brrrrrr!

This will be a post for the weekend, as it has been a cold, eventful weekend of weather at that.

We started out Saturday morning at the Big Pine Flea Market.  It was nice enough in the morning, but a cold front was quickly moving in.  I met another Kenny, who was braiding coconut palm stalks into baskets, hats, and such.  I wanted a new cross to hang in Marquesa.  If you remember, when we were coming down the ICW three years ago, upon arrival in Savannah, GA, marquesa34.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-love-this-town.html, I was given a cross made of palm stalks and our boat was blessed by the giver.  (If you want to relive our maiden voyage on Marquesa, follow the link.) Kenny didn't know how to make a cross, but he gave me stalks to practice on, and I found a youtube video for instructions.  I'm going to give it a go this evening, after I get laundry put up.

On the return trip back to Marathon, we passed this private yacht.  It was well over 100' and at least four stories above the water line.  You can get an idea about the size of the yacht by the size of the fishing boat in the foreground. By the sky, you can see the front was clearly moving in.  This yacht was traveling on the Atlantic side (technically, the Straights of Florida) which is to the south.  The front was blowing a cold, north wind, and had the Gulf side really kicked up. 

By the time we got back to Marquesa in the early afternoon, we were in for a serious blow.  We got extra lines and fenders put out, and we moved the dinghy up to the front of the marina where the water was more calm.  Fish n' Fun got all of their boats crossed tied, and the parasail boat turned around.  Donnie then helped them to take down the awning on the pointe.  It was already blowing a good 20-25mph, and overnight it was supposed to be 30-35mph sustained winds with gusts even higher.  The temperature dropped twenty degrees in a matter of hours, and it was supposed to get down to 50 overnight.  Needless to say, it was very bumpy on Marquesa.  Willis would come home briefly for a bite to nibble on, then he would immediately dart off the boat and head for the mangroves.  I can't say that I blamed him, I was starting to feel sick myself.

We were invited to Biddi and the Beast for dinner.  Because it was blowing so hard, neither of us could grill on our boats, so the guys went up to the picnic pavilions where there was some coverage.  Another couple, Jerry and JoAnn, joined us for dinner.  Jerry has circumnavigated the Atlantic Ocean, however it cost him a wife in the process (divorce, not overboard!)  Divorce is a reality amongst many sailors, as it is a lot of togetherness, through thick and thin.  Some relationships don't survive the elements, or each other.  I have faith in Cap'n n' me...

We had a delicious dinner of marinated porkchops, baked potatoes, and fresh sauteed asparagus.  I baked brownies for dessert, and we made hot fudge brownie delight sundaes.  It was delicious, but even though we ate in the tiki bar at the pointe, it was not weather-proof.  The wind was really cranking by this time in the evening.  I had to go dig out my mittens from underneath the seat in the Jeep.  I had fingers go numb in the Florida Keys- dang!

In spite of the wind and waves, it was a beautiful sunset.  Willis returned home, and we battened down the hatches for the night with some Redbox movies.  It was a relatively sleepless night for me.  I laid down in the salon, and Donnie slept in the Vberth.  It was bouncing around far too much for me up there, and the center of the boat seemed more stable.  

Willis also had a rough time finding a quiet (and still) place to lay down.  I don't know why he kept looking at Donnie's guitar case.  He wisely figured out that the floor of the boat in the salon was the safest bet. 

At about 3am, I peeked out, walked the dock, checked our lines, checked the rental boat's lines, and saw that Windy was working herself to death.  Because we were on shore power, the batteries were up.  She would spin wildly, then the automatic brake would stop her when the batteries were full.  This was happening repeatedly, and I was afraid it would cause a breakdown, so I woke Cap'n up to ask if I could turn off the main power switch.  After I returned to bed, I simply dozed, as the lines were stretched, creaking and squeaking. all. night. long. Cap'n said he slept like a baby.  Really???

We went to church across the street this morning, and it was a chilly 61 degrees.  The wind had abated some (down to about 15mph) and was coming more out of the N, rather than the NW.  This was good news, as we no longer had to worry about banging into the dock.  By the afternoon, it had calmed some more and was turning N/NE, so it now is blowing us off the dock, even better still. After lunch at the Hurricane, I decided to head to the pool, the wind wasn't blowing there :)

One other lady and I braved laying out by the pool even though it was only 61 degrees.  It was really comfortable and pleasant, out of the wind.  Down at the marina, it was still miserably cold.  I actually got some sun after only being out for an hour and a half.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky today.

At 2:00pm, we went over to Angler Drive.  Donnie had to practice with Bryan and Larry.  Their gig is this Thursday, and they needed to finalize their playlist.  We picked up Mom, and I did all of our laundry at Mamaw and Pap's.  We played chickenfoot, and Mom was the winner, today- her first time ever!  We had some pizza for dinner then returned to a cold boat...at least the wind is only blowing 5-10mph.  It is 57 degrees right now, so I decided to bake some banana bread to heat the cabin up.  It just came out of the oven, so it's time for a snack before bed.  G'nite, y'all!