Ready for an ADVENTURE!

Our catamaran, Sunshine, is docked at Brunswick Landing Marina, just across the Florida border in Georgia.

We're within a few miles of Jekyll, St. Simon's and Cumberland Islands, all "out islands" of Georgia's Atlantic coast, each with lots of history and beautiful beaches.

This is the land of plantations, shrimp and grits and low country boil.

There are about 150 boats docked at Brunswick Landing. About a quarter of them are occupied and more owners are returning every week.

Many people leave their boats here for the summer, then return in the fall and head to the Bahamas, South America, the Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, Dominican Republic, etc., etc.

It's a very social place. Every evening at 6:00 p.m., people from all over our marina gather on Dock 10 for cocktails.

Don't ask me why the party is always on Dock 10, instead of Dock 2 or 4 or 7. The people whose boats are on Dock 10 will tell you it's because they are the cool people. That might be. Those Dock 10 folks are definitely very cool. But there are cool people on the other docks, too.

Sunshine is on Dock 2. Val and Harold on La Buena Vida are on Dock 8. Doug and Marlene on Cop Out are on Dock 3. Our friend Dave Robbins is on Dock 7. We are all pretty cool, but we still gather at 6:00 o'clock on Dock 10 because that's where the party is.

The other evening at Dock 10's nightly gathering, Dave Robbins mentioned that he had been hired to captain a big, beautiful sail boat from this marina to the Virgin Islands in December. He asked if any of us knew someone who might be interested in going along as cook for the crew.

I immediately thought of a close friend of mine from Greenwood. I knew her job would allow her to take a few weeks off and I thought she might be interested in an adventure. I sent her an e-mail and she answered immediately: "You're really serious, aren't you? YES, I'M INTERESTED!"

I put her in touch with Dave and the two of them have had several phone conversations. I also invited her to come visit us for a few days so she could get acquainted with Dave and the boat. (The boat is a 56-foot Oyster sailboat, reputed to be worth more than $2-million.) My friend will be arriving in Brunswick next Thursday for a long weekend with us. We are looking forward to her visit.

If all goes well and she and Dave think they can work together, she'll be looking forward to a great paid vacation for the month of December, on a beautiful boat sailing to an exotic location.

Georgia is beginning to cool off. We've had a few beautiful days with high's in the mid-80's, dropping into the 60's at night. Perfect weather for boat projects.

Phil has changed the oil in both engines and replaced the fuel filters. He removed the motor from our 9-foot dinghy (no small feat), then hoisted the dinghy onto the dock so I can fashion some "chaps" for our dinghy, using my new Sailrite sewing machine. The Sunbrella material has been delivered and I'm working on a pattern. The chaps will cover the dinghy, protecting it from the destructive UV rays and also protecting the passengers from the dreaded "dingy butt."

This morning, I used my Sailrite and screening material called Phifertex to fashion a screen door for our companionway, allowing the breeze to pass through but keeping the bugs out.

We are in the middle of "love bug" season here in Southern Georgia. In the heat of the afternoon, thousands of bugs that look like small lightening bugs appear in the air looking for mates. They hook up and fly around, connected, driving people into fits of love-bug-swatting. We are hoping our new screen door will keep the love bugs out of the boat.

Life is good here at Brunswick Landing Marina. We are completing projects and getting organized for a winter adventure in the Bahamas.

We hope to have time for some exploration north of here in the Carolinas during October and early November. During that time, we'll have the boat hauled out for a bottom-painting. Then we'll head south to celebrate Thanksgiving with my brother Allen and his wife Dorie in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Then...we'll cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas.

Margaret

A Hot Time in Georgia

Don't let anybody tell you that Georgia starts to cool down in September. It's HOT here.

Today, we took a road trip with our friends Val and Harold from La Buena Vida. They are having engine problems that seem to defy diagnosis, so they need to find a marina that will "haul" their boat and let them work on it themselves.

Cruisers are a self-sufficient bunch and we like to do as much work for ourselves as possible. In the case of Val and Harold, this means finding a marina that will 1) haul their boat out of the water using a huge crane with straps, 2) let them do the work themselves (or have their favorite mechanic do the work), and 3) allow them to continue living on their boat while it is "on the hard" as they say. All of this must be at a reasonable price.

