We are a community of around 50, at any given time, with folks coming and going during the summer season.
A multi-talented group of people, as any you would find in a community, some of the women gather in the laundry 'waiting room' or 'little salon' which happens to be the coldest room anywhere (AC) on Tuesdays for a 'craft' session, where they sit around the circular table, do their thing and chat and exchange both useful and useless information...take your pick, obviously! lol.
Tuesday night was 'music' night, or Jam session. If you have an instrument, bring it and join in, or there is a tub full of percussion thangs to choose from to keep time with. All aboard the merrier!
Get-together time is Mon/Wed/Fri...which involves a representative of the marina owner's family pouring the wine in the large lounge at the 'Yacht Club'. We all tend to take nibbles to share, for this 'happy hour' from 5pm onwards. This gathering often spills over into someone's sailboat or motor yacht and the die-hards also gather on the covered area at the head of each of the 15 docks. There you will find tables and chairs (mostly), fans recently installed to keep the air flowing during those times when breezes are scarces, and to keep the Mozzies away. (Mosquitos!). The folks on some docks are more 'active' in these places, than others. Those on smaller craft tend to gather at the dock head for the cooler temps and they can cook meals at the Bar-B-Q that is also provided. We are well taken care of in this place! The management is vigilant, and security at night is spot-on and efficient. Folks leave their boats in good hands, when they go away for short and long periods, and we all take care of our neighbors.
Being boaters, our neighbors are mostly 'of like kind', we find. We are a peculiar type:) So many of us have sold our homes in favor of a life on the water, less encumbered and with goals that vary from place to place and season to season.
I have an advertisement in the Yacht Club to cut hair. Having been a Hairdresser since I finished my training in 1977, I have a skill that is much sought after in Marinas. We see some wild and woolly types in these parts. Most sailors have little time to attend to the haircutting type of necessities, so I get some interesting clients. Today's client was Ed. He and his wife have lived aboard their 37ft trawler since they left New Orleans (their previous home) 14 yrs ago. They have no desire to live on land again, until, as Ed put it, "we are forced to"...by this, I gather he is referring to very old age or being carried off his boat in a coffin. I had his vote of confidence, because he said he would be back in a month for his next cut!
Saturday nights are Game night in the Lounge at the Yacht Club. Some are rabid card players, and highly competitive! phew! Waz goes there to play Euchre, and I go there to play a form of Dominoes known as the Mexican Train Game. Some of you will know of what I speak.
Wednesday (yesterday) we went to the Methodist Church Hall to give blood. As usual, I was rejected because I lived in Europe from 1980...Mad Cow Disease was prevalent then... and we don't want to share the possibility of infecting anyone with blood that might be a carrier.
The equipment was not what one would call up-to-date, and was probably one of the most unsophisticated locations Waz has donated his blood.
At last night's get together, Rhonda, off one of the 40 ft Cats in the Marina, showed us her Megaladon teeth that she had found in the 'tailings' dump, across the river from here.
This one is the largest of the day's haul. It measures about 2 inches in length. She has a huge collection of these now...both large and small, and has become the resident expert. Megaladon sharks existed between 15.9 and 2.6 million years ago, during the Cenozoic Era.
Not only was Megaladon the largest marine predator by far, making today's Great Whites look like Guppies, but they weighed in around 50 tons and measured around 70ft long~ phew! that is one massive shark!
These are not the prettiest teeth she has found...the larges is around 3 inches long, and in almost pristine condition. The site of discovery is an area of dredge tailings which is strictly speaking off limits, but with a bicycle for transport and nothing to dig with but her hands, she feels she isn't breaking any laws:)
We all eagerly await Rhonda's daily treasure finds:)
Our music evening the other night ended in a 'Cat' party. You know there is a party going on, on a boat, by the number of shoes on the dock! Rhonda's birthday on the 3rd, August is being celebrated for a week, it would appear. We enjoyed Banana bars (made by the b'day girl on the bar-b-q...she is an expert!) and Ice-cream. She and husband Bruce invited us all to share the ongoing celebrations onboard their 40ft Catamaran.
12 of us crammed into the salon on their boat..it was cozy and lots of fun. We laughed so much I almost lost my voice!!! I was still pretty hoarse yesterday!!
Susan and David arrived from their Carver 53, further down the dock. I think they could hear the hilarity!
We have enjoyed their company while they were here for the 4 days. They live and work in Cincinnati, and visit the boat to get away from corporate life. David and Waz enjoy each other...David is a Food Chemist, while Waz is an Industrial Chemist.
Yesterday, we had a space visitor arrive on the dock. She is a carbon-fibre, custom-built, 61 foot behemoth of a catamaran. Her captain is French, from Brittany (near Brest) and has been with her since she was designed and built (all French) in South Africa. He has sailed her (she is light and can reach speeds of 30 knots under sail! aieee!!!) just about around the world, in many cases on his own, although he told me he usually does no more than 500 miles on his own. He has arrived with a first mate, this time, and because of his height...a 90ft mast..he is unable to go into many ports with bridges. The Sidney Lanier bridge at the entry to Brunswick Port is high enough to allow them to dock here.
This is her in the foreground, as the sun was leaving us, last night. Her sides are so high, that it is impossible to look over the side when we are walking along the dock. She has circular doors on the rear of the salon cabin, which gives her some 'eyes'. I was surprised to find her there when we returned from an outing, yesterday. Her captain and crew were immediately out cleaning and putting away equipment. Her owner is French, and lives between France, Hong Kong and New York. She is custom built, of course, and apparently the owner enjoys racing her off Rhode Island, during the summer...normally! Not this year, however. She has come from Rio, this year, taking just two weeks of sailing to get from there to Brunswick! Amazing! I believe they had to dock briefly in Miami to clear customs, which was their only other landfall.
So, we have had an interesting week. Our kiwi friends on their lovely 53ft Jeanneau came with us for a tiki-tour yesterday, and we introduced them to Dairy Queen ice-cream...namely 'Blizzards'! They enjoyed them...so did we!!! naughty, naughty!
Well, we are off to our neighbor's Gallery opening shortly. Suzie is excited to be a featured artist, and we want to support her. Life in this little town is full of surprises and action. Tomorrow night is the First Friday in Brunswick, and all the local merchants have nibbles and wine/soda in their stores, and the locals all turn out to sample and buy:)
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