Stay in St. Marys, GA

Thursday, Nov 18

St. Marys, GA

The start of the mornings are about the same while we're here.  We find ourselves when we aren't traveling waking up about 730am +/- 15 min.  Phil puts away any dishes cleaned from the night before and makes coffee and I usually have hot tea.  We listen to the St. Marys Basin Net that is currently on channel 68 at 8am.  We were on the boat in the morning and then went to town at 145pm to take the town history tour @ 2pm for $5 each.  They usually have a bigger trolley, but as it's broken they have a 6-passenger golf cart.  Phil and I were on the back seat facing backwards but the since we had a 7-total including the tour guide, 3 ladies with wider hips (from the same family or friends) shared the 2nd bench seat.  They were laughing as they squeezed in so glad they didn't seem to mind.  BTW, this is a very good tour a I would recommend anyone who visits here to take the tour.  They run at 11am and 2pm.  Afterwards, we went to St. Marys Submarine Museum  but since it closed in 45 min, we thought that we would save it for tomorrow afternoon after the morning breakfast scheduled.  

Here are some photos taken during the tour:

Phil and I love this front porch

Part of Church of Christ

Catholic Church

tree that fell over 100 years ago

Live Oak Tree growing into fence

I fixed Pork chops with sweet potatoes and apples in the pressure cooker and had fresh broccoli.  We played Canasta which Phil soundly won both times.  I need to get the strategy of playing!!!

Friday, Nov 19

St. Marys, GA

Our morning started as other typical mornings here but today was the St. Marys Yacht Club (StMYC) coffee get together at Cedar Oak Cafe & Java Joe's at 930am. 

Cedar Oak Cafe

We noticed that Ed and Betsy on S/V Haven whom we met in Elizabeth City, NC had arrived early and dinghied over to them about 9am to let them know of the get together.  We started chatting and didn't get away  for 20 min to arrived late, but there were plenty of people still at the breakfast and I was able to exchange some boat cards and get contact info in my little black notebook for those that didn't have them.  We were able to confirm a ride to go to Michael's Craft Store by Jacksonville Airport for Saturday morning.  I wanted to get some larger knitting needles to make an afghan.  Turns out there will be 2 other women going, so looks to be a good time getting out.

The coffee get together lasted until about 1130am.  We decided to visit the Submarine Museum for $4.00 each.  It's very interesting.  My Uncle Dale had been in the navy on a submarine.  I tried to reach him on the phone to see which one he had been on, but unfortunately he wasn't at home.

We went to Lang's Seafood Restaurant for lunch.  Phil and I each had the Grouper which was spicy and very good.  Lang's commercially fishes here so they have local fish at the restaurant.  It's on the edge of the river and marsh grass and we could see Changes from where we sat even though she's a dot on the photos.   

Lorraine and Phil in restaurant ready to eat.

View of Marsh Grass from restaurant window.

We also went to Orange Hall, which was built in 1820 and is the grandest house in town.  Our tour guide was very good, but unfortunately doesn't like to be photographed. But here are some photos I took of Orange Hall.

Orange Hall

Lorraine with Old Sewing Machine

Phil looking at how they fixed walls original way

 We also went to the local Cemetery which is very old.  They have Revolutionary War soldiers buried there and continue bury people to this day.  Below is the Resurrection Angle which is the largest monument. Her two husbands are buried on each side of her and she may have helped them to put them there.

Resurrection Angle guarding over her husbands

On our way back to the dock, we stopped at the Cumberland Island Museum run by the park service and which is free.  It was very interesting, but by that time our feet and bodies were tired as we went back to the boat.  We had leftover Meatloaf, potatoes and carrots with cookies for dessert.  We spent the evening reading before going to bed.  It has been warmer here, but as the evening goes on, it's starts to get really chilly for me and I finished the evening wrapping myself up in a quilt to stay warm.

Saturday, November 20

St. Mary, GA

We had a light dew this morning instead of the normal heavy dew, it was partly cloudy and we could see rain coming down south of here.  I wonder if the rain will come up here or not.  Better take my wind breaker this morning.

We listened to the St. Marys Boaters Net and then Phil took me into the dinghy dock to meet the ladies at 9am for our shopping trip.  Mary, our driver, was there at the end of the dock and Allie showed up soon.  We were waiting for the last person to arrive and wasn't able to reach her by phone or radio but by 925am in she came on a dinghy and we were off.  Jacksonville FL was the destination for our shopping close to the airport.  We got to Michaels and we made our purchases.  Then we went to Walmart and I picked up some food and some other purchases I needed which included a couple more skeins of yarn for a special project.  Then we went to Office Max and had a chance to chat at tables and chair by the entrance while others shopped. We ended our trip at Starbucks with tea/coffee and a treat.  I had a slice of pumpkin bread. It was great for me to be with other women and we got back early afternoon.  I made sandwiches for lunch and started knitting Henry's hat.  Of course, it's going easier than when I made Calvin's hat which is done except for making the pom poms.

