future. That's one item I can cross off my Bucket List!

After our adventure, it was back to business as usual. We headed to the showers to clean up. Afterwards, Clark went to visit Jim on Hour Plan to help Jim drill some holes through some steel. I planned to go back to my sewing. That did not happen, however, because I found a pile of lunch dishes in need of cleaning. By the time I was done with that, Clark returned and inquired about docktails at 5:00.

I stuck my head out a couple of times trying to decide about docktails. Right about 5:00, it started to drip sprinkles of rain. Mel and Ann on Morning Star II returned today from their trip to Canada, and I knew they were excited for docktails. With the rain, I did not know if we would meet for docktails or not.

With Clark pushing me, I put together something to take out to docktails. Just as we stepped out onto the back of our boat to head up to the lighthouse, Mel and Ann returned to their's saying no one had appeared. They quickly disappeared in the direction of the Lighthouse Grill restaurant. With no docktails, they decided to eat an early dinner instead.

Meanwhile, as we stood on the back of Sunset Delight with our drinks in hand, Jim and AC from Hour Plan walked by on their way to the lighthouse. We told them no one was there and invited them on board our boat for a private "deck"tails instead. As we sat and talked on the back deck, Faith and Jim from Third Degree came by and joined our little gathering. Later, after their dinner, Mel and Ann came over with chairs and joined our party as well.

Docktails normally ends by 6:30, but our little gathering lasted until 7:00! Finally Faith's dog, Pete, needed to go for a walk, and AC and I had to go cook our dinners. We all went our separate ways. I never saw the sun set tonight either due to the weather or the great conversation.  I know not which!

After dinner, around 9:30, Clark crawled into the back-breaking area under the floor in the master stateroom to install the reassembled saltwater washdown! Earlier in the day, just before docktails, he cut a 12' length of 3/4" hose for the connection on the bow and attached the hose connection he had purchased at the hardware store first thing this morning. I bet tomorrow we get to test the whole assembly. Oh joy! If it's windy, maybe I'll get a face full of saltwater as a birthday present!

Marathon - lunch at Burdines

Tuesday 1/23/2018
No boat travel.

Today started looking out like a repeat of recent days. I had laundry to take care of, and Clark jumped on his varnishing project as soon as he had eaten breakfast. Jim and AC from Hour Plan saved the day from tedium by asking if Clark and I wanted to join them for lunch at Burdines restaurant. They planned on walking there for lunch at 1:00. I said, "Definitely yes, if Clark can drag himself away from his projects."

I had already washed the towels on the boat, but with a late lunch scheduled, I decided I had time to strip the bed and wash the sheets as well. While I ran back and forth to the laundry room, Clark sanded and applied yet another coat of varnish. He has to build up the layers of varnish, so he will be doing this project for several days to come.

AC and Jim came by to get us just after 1:00, and we walked up to Route 1 hoping for a break in the traffic to allow us to cross to the restaurant side of the road. We decided that one of us was blessed as when we arrived at the highway, no cars were coming from either direction. We scooted across in a hurry to take advantage of our good luck.

Due to focused clean up, Route 1 shows little sign of the effects of Hurricane Irma. Turning down the side road to the restaurant, however, we got to see some very sad sights.

Boat Graveyard passed on way to Burdines Restaurant

The front of this boat looked like ripped cardboard!

Trawler waiting to be crushed and put in the dumpster.

Sunken and still in the water sport fish at dock.

Fortunately, Burdines was open for business and had a good-sized crowd.

Although the old rowboat used to advertise the restaurant at the entrance to their property looked like quite a wreck, the rest of Burdines property looked pretty normal.

At Burdines Restaurant

Restaurant is up the stairs in the background

We got a table inside. With the open, no-exterior-walls design, this was perfect as it provided us with shade and a breeze. Facing away from the outside of the restaurant, Clark and I did have a bit of a view from inside the restaurant.

View from inside restaurant through port-hole style window.

The wreck of a marina on the dock that we could see through the window was the old, ocean-side Faro Blanco. Damaged in a prior hurricane, it has never recovered. After Irma, it only looks worse.

