TIM PATTI RILEY BIG ADVENTURE: January 2018

Sunday, January 28, 2018

1/28/2018

We arrived Faro Blanco Resort & Yacht Club, Marathon, FL on 1/20. We ended up staying at Rose Marina 3 days due to weather. The silver lining.....we were able to get the bottom cleaned while we were there. That made for a faster run with less fuel on our trip to Marathon. We both stood the entire way to watch for the ever present crab pots. I stood on the 5.5 inch foot rest & Tim on a stool. We needed to do that to see clearly over the bow. The markers for crab pots are about the size of a grapefruit & come in different colors. Depending on the waves & the sun, some are easier to see than others. It was a long 5 hours, but we made it without mishap.

We were lucky to catch up with friends Lori & Derek on Donna Mae before they left for Fort Lauderdale to cross their wake. A good time was had by all. We miss them.

Our slip at Faro Blanco is tucked into a corner. (See pictures) It offers good protection from the almost non-stop winds (average 25 mph) we have been having. Luckily, it was not windy when we docked, as Tim had only inches to maneuver. As usual his performance was stellar. Once again, the dinghy is boxed in & we are unable to to get in the garage! A problem to be solved another day.

As with everything, there are pluses & minuses to this dock. We are on a corner, so a lot of foot traffic, which keeps Riley constantly on guard. The dock is not at an optimal level for Riley & myself. The staff was kind enough to lend us stairs. Riley will not use them. He would rather jump over the side, which he does pretty well.

We do not have 50 amp service at this dock, so we needed to use our splitter. It worked to begin with & then we had no power. Same thing happened at Rose Marina. At Rose they had to rewire the post, of course we thought it was the same problem. Turns out, it was not. Our splitter was broken. Luckily, the boat next to us had a spare. We were able to use that until Tim ordered another on line & it was delivered. It always seems to work. Someone has something you need & they are willing to share.

This Resort is part of a Hilton Complex. They deliver free ice 2x/day & deliver 2 newspapers/day. (Wall Street & USA Today). That is helpful as there is no TV service. There is a free breakfast in the hotel, which we are allowed to share in. The restaurant on site is good & offers specials. There are 2 pools.

Speaking of pools...we were sitting at one of them with the palms behind our backs, watching lizards sunning themselves. We kept hearing noise in the palms. We thought it was the wind blowing the palms. Next thing I hear is a big plop & what do my wondering eyes behold??? Two rather large lizards fell out of the tree right next to us. They sat for awhile & then went back up the tree.

The closest shopping is about 1.5 miles away. We took a cab to provision. We do walk it but not if we need to carry a lot. While walking, one can see how hard hit this area was by Irma. Much is up & running, but a lot is gone. It seems the walk north is in a little better condition.

There is a Turtle Hospital down the road. We have not visited it yet, but plan to.

SEVEN MILE BRIDGE

OUR DOCK

GOOD BYE TO DONNA MAE

VIEW FROM THE END OF THE DOCK

CHESS BOARD IN THE DOG WALK AREA
DIDN'T KNOW DOGS COULD PLAY???

PROTECTED SEA GRASS AT DOCKS

FARO BLANCO LIGHT HOUSE

LIZARD AFTER HE WENT BACK UP TREE

ALONG THE SIDEWALKS

ALWAYS NEED A SKY PICTURE!

THE SUN DID IT

PARKED IN FRONT OF TURTLE HOSPITAL

Thursday, January 18, 2018

1/18/18

We arrived Marco Island yesterday after leaving Fort Myers Beach. The Gulf was kind to us. Almost flat. One thing we did notice was a 5mph slow down. Go figure, when we can run, we can't! Think we sat too long & gathered too much on the hull. We will have it cleaned at Marathon. One other wrench: CRAB POTS!!