After talking with Mary and Janice, we have decided to stay here at St. Marys through Saturday.  Mary has offered to take me to the Jacksonville Airport and pick up Katie.  She said it would be a lot cheaper and easier than moving the boat to Jacksonville and staying at a marina.  I called Katie and told her and she sounded relieved.  I also talked to my friend Liz and she's fine with that.  We'll try to leave immediately after we get Katie to the boat and go 20mi on the ICW to anchor.  Then we hope to leave Sun, Nov 28 early am and try to get to St. Augustine before dark so that we can see Liz but she understands if plans have to change at the last minute. 

St. Marys Yacht Club House Boat

The social event today was on the St.MYC houseboat attached to a mooring ball not too far from where we are anchored.   They use this boat as their club house.  They bought it for $3000.00 as it had been sunk and have been working to fix it up.

They  cooked and sold burgers and brauts, red and white wine and sodas during the get together to raise money for the club.  I brought some of my home made salsa and a bag on Tortilla chips to share.  We had a nice time meeting other boaters, 2 couples from Nova Scotia, and some locals.  We got a few more boat cards and gave some away too.  As we were chatting about renovating boats, we talked about the Force 10 stoves.  I commented how it take twice as long as the recipe calls for to bake something and Alain on M/V Ramha said they had a problem with the thermostat on their oven.  They had called the Force 10 company and the thermostat needs to be further away from the wall of the oven.  The company sent them clips to have the thermostat 1" away.  Phil will check it out later.  It would be great if we could get that fixed as I like to bake food and have been not doing that to save propane fuel.  Ramha is a rebuilt 42' fishing vessel with lots of room so they bought a regular cooking stove/oven and use that instead of a marine version.

Since we ate well on the boat, after we got home just after sundown we played cards and Phil made some popcorn later.  First we played 10-Penny, but it's not as much fun with 2 players.  Then we played Canasta (I tried it again) and even though Phil won both games, I was close behind.  We read some more and once again I had to wrap up in a quilt by the end of the evening.  This being cold is getting old!  I told Phil that we need to light the kerosene lantern early in the evening so that we had warmed the cabin by the end of the evening.  When we wake up in the morning, it's not that cold as it usually gets down to the mid-50's at night.

Phil has been keeping a close eye on the batteries - their voltage and has now decided that we shouldn't use the computers or sewing machine unless the engine is running.  We have been discussing about whether to buy a Honda 2000 generator.  There is the expense, but we also would have to store it on deck and have a gas can jerry jug.  At this time Phil wants to run the engine.  I'm inclined to get the generator as even with the engine running, we can't run the electric heater thru the inverter.  It would also be quieter and I could sew more if I wanted.  Time will tell.

Another thing that is getting old for me is taking showers with lukewarm water and being cold during the shower.  There are not public showers here so we have to use the Sun Shower which we hang from the green halyard and have the tubing go through the open head hatch.  Ok if the water is really warm and there isn't that much wind, but that event hasn't happened too often here.  I've decided that's it, and have started warming up water on the stove for my showers.  I feel that I need to have a shower/clean hair and wash up every other day with hot water for me not to feel that we're camping all the time.  So this morning I warmed up extra water with the coffee water and mixed the extra with cold in the blue bucket.  I was able to wash my hair and warmed up even more to wash my body.  Most people are really surprised when I say that Phil threw out the hot water heater years ago and doesn't plan to replace it.  Stay tuned for more in the future on this and the electric issue.

Sunday, Nov 21

St Marys, GA

We woke to blue skies and heavy dew.  As I got a new outdoor thermometer yesterday, the outside temp was 59F and 65F inside.  I’m fine with jeans or cuddle duds long underwear and my convertible pants bottoms and long sleeve shirt on top.

We tried to listen to the Waterway Net, but got in late and had a hard time hearing.  I hope that the sound improves as we get south.  Then we listened to Channel 69 to the St Marys Basin Net and today is the first day that Ann on S/V Sea Tramp has taken over for planning and activities for Thanksgiving week.  We had 7 new boats check in.  Ann and her husband have a van that holds 6 people and starting tomorrow morning is offering rides every hour on the hour to take boaters to the shopping and to the Laundromat.  She started taking reservations for tomorrow.  

The social event today is a spaghetti dinner at the Boat Yard at 330pm.  There were a few people that offered to bring people there in vehicles as it's 7mi by road to get there.  We need to cook some sirloin steak today, so will have to have for lunch, which Phil is working on.  Today I wanted to sew together Calvin's quilt top, but not sure if that will happen as it's already 12noon.  Mary suggested someone whom I could reach so I could have a flat clean surface to sandwich the quilt together  in town so I want to try to get it done today if possible.

Tomorrow starts the Happy Hours at Seagles Saloon at Riverview Hotel.  Buy the drink there and bring snack to share.  It will also be on Tuesday night and Ann expects more people to come and Wednesday is the Oyster Roast.  These all start at 530pm.  Thursday morning set up starts at 830am and Ann will be accepting volunteers for set up.  1230pm we bring the food and 1pm we start to eat.

S/V Steal Way will be hosting a Woman's Tea Break on Tuesday afternoon at 3pm, bring your own mug.  Tuesday morning the Read them Again Bookstore is hosting a muffin a coffee at 9-11am.  Bring a book to exchange or buy.

More later,  Lorraine