Marine Stadium - Last day

Miami skyline

One of the attractions of the Marine Stadium anchorage is the view of Miami at night. It's all lit up with multi-colored lights of the tall buildings (I hesitate to call them skyscrapers as compared to New York City, the home of real skyscrapers). So as the night sky darkens, the lights of Miami come out.

The wind blew all day around 15 to 20 kts with higher gusts but all of that is supposed to go away by tonight with winds of only 5 kts or so for Saturday. For us that's a good day to go up the coast to Ft Lauderdale. We go outside here due to a 55 ft bridge in Miami, the lowest bridge on the Atlantic ICW. Why they were allowed to put in a bridge that's lower than the 65 ft standard for the ICW I'll never know.

At night, the lights are stunning

We also have to pass by President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach Florida. We are on schedule to get by before the visit of the Chinese president, Xi on April 6 and 7. The ICW is usually either closed off or severely restricted whenever President Trump is present. So for Saturday we are aiming for Ft Lauderdale and the mooring field by the Los Olas Marina.

Marine Stadium - Iguana hunting

Miami from the Marine Stadium anchorage

Marine Stadium is the home to a lot of wildlife. Iguanas are one of the most obvious residents. They like to sun themselves in the trees lining the anchorage, especially on the north side. When we take a tour of the perimeter we will typically see 1/2 dozen iguanas but today we only saw one. We do much better when we have young eyes aboard (like Sarah). She's great at spotting things we would never see.

Lots of advice being given here

The anchorage seems to have more derelict boats this time around. Such boats are noted for no sails and a weathered side with lots of stuff on the bottom. We guess that some are used as cheap housing at night and some have just been abandoned. It's cheaper to abandon a boat than pay for scrapping it. Still, I like the anchorage since there is so much room and protection from the prevailing easterlies.

Can you see the iguana?

There's a dry storage marine on the southern shore by the entrance where you can pick up ice which I did today. We also had the evening entertainment form the boat clubs with crews out in 1 man, 4 man and 8 man sculls. We also saw a many person dragon boat where everyone had one paddle which they used like crazy.

He was right in the center of the picture, see his tail.

We'll be here one more day and now we plan on leaving Saturday for Ft Lauderdale since the weather is predicted to be perfect for going north.

Marine Stadium - at anchor

Our sunrise over the Gulf Stream

I took Hoolie into shore before sunrise in order to get a good start and saw a great sunrise on the way  back. The Gulf Stream is just off shore along the Keys and it seems to encourage clouds that hang over the warmer waters of the stream. It makes for great sunrises.

Taking Hoolie ashore is easy with the sandy beach

Marine Stadium anchorage area

We had a repeat of yesterday's good weather for traveling and made the Marine Stadium anchorage by 3:00 pm. This is one of our favorite anchorages. There is plenty of room for lots of boats, a welcomed relief from Marathon. It has a great view of the Miami skyline at night and it's protected from all directions, especially if you get all the way in. The depths are from 8 to 10 ft and the holding is good.

A fun area to walk around

I read that Florida passed a local anchoring ordnance covering Miami and anchoring is okay in Marine Stadium but there's a seven day limit. Of course you can't anchor at all during the annual Miami boat show. There's shore access on the northern side with a walkway for running and exploring the area with Hoolie. We passed by NoName Harbor on the way and it looked like a reply of Marathon as far as boats being too close together. We'll stick with Marine Stadium.

Rodriguez Key - at anchor

We got an early start so I saw the sunrise for a change at Marathon

We left Marathon around 7:45 and made Rodriguez Key by 3:00 pm. We noticed that we've lost some speed off our usual 7.3 kts, down to 6.8 kts coming out of Marathon. We had our bottom scrubbed at Key West and we made our usual 7.3 kts from Key West to Marathon but not today. There was nothing obvious on the rudder or prop so I can only guess that we must have had some rapid marine growth at a mooring in Marathon. I'll have the bottom looked at again in Titusville.

Rodriguez Key has a free, public boat ramp for use by cruisers and others

The wind is predicted to be less than 10 kts all night long so even though the wind is blowing right into the anchorage, at 10 kts it's not a problem. There is very little current so the wind does the pointing, no waves hitting you on the beam which would cause rocking from side to side. There are about a dozen boats here with us but the anchorage is so big that the nearest one is over a mile away. That's what I like the best about this anchorage, lots of room!

