2022: Chili Cookoff and Taco Tuesday

 1 February 2022

After a few days of wind, we were glad to see things settle down for an overnight visit from our Looper friends Jim and JoAnn McFall. Last Saturday we had winds as high as 35 mph and the boat was a-rockin! The McFalls made it a quick trip out to see us. They surprised us as it had been looking unlikely they would be getting to Florida from Michigan, but they managed to break away to come south for a weather break and a boat / people visit. We were delighted to see Sammy, their dog, in the car when we met them at the marina's front gate.

When they arrived, we were all in long pants and jackets. We went to dinner at Sunset Grille. The sky was so cloudy, we did not get to see the sun even once. 

Bundled up from the cold at
Sunset Grille
(7-Mile Bridge in background)

It did manage to warm up a bit before they left. There was even talk of a swim in the pool, but once they figured out how long the drive to Ft. Lauderdale would take, they decided they could not afford the time for a swim. 

Jim and JoAnn McFall

We found it difficult to decide how to dress during this weather phase. As the day warmed, Clark still wore long sleeves / long pants. I changed to short sleeves and shorts. 

Ev and Clark at Marlin Bay

3 February 2022

On Thursdays the boaters at Faro Blanco share "Heavy Hors d'oeuvres" intending that no one should have to go home and make dinner after happy hour. This week they added the theme "Chili Cookoff" to make it extra special. Clark wanted to go visit, so we hopped on our bicycles to get there for 4 o'clock when the party started.

Eight contenders offered up their chili concoctions for the judging contest. Two baskets of goodies weighed in the balance as the chefs' awards.

Sampling underway

After the announcement of the two winners, the cooking contenders lined up behind their offerings for a group photo.

8 Chili Cooks

Unbeknownst to me, someone flew a drone overhead to get a group shot of the activities.

We left just after the event ended at 6:00 to bike back to Marlin Bay before full darkness set in. Although we have lights, front and rear, for our bikes, it is hard to see the bumps and dips in the pavement in the dark making it an unpleasant ride back to the boat after sunset.

5 February 2022

Somedays are uneventful and then other days make up for that by being action-packed. Today turned into a busy day. 

We started with a bike trip to the farmer's market. Normally I leave at 9:00 when my friend with a car, Sandy, picks me up. She was away on a trip today, so Clark got enlisted to go with me.

Sadly, when we got their at 9:30, they tables were basically bare. The only offering I might have been tempted by were a few yellow squash, but I already had that on hand. The only other item was papaya, and I had no interest in buying that today. 

When I asked where all the veggies were, I was told that many people were ready and waiting when the truck pulled up and wiped them out quickly. The lesson learned there was come early or miss out!

After our disappointment at the farmer's market, we biked to Winn Dixie and Walgreens to buy some items and then headed back to the boat. Once home, Clark decided he wanted to swim laps in the pool and left. After I had the food stowed, I decided that I would take a swim as well. It felt heavenly to sink down into the pool water. 

As Clark swam by me, he stopped and said, "Do you want to go out on the boat later?" I said, "Sure". After a late and quick lunch, we threw off the lines and pulled out of our slip at 2:15. Not until we were underway did Clark tell me his plans for the boat trip. He tricked me!

I thought we would do our typical maintenance run and maybe drop anchor to hang out for a while before returning. He had other plans. He wanted to get fuel for both the big boat (diesel) and the dinghy (gas). To get the best diesel price, he planned to go under the 7-Mile Bridge to the Marathon Safe Harbor Marina gas dock. To get the best quality gas for the dinghy, he decided he would need to go to Faro Blanco's gas dock.

To get under the 7-Mile bridge, we have to lower the mast and the antennas on the boat. Once they are lowered we can squeeze under.  When we got to Marathon Marina, the gas docks were full of other boaters, so Clark decided we should take a tour through Boot Key Harbor. 

Many boats moored in the Boot Key Harbor

As we meandered through Boot Key Harbor, we passed a few dinghies. Surprisingly, we knew most of the folks as they had traveled over from Marlin Bay Marina. It seemed to be the day to visit Boot Key! As one dinghy passed, someone yelled up to us, "What? Are you too lazy to put down your dinghy?!" We laughed!

We continued into the harbor and went down a side creek that took us along the side of Sombrero Blvd and  past the Docksides Bar. As we passed by the Skipjack Marina, we looked for the Krogen Express we knew had been there and found it still at dock. Unfortunately, we have yet to see the folks on board when we come around. Continuing on, we passed yet another couple from Marlin Bay out touring. 

