Indiantown Marina Party Posse (aka How NOT to Get Any Work Done!)

As you may recall, on our first night back at Indiantown back in November, we went to a catered dinner that had been provided by the marina. We’d met Ellen on Tickety Boo last spring and she’d seen us hanging out by ourselves that night, so had come over to welcome us back. She brought us over to the group of people at the table where she’d been sitting and a round of introductions were made. And just like that, the seeds were planted for some great friendships and camaraderie that would soon come to be known as the Indiantown Marina Party Posse. The cast of characters was in a constant state of flux depending on what boats and people happened to be at the marina at any given time. The core group during our time as members of this fun loving posse included Ellen (s/v Tickety Boo), Greg & Duwan (s/v Blue Wing), Bruce & Michele (s/v Wind Spirit), Doug & Tina (s/v Amazed), Ted & Sandy (s/v Ragtime Gal), Scott & Andrea (s/v Circuitous), David & Jolie (s/v Okwa Naholo), Alice (s/v Nostromo), Jason & Angela (s/v Faith), and José and Bill (former cruisers). I sure hope I’m not forgetting anyone!

The very next day we were invited to what would become the first of many taco Tuesdays spent with varying members of this group. Indiantown is a small, predominantly Mexican and Guatemalan community, with many of the local businesses run by and catering to this demographic. JR’s BBQ is no exception. Every Tuesday their happy hour specials include $1 tacos, $2 tostadas and $1.50 draft beers. Being the frugal sailboat owners that we all are, we spent many a Tuesday from 4-6pm eating an early dinner and socializing as we all wound down from a day of whatever projects we happened to be working on back at the boatyard. On occasion, instead of heading to JR’s on Tuesdays, the non-vegan/vegetarian members of the group would change it up a bit and head there for wing Wednesday and munch on 70 cent wings instead. Our tab was a little higher these nights, but our taste buds were usually happier. JR’s is an interesting place. It’s a restaurant. It’s a bar. It’s a cruiser hang out (mainly during happy hour). It’s also where the locals hang out. And, it’s connected to a Mexican mini-market and a gas station. Walking from the restaurant into the market (there’s a door inside that connects the two) feels kind of like walking right into a store in Mexico (and I can say this because I spent a year of my childhood in Mexico). They even had piñatas hanging from the ceiling! Can’t get much more authentic than that!

Several of the female posse members are also members of a Facebook group known as Women Who Sail (WWS) and had organized a WWS get together at the marina which took place a few days later. A total of 12 ladies showed up and we all hung out for the next few hours enjoying appetizers, drinks and great conversation (spanning a wide range of topics!). Jim had just gotten our propane tank hooked back up for the season and made some quesadillas for me to take (I sure do love that man!). We also had cheeses, crackers, spicy pretzels, and bacon wrapped dates, just to name a few of the other goodies. Tina brought some amazing sangria she’d made and Duwan managed to wrangle up a blender and kept the margaritas flowing! Is it any wonder we weren’t getting a lot of work done yet?!?

Fast forward a couple of weeks and New Year’s Eve was quickly approaching. Living up to the “party” part of the name, this group got to work planning an epic New Year’s Eve at the marina involving a progressive boat/trailer crawl. The idea was that the group would travel from boat to boat (and one trailer!) and at each stop would be provided with snacks and a drink, as well as have a chance to check out everyone else’s boats. Unfortunately, we already had plans to spend New Year’s Eve with friends who had recently moved to the Miami area, so we weren’t able to partake in the infamous boat crawl. This may have been a good thing…we heard that we missed out on quite the smorgasbord of alcohol (coffee with Baileys, Bloody Marys, hot chocolate with peppermint Schnapps, sangria, champagne, and Moscow Mules). Not to worry though…I indulged in copious amounts of Prosecco and Jim, beer. Much better, right?!?

A week later (this group couldn’t seem to go more than a week without some sort of planned activity!) Sandy posted a picture of a low-country boil to the Indiantown Marina Party Posse group Messenger chat, and this quickly evolved into an event which took place a couple of days later. I made a chocolate/pretzel/peanut butter dessert to share and we also contributed about 1.5 pounds of mahi that we’d caught in the spring as well as two pounds of shrimp we’d picked up at Costco while out provisioning. The group gathered on the marina patio around 5pm. A couple of big pots were loaded up with veggies (corn, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, onions), and Old Bay seasoning on the marina’s grills. One pot held the veggie version (which also had green beans thrown in at the end), and the other pot had a few varieties of sausage as well. Once the veggies were cooked, the Mahi and shrimp were thrown in and a couple of minutes later the imaginary dinner bell rang! Others had also brought garlic bread, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, red beans and rice, cheese and crackers and a couple of dessert options. There must’ve been around 25 or more of us gathered for this feast. While the food was cooking, several of the guys gathered with their instruments and entertained us with music and song. Unfortunately, the rain rolled in around 9pm and the party quickly dissipated (with the exception of a few of us diehards who went to the screened in area to watch the BCS championship game).