And, of course, our evening sunset!

With the same forecast for Wednesday as for Tuesday, we're headed for Marine Stadium in Miami for a few days. It's one of our favorite anchorages with a great view of Miami at night and entertainment during the day from the Miami boat club with Olympic style sailing practice. There's also shore access on the norther shore for our morning walk and lots of marine life around.

Marathon - Last day, things fail on a boat

Marathon has a garden maintained by boaters by the clubhouse with free spice plants

A boat receives a lot of stress, especially if you sail it 9 months of the year. As such, things fail on a boat and need to be replaced. So far I've replaced my genset (switching out a Panda 4.2 kw for a Kohler 6.0 ks), my air-conditioning unit in the main cabin, the refrigerator/freezer compressor, the fresh water supply pump, the anchor washdown pump, two maceraters (one for each head), a transmission, the windlass motor,  a rear oil seal on the main engine, one hatch (it got caught on a jib line), had the jib repaired, had the main sail repaired, sanitation hoses (what a job!), forward head, starboard side electrical wiring, switched all lights to LEDs, pumpout valves, the wind indicator atop the mast, had the wind vane head display repaired, replaced the radome, repaired the radar display, replaced the autopilot display, replaced the VHF, replaced the three 4D batteries twice, installed two echo chargers for the starter batteries, replaced vinyl windows in the cockpit dodger, replaced air lift on engine door, replaced the dinghy motor, and installed an all-around cockpit enclosure. All this happened in bits and pieces over 12 years. So don't think that once you buy a boat you can just sit back and enjoy the ride without some investment in time and money. Of course, all the while you're changing the oil and replacing the oil filter and impeller and fuel filters and zinc (main engine and genset), polishing the hull, painting the bottom and finishing the teak plus a few other things I didn't think to mention. A boat is not maintenance free!

However, cruising in a boat is a load of fun! You just have to be handy in doing things yourself as much as possible. While cruising you have lots of time to think up things you want to do to improve the boat, the to do list grows and grows.

Our last sunset in Marathon

The weather forecast is holding and it appears we will have two calm days for the trip east to Marine Stadium by Miami. We still plan on overnighting at Rodriguez Key on Tuesday and head out the next morning for Marine Stadium. You can follow our progress on the blog by clicking on "Follow Fleetwing on Google Maps" at the left in the blog to bring up our position transmitted via satellite updated every 6 minutes. I hope the weather doesn't change.

Marathon - A harbor tour and we find another Beneteau 423

There is a new marina going in at the far end of the canal next to Publix. Not much here yet

Abiding our time today. We took a harbor tour this afternoon. The mooring field now has at least 7 open moorings. Boaters are finally starting to leave in force. We paid for a week's stay but we'll probably leave on Tuesday for the Rodriguez Key anchorage. The forecast is for light winds under 10 kts for the next two days, ideal for us. We wouldn't mind winds from the south at higher velocities but it's rare to get what you want.

I always stop by to see a fellow boater in a Beneteau 423

Even though there are a few empty moorings, the place is still full of boats. You are only supposed to anchor in designated anchorage areas but there seems to  be a lot of boats that don't follow the guidelines, many of which I've recognized from years past. I don't think they've moved in all that time. Regardless, we follow the anchoring rules (you don't want a knock on your hull at 11:00 pm from the local police boat that you have to move). That happened to us one time when we anchored in Cape May out of the channel but when the wind changed at night, we found ourselves swinging out into the channel and the local Coast Guard which has a station in Cape May shined a light into our ports at a late hour saying we had to move. That was our first trip south and the experience stayed with us.

We like our sunsets

The whole Marathon area is a rabbit warren of canals. Some are big enough to anchor in but the Marathon rule is that you cannot anchor in a man-made canal. I don't know the logic of that but the local police with ask you to move if you do. For this visit it wasn't a problem since we took an open mooring the first day of our arrival.

Provided the forecast doesn't change, we're out of here Tuesday morning.

Marathon - Dinner at Key Fisheries

Keys Fisheries in Marathon, a local favorite

The winds continue to abate and the weather remains warm with highs around 80. The Tuesday/Wednesday days still look best for going east to Miami so we're abiding our time here. For the first time today we saw an empty mooring go unclaimed. People are finally leaving, some to the Bahamas according to those we talk to.