As we got further and further along the ever-narrowing waterway, we wondered where we could turn the boat around. Traveling all the way to the end of the waterway, we found a basin where Clark easily spun the boat.

 As we retraced our route to return to Marlin Bay via the fuel docks, we saw yet another familiar face. Mel was out exploring Boot Key with a friend from the marina. 

Mel with Sabrina from Faro Blanco

When we got to the fuel dock at Marathon Safe Harbor Marina, we found the docks empty so we pulled up to get our diesel fuel. Fortunately, they have a fast fill capability, so it did not take too long. Clark wanted really good fuel for our dinghy since it sits for long periods of time unused. He decided not to get gas at this dock. 

Once more we ducked under the 7-Mile Bridge and then stopped at Faro Blanco. We arrived at 4:45, and the staff go home at 5:00 from here. After tying up to the dock, someone came out to assist us and explained that the gas at Faro Blanco is self serve - 24 x 7, so we can come at any time. Barb, who helped us, was kind enough to walk us through the process as a learning experience. 

After we pulled away from the gas dock, we turned around in the basin where for the past 6 years we had docked our boat. As we spun around, the folks at docktails waved a big hello. Someone signaled that we should pull in. It was a joke as the space was only big enough for a dinghy.

Our maintenance run turned into a 3-hour tour of the area. We finished tying up our lines around 5:30 - just in time for Clark to get a good sunset picture to complete our busy day.

8 February 2022

After a couple of days of hanging around the boat, we decided that we would bike to Faro Blanco for Taco Tuesday docktails. I did not think I would be partaking of much of the food until I got there and tried this cheesy-chili type dip with chips. That turned out to be my dinner. Clark enjoyed the chicken tacos offered there. 

When it looked like folks were slowing down on consuming tacos and such, Lynn from Fins disappeared briefly and came back with a tray full of shot-sized glasses filled with homemade chocolate mousse and topped with whipped cream. It was a heavenly treat. 

Compared to the Chili Cookoff, few folks attended Taco Tuesday this week. Once again we hightailed it out of there on our bikes as the sun began to set to enable us to see the cracks in the sidewalk before it became too dark to see our way. 

I knew that a couple of chicken tacos would not satisfy Clark for dinner. Fortunately, I had left over vegetables in the fridge. I heated them up and added a large salad to fill him up. I was too stuffed with the chili dip to eat another thing.

2022: Coco Plum Beach in Marathon

 22 January 2022 -- Saturday

After visiting the farmer's market and food shopping in the morning, I got busy doing laundry after lunch. Just after 1:00, I got an unexpected phone call from my boating friend, Sandy, who invited us to join them for an outing to the ice cream shop in Marathon. Knowing Clark wanted to do more boat polishing, I asked him, and not surprisingly, he jumped at the chance for ice cream. Polishing could wait!

Sandy and Bill picked us up at 2:00 at the entrance to Marlin Bay Marina

and drove us to Sweet Savannah's. It is the only real good place in Marathon to get ice cream.

After finishing our ice cream treats, Sandy told Clark and Bill to stay put while she and I walked to the other end of the plaza to do some browsing in the gift shop located there. Neither of us bought anything but it is always fun to look. It gave Bill and Clark a bit of time to chat as well.

When we go out with Sandy, she often holds us prisoner and takes us to unexpected places. Today was no exception. She will never say, until we get there, where we are going. It is always an interesting surprise. Today she took us to Coco Plum Beach. It is beyond our normal biking range and therefore a brand new experience for us.

Coco Plum Beach has a small-sized beach area with a parking lot and a restroom. It would be a great place to take kids to play in the sand on a less-than-crowded day.

Clark and Sandy on Coco Plum Beach

Views of the beach ...

At the parking lot ...

"Turtle Tracks" Instructional Picture

Parking lot picture including restrooms
and covered picnic tables

View from Coco Plum Beach

When we got back from out short tour of the unexpected, Clark got busy with his polishing yet again, and I worked on my latest Blog update.

No sunset picture for today, but Clark did get a sky picture he refers to as the "Vortex".

23 January 2022

Today was a busy day for walking. Friends of ours, whom we met while doing the Great Loop, were in town to have their boat dropped in the water. While retrieving their boat, they took a room at Blackfin and invited us to come visit. Blackfin is reasonably close to us, so we decided to walk.

