Brunswick and St Mary's Georgia, October 31 - November

October 31 - November

The biggest catamaran I've seen!!!

We awakened Halloween morning at the Crescent River anchorage, a midpoint of sorts between Savannah and Brunswick, GA. I was entertained by jumping fish as I Nordic Tracked this morning, the splashes (which reminded me of the Potomac River firing ranges through which we navigated) reflecting in the brilliant sunlight. Why do fish jump? Just wondered. 

White caps in Brunswick Landing Marina

Clay's original plans to anchor out two nights before going ashore at Brunswick Landing were thwarted by the approaching weather front. A dramatic drop in temps coupled with predicted gale force winds forced a change of plans...ours as well as a myriad of other transient boaters! Thus, we pulled anchor mid-morning and motored toward Brunswick Landing Marina where harbormaster 
Sherry directed our fueling, pumping out and docking. Sherry had quite a commanding presence! With a hearty welcome, she extended an invitation for the evening's Halloween chili cook-off. 

Dockmaster Sherry on left!

David and Susan from Park City UT

Chili cookoff party!

Brunswick Landing Marina extended a full fifteen docks running perpendicular to shore and thus occupied extensive water frontage. Transient boaters were nested at Dock 1; it was a full ten-minute walk to the clubhouse between Docks 9 & 10 where we arrived for the Halloween Hoopla. Absent costumes, we happily welcomed some Mardi Gras beads to pull us into the circle of festivity. I made note of easy-to-assemble costumes for future reference, taking special note of a couple of pirates with "I've got that in my boat" costume parts. Introductions, a time-filler and crowd-pleaser, were made by an un-costumed Sherry (I guess she was dressed as a harbormaster?) Hearing 'Dragonfly,' Clay and I quickly made our way across the room to the pirates who we now recognized as our friends from Park City. Yep, Barb Newman, we crossed paths again with David and Susan.  

The anticipated front blew in overnight Friday night. Layered to combat the increasing winds and chill, I walked solo Saturday morning then shifted into homemaker mode and headed to the transient boaters' laundry room. We were a hale and hardy bunch, we women who crowded into theunheated facility and took courteous turns cycling our clothing. At this point, I would have to add

Brunswick has had some MAJOR storms!!!

bungee cords to a 'most-useful list' which would also include WD-40 and duct tape; strategically placed bungee cords secured my clean items in the basket as winds which now approached 40 mph whipped around me. 

As I passed Sherry's dockmaster hut, she brightly informed me expectations were for 53 mph winds later evening. Oh joy! This was as she pointed out the white caps on the fairways; for you non-boaters, marinas are designed as shelters from the wind, not to capture it and direct it down the fairways. Dressed in running tights, fleece, windbreaker, ski cap, hood and gloves, I had to remind myself this is Georgia, November 1.

Boiled Peanuts!!!

You're down south--selling boiled peanuts

The old movie theater

Beautiful park in Brunswick

Clay and I had braved the weather to give business to the nearby Saturday farmers market, purchasing some (more) Avon Skin So Soft and a couple pounds pecan halves. Feeling charitable, and knowing I had no kitchen elf to roast the pecans for me, I set about the task in tandem with a crock pot roast for dinner. Oh my! I was soon overwhelmed by the crowded galley with no counterspace available to do my 'thing.' With even greater clarity, I understood why my SaSea Sally Recipe Book, which is a collection of minimal-number-ingredients-and-healthy recipes I compiled prior to departure, has laid untouched in the galley drawer. By dinner's end, I was hot and burned out, so off I went to see what Dock 15 looked like in the dark. Not much to see in the dark, but security saw, and stopped, me. That was a good thing!

Street scape

Sunday, marking the start of Daylight Savings Time, was windy and cold, but sunny. The weather forced another day tied to shore for us and for most of the other boaters heading south for the winter. As such, Monday was a busy departure day with an early parade of boats lined up for fuel and pumpout at our Dock 1. 

We found ourselves traveling tandem with new acquaintances Greg and Donna
(Lady In Red), a bonus as were to encounter many shoaling areas in this stretch of waterway. Safely through these shallow waters some hours later, SaSea Sally and Lady In Red joined a round-up of other boats anchored at Cumberland Island

Passing under the Brunswick GA bridge

for the chilly night ahead. It was alarming how early nightfall came with DST upon us; we'll have to make note and plan appropriately in the days to come! I'm finding Clay seems to be losing his enthusiasm for planning travel; we seem to be 'flying by the seat of our pants' or 'winging it,' reactive rather than proactive!

Tuesday's destination following an easy anchor retrieval was St. Marys, GA, home to one of America's submarine bases.  The channel into the base was dredged to 45'--guess they don't want to ding one of those 15 blade props!  The sub base has huge car ports to keep the subs under cover so spy satellites can't get a picture of them.

Hercules plant in Brunswick GA

We arrived in St Mary's one short hour later and were directed to Lang's Marina East. The obvious state of disrepair here brought to mind my basement laundry room where is mounted a craft show plaque, "What's a nice girl like me doing in a place like this?" I didn't even ask for the bath/shower room key, and security was non-existent. Lang's offered no Wi-Fi, so we tapped into our Verizon hot spot just as we do at anchorages. Soon, Clay interrupted to drag me along to explore the town which obviously had a lot more going for it, but my heart was crying for some space (translation: 'me' time). So, following lunch we parted company, with Clay exploring more of the town's offerings while I went for a walk then busied myself with projects aboard SaSea Sally.

Horse on Cumberland Island

As I mentioned, 'our' planning seems more reactive than proactive. And Wednesday was evidence of such. The tides schedule (hadn't researched it prior to Wednesday morn) coupled with DST and shoaling forced us to stay put another day. All in all, not a bad change of plans. We were starting to like this little town (the marina, still not so much). Lang must be/have been someone important here; lotsa stuff named for Lang! And, the grant monies that have flowed into the downtown district (lighting, sidewalks, seating/benches, parks, etc.) are considerable! Someone here thinks enough of the town to make things happen.

Coast Guard patrol boat in Cumberland Sound

Deciding to eat dinner at Lang's Marina Restaurant, Clay and I had opportunity to dress in cooler weather clothing. I can't believe how dressed up I felt in skinny jeans, a black tank, gray sweater and small hoop earrings (still no make-up or cologne)! I think Clay opted to wear a long-sleeved fishing shirt instead of a short-sleeved one, his concession to the chillier weather. I emphasize here that boaters don't worry too much about 'looks.' And we've become them...a whole 14+ months now. But, on this evening, I did have the feeling that I was dressed in 'real clothes.'

As we depart St. Marys Island Thursday morning (November 6), preparing to cross the GA/FL line into Florida, we bid you a fond farewell, with at least one or two more email editions to come before we head home for the holidays on November 19th!