When we got to Marco, we found a dock at Rose Marine. Shortly after tying up the winds picked up. I do not remember wind that bad before. Tim was out checking the lines when I came out on deck. The canvas was flapping. Odd, I thought. Why would Tim unsnap it??? Turns out he did not, the wind did it. The temp went down to 37 overnight & the wind never stopped. The water slapped the hull all night. Today made it to 57, but at least it was sunny. Looks like a better day tomorrow. Hope so. We plan to leave for Marathon.

Friends Denise & Henry came to visit from the frozen north. Bill & Mo also spent a couple of days at the beach. A good time was had by all. Even if the weather did not always cooperate.

Tim refers to this trip as "chasing 80's." We may be chasing, but are not doing real well with the catching. It seems wherever we go the cold weather follows.

SAYING GOODBYE TO FMB

HORSESHOE CRAB (A RILEY FAVORITE)

TRAVELING INCOGNITO

OUR VIEW AT ROSE MARINE

SAND CASTLE FMB

Sunday, January 7, 2018

1/3/2018

Happy New Year🙌🎉

We are still in Fort Myers Beach. Our friends, Toni & Fred came for Christmas. We had a great time. Weather was beautiful. We spent every day on the beach. We met all our "Christmas Beach Friends" daily. Same people & place for the third year. They built a beer pong table on the beach & played almost non stop. It was not played with traditional rules, one did not need to drink to play. The table attracted a lot of attention. We always knew who the current champ was, as they wore the winners necklace. It was as coveted as the Survivor immunity necklace. Toni & Fred stayed at our usual place, Silver Sands. We were able to dinghy to a dock there & leave all our paraphernalia at their place for pick up before heading to the beach. A big convenience for us.

Riley loves the beach & retrieving his new toy from the water. Another favorite of his is rolling in the sand after getting out of the water. To include us in his joy, he then shakes, to get us full of sand!

New Years Eve was spent with Tim's brother, Ed & sister in law Mary Beth, her sister & husband, Jeri Ann & Roger. They came to the boat & we went to dinner at Parrot Key & back to the boat for desert & champagne (which they brought). We watched the Fort Myers Beach fire works from the boat. It was a magnificent display, which I neglected to catch in pictures.😞. New Years day found us at Jeri Ann & Rogers house in Bonita Springs. Roger is a closet celebrity chef, I think. We had the traditional pork & sauerkraut, but what stole the show was his hors d'oeuvres, once again, no pictures😟 Melt in your mouth crackers with a light spread, topped with minced green onion & minced tomato. My description does not do them justice. Sorry Roger.

Our weather has not been ideal FL since New Years. I know, nothing compared to the frozen north, but we have had to bundle up to walk Riley, no sitting on the beach & no dinghy rides. One night it went to 39 & the days have been hi 50's & low 60's, & the wind keeps howling.

Speaking of walking Riley, every morning we walk over the bridge & down to the beach & back. The wind on the bridge is especially strong, I can feel it pushing me around!

The other day we took Lee Tran to re provision. What a deal! $0.35 a piece each way. That is the senior price. Web site said we would have to show our medicare card to get the price, but the bus driver said he believed us. That is a double edged sword....thank you for believing us, but do we really look like medicare recipients???? Ok, Ill give him Tim, what with the white hair, but ME???

Yesterday seemed a little warmer, so we decided on a dinghy ride to explore the Estero Bay back channel. We were out about 2 hours. It was much colder out there than it had been sitting on the back of the boat. Lesson learned....get off the boat to check the weather.

Good news, the radar is fixed. Yea. We had someone look at it. He felt it was possible it was the wiring harness after talking to tech support. He planned to bring out a harness to test the theory, which he did & the diagnosis was made. The next step was to order a new one for installation. Tim of course kept thinking about it & checking for ground issues. He found it by retracing his steps. He created the problem to begin with.....while he was securing the anchor light, a screw perforated the cable. Tim removed the offending screw & we now have a working radar.

Now we are looking forward to our friends Denise & Henry visiting us before we move on to Marathon in the FL Keys.

Thank you to our friends Kris & Mike for the flamingo sweater & Lake Erie t-shirt.