Faro Blanco Oceanside

Zoomed-in view of wreckage

Lunch partners at Burdines in Marathon, Florida
AC and Jim from Hour Plan

We thoroughly enjoyed the company and the food starting with the french fries appetizer we shared, then sandwiches / salads, and finally fried key lime pie we shared for dessert. When I left there, I felt stuffed.

Walking back to the marina, we decided to step into West Marine for a look around.  On the walk from Burdines to West Marine, AC and I noticed a tow truck waiting to turn onto Route 1. We both called for Clark to pull out his camera quick!

Tow truck with a great slogan!
"Best Hookers in Town"

While in West Marine, AC and I did not do much looking. We stood at the end of one of the aisles and talked while the guys shopped.

Since the marine supply store is right next door, Clark decided to pop in there quick to look for something. AC and Jim had no interest, so they planned to cross Route 1 and go back to the marina. I waited with them. If Clark came back before traffic thinned, we could cross together. If traffic thinned before he came back, I would wait for him.

The whole time he was in the store (in reality only a few minutes) we had traffic coming both ways non-stop. As soon as he joined us, we had a clearing where we could stroll across all four lanes with no cars to worry about. AC said, "We now know who has the magical power to clear traffic on Route 1!"

After we returned to our boat, we continued talking to AC and Jim when we noticed a boat out in Florida Bay heading towards the marina. We wondered if it was someone coming into Faro Blanco. As we watched, we discovered that the boat was indeed coming into the marina, and better yet, we all knew the owners.

As soon as we saw the name Third Degree on the vessel, we knew that Faith and Jim had arrived! AC, Clark and I walked over as the unofficial greeting committee to welcome them back to Faro Blanco. Since I have been following Jim on Facebook, I knew they were on their way but did not know precisely when to expect them. I first met Jim and Faith when we were doing the Great Loop on Sea Moss.

With all the activity, the afternoon flew by, and before I knew it, it was time for docktails at 5:00 by the lighthouse. We met more new people - some who will be here for several weeks and others who are just passing through.

Docktails at sunset in Marathon, FL
(I'm the one with the blue hat)

Some docktails participants
Linda (on the right) is a looper from Massachusetts on Ramble On

Riley is a looper dog from an Irish boat CRAIC

Since we are usually at the marina around sunset, the backdrop does not change. Even so, Clark would be remiss if he did not do his camera duty and capture the sunset for the blog whenever possible!

Sunset picture - very similar to last night's sunset picture
but still beautiful to look at!

Faro Blanco had a "best sunset" picture contest. I submitted Clark's photo from yesterday but he did not win. The winning photo was also taken at Faro Blanco and submitted by Chuck Smith.

Winning photo taken by someone I do not know - Chuck Smith

Faro Blanco - Iguana and Pelicans

Monday 1/22/2018
No boat travel.

Someone should tell Clark that "All work and no play makes him a dull boy!" He has multiple boat projects in progress simultaneously, so as soon as he reaches a stopping point on one, he starts on the next. Today he worked on varnishing the exterior wood trim on the boat and addressing the saltwater washdown issues. If he did all this work while leaving me in peace, I might not grumble quite so loudly. Sometimes, but only sometimes, I wish Clark was less inclined to do everything himself (with my help of course).

I sat, after breakfast, minding my own business reading the newspaper that got delivered to the boat when Clark decided "we" needed to do sanding in preparation for applying varnish to the trim. I ignored him the first time he came through the salon, but the second and third times he mentioned how nice it would be if I did sanding with him, I was hard-pressed to ignore the request. I could hardly point out that reading the newspaper was more important.

Grumbling to myself about his request, I went in search of more appropriate attire for sanding --preferably something stained and with holes in it. We both have such clothing on board for the unsavory jobs that come up on boats. I even tied a bandanna around my head to keep sanding dust out of my hair.

Although we had a relatively clear sky and bright sun, I decided to pass on sunscreen. I figured that the wind would cause the dust to stick to the sunscreen. I could just see myself becoming coated in sanding dust like a breaded chicken ready for the deep-fryer! Our work was on the shadier side of the boat, so I hoped I would not get too much exposure before we finished today's tasks.

