Saturday, October 17, 2015

October 8-15, 2015 Florida road trip/move storage unit

Thursday, Oct 8
Road Trip!!  We decided to move our storage unit from Cape Coral, Fl to here in Brunswick, GA.  We seem to end up here with our boat during hurricane season.  So it will be easier to exchange boat parts and clothing from the unit if it is here.  And we will store our bikes when we go to the islands, but have them when we are back in the states. 

About 10:00, Sherry gave us a ride to the U-haul facility to pick up a 9 foot van.  It rides more comfortably than a truck and gets better gas milage.  Since we have a 4x10 foot unit, we thought this would do.  We got the weekly rate which included 750 miles.  That is just about what the round trip to Cape Coral would be.  So we may end up paying for a few extra miles.  We headed to Cape Coral and arrived in time to have Jackie’s famous spaghetti pie. 

Friday, Oct 9
Dave and I emptied the storage unit into the van.  We did a little organizing, but didn’t need to do much.  We were done by noon and stopped at our favorite taco wagon to pick up lunch for us and the Killions.  

 
We decided to go to a German Restaurant for dinner.  The Duke of Germany was great!  We wondered about the place when we pulled into a strip mall.  But we felt like we were in Germany once we entered.  The food was fantastic, very authentic. You could even get your schnitzel made with veal.  Dave had to order 2 meals.  He ordered the sausage dinner to share with everyone.  The only schnapps they had was Underberg.  We had that in Denmark with friends.  So Dave had to order 3 shots.  It came in the little 2 cl bottles.  And they brought 3 long stemmed shot glasses.  Dave and Brian drank it the way we learned in Denmark.  They put the bottle between their teeth and tipped their heads back.  We poured the 3rd bottle into the glasses for the ladies.  Jackie and Devyn tasted it, but that was enough for them.  It is similar to Jaegermeister.  It has an herbal/licorice taste.  Fun German music played on a tv monitor, so you could watch the entertainment, too. 






 
 
Saturday, Oct 10
Jackie and I did some shopping.  Devyn did home work.  And Dave and Brian went to their boat to do some work on the outboard.  (our old boat). 

We all regrouped for a swim in their swimming pool.  They recently added a heater, so it was 88 degrees.  Very nice.

Tonight we went to a Mexican restaurant in their neighborhood that was very authentic.  Dave had menudo, tripe soup made with intestines along with a chili relleno.  The rest of us had awesome burritos.  Another fun place with good Mexican music.

Sunday, Oct 11
I attended church this morning with the Killions.  Then another shopping day.  Brian made us Thai chicken curry that was very good.  Jackie and I had gone to an Asian market today.  I bought a lot of fun foods to take home.  It was the first Asian market I have been to since I was cooking Chinese with Amy in Savannah. 

Relaxing evening with the guys watching X-man movies.  The girls played trionimoes (I bought my own set) and worked on jigsaw puzzles while we visited.  Fun weekend.

Monday, Oct 12
We originally thought we should leave early to go by our mail service and pick up mail.  But we figured the extra miles we would put on would cost us more than having the mail forwarded.  So we had a nice morning chatting over coffee.  We finally left about 10:00.  Before we hit the interstate, we had a “low tire pressure” indicator light up.  We pulled into a gas station and filled it, but it still indicated it was low, so not holding the air. 

We checked with the company in GA as to what to do.  We had to call the U-haul 800# for help.  After the long “press this #” routine.  The operator said she would handle getting us help and would call back within 30 minutes to let us know what is happening.  So when she called back she said someone would be there within 45 minutes to change the tire.  So I said “OK, but what about driving 400 miles with a bad spare tire?”  She said we would have to go back through the 800# to arrange for a new spare.  To which I said “No, I would like you to talk to my husband.”  He convinced her to handle this for us.  She sent us to a u-haul dealer in the area and they would be expecting us.  Well, they were confused when we arrived.  But they ended up swapping out the spare tire.  So we were back on the road by 1:00. 

