Morning View

A dock neighbor bought a new spinnaker and needed a block and line run from the top of the mast.  He asked if I would go up and install it.  "All you have to do is sit back, relax and enjoy the ride and view.  We'll do all the work."  Okay.

He was right.  The view was awesome.

Hi Tom.  Gee, you look small down there on the deck.

My handy work.

View down our dock.  Unfortunately you can't see s/v Honey Ryder.  She's hidden by the trawler next to us. 

GenuninedealZ

Listen up fellow sailors, liveaboards, cruisers.  If you need any type of marine electrical supplies, this is the place/web site for you.  http://www.genuinedealz.com/  You can order anything you need or might need.  What's that you say?  You need custom battery cables?  They can make them up.  Special wiring harness?  Send them your old one and they will make you a new one.

If you happen to be in the area of Brunswick GA or even just passing through, we suggest you stop by.  It will blow your mind.  It's like a marine electronics candy store.

However it's not an easy place to find.  The address is
5880 New Jesup Highway
Brunswick, GA 31523
Hours: Monday though Friday 9:00AM EST to 5:00 EST
Phone: (866)970-3325 Toll Free
Phone: (912)264-8327
Direct Fax: (912)265-8202

But there is no sign on the door, nothing to let you know what lies inside the nondescript building.  Finding it was little like a hunting for buried treasure with a plentiful marine electronics bounty at the end of our hunt!

Second Sunday on St Simon Island

Live music in the park

Last Sunday we joined some fellow cruisers for Second Sunday in Gascoigne Park on St Simon Island. It's a fundraising event for various local charities.  Sunday's charity was Glynn County 4-H which was kewl because I used to be a 4-H kid. 

Serious smoking rig

Really serious smoking rig

Everyone stakes out a place in the shade to listen to music and eat BBQ.  The event runs from 1-7 with three different bands playing throughout the afternoon. 

Nom Nom

$5 gets you all you can eat BBQ!  Yes.....$5 ALL YOU CAN EAT!  It was yummy too.  Our group took stadium blankets, folding lawn chairs and even cockpit cruising cushions, along with coolers for our afternoon comfort under the shade trees.

Shade trees with moss

Fun, relaxing time. If you are ever in the area, be sure to check out Second Sunday. 

K-State Wildcat addition golf cart

Golf carts are an acceptable mode of transportation on St Simon Island.  Of course the locals want to stand out from the tourist so you see all sorts of pimp my golf cart  type golf carts....aka....customized! 

Air conditioning

Speakers - "Hey everybody, let's dance!"

 Do you think this K-State Special would fit on the deck of s/v Honey Ryder? 

First Friday In Brunswick GA

Tipsy MacSway's booth in the park.  Love the lamp touch!

Like most towns, Brunswick is doing First Fridays as a way to draw people to the downtown area.  Since it's adjacent to Brunswick Landing Marina, cruisers often wonder over to enjoy music, drink, food and camaraderie.  Previous months, we have either still been working on whatever project or too worn out from whatever project to go.  Last night we went.  There were some interesting characters there...besides the basic cruiser characters - human and animal. 

Sadly, I don't remember the gentleman's name but that is Olive Oil on his shoulder.

We saw them later and Olive Oil was almost asleep - cat napping if you will.

This dog has such a kewl face.

Tom made late night pancakes and eggs when we got home.  Just like Village Inn or IHOP late night stop but WAY better tasting!  Unfortunately the dish fairies didn't show up overnight in our galley so I have to get started on the late night pancake dishes this morning. 

 

Labor Day Low Country Boil

Chow line

The marina (basically awesome Dock Mistress Sherry) threw a great Labor Day party with a Low Country Boil as the feature.

Par Tay

As two kids from Kansas, Low Country Boils are new to us.  Sausage, new potatoes, corn and shrimp.  Fresh, wild Georgia shrimp - YUM!

Dock Mistress Sherry - one kewl lady

We all brought side dishes.  YUM again. 

Leftover haul

There was tons of food and leftovers.  We aren't too proud so we gladly took home some leftover...boil.  I guess that is the right phrase, although that sounds weird.

After party joke and story telling

AND there were some give away prizes.  While we didn't win, a fellow cruiser won the fresh but leftover, unboiled shrimp - about 8 lbs.  She didn't want it all and offered up part of her prize to anyone that wanted fresh shrimp.  Again....we aren't too proud, so we took a pound or so for tomorrow night.  The other prizes were West Marine gift cards but none of the winners of those offered them up like the shrimp.  Darn!  We had a nice time visiting with various cruisers we know and meeting new people that we haven't met before.  People are starting to talk winter plans.  Good stuff.   

Rainy Days

It rains just about every afternoon lately.  This has made for interesting skies, some dramatic looking.