We had just enough breeze while working to cause issues with the sanding. I kept forgetting which way to stand to be upwind of the sanding dust, i.e. I kept getting it in my face. The worst was when I got too close to the area where Clark was working and we shared each other's dust. One, or the other of us, was always downwind of the dust. Although he had his sunglasses with him, Clark did not have them on and a piece of the scraped varnish went into his eye. We had to stop work briefly to clean it out with a large dosage of eye drops.

I certainly do not enjoy sanding and tried to escape. Every time I thought I was done and would sneak away, he would call me back with another task. The newspaper never did get read by me today.

While we were out on the back of the boat, we did have a visitor come to check us out. He was long and green and pretty scaly!

Iguana on the dock by the stern of Sunset Delight

He says, "What you looking at?"

"Seriously?! Can't an iguana sunbathe in peace?"

After we completed the sanding, Clark cleaned away all the sanding dust from the area to be varnished and then put on a fresh coat of varnish. Since that has to wait for 24 hours to dry, it was time to move on to the next project.

Frustrated with the inability to get the saltwater washdown to work properly, Clark has decided to put a switch with three positions at the bow of the boat - off, auto, and manual. To make this operational, he has to mount the switch, run wires, and reconfigure the saltwater washdown assembly. This afternoon, he mounted the switch and ran the wires. I stood by as the "go for" to collect whatever tools he needed as he did his switch-installation work.

When it came time to run the wires from the anchor locker into the boat to the washdown unit, he asked me if I wanted to be in the storage area under the master stateroom bed or in the anchor locker. What wonderful choices?! Not! I told him I would be wherever he decided he needed me. I got to be under the bed.

We bought a fish tape at the Home Depot for the wiring job. When Clark asked the salesperson in electrical for a fish tape, I thought I had misheard. "Fish tape? What the heck is that?" I thought. To my surprise the salesperson knew exactly what Clark wanted - the roll of metal wire used to pull wires through walls. Surprise! I have helped him with this at home but had no idea it is called fish tape. The salesperson, a sailor when not at work, recommended a small, 15' version as a good boat size.

Today, Clark attached the wires to the fish tape with electrical tape so we could feed them through from the anchor locker to the storage space under the bed where I waited to receive them. From there we fed the wires down into the bilge compartment that sits under the floor in our stateroom. After running the wires, Clark pulled out the washdown unit for reassembly and now has that unit sitting on the table in the cockpit to be worked on tomorrow.

After cleaning up tools and paraphernalia spread around from working on projects, it was time to start work on dinner. While I worked on that task, Clark went out on a mission to get a sunset picture for tonight's blog. He found more than a sunset in his travels.

Fish cleaning time at Wayne's World fishing charter.

Flocks of pelicans vying for the best position to catch the thrown fish scraps is a common sight at Faro Blanco marina.

After capturing the pelicans in action, Clark did manage to get that sunset picture as well.

Sunset in Marathon, Florida

Since we cannot watch any television here real-time (no non-Spanish-speaking stations), we are at least a day behind on our favorite shows. Tonight 60 Minutes is available to watch from yesterday. What a treat!

Faro Blanco - chores on Sunset Delight

Thursday 1/18/2018
No Boat Travel

We spent today on the boat.

Clark worked on getting the saltwater wash down to work. Although he tried "tuning" the adjustments, he is still unable to get it to work as designed. When he tests his work, I have to take part in the action because he cannot be on the bow and in the bilge at the same time.

With the wind blowing today, testing the hose was not any fun. Clark had the hose rigged so that when it was turned on, it would spray water over the side of the boat. In theory that seems like it should work. However, with the wind blowing as it was, by the time I got to the hose to turn it off as he requested (he was now down in the bilge working on tuning it), I was quite wet. The wind caused a mist that sprayed me with saltwater from head to toe before I could get to the nozzle to shut it off.

The second time we rigged it up, I stood upwind of the hose before turning it on. That would have been smart had I not dropped the hose. Of course it fell on the handle and I got a face full of saltwater. The fact that the results of his tweaking did not prove productive just added insult to injury.