Cute sign at the office door

Looking for John and Susan's motel room

Some very talented person had painted the picnic tables at Blackfin. 

Picnic Table Art: Sailboat

Picnic Table Art: Lion Fish

Walking around the marina, we saw other pieces of art as well. 

Ornate bird bath

We picked one very cold and windy day to go to Blackfin. The wind was the main reason I did not want to go by bicycle.

Waves kicking up in the wind

The marina has this ridiculously large chair by the beach.  I felt like Lily Tomlin's "Edith Ann" sitting in it. After I slid backwards into the seat, I wondered if I would be able to climb out again. Every wiggle forward had me sliding back into the chair once more! A helping hand from John got me out.

John and Susan - "Nuclear Fishin"

Not easy to get in or out of this chair

Just call me "Edith Ann"!

Views at Blackfin Marina and Resort ...

Strong wind blowing the palm trees

Banana Bay Resort just west of Blackfin

No idea what was so interesting in the water!

We stood and talked to John and Susan in the parking lot for a long while before heading back to Marlin Bay. As we stood there, we seemed to collect more and more people. We met a few other folks that were also staying in either rooms or an apartment at the resort. Blackfin definitely feels more like a community than a motel. Everyone seemed well acquainted with the other residents. 

As we stood having what I referred to as a "parking lot party", a woman walked by with a fishing pole wearing shorts and a thin shirt. On her way by, she mentioned that it was a "bit nippy". I told her "... it only gets worse!" The closer to the water, the less wind protection. About 5 minutes later she walked back the other way, "Too cold for me!" she said.

The Hurricane Restaurant has been closed for a couple of years, but the owner of the resort has the back, outdoor area set up for use by folks staying at the resort. Susan and John told us that a group of them went there to watch football playoffs to make it a community event.

We arrived at Blackfin at 1:00 and arrived back at Marlin Bay at 3:00. Other than my brief stint in the "Edith Ann" chair, I had been either walking or, mostly, standing for those two hours. I should have brought water with me. By the time I got back to the boat, I felt washed out. A couple of glasses of water and a short lie down and I was fine. 

Clark was a bit confused and thought the Chili cookoff was occurring at Faro Blanco today. He was disappointed that I "collapsed" after our Blackfin visit. Since I had not seen any news about a Chili Cookoff, he pulled out his phone to show me the Facebook post. "Look", he said, "it says 4:00 to 6:00." "Look", I said, "It also says January 30th!" 

By 4:30 I felt fine, and so we decided to walk to Faro Blanco anyway just to see who was around for docktails. A few folks were there at docktails when we arrived at 5:15. We learned that one couple we saw has sold their boat and are returning to Chattanooga and won't be back for at least another year or so. It was very fortuitous that we decided to make the walk.

When we returned to the boat just around sunset, the winds had picked up and were reportedly around 21 mph. All told we walked about 5 miles today. Blackfin was just under a mile away and Faro Blanco is about 1.5 miles away. It might have been faster to bike to Faro Blanco, but I was not willing to deal with the wind.

25 January 2022 - Tuesday; Happy Birthday to me!

I have been whining for weeks that we only ever eat on the boat. Since I do all the cooking, it gets very tedious. I remember a few days back saying I wanted to eat out, and Clark reminded me that we planned to eat out on my birthday. "But that's 10 days away!" I moaned. 

Today, being Tuesday, Sandy came and picked me up for what has become our weekly trip to Duck Key to check out the farmer's market there. The first couple of times we went, we found a bread vendor that we liked. I liked the multi-grain bread, and Sandy liked the pastries. The last two times we went, that vendor was not there. Another vendor that sold smoked fish has not appeared recently either. Even so there are a lot of vendors with good offerings.

Anyway, on our outing to the market, I mentioned to Sandy that today was my birthday, and Clark and I planned to go out to eat. I asked if she and Bill would like to join us. She replied with a very enthusiastic yes. Clark and I planned to go to Key's Fisheries since it is close by.

Keys Fisheries Billboard - a different name every year

However, Sandy had other ideas. Since she has a car, she is not constrained by distance. She suggested we go to Boondocks Grille and Draft House for lunch. It is located almost 30 miles away at Ramrod Key and not some place we are likely to bike to. Clark had the grouper platter, and I had the lightly-blackened yellowtail fish dinner. The food was heavenly! 