It is a 6:5 hour drive to Brunswick, GA, not including any stops or traffic.  With a couple afternoon stops, we hit Orlando during rush hour.  It seemed to take forever to get through there.  We talked about a couple options to avoid driving through Orlando, but decided it hadn’t been that bad in the past.  So we decided not to add extra miles.

We took the time to stop at a restaurant for dinner, just to change the seating for awhile.  So we ended up getting back to the marina by 11:00 pm.  LONG DAY!!

Tues-WEd, Oct 13-14
We spent the day unloading the van into our new storage unit at Brunswick Storage, which is a Cubesmart property.  Now we did some sorting of things we wanted on the boat or could get rid of.  Then we spent the rest of today and all of Wednesday going through the boat from bow to stern.  We were able to take some things off of the boat and store in the unit.  My concentration was on bedding, clothing and the galley.  Dave worked on boat parts in the aft cabin and in the lazerettes. 

I also made a trip to Walmart to get a couple more totes and some groceries.  Ricardo came along to get a few things, too.

Thursday, Oct 15
We made our last trip to the storage unit to leave off a load of things to store.  We had another boater pick us up at U-haul.  Anne had told me that if we ever needed a ride somewhere to let her know.  Yesterday, I sheepishly asked her the favor of picking us up.  She was glad to help. 

We had gone about 50 miles over the 750 miles included in our week rental.  So they charge you $.29/mile.  We asked about the extra 17 miles we put on to fix the tire.  We were told that the company had our GPS location and would give us an allowance for that.  It came to $7.50.  But the dealer thought that wasn’t very much for our trouble, so he gave us a $25 credit.  Sometimes Dave’s bs-ing pays off. 

We had dropped off our propane tank along with Anne’s on the way to the storage unit.  So after Anne picked us up, we stopped to pick them up.  We payed for her propane for giving us a ride. 
When we got back the boat, Dave wanted to head to bed for a nap.  He said he hadn’t been feeling well all week.  Well he hid it well.  I think he just kept pushing himself to get this job done.  He had a headache and upset stomach.  I think it was from eating menudo last weekend.  It would have made me sick!

I spent the evening watching the Thursday night movie at the yacht club.  It was Safe Haven written by Nicholas Sparks.  OK, but not as good as several of his other books.

October 1-7, 2015 shark teeth, sinking boat, sea trial

Thursday, October 1
This morning, I joined 2 other sailors at 7:00am to go hunting for shark teeth. Across the channel from our marina is a peninsula made from dredging the channels.  There are shark teeth just laying on the ground and some you have to dig for.  Rhonda has found hundreds of them.  I found about 6 today and hope to go with her again.  But I am taking a marina bicycle next time.  Too much sand in the gears.  That just helped us make up our mind about whether we should take the bikes to the Bahamas this year.  We were debating on how much we would use them vs the room they take on the boat.  So they are going back into storage before we leave the States.
Rhonda searching for shark teeth
the bike ride back with our marina on the right
my stash
Nina modeling her shark teeth

This evening, my sister, Beverly, started a group text to see if we were OK on the east coast with the storm off shore.  We ended up with a 5 way conversation with our other sister, Janice and two other sisters, Tracy Perdue and Tami Petersen.  Tracy had a booth at the Zonta Expo in Rapid City.  It is a fundraiser that I was involved with for over 20 years.  She said she wished we were there to have a gin and tonic with her.  So we decided to share one “virtually”.  We all had one while we continued to text each other.  Funny!