And then…fish tacos. Who doesn’t love fish tacos, right?!? When we found out that a couple of party posse members had never had fish tacos, we knew this must be remedied! And besides, a few members were going to be leaving us soon, so we needed a farewell party, right? And thus, the fish taco party was conceived. Our contribution this time was a pot of rice and a big ol’ pot of sweet and spicy black beans. Only the jalapeños we’d bought apparently weren’t very spicy, so the beans were lacking a bit in the spicy department. Still good – just not very spicy. Scott and Andrea bought heaps of fish (Mahi and tilapia) and grilled it up. Everyone else brought taco fixings, chips, dips, other sides, desserts and drinks. Sandy even made homemade vanilla ice cream! There were 20 of us there this night, but we still ended up with so many leftovers that we decided we’d all get back together for lunch the next day and do it all over again! Can’t say this group doesn’t know how to party!

It really doesn’t take much to get a party going either. Someone casually mentions that their hubby’s going to be gone for a day and all of a sudden plans are being made for a “girl’s afternoon” out! Only it really isn’t “out”…it’s just an excuse to drink chocolate wine and eat brie (and Tina’s homemade, albeit fugly, toffee!) in the middle of the afternoon with a bunch of great ladies! I tried very hard to resist the temptation to join in. After all, we really did want to get all of our “boat jobs” done and get to the Bahamas sometime soon! I steered clear of the party for a little while, but…homemade toffee…so I eventually gave in and joined the fun! Besides, Greg and Duwan were going to be leaving in the morning on their van escapade, so it would be rude for me not to…right?!?

We were now within a few days of taking off ourselves and a few peeps had expressed an interest in seeing the inside of our boat, so we invited them over for snacks and drinks one evening and now we know that 12 people in our cockpit at the same time is probably the limit! The day before this gathering we harvested nine coconuts and figured we’d get about a pint of water from each. We ended up with a gallon total after some inevitable spillage. Jim used the coconut water to make one of our favorite boat drinks where we mix coconut water, rum and sweetened condensed milk and then grate fresh nutmeg on top. It tastes somewhat like a very light, refreshing version of egg nog and got rave reviews from the party posse! Two of the coconuts we’d drained were also full of meaty goodness, so I cleaned and grated them and used the fresh coconut to make coconut macaroons, which ended up going surprisingly well with our drinks. We also made jalapeño poppers. Remember the jalapeños we’d bought for the sweet and spicy beans that ended up being not very spicy? Well…we didn’t have that problem this time around. These jalapeños packed some heat!

And a few days later, we were finally ready to get moving. We backed off the floating dock we were on, turned around and headed towards the fuel dock. Much to our surprise, most of the party posse was standing there waiting to see us off! The vast majority we’d just met at some point in the past two months, but this is a special group of people we will always call friends. We had to go past the fuel dock and turn around so that we could dock into the wind, and there was maybe 45 feet of dock space between two boats into which I had to guide our 36 feet of boat (plus the dinghy we were towing behind us). Having so many of our friends watching made me incredibly nervous, but we docked without incident. Got our diesel and said our good-byes. Super bummed we didn’t think to take any pictures! Also bummed that two of our friends weren’t at the marina that morning, so we never got to say good-bye. A bit later though, as we were motoring down the Okechobee Waterway, I saw two women who’d pulled their car off to the side of the road looking at us…one waves…I wave back…the other one waves…I wave back…they both start REALLY waving…I’m like huh…these ladies are really excited to see us here, I’ll wave some more. Well wait a friggin’ minute…that’s Michele and Jo, the two who hadn’t been around that morning! I guess we got to say good-bye after all.

Even though we are no longer at Indiantown, I’m still a part of the Facebook Messenger group affectionately known as the Indiantown Marina Party Posse. I should probably remove myself from the group since we’re not around to participate anymore, but I just can’t seem to do it. I mean, if I did, how would I ever hear about such wonderful events as Spamaggedon, the canned meat cook-off held by this group of crazy, fun-loving, boat obsessed friends? I’m sure they waited for us to leave before planning this one though…Jim makes some killer dinners with canned chicken!