Watchout ....
"Unattended Children will be used as 
Shark Bait"

After lunch, Sandy drove us around the area a little to show us places we could get to if we came here by dinghy. As we turned down one street, we found a flock of birds standing in protest. They refused to give way until Sandy practically drove over them. We did not hear any crunches or splats, so apparently they eventually must have moved out of the way.

These Ibis were too stubborn to move!

Once we headed back to Marathon, we saw something that Sandy and Bill had told us about previously. A man was standing on the outside of a helicopter working on the electrical wires. 

Helicopter repair work for the power lines

Looking closely at the helicopter, one can see a man standing on the landing gear while working on the pole. No amount of money would get me to take this job!

Look close ... See the man leaning over the pole!

We got back to the boat just before 3:00 when my son said he would be available to video chat for my birthday. Usually the kids monopolize the call. This afternoon, since they were in school, I got a nice long talk with my son for a change.

After the call, Clark and I decided to go for a walk around the marina. Truth be told, we did not do too much walking. We got to the other side of the marina and found folks to talk to - Mike and Mary on "Manitou". These are the folks who started out on our dinghy trip with us and then bailed out due to rocky seas. We did not really meet them at that time as we were socially distanced by our dinghies. 

As we sat and talked with them, the sun went down. Clark was paying enough attention to grab a sunset picture for tonight.

As part of the birthday "package", I no only got to eat out for lunch, but Clark made pancakes for dinner. Well, I did mix up the pancake mix and I did make the blueberry syrup he likes, but he did actually do the cooking of the pancakes! 

Later that evening, my Idaho grandchildren called me for a video chat. We had a lovely time on the call.

All told it was a wonderful day.

26 January 2022

After several days of sweaters and jeans, it was a great surprise to wake up this morning and need shorts and a t-shirt. Clark saw our boat neighbor, Trisha, from "Journey" swimming laps in the pool and decided to join her. That gave me a whole hour on the boat alone to do whatever I wanted. 

I decided that what I wanted was a cleaner boat, so I pulled out the vacuum cleaner first and then a bucket of water second. I noticed the last time we went out that the steering wheel for the upper helm was speckled with rust spots. A bit of Barkeeper's Friend and a little elbow grease do wonders to remove the spots and bring a nice shine to the metal. 

After cleaning the steering wheel, I moved on to the handrail behind the upper helm. This area is normally blocked by the kayak that we store here. Clark has the kayak on the swim platform for quick access right now, so I had clear access to get busy scrubbing.  I was happy with the results when I finished. Just as I was ready to put my cleaning items away, Clark appeared having swum 16 laps in the pool.

Having done my chores, I spent the rest of the day reading or doing word puzzles. AARP has several games I like. Codewords is great. The Daily Crossword Puzzle is very easy, so I do that based on seeing how fast I can solve it. I find the Daily American Crossword puzzle challenging and have not yet been able to solve any puzzle completely. Some days are worse than others! Also, along with lots of other folks, I recently discovered Wordle and have been doing that on a daily basis as well. I justify my addictions saying that it keeps my mind sharp!

Clark did yet more polishing on the boat. Will he ever finish? Around 6:00 I heard him say there was a nice sunset, but he says that all the time. Too bad I did not get up to look as I learned later it was a spectacular sunset. I wish he would pick his words more carefully.

27 January 2022

Today has been an interesting weather day. This morning when we woke and walked up to the head, we had fog. 

View from boat at 9:00

With temps in the 70s and the heavy mist, Clark had a tough decision - to swim or not to swim. He decided to take his swim bag with him and decide when he got up there. Since Trisha was just getting into the pool that helped sway his decision, and he dove in. 

After lunch, Clark pulled out the polisher and went to work on the hull yet again. As we worked on the boat, the sun eventually came out in full force. 

Same picture as above around 2:00

The polishing has not been going as well as he would like. When he quit today, he was dissatisfied with the results and said he may have to do a section again. All I can do is shake my head. It is so much work!

Around 3:00 Clark looked out the window and said, "Hey look at the fog!" Yep, it came back again. 

3:00: Fog returned - thicker this time!

Our friends on "Bagus" invited us to join them for pizza from "Upper Crust Pizza" for dinner tonight. The restaurant does not have outside dining, so Clark wants to do takeout. We have not tried their pizza before, and we thought it would be nice to know a place where we can do takeout if desired.

The plan ...

Anette said we would get together at 5:30 to check out the menu and call in an order then walk down the street to pick it up and bring it back to the boat. 

Since that will be later today, at the time of publishing this blog entry, I do not know how we fared!

Stay tuned ...