When I got a chance to escape from Clark's project, I spent time baking, reading, and playing games on my tablet. Since I had an insufficient amount of butter to make Clark's favorite dessert - Martha's Applesauce Cake, I made an iced Blueberry Cake instead. I have minimal success using the oven on the boat as the temperature never seems quite right, and I have not spent the time to test it with an oven thermometer since I do not own one for the boat.

Instead of using the regular oven, I used my little toaster oven that is only big enough to hold one small loaf pan at a time. This turns baking his desserts into a multi-hour event. Usually, while the baking is happening, I stay nearby with my Kindle or my Tablet as I did today.

With the cold wind, it feels too nasty to sit out for docktails. I took a peek and noticed that folks are not bothering to gather around the lighthouse. Perhaps they will reconvene when the wind stops blowing.

Friday 1//19/2018
Boat trip out to the channel and back.

We started the day with a trip to the Home Depot to buy a new flashlight. Although we searched the boat multiple times, Clark's Ryobi flashlight that he uses faithfully has simply vanished from the face of the earth. He remembered using it last when we were docked in Key West.

On that fateful day, while Clark was busy washing salt off the boat, a man interrupted his work to ask for his help. The man's son had dropped his toy truck into a metal structure on the dock with a hole on top of it. He wanted to know if Clark had something he could use to retrieve the truck.

Before Clark could do much to help him, the man and boy took off to catch the party boat trip they had planned. While they were gone, Clark went "fishing" in the metal box and pulled out the toy truck. He used his flashlight to see what he was doing in there. That was the last he saw of his flashlight.

Whether he left it in the metal box or on the dock, we will never know. Clark called from here and had one of the marina dock hands check the box to see if the flashlight was still inside with no luck. We lost not just the flashlight but one of the Ryobi rechargeable batteries in that deal as well. The father and son came back after their boat trip delighted to see the toy truck sitting outside the metal box. We heard a big "Thank You!" as they gathered up the truck and left before Clark could even stick his head back out the door. At least one person came out of that arrangement happy.

After our stop at Home Depot we went on to Publix to pick up some supplies. Unfortunately, I had to pick and choose sparingly from my grocery list due to the limited space left in Clark's backpack. (We bought more than just a flashlight at Home Depot.) Even so, we were both loaded down to the max with groceries for the trip back to the boat. I mostly needed meat and vegetables which quickly add up in terms of weight and space.

Since, by the time we got done with our shopping, it was late afternoon, Clark surprised me by saying he wanted to take the boat out for a quick run to wash the barnacles off the bottom of the boat. I thought with the lateness of the day and the non-stop wind that he would decide to hold off until another day when docking would hopefully be less of a challenge. Nope! He decided we had time before sunset, so we should go.

We left our lines at the dock for our quick trip into Florida Bay. I let Clark deal with the bow lines. We have new pilings for our slip which are very nice except for the fact that there are no hooks on them to hang the lines. Clark pulled the boat over to one and then the other and laid the bow lines over the tops to collect when we returned from our run.

When we got back to the dock about an hour after we left, we found a small greeting committee of other boaters there to grab our lines and help us get secured at the dock. Clark later admitted that docking had presented a bit of a problem with wind and current as he angled his way into the slip. A wide catamaran that slightly sticks out in front of our slip added to the complexity of his approach backing into the slip.

No docktails again tonight due to the chilly wind. Even though I had just bought meat and vegetables today and had plenty of provisions to choose from, I did not feel like cooking any of it. I suggested pizza, so we walked down to 7-Mile Pizza. It was a short walk to the pizza place, so short in fact, that Clark almost walked right by. I had to stop him and ask where he was going as he continued to walk right past the set-back shop.

7-Mile Pizza sells an interesting combination of New York style pizza and Cuban Cuisine. Everyone in the restaurant, except the two of us, spoke Spanish. Even the specials were written in two languages. We knew from eating there on prior trips to Marathon that we would enjoy the pizza, and the staff are very friendly. I think the owner must have asked us at least four times if everything was to our liking.