Oct 2
This morning while we were having our cruiser’s net on the VHF radio, there was an emergency break in our program.  A boat on dock 12 was sinking and they asked for any help, especially if someone had a pump.  Several people heard the announcement and offered their help.  They started with using 5 gallon buckets to bail out the water.  Then someone arrived with a small pump which was used until the marina could get their industrial pump to the dock and working.  The owner of the boat was not here.  He lived 5 hours away.  Evidently, he had left a sea cock open and something must have happened that allowed water to come in through that sea cock.  A neighboring boater noticed the boat starting to tip towards the dock, contacted the dock master, and put out the call on the VHF.  The boat had to be towed to the boat yard to be hauled out.  The engines were half covered in sea water, which is not good.  It was really a great group effort.  And we ordered a manual pump with 30 feet of hose that day.
the trawler on the right is leaning into the dock as boaters help remove the water and stop the leak

On the first Friday of the month, downtown Brunswick has entertainment and stores stay open later.  We didn’t feel like going downtown, but a lot of the boaters in the marina usually do.  After we had dinner, we were sitting on dock 9 visiting with a couple other guys.  Then Dave got the crazy idea to go over to dock 8 and bring all of their patio furniture over to our dock.  They really brag about the “ambiance” on their dock.  We sat around waiting to see their reaction when they came back.  One couple walked onto the dock, stopped and looked around, even looked over the railing into the water.  They just shook their heads and walked to their boat.  The others stayed uptown later than usual, so we went to bed. 

Oct 3
The next morning we had a knock on our boat.  Bruce, from dock 8, was there.  I said “you missed one hell of a party on dock 9 last night.”  He said “evidently we did.  When is our furniture coming back?” Me “you have muscles”  Bruce “I didn’t move it over here”  Me “ok” thinking “whatever, it was a joke”  Bruce has a quiet demeanor, so I think he realized we were just messing with them.  He later said that Rhonda didn’t notice it when they came home last night.  This morning she wondered where it was and Bruce said he would bet it was on dock 9.  She got out her binoculars to check.  After enjoying coffee in their furniture, we returned it :(

enjoying coffee in dock 8's furniture on dock 9
Dave went for a sail with Ricardo to check his engine after cleaning the fuel.  They spent a couple hours on the water.

Ricardo and Dave setting sail

We all ended up in the clubhouse later in the afternoon to watch Alabama college football.  There were lots of people in the clubhouse this afternoon working on projects or BS-ing.

Sunday Oct 4
Happy Birthday Ricardo!  Ricardo went to church with me.  Part of his name is Francis Xavier and that is the name of the church.  He thought it was the Feast day of Francis Xavier, but later found out it was the feast day of Francis of Assisi.  We returned to a fabulous brunch that Dave prepared for us.   I baked a “turtle cake” for him.  It is a family recipe that layers pecans, caramel and chocolate chips between layers of the chocolate cake.  It was a hit at the pot luck at the marina today.  People were even trying to scrape the sides of the pan.  I had everyone join in to sing Happy Birthday to Ricardo.  He was overwhelmed with the friendship everyone had shared with him. 

Monday, Oct 5
Today I walked to the catholic church with Olivia, from dock 9, to take her dog to the blessing of the pets.  Since yesterday was the feast day of St Francis Assisi, they had a blessing at the end of the school day.  Anyone was welcome to bring their pets.  We ran into another boater there with her dog.  The cutest one I saw was a 3 year old with a pet frog named Jumpy. 

Olivia with Madeline and Sharon with Ely


On the way back to the marina we checked out downtown Brunswick.  There are many changes for the movie that is being filmed here later this month.  It’s cool to watch it progress.

Tuesday, Oct 6
About 30 people from the marina went to lunch at Jerry Lee’s BBQ today.  It is a market place with a cafeteria type lunch atmosphere.  We all gathered in front of dock 8 about 11:00.  Those without cars just piled into a car that was going.  The food was awesome.  We brought extra home with us, since it is too far to bicycle there.  

 

I spent the afternoon doing laundry.  Then I enjoyed the music jam that is held on Tuesdays  and played trionimoes with a couple friends.  3 of us closed the clubhouse about 11:00pm and agreed to meet for yoga in the morning at 7:15.