Actually, not a bad view of the sunset from here

In the meantime, we took the opportunity to have a night out at Key Fisheries, a local favorite with a big menu of fish dishes. Ann had the grouper sandwich and had the tuna version. I think the grouper as a sandwich was the better choice of the two. Actually the best part of the meal was the appetizer, excellent conch fritters. The serving was plenty for two people and the price was very reasonable for the keys. Take a look at the menu

Can't beat the view off the back of  Fleetwing

With the clouds parting more each day, the sunsets are starting to equal what we expect of the keys. They still have a ways to go yet but still not bad.

Marathon - High winds and I finally get the impeller into the genset

Marathon, nice and warm but windy

The winds came up last night to 20 to 25 kts and continued all day long. Marathon is such a protected harbor that all we felt was the wind, no wave action. The first order of business today was to get the genset working. I got a call from the Volvo dealer in the northeast, Brian McDonnell of the dealership with the same name (he had been reading the blog), and he gave a few suggestions that proved valuable. As you know from previous posts, the problem is that the half moon shaped key sits in a slot on the shaft, rounded side down. Any pushing of that key will cause it to slide up in back and block the impeller insertion. While trying to compress all the vanes manually, it's very hard to exactly mate the key and slot without nudging the key. I have a pump on the Volvo that does not use a key, it has splines that mate to the impeller. You can push it on any which way and there's no problem, takes 5 minutes.

Wrapped tight

Brian advised to take a tie wrap and run it around the impeller to compress the vanes so you're not fighting the vanes for alignment. The tie wrap keeps the vanes away from the sides of the pump so all you have to worry about is the impeller to shaft alignment. Well, it worked like a dream. I got the impeller in on the first try so now I have a working genset. It's an important piece of equipment on a boat that spends a lot of time at anchor going north. A general cheer went up from Fleetwing when the impeller finally gave in to the latest technique.

Almost a good sunset, getting better

For the next few days I don't think anyone is leaving. There's a small craft advisory out until Monday night but on Tuesday the weather is supposed to break and if it does (we don't always believe these reports anymore...) we'll take off for Rodriguez Key and then Marine Stadium by Miami the next day for a few days.

Marathon - at a mooring, storm coming

The Marathon "Wall of Books". It's got to be the biggest one anywhere

In looking over the weather forecast for the next few day, we decided on leaving today to avoid three days of high winds out of the east.It was sad to leave Key West, especially with another three days of dock time paid for on a monthly basis but if there's one thing we've learned in cruising, it's that you leave when the weather says so, not when you want to leave. An extra day at Key West would have cost more than a week at Marathon on a mooring.

Got Hoolie ashore, got to rush back to the boat before the storm!

So we left by 7:30 and got into Marathon by 2:00 pm. The predicted high winds did not materialize until 7:30 tonight. The trip east was just a perfect day. The only thing better would have been if we could have sailed but the winds this time of the year almost always has an easterly component. With the front coming through, the winds are dead out of the east, the direction we need to go towards to reach Miami. It looks like Tuesday is the next window for heading back so we'll sit here until the weather cooperates.

We were somewhat surprised that Marathon now has moorings available. We got one without a wait at 2:00 pm today although we heard that those arriving after we did had to go on a waiting list. The list is not long, 1 or 2 at most but you have to spend a night a anchor in the meantime. We have no problem anchoring, it's the other boats that can be a problem. We do not drag with our 70 lb Spade anchor and 60 ft of 3/8 BBB chain but we were smacked by a boat in front of us after a wind change the last time we were here in the fall. With that we're happy with a mooring and not have to worry about other boats' ground tackle.

I received some advice from Brian McDonnell on how to install that reluctant impeller which I'll try out on Friday. Why anyone would continue to manufacture such an unforgiving design is beyond me except perhaps to make a kickback in service fees. I'm game for one more try.

Key West - Last day, party at Harry's

Harry is retired from the Navy and gets a great selection of vacation spots as a retired service member

It was another day of fighting with the genset. The only thing left is to insert the new impeller into the raw water pump (the cooling pump). Normally that's a five minute job, no problem. However, the design of this particular pump involves a loose key in a groove in the pump shaft that the impeller must slide over without disturbing the loose key (a piece of metal shaped like a half moon). Try as I may, I could not get the impeller past the point of first contact with the key. It should mate with the slot in the impeller but the pump wanted nothing to do with that impeller! I have another raw water pump with an impeller on the main diesel, a Volvo D2-55. It involves no loose key and I can change that impeller in about five minutes. So for the future when anchoring, we are without the services of a genset, at least until I can try again.

