St. Marys, Georgia

Monday, Nov 15

St. Marys, GA

This morning we listened on the Ham radio to the Waterway Net at frequency 7.268 MHz for about 15 minutes. Rick Butler had suggested we starting listing to the Waterway Net to get a feel for the weather fronts, and we've are trying to follow this advice. Yhen we listened starting at 8am to the St Marys Basin Net hosted by Ken of S/V Sparrow.  They have some standard announcements at the beginning and then everyone who is listening can hail in on the VHF radio.  We also get information about who is using a truck and if people are going places and if anyone needs any help or information.  There is a brief weather forecast, tides for the basin and then a scripture from the bible is read by Captain Bob of S/V Maverick.  It’s nice and he keeps it brief.  I hear that Ken came here about 3 years ago and has lived since then on his ’59 Rhodes Bounty II sailboat.

After listening, we took the dinghy into town and walked around a little.  We stopped by the Café and had breakfast, visited the tourist Welcome Center.  There are a few museums for us to visit sometime in the future.  We got back at 1033am and put up the Farouck as it was sunny and warm.  I worked on Calvin’s quilt and got the buttonhole stitch done on the appliqué part.  Now I need to rip off the paper I used to stabilize the fabric for this step.  

We had leftover Mexican Bean dish for supper  and then we read in the evening.

Tuesday, Nov 16

St. Marys, GA

We woke in time for us to listen to the St. Marys Basin Net except this morning it was interrupted by S/V Black Velvet’s chain dragging and the boat moving with the current towards us, the town and other boats.  We were lucky that Black Velvet missed us by 20 feet on our starboard side going between us and S/V Dragon Lady.  Four other owners of boats came out in their dinghies and they eventually got the runaway boat tied up to the town’s huge mooring ball without other vessels being hit.  The current can get pretty strong when the tide is going out (ebbing) – 4 knots I’ve been told and that's what was happening at this time.

S/V Black Velvet passing Changes

Try to guide her movement

Connected to mooring ball

Town mooring balls for cruise ships

After the excitement, we decided to go for a bike ride in town and to see what’s on the main road which is Osborne Ave.  Phil was able to visit the chandlery and see something for his next project on Changes which is installing a foot pump so that we can have sea water come in at the galley sink to use for cleaning dishes and then we’d use a fresh water to rinse them.  Saves a lot of water.  We got back to the boat late morning just before it started to rain. It rained for most of the afternoon.  I worked on pulling the paper off the back of Calvin’s quilt and Phil read.  I made another new dish (think experiment) of Spaghetti with Red Lentils.  I didn’t have any more canned tomatoes, so used a jar of salsa and a small can of tomato sauce.  Even so, this wasn’t a favorite meal of Phil’s.  It does need a little more flavor, I have to agree, but I don’t think it was that bad.  Oh well.  Of course we have enough for leftovers for a meal each, so I’ll have to see what I can add to it to make it have more flavor. Phil says that next time he's going to drown it in ketchup.

Near the end of supper I got a call from my brother Glenn and his wife Pat.  They had great news that she’s expecting …. Triplets in April!  We’re thrilled and they are trying to get adjusted to the idea of having an instant family.  My daughter Rachel is also pregnant and due in March so spring will be a busy time of the year in 2011.

Last night Phil and I started a project of creating a spreadsheet listing what we have in the various lockers on the boat. We decided to start on the food lockers. I did the typing and Phil emptied out each locker and then re-packed.  Since I do most of the cooking, I definitely had ideas where things should go, but overall we agreed on most decisions.  We got the lockers above the Port and Starboard settees done, so that is a good start.

Wednesday, Nov 17

St. Marys, GA

We woke to blue skies and light breezes.  It was 67F inside the boat.  We once again started listening to the Waterway net, but once it went to weather in Bahamas, which we can’t hear because it's too far away and someone in our anchorage noisy serious interference on the radio - read an annoying noise.  Then it was time for the St. Marys Basin Net.  There have been a few of us that are interested in getting seafood from some loca fisherman, so we seem to be getting closer to getting that worked out. We also requested the use of a truck that is available for boater's use.

Right after the net was finished, we stopped over at S/V Sparrow so I was able to meet Ken and his visitor Janice from a 28’ trawler.  Janice likes to quilt so will give me a hail and come over when the current from the tide is slack and show me what her projects are.  We also met Captain Bob on S/V Maverick and learned that Friday morning and Saturday afternoons are when the boaters get together.  You should have seen all the dingies around Ken's boat!  He's one popular guy.   Sunday is when the activities leading up to Thanksgiving Dinner start. 

1990 Isuzu Cruiser's truck

 Phil and I decided to go grocery shopping – see what happens when we really find out what we don’t have??? – so we were able to borrow the local boater’s truck to go about 7 mi to the grocery store.  This 20 year old truck is unique – starting with a strap holding down the hood.  It’s a standard transmission and reminds Phil of the first junker that you got as a senior in high school or freshman in college that barely runs.  But it did better after the engine had warmed up and we were very glad to have it to use.  Ken has plans to work on it soon, so maybe Phil will be able to help.

We went to Lowes and I got a PUR 3-stage vertical water filter for the galley sink.  I don’t like the chlorine taste in the water and I hope this will help not having to buy gallon jugs of spring water and so I increase my fluid intake.  We looked for a fabric store, but when we found it, it was out of business.  I can tell that the economy has really hurts the local businesses as there are many empty stores for lease or for sale.  We made a trip to Walmart and then went grocery shopping at Publix, where we were glad to find out we didn’t need a shopper’s card.  After we got back about 130pm I put away provisions and then worked on the Provision List project this time on the port settee aft locker.  Who knew we had so many sheets and pillow cases.  I got rid of a LOT of plastic bags and had room to put some of the newly purchased can goods in there. I found out that if I laid the cans on their side, they fit in better and I was able to fit more in the space.  Yees!  I liked it so much, that I changed the cans in the port upper forward locker and made some more room.

Port upper locker

Port settee locker

While I was working on the provision list project, Phil was trying to remove the hot water faucet that’s not connected to hot water from the galley sink to no avail.  He can’t reach the nut to remove it.  He did connect the PUR water filter so now we have to let the water run for 5 min to flush the filter.  Since we are not going to waste water, we’ll use the water filter for all non-drinking water until it’s flushed good and think it will be enough.  Hope the water tastes good.  I got the 3-stage which has one of the stages run the water through minerals to make the water taste better.

I made meatloaf, potatoes and we had left over vegetables for supper today.  Of course there is left over meatloaf, but Phil will make sandwiches of some of it and we’ll have the rest for another meal.  Phil washed dishes and then we spent the evening doing computer stuff as we ran the engine for 2.5 hours to charge the batteries well.  

Tonight it's to get cooler (49F outside) , as it's already cooling off in the boat.  Time to get into bed and warmed up.  Tomorrow we want to take the bikes into town and look at the museums.  There is a Submarine, Cumberland Island, and Orange Hall museums.  There is a corner market that has a washer and dryer which I hope to be able to use.  I hear they are large and only $1/load.