Most port towns have marinas, but services and charges range from reasonable to astronomical. Our road trip today took us to Fernandina Beach and Green Cove Springs, Florida. Harold and Val wanted to see the marinas and talk to the dock masters. Green Cove Springs, just south of Jacksonville, turned out to be what they were looking for.

We all enjoyed the trip and it was cool in the air conditioned car. We stopped for lunch at a local place in Green Cove Springs and Phil and I split the Tuesday lunch special...20 wings for the price of ten. I washed my wings down with an ice cold beer.

We returned to the boat around 4:30 p.m. The thermometer in the salon read 98 degrees. We got it down to 85 after opening all the hatches (windows) and turning on all the fans.

Around 6:00 p.m., we met with a young man named Trey, who the locals say is very good at teaching folks like us the finer points of sailing. We arranged for him to come aboard for a couple of days and help us hone our skills.

We are still waiting for the refrigerator part to be delivered. In the meantime, we make daily runs for ice to keep our perishables cool. I am looking forward to having a real working fridge on the boat.

Tomorrow, I will begin my first project using the Sailrite sewing machine that Phil and I purchased this summer at the Sailrite factory in Churubusko (Indiana). A Sailrite is a special heavy-duty sewing machine that can sew through eight layers of canvas. You can repair your sails and do many other boat projects with a Sailrite.

My first project will be to make a canvas "coat" for our dingy. It will protect the dinghy from the UV rays, giving it a longer life, but most important it will save me from the dreaded "dinghy butt."

Life on board is good...warm, but good. We have been spared the ravages of the recent hurricanes and tropical storms. We are keeping our fingers crossed until hurricane season ends in November.

I hope we'll still be here the third week in September. Brunswick is having a Shrimp and Grits Festival. It doesn't get any better than that.

WE'RE BACK!

Our last post was in late May, as we were leaving Sunshine, our PDQ 36 catamaran, at Brunswick, Georgia and heading back to Greenwood, Indiana for the summer.

After cruising for five months on Sunshine earlier this year, the transition to dry land was not easy for me. It took at least a month after getting home for me to be comfortable with the change. We had loved our simple cruising life, and I found it difficult to return to our old life, and for me, to return to work.

But we persevered, and the summer turned out to be a wonderful time of getting reacquainted with friends and family. We accomplished many projects, hosted some great pool parties and get-togethers, attended four weddings, and spent precious time with our grandkids, ages four and seven. The best grandkid times were when they came for sleep-overs (or "awake-overs" as our 7-year-old granddaughter calls them).

With the approach of fall, Sunshine was calling for us to return. We left Greenwood Wednesday morning (September 3rd) in a car packed to the gills with "boat stuff." We stayed overnight just south of Atlanta and arrived at Brunswick Landing Marina Thursday afternoon.

Sunshine was just as we left her three months ago. She had been through a "blow" with Tropical Storm Faye a couple of weeks ago, but showed no signs of any damage. Several friends are here at this marina with their boats, waiting out hurricane season.

As we watch Tropical Storm Hanna work her way up the East Coast far north of us and listen to reports of Hurricane Ike ready to ravage the Bahamas and then possibly the Florida Keys, we are counting our weather blessings, so far.

We'll be here in Brunsick for at least a week or so. Phil is busy removing the old refrigerator and getting ready to install a new one. I'm still finding places to put away all the things we brought with us.

Brunswick is an old port city a few miles up a river from the coast. We can walk to the old downtown area, which has several nice restaurants and shops, and a great farmers market on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

I visited the farmers market this morning and brought back spiced pecans, Georgia peaches, some home-made pure cane syrup (which I read was necessary for authentic Bahamian rum punch), blueberries, delicious large round grapes that no one knew the name of, tomatoes, and Perky Pear Relish and Hot Pepper Jelly, made by a guy named Richard.

About a dozen shrimp boats are docked just up the river from the marina. A sky full of pelicans over the boats signals their return each day and you can walk over to the boats and buy fresh-caught shrimp. The cost of fuel and over-fishing have diminished the catch and raised prices, but $5.00 a pound still isn't bad.

I'll add some pictures to the blog in the next day or two and give you an update on the refrigerator install. When the new fridge is in place and working, we hope to head north and explore the coasts of North and South Carolina, and perhaps get as far as the Chesapeake before cold weather arrives. After that, we'll head south and maybe make it to the Bahamas for the winter season.

Margaret