Saturday 1/20/2018
No boat travel.
~9 miles bike ride

Having unsuccessfully searched Home Depot for some hose and connection supplies for his saltwater wash down work, we took a trip today to the True Value Hardware store at the other end of Marathon to see what we might find there. I dressed in layers for the bike ride as I find it always colder at the marina than it is on Route 1. I never quite know what I will find once I get underway on the bike.

Working hard on the bike due to the strong wind in my face, I "boiled over" after about 1.5 miles into the bike ride. Even though Clark was well ahead of me, I pulled over to the side and started stripping off layers.  I took off my sweater but left my wind breaker on. Eventually, I saw that Clark had also stopped and took off his coat.

The folks on L'Attitude Adjustment docked next to us told us about a mini-farmer's market across from Publix. We decided we would stop there on the way to the hardware store. I did not need much in the way of vegetables having just stocked up at Publix, but we stopped to take a look as we went by on our way to the hardware store.

In 2016 we would go to the permanent farmer's market stands on the side of Route 1 because the vendor had a huge selection of great fruits and vegetables. In 2017 we came back expecting the same vendor and were disappointed to find he had sold the business. After trying the produce a couple of times, we never bothered to return as it was far from fresh. We stopped once this year to check it out. The amount of produce sold has been reduced by at least half of what it was in 2016 / 2017. The items I saw on sale were way past their prime. I will not return again.

The stock for this mini farmer's market was well picked over at 11:30 when we got there. Still, I ended up buying some tomatoes and zucchini that were picked yesterday at $1.00 a piece. When I inquired about the red peppers, the vendor threw them in my bag for free. With Clark's coat in the backpack, we had minimal space to choose from, so we tucked the veggies here and there in Clark's backpack and continued on our way.

The 4.3 mile bike ride to the hardware store took a lot of effort against the wind. Happily I noticed that Clark stopped to gawk at the airport on our way by. Two aircraft caught his interest. One was a mini helicopter with Boatpix.com written on the side. The other was a biplane with three people in it. Biplane rides at $59 per person are available at the airport.

Bi-plane Rides in Marathon, FL

With three people in the plane, it appeared that the pilot had some business for a flight. They had the engine running and the props spinning, and while we watched they taxied down the air strip. Seeing the biplane reminded me of our Looper friends, Ben (Jammin Jane) and Bob (Knot Sew Easy), who went up together for a ride two years ago when we were all here in Marathon together. Clark and I sat there on our bikes for a very long time waiting for the plane to come back, but they never took off while we watched. Eventually we gave up and continued our bike ride to the store.

The True Value Hardware store in Marathon has an amazing inventory of goods for sale. By the time we left there I had picked up a bunch of items - mostly kitchen gadgets, and Clark had a variety of items related to his saltwater wash down project. We found a salesperson to assist in Clark's search for parts. Ultimately the salesperson built something custom right there in the store for Clark out of hose connections and PVC pipe cut to size. This pipe is about 4-feet long, and we joked about how we would carry it home on the bicycles. I suggested we could pretend to be jousting.

By the time we left the hardware store, my watch showed somewhere near 2:30, and I needed to eat lunch. Since we wanted something healthy and quick, we went to Publix to get whole wheat subs with Boar's Head meat. We sat at the tables provided there and enjoyed the food.

Clark convinced me that since we were already in Publix, I should buy some of the items I could not buy the day before due to lack of space. However, with the vegetables from the farmer's market and the items from the hardware store already taking up space, I still had to be extremely conservative on selecting items to buy. To carry it all, Clark had to wear his coat on the bike ride back to the boat to make room in his backpack.

During the evening / night, I watched television shows via the internet while Clark searched the internet for a short-length, 3/4" hose that he has been unable to find in any of the local stores.

Sunday 1/21/2018
No boat travel.
~3 miles by bike.

With two projects in mind (saltwater wash down and varnishing), Clark tried to plan out his day. He wanted to varnish early and then take a trip to Home Depot. The weather did not quite cooperate with his varnish plans as it sprinkled rain off and on during the morning. Also, he wanted to consult with another boater about the work before taking the next step in the varnish work. Eventually the weather turned sunny and he found the boater for his input allowing Clark to put another coat of varnish on the wood trim on the bow of the boat.