Movie Night

We spent the evening last night with Anthony, Janet, Alfred, John, Vera and around a hundred or so other people.  Throughout the evening there were some gasps, nervous laughter and many times where we all jumped collectively in our seats as we watched....."Psycho" on the big screen.  Yes, Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller in black and white played at The Ritz Theater.  Although we have seen it before, we had never seen it on a big screen in a movie theater.  It was quite an experience watching with a collective.  We all know the story line to some extend and we all KNOW the outcome ("No Marion, don't do it!  Don't get in the shower!  Turn around!  Look behind you!) but still.......think screeching music here....doesn't that creep you out a little just thinking about the music.  Hey, for $10 total, it's still the best deal for date night.

Sunset For My Sailing Sistas

As a break from project posts, here are some sunset pics.  There are usually thunderstorms over I-95 and those made for a dramatic sunset the other night.  It looked like hot, flowing lava.

Fun Night at the Movies

Tom discovered that the Golden Isles Arts and Humanities Council would be showing 5 classic movies over the summer at the historic Ritz Theater in downtown Brunswick.  Last night was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  However it wasn't just a showing of the film.  It was an interactive evening.  People were encouraged to participate from dressing in character to singing along - lyric sheets were provided with our $5 ticket charge.  Yes, only $5 each for the movie!  AND free popcorn was available along with Hersey's Kisses!!  We checked out works by regional artist as we entered the seating area.  Cartoon shorts, old advertisement's and classic humorous shorts were playing prior to the film.  The timeless "I Love Lucy - Candy Factory" episode got the biggest laugh.  The director of the Golden Isles Arts and Humanities herself was dressed up as Willy Wonka.  She hosted the costume contest.  Three kids were dressed up - one as Charlie (I thought he should have won but he came in 3rd), Violet (she came in 2nd) and an Oompa Lummpa (she came in 1st - her green sprayed hair was impressive).  We had each gotten a numbered ticket when we purchased our $5 movie ticket.  (Still in shock it was only $5!)  Next Willy (the arts director) had a drawing for several prizes donated by local merchants.  While we didn't win, it was a terrific way to build energy leading into the movie. 

We enjoyed seeing the movie again.  Many did indeed sing along especially to the various Oompa Loompa cautionary tunes....."Ooompa Loompa doompety doo.  I've got another puzzle for you.  Oompa Lumpa dommpety dee.  If you are wise you'll listen to me." 

The movie was well attended with the theater well over 3/4 full with many families in attendance.  I don't there will be that many families in attendance next week for Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho."  Personally I am looking forward to "Breakfast at Tifffany's" in two weeks as I have never seen it.  "Saturday Night Fever" would be a hoot given the high cheesy factor but we hope to be north of Brunswick by then.  We didn't partake in the pre-movie special offered at Fox's Pizza.....while we are retired and I dig a good discount, I refuse to start eating at the early bird specials hour of 4pm or even 5pm!  We did however partake in the post movie free beer (one per movie ticket) at Tipsy McSways.  It was a really fun evening. 

Free Food - Crabs and Watermelon

Pat = "Um, oh....Tom?  You need to come out here." - outside of boat
Joan= "What?" - climbing out into cockpit
Tom ="What's up?" - below
Sabrina = "What's going on?" - below
Pat = "Uummm, you just need to come out here and see."
Joan = "Oooh!" - now in cockpit
Tom = "Ok.  What is it?" - climbing out to see
Sabrina = "WHAT?  Is everything ok? - still below 
Pat = "You just need to come out here."
Sabrina = "Is something wrong?  Is everything ok?"  Mild panic "Will someone please tell me WHAT is going on?"- as I head for companionway in mild panic.
Joan = "NO, NO, NO....nothing is wrong.  It's a good surprise."

Blue crabs just waiting for us

What we found on the dock was a bucket of 10 blue crabs.  Cruiser Jessie (the great crab catcher) had left them for us to enjoy.  Thanks Jessie!!!

Pat starts the transfer with our tongs

We had slept in and thus found them mid-morning.  At the urging of Bill (our super-duper dock mate) we sprung into action.  Pat ran for a bag of ice at the dock office.  We put the ice in a cooler and then an old shirt down on top the ice.  Apparently if you lay them directly on the ice, it will kill them because ice is fresh water.  Also if you lay them down upside down, it will kill them as well.

Sometimes it takes a village or at the very least some dock mates

The next step was moving them from the bucket to cooler.   While we have long tongs, they really weren't long enough and the crabs were....crabby.  They started waving around their claws with great speed.  Soon we had two wooden spoons and a spatula out to help us - HEY, it was all we had.  A dock neighbor's advice was "just pick them up."  He acted like I was crazy when I asked if he had crab tongs.  I said "come show us how."  He reached in and almost got pinched big time.  "Whoa!, these are angry little crabs.  Not at all like the Dungeness crabs we have in Seattle."  We had a good laugh later with him about that.  Bill (our super-duper dock mate) came to the rescue with proper crab tongs. 