Their RV is much bigger than our 42 ft sailboat

The rest of the day was spent getting ready for our early morning departure for Marathon. I called the city marina and got the good news that the waiting list is only 1 or 2 boats long. Last year at this time the list numbered 35 boats! Looking at the weather we have an 8 hour window starting Thursday morning to reach Marathon before 20kts winds out of the east develop and continue for the next three days. In fact, it looks like our window for leaving Marathon won't be until next Wednesday. It's a good thing we're in no hurry.

Meanwhile, Harry, a friend from New York, invited us over for a send-off party and we had great fun with sushi from a fish he caught that day and a variety of other fish dishes which were all excellent, you can't beat fresh caught. So it will be up early Thursday and off.

Key West - Genset oil change and other stuff

This is about how I felt today

It was supposed to be a simple thing. Just change the oil and filter in the genset. The oil change was fairly straight forward with the vacuum oil pump but then things turned sour. The genset wouldn't draw raw water for cooling. Well, it's true that I hadn't changed the impeller for the last two years but then the genset only had and additional 200 hours on it since the last impeller change.

If you're ever worked on a genset you know that things can be very tight. They tend to pack as much as possible into as small space as they can. This makes for difficult servicing, especially in a cockpit locker. Well, that was my situation with a 6kw Kohler genset. The impeller location was made to challenge the resident mechanic (that's me) into contortions for even getting a good look at the pump. On my Volvo main engine, the impeller pump is located right in front as you raise the stairs, couldn't be easier. Not so for the genset where everything is nice and compact. A lot of stuff had to come off to even start to get at the impeller.

Key and keyway

The fun began when I finally got the impeller free. It had multiple vanes missing. This is not good. Where did the vanes go? The answer, right into the guts of the engine and probably blocking cooling water flow. So everything has to be taken apart. All raw water hoses were removed and the port to the heat exchanger examined. Pieces of the impeller were everywhere. When finding pieces, you then try to match them with missing sections of the impeller vanes and hopefully finding out that you've caught all the pieces. No such luck for me. Further looking found pieces in the intake of the heat exchanger, partially blocking the heat exchanger tubes. After a couple of hours of poking around with various instruments (tweezers, lobster picks, needle nose pliers, screwdrivers,...) I eventually removed the offending remains.

The impeller, obvious keyway now that I look

On installing the new impeller, I noticed that it had a groove on one side which I ignored (it was getting late). Well, that proved fatal. The groove was a keyway and I had not noticed a key fitting it from the previous impeller that had expired although it must have been there in order to operate at all (it ensures the impeller turns with the shaft).

So in starting up the genset, naturally the raw water pump didn't pump - the key was missing! Now I know that key is somewhere in the guts of the genset since it must have fallen out when I removed the old impeller but try as I may, I cannot find the wayward part. After seven hours I called it a day and I'll visit the nearest hardware store to see if I can find a key to fit, hopefully. It would be nice to have a genset on the way home.

We are now looking at leaving Key West on Thursday. It's the last day of relatively calm winds before a week of strong winds out of the east. We hope to make Marathon but we don't look forward to find an anchor spot in the crowded harbor. We would take a mooring but I seriously doubt one is available this time of the year.

Key West - Bottom Scrubbed, zinc replaced

I asked the diver, "Why do you need a wet suit, isn't the water warm enough?" He replied it's about 70 but if you spend over an hour in the water, you'll get cold

On our trip north we like to get the bottom scrubbed after sitting dormant in the Key West harbor for two months. When we first came down to Key West we were using Interlux Micron CSC ablative paint on the bottom. It served us well when we cruised in Maine and Long Island Sound. So I was very surprised when we made our first trip down the ICW to discover extreme growth of barnacles all over the bottom, some up to 1 to 2 inches in diameter after two month in Key West. I could only make 6.8 kts when I usually reached 7.3 kts at 2300 rpm, that's a lot of headway to lose on a sailboat.

Good to see, zinc is all there. Last time all I had left was the screw

I had the bottom scrubbed in Titusville and the diver recommended Petit SR60 ablative paint which I used the following year during my summer haulout at the Poughkeepsie YC in New York. The difference was night and day. I have no barnacles on the bottom but I still have it scrubbed smooth of scum to ensure I reach my usually cruising speed of 7.3 kts.

