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.   

Bye Bye E Dock and Charleston Harbor Marina

We met some terrific characters in the marina.  We will miss all of our new made friends.  Thanks for taking such good care of us and all the laughs.

Mayor Rick with all his toys

E Dockers at play

Mac out for an evening sail on his gorgeous boat

 

But all it's time to move on.

Ready for departure the next morn

So we wrapped up our boat chores, prepped the boat, left our slip for the fuel dock and then took a transient slip on A Dock so we could easily escape the next morning.

Fellow Boaters

Some of the E-Dock gang.

Greg beefing up his dock/fenders after moving out to the far boondocks (ha - but seriously it's a hike out to visit him).

E-Dock Shenanigans

Kevin and Tyler were just itching to try out the water balloon launcher that Mac loaned them.  Of course Tom had to "assist" in the operation.

After a couple of practice launches, they successfully landed one on top of Rick's bimini, mayor of F-Dock.  SCORE!

 *Out of much experience....For legal purposes this story may or may not be true.  The names may or may not have been changed.

Pool or Pond

We've never, ever been in a marina with a pool. Hell - some of the marina's we've been in barely have working head and shower facilities....in fact, the later part of a holiday weekend they don't! Eeeewww gross I know! *No names here to protect the guilty. So where we are now is SO nice but kind of weird. Pool or pond - (come on....from Caddyshack?) We are more pond people so to speak.
Sort of gypsies in the palace as my ESS (Evil Sailing Sista) Kim would say.



















But it has been nice to take a late afternoon dip after sweating the day away on boat chores and tourist stuff.

Sail Harbor Marina and Boatyard

s/v Honey Ryder's new home for a while.


















A full fledged boatyard.
















This beauty is a Hylas 47 that came up from FL to be painted a special America's Cup Dennis Conner blue. The color is simply gorgeous!























The bath house was ok.
















A mile walk up the road each evening for dinner gave us a choice of restaurants, bank, liquor store and Ace Hardware. Further shopping will require a car or better yet a dinghy ride up the creek. *The walk into town on empty tummies seemed longer than a mile than the walk home on full ones. Either way, we almost felt like cruisers huffing it around by foot.

Bunswick Landing Marina

We are quickly learning our way around Brunswick and thought we would give you a tour.
First stop Brunswick Airport. No, this is not a resort or hotel. It just looks and acts like one. This airport is serviced by Delta through Atlanta. Our connections are very short but so far have been ok however we did have to run through the airport Wednesday evening to make our KC flight. Didn't some pro quarterback do that in the 70's wearing panty hose?

But I digress.

This airport is like a resort in their hands on customer service. When you arrive to fly out of Brunswick each time, the ticket counter has your itinerary printed off and ready to go. Then they walk you over to the two self check in booths and basically check you in while chatting you up. Next stop is the one security gate unless by some miracle the snack bar is open. It has only been open twice in all the times we have been there and both times it closed while we were there....at odd times like 4:40pm....hummm? Oh well, they don't seem to service alcohol so who cares really. Security is security however these people seems to have brains and personalities unlike all the other TSA manning the wands at every other airport. The one and only gate area is very nice. Generally the ticket taker is the same person that self checked you in. Or that person might be loading bags. I have yet to see them climb into the cockpit but I wouldn't be surprised if they did as they all seem to do whatever job needs doing at this airport.

Timing and day of the week are everything in Brunswick. Almost everything shuts down on Sunday. A few of the big box stores, West Marine and the grocery store stay open but all the downtown stores, including the Ace hardware shut down. This includes ALL liquor stores so plan accordingly.
One of our favorite spots to eat is Cargo Portside Grill in downtown Brunswick...just not on Sunday because they are closed. And not too late the rest of the week as they close at 10pm. The food is delicious. I take my camera each time but realize only after I have eaten every morsel that I forgot to take a pic of my spectacular meal when it first arrives. Of course it might have something to do with the great wine list and killer cocktails.
http://cargoportsidegrill.com/

Brunswick Landing Marina is turning out to be a great marina. The staff is terrific. Reasonable rates, free laundry, wide concrete floating docks, security and clean showers.





At the top of each dock is a covered area with a large gas grill, hose with water, trash, and benches. This is used by the boaters on each dock. Some gather each night for cocktails. Others use the grill and then head back to their boat. Still others chain up their bikes there or work on projects.






We used the grill most nights and dined with a view of the entire marina. There is also a bit more breeze up there than on the docks.