But even still....we were back on Honey Ryder so it was good. We survived. We got some boat chores accomplished, explored some of the area and even met a few people and made a dock friend. Not bad for a long weekend.
First order of business was to fix the outboard. Tom got it running and I had my first dinghy lesson on Friday. An additional lesson on Saturday proved to be too much for the motor. It started slowing down by itself even though I had topped out. Then it started smoking. That is never good. Luckily it only smoked. A long paddle home to our slip gave us plenty of exercise for the day.
Milt from Rochester NY took pity on our melting in the heat and invited us for happy hour aboard his lovely 55 ft powerboat cruiser. Lo Kee has SIX AC units making Milt our NEW best friend. Just kidding. He is a great guy and we had a blast hanging out with him and learning all about cruising to the Abacos. Can't wait to go on Honey Ryder.
Doing boat chores of course requires many errands. We also took advantage of the rental car and buzzed St Simon Island - very kewl and Jekyll Island -neat. A return trip the following day to St Simon, the beach and a dip in the ocean was required when it got to be too hot Sunday afternoon.
Boiled peanuts. Tom loves boiled peanuts. Attempts to make them at home have been mixed to bad so now these are a delicacy best purchased as a treat vs made at home.
What a great surprise when we follow the iphone directions to the closest liquor store only to find a boiled peanut stand in the parking lot. Sure the local KwikMart gas stations in the south have boiled peanuts but those are the equivalent of eating a hot dog on the rolling heat bars at the KwikieMart in KS. YUCK! No, for truly good boiled peanuts, you need a a guy at a road side tent with a cooler, propane driven turkey fryer for boiling, that is unwilling to share his boiling secrets.
Drive ups rule in GA. Drive up peanuts, a drive up free standing-automated ice shack, even drive up ciggie hut for the smokers. No need to get out of your car ever in GA.
We ate well while there. Besides boiled peanuts, we ate at Largo Portside Grill -casual but gourmet offering, Oyster Shack - dive but yummy food and grilling out at the top of our dock (steak and shrimp) - dinning in COOL comfort on Milt's boat.
He even busted out the place mats and china. Ice cream rounded out our meal. *NY people serve up their ice cream funny - not with an ice cream scoop but with a big ole knife. Fa-get-about it!
No, we didn't fall in the water. Tom and I were drenched in sweat and looked like that the entire time we were there. Did I mention that it was HOT?
All in all a good trip to Honey Ryder.