While he was busy doing that, I took a walk around the marina matching boat cards to boats. We have met a lot of people here again this year and always find it extremely difficult to remember names. I thought associating people names with boat names would help me. In the process I met folks on a Looper boat that just came in yesterday named CRAIC (pronounced crack).  I learned that "What's the craic?" in Ireland means "What's happening?" or "What's new?" They are traveling with their dog Riley.

Later in the afternoon, we took a bike ride to Home Depot to look for items to complete the saltwater wash down project. I had a hard time raising enthusiasm for yet another visit to the Home Depot. I finally decided that I needed the exercise, and I could tell Clark would like my company for the journey. Route 1 is rather dangerous so I knew I would worry until he returned if I had him go alone.

Using some imagination on how we might tweak things to make them work, we basically found what Clark needed to continue his wash down project. When we got back to the boat, however, he set to doing varnish prep work instead of working on the wash down. As I typed away on the computer working on the blog, he sanded and scraped the wood trim on the port side of the boat. As he stood out there working hard, anyone who walked by noticed and made a comment about how industrious he was being.

Shortly after 5:00 I saw a couple of boaters walk past our boat carrying drinks and food. I assumed they were on their way to docktails. I thought about stopping my computer / blog work to join them. Before I could do that, though, I saw them go back the other way less than 10 minutes later. I gather no one else was there so they decided to take their treats back to the boat to enjoy instead of out by the lighthouse.

Clark's scraping effort made a huge mess along the side of the boat. He asked me to retrieve a vacuum cleaner, but I thought a broom the more appropriate tool. We used both. Interestingly, while sweeping away, we saw that a pelican came to float nearby to watch us intently. Clark said, "That guy must think the broom handle is a fishing pole, so he came for dinner." The pelican went away disappointed.

"Hey there Sunset Delight ... Got any Fish?"

"No? Well then I'm leaving!"

The above picture shows quite well the mess Sunset Delight is sitting in at the dock. The windy weather has blown all the chopped up bits of grass into our corner of the marina. Sometimes it looks thick enough to walk on!

Later, as I cooked dinner and then while we ate on-board, we could hear live music being performed near the Faro Blanco pool. Last weekend Clark heard John Bartus for the first time and bought two of his CDs. Tonight John Bartus performed again. Last week I did not motivate myself to go listen as I was involved in blogging. Tonight, however, I insisted we go up and listen even though we could somewhat hear the music from the boat.

We arrived just as he started to play the last song before his break. When we showed up and sat down, however, he played one more song just because we had appeared. During his performance, he asked for requests and Clark had a few. First Clark asked for a song about John's wife Marlene, then he requested the Eagles, and finally he asked John to play anything off one of his CDs. All songs were well-performed and very entertaining, so we had an unexpected, lovely evening of live entertainment.


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Marathon, Florida - boat chores

Wednesday 1/17/2018
No Boat Travel

Having done all the running-around-by-bicycle chores yesterday, today we did stay-on-board chores. My day consisted of laundry and inside boat cleaning. When not busy with either of those tasks, I indulged in reading my latest novel. I am on book 4 of a six-book series called Pomp and Poverty and set circa 1900 or so. Detailing the lives of the rich lords versus the working poor, the series contains mystery, suspense, romance, and murder, but no comedy that I have found. For such a sobering book, it is a definite page-turner.

Clark, on the other hand, had a visitor. When we went to the Key West Seafood festival, Clark got the name of a member of the United States Power Squadron that does Vessel Safety Checks here in Marathon. They set one o'clock today for her inspection. The good news is that Sunset Delight passed the inspection, and we now have a sticker on the window saying we have been checked and meet safety standards. This should deter the Coast Guard from boarding us for a random vessel safety check when underway. However, as Jeff and Devon can attest to, this did not stop the USCG from boarding us last spring.

After the safety inspector left, Clark pulled out some sandpaper and did prep work for some upcoming varnishing needed on the boat exterior. He has been consulting with Jim from Hour Plan for guidance on how to go about touching up some needy spots. 