My second problem was the zinc on the prop. They didn't last very long in a marina. During my last Titusville stay of two months, the zinc disappeared completely while sitting in the marina. I have an isolation transformer installed to prevent any and all DC currents from crossing over into the boat but the zinc still disappeared. I then bought a separate zinc I could hang over the side and used an alligator clip to attached the lead to the aft mast stay. That did he trick! When I looked at the zinc the diver removed this morning, it was barely used. So I'm a believer now in attaching a zinc on a line into the water to ensure there's zinc left to protect metal components of the boat.

The spring breakers have all gone, much quieter now and less crowded

For the afternoon entertainment we walked over to listen to Barry Cuda play at Sloppy Joe's and he was good as always. It was then back to the boat to watch the sunset from the cockpit. It's not as good a view as from Mallory Square but it's much less crowded.

Key West - Mallory Square Performers

Have an absolutely fresh coconut!

Not just anyone can walk into Mallory Square and start a performance. There's a union of sorts to govern that the act you put on is worthy of Key West. Each performer has an area to his or her own and usually but not always sets up a perimeter with a rope laid on the ground. They all have a bucket out for donations which is all they get for their performance and the best ones are very good at interacting with the audience.

This guy has been here forever, have your fortune told?

So tonight I went over to Mallory Square to see the latest acts and take a few photos. The usual jugglers were there with their act on unicycles but there were a few new ones too. You can always find the fortune tellers and one has been there every year we've gone to Key West, the Tarot Card reader. We've never had our fortune read, after all, who wants to know their future?

Most of the acts occur right after sunset, this guy is practicing

So listened for awhile to some of the music and then walked home before the sunset. It amazes me the people that come in a car at 15 minutes before the sunset and expect to find a parking space, never happens!

He's just playing the drums, I donated a dollar.

The morning ritual continues to be the weather forecast with a look to the latest grib download. It's still not looking good for Sunday but everything can change by then so we're still hopeful.

Key West - Flowers of Key West and a Mallory Square sunset

Orchids are a popular flower all over Key West

Our time is starting to grow short in Key West. Our two month stay ends March 26 so we felt we had to revisit The Garden Hotel to listen to piano music and use up our wine card. Our favorite player, Jimmy Olsen, was is no long on every night but we went anyway. As it turned out, we met Jimmy on the way in and he'll be playing Tuesday night so we will be sure to come back then. Meanwhile, we had a pleasant walk to the hotel and strolled along some streets with lots of flowers

Another example along the way

Key West is tropical with never a frost so the plants are unique to the US in variety. Many of the hotels and rentals make a special effort to have attractive plantings and with the tropical climate, the flowers bloom most of the year. The viewing is as simple as just walking along the streets of Key West. It's one of our favorite things to do while here.

Over to Mallory Square for the sunset

Meanwhile we are looking at the weather report daily now, starting to get a grasp on how the winds are blowing and what's ahead for our departure date on Sunday, March 26. It's been cool down here with strong winds that usually blow out of the east, not a good direction for our return trip. The most we can hope for is winds less than 10 kts but still out of the east. A west wind would be wonderful but that's hoping for too much I think. We'll wait and watch.

Key West - St Patrick's Day

View of Key West Bight Harbor from the top of the Brewery

Every place had a special on St Patrick's Day. As you would expect, green was everywhere. The high winds and cool temperatures put a damper on roof top celebrations once the sun went down. We didn't mind that since it meant a quiet night in the marina. I'm sure the revelers moved on to Duval Street.

The pool is still going strong with second week spring breakers

We talked to our next door neighbors in the marina who are also musicians. They related that musicians in Key West are a dime a dozen. Everyone wants to come to Key West and just play music for a living so there's an oversupply. They have an Island Packet 40+ ft boat, I'm not sure of the exact size and they've been here for at least a year in their slip. Well, they got a gig at a place nearby so we went to listen. They were pretty good and since it's St Patrick's Day, they played mostly Irish music.