Dave painted the anchors with zinc paint that, according to Dave, is meant to stay on only while you are looking at it.  Once it is used, it all comes off like ablative paint on the hull. 
He spent a lot of time checking electronics and updating charts.  The wifi is so unpredictable here.  So that caused a few headaches.  He also spent time getting everything in running order to take the boat out for a “sea trial”.  We haven’t had it out of the slip since the engine work was completed.

Wednesday, Oct 7
I made it to yoga this morning at 7:15.  Nothing like the power of a buddy for exercise.

We spent the morning stowing “loose cannons” in the cockpit and below.  About noon, we left the slip with 3 crew members.  Ricardo, Olivia and Bob.  Olivia and Bob have a motorized trawler on our dock.  Olivia said she had never been sailing, so we took them along.  And Ricardo was anxious to see how our boat handles, since his is similar, 383 Beneteau. 

We went out onto Turtle River and into St Simon’s Sound.  That is between St Simon’s and Jekyll Island.  We didn’t go out of the inlet onto the ocean.  We had a large commercial ship come though the channel.  We had to get out of their way.  Bob was at the helm and Dave asked him to go starboard.  He wanted to discuss it, but he doesn’t sail.  So by now the big ship is giving us the 5 horn blasts to warn us that we are in danger.  So Dave started the motor and took over the helm.  Olivia and I were out on the deck just watching the ship come at us thinking “the guys will handle it”. 

We were back in the slip by 2:30.  So we had lunch with the left over BBQ from yesterday and started cocktail hour by 3:00. 


Olivia the "deck doily"

Ricardo relaxing because it is not his boat

Bob at the helm

deck hand

Olivia and Bab

One last game of Pass the Pigs before Keeley leaves for the British Virgin Islands.  Their family is from New Zealand.  His father, Kim, has a job in the BVI's.  So maybe we will see them there in a couple years.


























September 21- 30, 2015 full moon eclipse and Brunswick movie set

Monday Sept 21
Now that Dave was done with his Captain’s license test, he had time to help others on the dock with their projects.   He helped Bob, on a trawler, with his electrical problems.  And he helped Ricardo research a new boom.  Last Wednesday, Ricardo and Amy came back from an overnight sail with his boom broken in half!!!  Dave helped by calling a few companies to find out his options.  Looks like Ricardo will be buying a new boom.  We have never heard of a boom breaking.  This boat was a charter boat and then was privately owned.  Maybe it was abused by charter sailors. 

Ricardo also used our fuel polisher to clean up his fuel tank.  He had problems with a sluggish motor at the same time that his boom broke.  So this should help keep the lines from clogging.  Dave said he had “algae flowers” growing in his tank and clogging the lines.


Tuesday, Sept 22
The Tuesday craft gathering is really growing.  They have moved from the laundry room to the main part of the yacht club.  I just love visiting with them and listening to their stories of living aboard a boat.  But I don't see myself picking up a new hobby at this point.




Gloria on the right used pieces of inlaid wood that she had to place in Rhonda's table top

Thursday, Sept24
Today another couple took us to a Hardware store.  Billy and Sherry have the same boat as ours only one year older.  So we are always exchanging ideas.  Dave was giving them some advice about the air conditioning.  So we went for parts.  We also went to lunch at the taqueria by the hardware store.  We are always sharing this awesome little place with friends. 

Dave and Ricardo wanted to thank several people on Dock 8 & 9 for helping them.  Dave with test preparation and Ricardo with his boom.  So they decided to provide a happy hour on dock 8.  They provided a case of beer, some wine, and a bottle of Horchata, a cinnamon cream rum drink similar to Rumchata.  About one beer and one shot into the party, an ambulance arrived at Dock 7.  They were going to Billy and Sherry’s boat.   After Billy was on the stretcher and being taken off of the dock, I went over to see if there was anything I could do.  He had been in a lazaretto in the cock pit and the lid hit him on the head.  He was disoriented and couldn’t get off the boat to get to the car.  Sherry was going to follow him to the emergency clinic.  She was pretty shook up, so I rode along with her.  When we finally were able to join him in a room, he looked much better. When they took him for his CT scan, Sherry brought me back to the marina.  A couple women had gone from shot glasses of Horchata to wine glasses.   I think the trip to the emergency room saved me from having a headache in the morning. 
Mary, Rhonda, Ricardo, Olivia and Paula

