2019 Cruise - Week 4

2019 Cruise - Week 4

Sunday, January 27, 2019 - Windy, Cold and Rain... Again... Really?

The weather is certainly stuck in an unpleasant rut. The forecast suggests that it will be windy and cold with more rain. It’s almost NJ weather. 

It’s now 1630 and guess what, no rain... yet! And it 85° so much for today’s forecast. Rain is still predicted, but it’s now forecasted to start at 2100. We’ll see!

We stayed for three hours of Joe Mama picking on the porch today. We haven’t seen him this season. He cancelled last week due to weather that was just like that predicted for today. As it turned out last week, the rain came early and was over by 0900. A lot of the boaters and friends from the motel were there. 

The rain finally made an appearance beginning at 1930. It continued intermittently for a couple hours. A strong NW wind picked up as the temperature dropped to the low 60s. The blustery NW wind had us rocking in our slip.

Monday, January 28, 2019 - Farewell Dan and Biddie!

It is windy and cold this morning and it didn’t warm up all day. The high temp didn’t make it out of the 60s. The wind was supposed to lay down, but that didn’t happen until the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

AM did the laundry and I waited with her on the patio near the laundry facilities in an attempt to get warm. I was unsuccessful, even though I was sitting in the sun. The wind, while not as strong as it was near the boat, still penetrated my sweater.

In the early evening, we joined the rest of the boaters and some of the room dwellers for a farewell celebration for Dan. He and Biddie are leaving the Marina tomorrow for their new slip at the Marathon Yacht Club. It was a grand send off with lots of well wishers.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019 - Loafs and Fishes!

Tom and Loafs and Fishes arrived a bit after 2100 hours last night, having driven about 1525 miles in 25 hours. We caught up with him this morning. In short order, L&F was readied for launch and splash, she was floating. In even less time, she was secured in Slip 2, where Tom set about making her comfortable.

No sooner than L&F was Launched, there was more excitement in the marina. Dan , Kevin and Patrick slipped Biddie and the Beast’s lines and were off to the Marathon Yacht Club. That’s their new home.

Captain and crew returned after the short trip. The crew went about the tasks for the day, while Dan gathered up some belongings and picked up Biddie who was waiting for his return.

I talked to Dean Nickless (Nickless Custom Guitars) by phone about setting up my Martin LXME. The action is a bit high and it has been getting harder to play. I took it to him and he offered to do the set up while we waited. He was a delight to talk to and after almost an hour, he finished the set up. He took some relief out of the neck and shaved down the saddle. He did the latter task in two steps. Having played it after his first attempt, we agreed that there was enough material to lower it more. He said the strings were mediums (the store said they were extra lights). I have a spare set of extra lights in the bag. I’ll use them on one of my other guitars and will get a set of mediums for this one. Oh, the guitar plays wonderfully now and it is in tune when use the capo, probably a benefit the the adjusted neck. Dean invited us back to his house tomorrow evening for a house concert. He is having a Bluegrass Band perform.

In the evening we went to see “The Beatles on Sullivan.” It is a documentary made by a local Marathon man. It’s community week at the Cinema. Each night features a movie with a local connection. A couple day ago was a movie about the Turtle Hospital. 

Wednesday, January 30, 2019 Nu Blu at a House Concert!

Dean Nickless, the luthier who did the set up on my little Martin guitar, invited us to a house concert today. We arrived at about 1815 with a desert to share. Other folks shared salads, chips, salsa, deviled eggs, and myriad other dishes. 

At 1900, Nu Blu ( http://www.nu-blu.com )took the stage. Yes, Dean has a stage in his yard complete with theatrical lighting. It was very cool. The band played for about two hours with one intermission that allowed for a meet and greet of sorts and for the band to sell CDs and give autographs. 

They have performed with A-list folks including Dave (from Sam and Dave) and Jimmy Fortune (Statler Brothers).They do a TV show, Bluegrass Ridge, that reaches 60,000,000 people.

Thanks Dean, we enjoyed the evening! 

Thursday, January 31, 2019     Grilling Time!

This afternoon, we walked to the Keys Fishery to purchase some fresh off the boat fish fillets. We selected Hog Fish ($21.00/lb). The fillets we selected weighed in a a tad less than 1/2 pound. Hog fish is dense with a delicate taste. We prepared it with a drip of EVOO, sea salt and pepper, a slice of garlic, a couple slices of onion and a slice of lime on each. Corn-on-the-cob, with butter, salt, pepper and a sprinkle of Parmigiana cheese made one of the veggies. The other was a simple cucumber salad. We wrapper the fish and corn in packets of aluminum foil and put the on the grill for 13 minutes and medium high heat, turning the corn every five minutes. The meal was fantastic!

After viewing the sunset, we walked the the community theater for tonight’s rendition of Drinking Habits. The play featured a lot of laughs. The announcer said it was the most attended second show of the season in the history of the theater. We enjoyed it.

Friday, February 1, 2019     The Kennedy’s!

The day started sunny and warm and remained so. The high temperature reached into the low 80s and the low was in the mid 70s. The wind was 10 knots or less out of the ENE. AM began the day with Yoga and I cleaned the orange box that holds our flammable items, alcohol, butane and propane.

We had the $5.00 lunch special with the Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) and met a bunch of sailors and trawlerers. 

In the evening we walked to the library with Tom to see the Kennedy’s perform. It was very enjoyable. Pete Kennedy added a lap steel guitar and a ukulele to his repertoire. On the way back home, we stopped at Upper Crust for pizza. It was delicious. The Upper Crust never disappoints.

On a sad note, we bumped in to a very distraught Carol Kramer. She just received news that a very close, lifelong friend had just passed away. She and Gary were making arrangements to head home to support the family of the deceased. They hope to be back by next Thursday.

Saturday, February 2, 2019     The Pigeon Key Arts Festival - A Big Show for a Little Island!

It’s hot (85° with a real feel of 92°) today and cool (mid 60s) overnight. We did the almost daily walk to Publix and stopped at the newly renovated and just opened today Wendy’s. It took them a long time to recover from Irma.

At about 1600, Tom, AM and I walked to the Community Park for the Pigeon Key Arts Festival. We had just enough time to tour the booths and get a bite to eat before the auction and Chain Reaction, a Journey tribute band. They changed the auction from a public bidding event to a silent auction. The Art seemed as overvalued as last year and there were minimum bids that weren’t met, meaning some of the pieces were not sold.

Journey had some good songs in their day, but they weren’t one of my favorite bands. Chain Reaction did a good job of recreating their sound.