Our neighbors playing nearby

Meanwhile, I found a puddle of oil under the main engine, oh no I thought, not again.  After some investigation, it turned out to be not from the engine but from the transmission that I had just replaced in Titusville for $5000! However, it turned out to be the oil drain nut that had come loose, allowing the oil to drain to the crankcase. I tightened the nut this afternoon and everything should be fine. I'll refill the transmission Saturday. Yet another lesson reinforced, check your engine daily. You never know when something like that lets go. Catch it when it happens and it's simple, if not then you can face a multiple thousand dollar bill. There are a lot of things like that on a  boat. Unfortunately, we best learn from mistakes and not from advice, I mostly learn from mistakes but it doesn't have to be that way for everyone, take heed.

The local chickens can fly! Here's one roosted overhead in Schooner Wharf. Watch out!

We ended the day by returning to Schooner Wharf to listen to Skraeling play Irish music. So it was a full day, we do enjoy Key West.

Key West - Fish catch and BO's Fishwagon music

A day's catch on Too Lethal

No, I did not go out fishing, that's not my thing  but I was walking by one boat and the captain had today's catch displayed on the boardwalk so I thought I would take a photo. The boat, Too Lethal,  is not a big one but he still caught some good cooking. I may not be a fan of fishing but I sure like to eat the results and Too Lethal seems to get good results. He's located  between A & B Lobster House and the Conch Republic Seafood Company at his own dock. He charges $650 for 1/2 day or $950 for a full day.

Not a large boat but evidently the captain knows what he's doing in catching fish!

The high today was only 70 and with winds still near 20 kts, it was chilly for Key West. Thankfully, we're due for a warming trend over the next few days, it's March after all. This time last year we were running the A/C everyday!

At BO's Fishwagon, a good band to just listen to and enjoy

After dinner we took a 5 minute walk to listen to a band at BO's Fishwagon. They were playing country music with a four person band and they were quite good. That's one thing about Key West, you can always find music that you like, you just stroll around until you like the sounds you hear. Friday is St Patrick's Day and everyone has a special on. We'll visit many places to see what's best  but we'll finish up at Schooner Wharf to listen once again to Skraeling, the Irish Band we featured in a previous blog with the video of the lead musician playing the fiddle. I could listen to him all night.

Key West - We rent a car, provision and explore art galleries

Alas, only an outside view of the art gallery, no photos allowed inside

First on the agenda was renting a car from Enterprise. As advertised, they will come and pick you up which is a necessity for us. Unfortunately, the Key West office does not honor the $10/day weekend rate. I guess they don't think they need the incentive for their location and they are right. They do a booming business.

Nearby was La Te La, see the link for details

Upon returning and picking up Ann, we headed out to Publix this time. They have a few items that Winn Dixie doesn't carry but their prices average 10 to 20% higher. When we provision next week for our return trip north, we'll certainly go to Winn Dixie. The problem was in getting a parking space on the return to the marina. Key West is full, absolutely full of cars, there's no room, no extra spaces anywhere. There is a parking garage by the pool which all the spring breakers use and next door is the municipal parking garage of Key West. They used to both have the same $3/hour rate but the one next to the pool raised their rate to $4/hour. So now the municipal garage fills up first, by late morning. Unfortunately, the only garage we can use overnight is the municipal garage, overnight parking is not allowed in the one next to the pool. Given that, I sat for about 1/2 hour waiting for someone to leave and positioning myself right behind the departing car to grab the space. There were several other cars also waiting. Key West is a pain if you have a car.

Key West version of the gentlemen's club

Next was a tour of the art galleries on higher (southern) Duval Street. It's also the gay part of the street with many bars of that persuasion such as La Te Da. However, close by is the VIP Gentlemens Club so the area has all kinds.

We were interested in the art galleries along that section of Duval Street. We started at the Gingerbread Square Gallery. which Ann enjoyed. It has both oils and sculptors on display. A short walk then brought us to the Imagine Art Gallery. with many unique pieces. Next was a visit to the Lucky Street Gallery on White Street. Ann just loves to look at the various techniques and discuss the paintings with the hosts, it's like talking shop I guess among the artists. For my part, I just enjoy seeing the paintings. They are always current, not the old masters - which I also enjoy - it's just a different experience. Why go to a museum when there is such a variety nearby? Since the art is all new, it's also copyrighted so I'm not allowed to take photos, one downside.

Returning to the marina, it was once again wait time for a parking space in the municipal garage. Eventually the day trippers to the pool gave up and I got a space. I don't see how they  brave the cold weather with at temperature in the high 60's and winds of 15 to 20 kts, it's not warm, especially in a bathing suit. Hopefully, this will be the last week of the spring trippers.