Dave spent several days researching what he would need to sew a sail bag.  The bag that holds the spinnaker sail does not protect it from the sun.  When we think we will use the sail, we store it on deck.  So Dave checked into having one made for about $200.   Then he checked into buying a sewing machine to do sew one himself.  In the meantime, he ordered the materials he wanted (after researching that).  In the end, he decided to sew the bag by hand.  So he spent most of the weekend sewing. 

Saturday, Sept 26
On Saturday, I did several errands on one of our fold-able bicycles.  I enjoy having them.  The marina bicycles are free, but not maintained very well.

Several people were working on projects in the club house today.  Dave was sewing along with watching Alabama play football with me. 

Sept 27
I rode my bike to church this morning and sang with the choir.  It was fun to join them again.  Another day of sewing and football.
That night, we went to a party on another boat on dock 9 to watch the eclipse of the full moon.  Bob and Olivia have a large trawler (motorized boat) at the end of the dock.  She was wondering if we should put together some kind of party to watch the eclipse.  There were some boaters with cars that were planning to drive to the beach and watch it over the ocean.  But I thought  watching it from the deck of their trawler would be fun.  So Olivia invited us to join them around 7:00 for a light dinner of a Portuguese stew and bread.  I offered to bring a salad.  We ended up with 4 couples and Ricardo from Dock 9. 

Dave had been up late the night before working on his sail bag.  So he didn’t think he would make it to 10:00 pm to see the eclipse.  It ended up being cloudy, so we only saw an occasional glimpse of the moon.  But we ended up partying until 1:00 am on their boat.  Olivia was the target of Dave’s teasing.  And she gave it right back, which he loves.  After we left their boat, I made breakfast for Dave and Ricardo.  We told him that was an American tradition-to have breakfast after the bar closed.  Haven’t done that in years!



I think Olivia was tired of Dave's baseball caps
Monday, Sept 28
Sherry and Billy gave me and Ricardo a ride to a grocery store today.  They dropped us off and picked us up 2 hours later.  We went through every isle together.  I explained what some things were and how I used them, or what I liked to use on our boat, or where to find certain things.  I think it is a challenge to learn conversational foreign languages, let alone boat parts and all the foods, etc. He is actually doing really good.  But here is one example-he didn’t know the difference between buying diced tomatoes that were Mexican flavored vs Italian or plain. 

Sept 30
I was the net controller for our cruiser’s net this morning.  At the end of the routing information, we have either been sharing jokes or trivia.  So today I asked trivia questions about the movie being filmed in downtown Brunswick.  Ben Affleck is filming “Live by Night” here in late October and early November.  But the set is being built now.  And a friend of ours had her picture taken with him yesterday.  The location is an old neighborhood in Tampa, FL known as Ybor.  It was settled in the late 1800’s by a Cuban cigar manufacturer that brought in immigrants from Cuba, Spain, and Italy to work in the factories.  The movie takes place in the 20’s or 30’s.  I guess GA offered some great tax breaks to film here instead of in Tampa.  There is a restaurant that opened there in 1905 called the Columbia and is the oldest restaurant in FL today.  They have opened others in Clearwater Beach and St Augustine that we have been to (also Sarasota).  Their menu gives the history of Ybor, so we were familiar with it.  And the restaurant is fantastic, if anyone had the opportunity to eat there.  Now we want to go to the original one in Tampa.  There is Flamenco dancing in part of that restaurant, so we would make reservations to be seated in that room.  Their 1905 salad and the Cuban bread are sooooooo good.  And they have amazing dishes.  Just look at their menu online and you will book a flight for Tampa today.
Boater Anne with Ben Affleck