marathon still.

i haven't blogged for a while.  we have been in marathon since december 26, 2014 and truly, it has been relaxing - just taking our time.  there is a joke stating that cruising is "making boat repairs in exotic places," but it is also basically doing the same thing you've always done except that you have a different view!  tom and i have both been working, me at my job and day-to-day mundane cleaning and he with writing his magazine articles and doing boat maintenance, but we also try to do something else every day not related to work.  it's all good.  we would probably save more money anchored or at a mooring rather than being at the marina but you can't beat the convenience.  it's nice to be plugged in and have climate control inside the boat.  it's nice to be connected to city water to do the laundry, dish washing, take long decadent hot showers and not have to worry too much about what is left in the water tanks.  mostly, it is about consuelo though - it's easy to get her on and off at any time without having to deal with the dinghy or looking for a convenient PFA (pet-friendly area).  she has not needed any veterinary services despite her old age - the money could have gone there, but instead it pays for the convenience of being at a marina.  she obviously did not need a college fund so we don't really feel like we are spending extra and it benefits all three of us and makes life much easier.  i guess one could think of TADHANA as a kind of chronic care dog facility.  well, no... more like a senior dog living facility :)  in any case, we are all pretty comfortable over here at the sombrero resort and marina.  

tadhana from above

along the wall

we are in the canal, on the wall right next to the condo resort building.  people staying at the resort walk by every now and then and check out the boats lining the wall.  it's a good thing we have privacy screens and blinds or they would be peering inside.  some of the tourists stop and have their photos taken with TADHANA, not realizing that we are inside watching them as they pose.  it's a hoot. 

we've seen a few iguanas here at the resort but one day as we were dinghying down sister's creek to head out to the atlantic ocean, i happened to notice something moving in the mangroves - an iguana - and after that, knowing that they were there, i would see iguanas hanging out on the branches all the time. 

our dinghy outboard had been acting up mostly because it hasn't been run full out since we left hampton on november 1, 2014.  it's been run slowly at no-wake speeds and mostly on cold days.  it hasn't been exercised and it was objecting to that by making oil and needing to be decarbonized.  the problem was that we picked up gas with ethanol and it has been sitting in the tank for a while,  so, when it isn't too windy, we are out in the dinghy in the afternoons running the heck out of it to get rid of that old fuel and making our little yamaha 9.9hp right again. 

video of dinghy ride. 

we've seen manatees in our canal.  when our neighbor washed down his boat after being out in the ocean for a sea trial, a manatee came over, lured by the fresh water spilling out from the scuppers.  one evening, while i was sitting out on the side deck, i was startled by a dolphin that surfaced from underneath TADHANA right by me!  i didn't realize that they came in here, too!  we have had our share of pelicans as well, especially since we are close to the resort's boat ramp and fish cleaning station.  nothing like free food to bring the birds in. 

manatee drinking rinse water

a WHOLE manatee

speaking of birds, one day a rooster showed up at the marina/resort property.  it was quite vocal!  the next day, we saw someone trying to catch it with a towel.  one of our neighbors donated his crab net to the chicken-catching cause and while the guy with the towel cornered the rooster, a woman used the crab net to catch the rooster.  we don't know where the rooster came from but we heard he was going to someone's chicken farm.  in any case, it was a pretty entertaining break from work to watch the catch-the-chicken show.  i especially found it amusing that the rooster was caught with a crab net from VA made of "chicken wire."  our neighbor said he kept the crab net onboard to fish his cat out just in case it fell in.

the rooster that vocalized

we do a lot of biking since we don't have a car.  tom always seems to need something from west marine and then, of course, we also always seem to need something from publix on the way home from west marine.  but at least we are getting our exercise.  the only thing is that you basically risk your life every time out there because you have to take the main road.  there is a bike path or the sidewalk but one still has to cross the cross streets.  it can be nerve wracking. we had some near misses! 

we also received some bad news from a cruising-couple friend of ours - the worst possible kind of news.  but one doesn't have to be a cruiser to know that the message here applies to all of us - that our time on this earth is not something that we have control over and that we should make the best of what we are given before it runs out.  don't put off your dreams because you don't know what tomorrow will bring.  the news shook us up pretty badly.  we are very grateful to be where we are at this point and sometimes i do think about the amount of time i spend working.  on the other hand, i have this deal i made about getting my boat sooner rather than later - TADHANA is worth every penny to me.  and this year, for the first time since we moved aboard, we are not up in deltaville in the cold and ice!  which brings me to... 

milton parks called just to chat.  tangier island got hit badly by yet another ice storm so it can't be very pleasant there right now - things are pretty much in the state of paralysis, i.e. boring.  but as much as we are enjoying the warmth here in marathon this winter, we also look forward to going back to the chesapeake.  we have missed it - the chesapeake is in our blood and we now have roots there.   

ok, next thing - our social life (such as it is).  six of the SAIL rally boats are here in marathon, either anchored or in the mooring field,  and a couple more are arriving next week.  some of us got together to celebrate a couple of birthdays and made everyone else jealous.  we finally got to the dockside tropical cafe after three weeks here and you know what?  it's still not my thing.  the food was not great and the music was way too loud.  i mentioned this to tom the next day when we got together with friends from deltaville who are staying at key largo and drove down to visit us.  did they listen to me?  no, of course not so back there we went ugh.....  worse, it was apparently karaoke night.  needless to say, we literally ate and ran hahaha...

going deaf

in any case, so there it is - life in the slow (and warm) lane.  not much to report since we're not moving.   i guess i better post the obligatory sunset photos :)