The wind continues to howl and, although I cannot truly complain about it being cold here compared to other parts of the country, I certainly do not feel like hanging around outside in the chilly wind. I hung out on board this afternoon simply entertaining myself (that means playing games on my tablet). Suddenly I looked up and found the sky bright red in the evening sky. I yelled for Clark to quick grab the camera.

Sunset over Faro Blanco
(pool in foreground)

Marathon, Florida - errands around town

Tuesday 1/16/2018
No Boat Travel
4 miles by bike

After breakfast today we pulled the bicycles out for a series of errands that needed to be done. We mapped out the logical route to visit businesses based on their location and set off on our way.

Our first stop was at a business called SALTE that sells and installs solar panels. Clark went in to request someone visit the boat to give us an estimate. I waited outside with the bicycles because he said it would not take long. Hah! I should know better!

He finally came out and we set off again -  this time to stop in at the Keys Fisheries Marina to inquire about their fuel prices. Clark went into the office located there and came away with a phone number to call to get current prices. Being about one block off Route 1, we decided to bike the few blocks available to us on the side street to have a look around.

I had never been on Gulfview Street before as I did not even know it existed. We found the sights interesting.

Marine Bay Yacht Club

Beautifully landscaped yacht club with a lovely fountain on one side of the road and

Hundreds of traps on the other. What a lovely view the yacht club has out their front door! (Not!)

Of course, in addition to lots of traps, we saw lots of those pesky balls that mark their presence out on the open water.

Traps and float markers for traps

Lots and lots of float markers

Even some strung together that looked like a centipede

Although Google Maps shows this street as Gulfview, the street itself had signs saying "Louisa Street" and one mailbox had the street number with the word Louisa written on it. Whatever its name, it is only three blocks long, so we had a very short reprieve from Route 1.

I needed one item from Publix, so we stopped there next followed by Walgreen's across the street. After very quick stops at each, where Clark waited outside with the bikes, we continued on to the post office to mail some items and finally on to  Home Depot to buy some supplies required for our next "home" project.

The bike ride to all these places was rather pleasant. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the ride back. Just south / west of Home Depot and onward for several blocks, the sidewalk is closed for repairs from the hurricane. For a portion of this stretch, the highway is only one lane, so it is very busy through there. Our dilemma: how to get back to the other side of the road to get back to the marina.

Instead of looking to see if we could wiggle our way back via some back streets and parking lots, Clark decided on the head-on approach and took us through the construction site. I ended up walking my bike most of the way because we went over construction debris, ditches, and all sorts of obstacles trying to get to a place on the highway where we could cross.

The objective of reaching 33rd Street with the crosswalk was met only to find out that the signal was set to yellow flashing and the walk / don't walk sign was not functional. A friendly truck driver saw us trying to cross and stopped for us.

If Clark decides to take that same route again, he will have a rebellion on his hands.  As a result of our trip around Marathon, we did not get back to the boat until after 2:00 when I finally got to make lunch. I have learned with Clark to carry peanut butter crackers with me wherever I go!

After lunch, Clark spent the afternoon with the representative from SALTE climbing all over the boat, pulling out panels for running wires, and taking measurements to be used to compute an estimate for us on the solar panel installation. After the salesperson left, it took Clark a while to put the boat back together. In the process, he misplaced a couple of items including his hat and a screwdriver. He later found them "hiding" on the flybridge where he had left them during the estimation process.

The wind continues to blow in Marathon, and the temperatures are far from ideal for sitting outside, so when 5:00 rolled around, I passed on going out to the lighthouse for docktails. I did see some die-hards pass by on the dock carrying their food offerings for the gathering. Even though I did not go to docktails, I did manage to get a sunset picture today. As one can see from the photo, the rumor that all the palms in the Keys were denuded by the hurricane is false.

Sunset at Faro Blanco Resort and Marina

Since we do not have satellite TV, we have no real-time television here. Monday night we watched Madam Secretary and 60 Minutes from the night before via the internet . Tonight, we watched his and hers movies. Clark wanted to see The Battle of the Sexes about Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs, and I wanted to watch Victoria and Abdul about Queen Victoria. We watched and enjoyed both and finally went to bed shortly after midnight.