040: Marathon Part 4: Maintenance, Manatees, Mermaids, Mustangs and Moving On

For the last few days in Marathon, Nancy and her sister Patty drove up to visit their sister Susan in Ocala, Fl.   Their visit included a trip to see something they have “wanted to see since 1965,”, the Mermaids of Weeki Wachee State Park.   The show started in 1947, and apparently was a “must see” stop on trips to Florida back in the day.   Still going all these years later.   Nancy’s video:

 

More info:

https://weekiwachee.com/2014/10/25/mermaids-at-weeki-wachee-springs/

While Nancy was “up north,” I busied myself with fixing a burned-out cockpit light and doing two days’ worth of boat cleaning which included a rejuvenation of the hull’s ceramic coating.   In anticipation of the boat traveling through the harsher southern sun, two years ago I had the hull ceramic coated for better UV protection.   The coating needs a refresh coat periodically which involves washing the hull, then wiping it down with an isopropyl alcohol/water mixture, then applying the coating and finally a light hand buff.    A bigger job working from the dinghy as opposed to when the boat is “on the hard” on land.   Looking all shiny:

Nancy got back on Wednesday, the January 24^th and spent the morning of the 25^th provisioning for the next stage of our trip.  Nancy offered to buy me some more cigars, but I demurred because, “they are too good.”  You see, I had gone through ten cigars from La Fe Cigars in about as many days which is about 5x my normal rate of consumption.   I’m not a huge cigar guy, but one of my favorite ways to spend an hour on a winter’s evening when we had our house was to sit in the outside hot tub and smoke a cigar while listening to some music.  Twice a week from October through April was a manageable vice, daily is not.    Hopefully if we get to the Bahamas, I can enjoy a couple of Cuban cigars to scratch that itch.  

That afternoon, the crew of the Sol Maria came by for a visit and we spent the afternoon relaxing at the pool.  Nancy made frozen Pina Colada’s with a dark rum topper, and it is a good thing I only had one since they were strong.   A second one would had me launching into my rant about the stupidest number one hit song of all time: “Escape (The Pina Colada Song).”   Feel free to skip the next section if you are not fond of a good rant:

 Setting: 1979.  You have the release of Neil Young’s “Rust Never Sleeps” and Pink Floyd’s “The Wall.”  Two of the greatest albums ever.  So what song is the final Number One song of the 1970’s?    A song with this plot:  A married guy responds to a personal add from “a woman who likes pina colada’s and making love at midnight in the dunes.”   He responds to the ad by placing one of his own and they agree to meet.  And low and behold it is his wife and they reconnect and all ends happily.   Giggles all around.    Now gentle reader, my over/under on this strongly favors divorce court vs. happily ever!   (Marriage counselor question, "In x years of your relationship you NEVER discussed making love at midnight in the dunes as a desire?!?!?).

Anyhow we had a fun time but unfortunately it had to be cut short as I had my Finance class to teach that night via Zoom at 6:30 p.m. (another reason I went light on the P/C’s.)

The next morning, Nancy and I went back to the Stuffed Pig for breakfast and then I returned the rental car (Kia) and rode my folding bike back to the marina.   I got this picture of a late model Ford Mustang in the Budget lot. 

  

Why?  Well it is interesting (at least for me) to note that practically every 5^th car down here in the Keys is a late model Mustang.  The first weekend here I thought that perhaps there was a Mustang car show in town.  After counting over fourteen on a short ride up and back to Islamorada it then dawned on me that every Baby Boomer must rent a Mustang in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale for their trip down to the Keys.   You younger readers can’t imagine the impact that the Ford Mustang had in the 1960’s.   Let me give you an idea:  Taylor Swift today, had nothing on the Mustang back then.  I still remember my first ride in one circa 1968 when I my buddy Willam Ross’s sister took us to Virgina Beach for the day in her 1965 Mustang with “flower power” stickers on it.  My h/s girlfriend had one as well.    I confirmed my suspicions on the Baby Boomer Mustang rental theory with the Budget guy who said, “Oh yes, we rent a ton of Mustangs to the older crowd.”

I got so nostalgic that I chewed up way too many hours on YouTube watching old Mustang restoration and “barn find” videos.   If anyone is inclined to get me a birthday present this March, a nice 1965 Mustang Fastback K code (enhanced engine) would serve quite nicely.  I had a "Hot Wheels" white Mustang fastback, so this one would work:

 

Later that afternoon Nancy and I took a dingy ride through some of the "back water" areas around Boot Key Harbor.  This channel is thru a trailer/RV part which was eclectic, cool and funky:

The morning of Saturday the 27^th, we had to be off the dock by 11:00 a.m.   We did some last-minute laundry and showering and then took a walk over to say goodbye to a nice couple we had met (Aubrey and Terri) also doing the Loop.   Our timing was perfect as they had a Manatee behind their boat looking for a freshwater handout.   Manatees like to drink fresh water, and many boaters oblige them, but it is illegal.  It acclimates them to boaters and marinas and marina’s are not safe places for Manatees as a rule.  They are smart enough to hangout out near upturned outboard engines as it is quite common to flush your outboard with fresh water after using it in the salt water.   We didn’t want to get a 10k fine, so we followed the rules, but we did catch some nice pics and video:

 

At 10:59 a.m. KatMat and us left the dock at Marathon after a six-week stay and headed to Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park.   We had a nice slow (7 knots) twenty-eight-mile trip and we each got a mooring ball to tie up to, but arrived too late to tour the park.  That visit will have to wait for the next post.

Dave

 

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