They SEEM docile but they are NOT!

Even though we got them on ice, they were starting to bubble meaning they were starting to die.  (We got quite an education on crabs during all of this.)  We needed to act fast.  Okay - change of plans.  Instead of crab dinner or lunch, we would have crab brunch.  What?  You don't have crab for brunch on Saturday's!

A little spice makes it nice

We started with my pressure cooker pan but soon realized the handles would melt on the grill.  Bill loaned us his crab boiling pot and we got the water on the grill to bring it to a boil.  Luckily I had some Old Bay on the boat so we dumped a bunch of that in the water and waited for the boil.  Watched pot does take a long time to boil.  Especially if it will be boiling up some yummy crabs for Saturday brunch. 

Tom and Joan check out the crab

In the mean time, cruiser Jessie (the great crab catcher) brought his trap over to loan it to Tom.  He had snagged another so our count was up to 11 crabs.  He explained to how to bait and set the trap. 

YUM

Finally the water was boiling.  We put 4 crabs in and waited 10 mins.  They came out that lovely red crab color.  Four more in and another 10 mins.  The last 3 went in and we prepped by adding some chopped garlic and Old Bay to the butter melting in a small sauce pan on the grill.  Our utility drop cloth from the boat worked terrific as a table cloth as things soon got messy.  FINALLY the last 3 crabs were boiled.  Pat gave us a refresher in how to eat crabs as we dug in.  YUM!  So very, very good.  It was simply amazing.  We finished off with a lovely watermelon that Gina had given us.  Thanks Gina!!

Ready to dig in

The carnage and yes those are channel locks.  We don't yet have a lot of the proper gear for crab.

We all enjoyed it so much.  It wasn't just the delicious crabs and watermelon but the whole experience of waking up to a wonderful surprise that took our day in a whole new and unexpected direction.  I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Visitor in the Night

I woke up sometime after 2am.  Something had changed on the boat.  This usually wakes me up so nothing new for this to happen.  Any little change - wind shift, boat direction shift, increase in waves and/or wind, decrease in waves and/or wind, weather, etc....  I wasn't concerned because we are securely tied to the dock in a very secure marina.  But I went into automatic mode none the less.  First I listened.  Where there any sounds that would tell me what had changed?  There were.  There was a faint tinkling/clinking sound - like metal but very faint.  I noticed the wind was up and thought perhaps our sun/rain shade was clinking around somehow.   I could see the sun/rain shade out the overhead hatch and it seemed ok.  Hum?  Then I heard it again and suddenly saw a dark shadow move past the open portlight in our stateroom - very close to where we sleep.  WFT was that!  In a split second my mind raced.  Was someone peeping in the windows?  They would have to lean WAY in on this portlight and thus really want to peep.  OMG!  Mind you this thinking all happened really

fast.  Then at the same time as I was getting up to investigate I saw the dark shadow move quickly past the next portlight, this one nearer to our heads therefore giving me a better look.  It had four legs - a cat.  It was a freaking cat!  The tinkling sound was it's collar/tag.  Someones cat was out for an evening stroll and decided to take a spin around our deck.  I laughed and looked over to see if any of this had awoken Tom.  Nope, dead asleep.  The cat fled leaving me to try to fall back asleep after that sudden adrenaline rush.  It didn't happen.  I guess it's good to know that not only is the marina patrolled at night by a security company (humans) but apparently we have a cat patrolling as well. 

Maybe Larry could be our guard cat?

Maybe Reba would have made a good guard cat?

Since this was their 23/7 mode I don't think either would have made a good guard cat

 

  

Busting Out The Dinghy

It seems impossible but we have been here over a week and Tom just today put the dinghy in the water and took it for a spin.  Hey, we've been busy!  But he needed to take some old dinghy gas to the boat yard so rather than walk with the dock cart, he launched the dinghy and motored over.  It was a good chance to run the outboard and blow some cobwebs out.

 

Old stone walls made of shells in Darien

This past Friday Tom had a first hand chance to try out the new washers and dryers while watching the US Open.  AC and TV (golf no less) make laudry better.  He had planned on doing the same yesterday for the final until we got a call from some fellow liveaboard here in the marina.  Bruce and Gina (lovely New Zealand couple) invited us to go with them to Darien to watch the final round of the US Open. 

HUGE old oaks with spanish moss hanging in them

Darien is a small place just up the road from Brunswick and they knew of a kewl little waterfront wine bar where we could watch.  We were the only ones there at first but a few locals filtered in - very much like "Cheers - where everyone knows your name."  It was a fun roadtrip.  

Unsure what this is.  Any ideas?

Today we got a ton done this morning around the boat and then headed to the beach once again to cool off.