TerBarb – Part 5

As most of you know for the last month TerBarb has been tied to the docks at Brunswick Landing Marina in Georgia. During this time, we had rented a car to travel to visit family for the holidays. We visited Kentucky for Christmas, New Jersey for New Year’s Eve and family in North Carolina before returning to Brunswick, GA.

Brunswick Landing Marina is a neat place. They have 12 docks coming off land and each dock has 12-14 slips. It is a municipal facility and run entirely by women. Let me tell you a couple of things about Brunswick Landing Marina. The laundry facilities are free – which does not sound like much if you do laundry at home, but doing laundry at marinas on a fulltime basis is not always a fun chore. Some of the laundry rooms at the marinas are not “too” clean and it can take forever to dry the clothes. Sometimes this runs into an all day project. However at Brunswick Landing, you could eat off the floor and it is almost like using your own washer and dryer, but there are 4 washers and 5 dryers – a great advantage. Likewise the bathroom and shower rooms are spotless and a pleasure to use. I love women dockmasters, they know what women like. Ter-Barb is on Dock 10 – the party dock. Every boat on the dock is decorated for Christmas and the people are very friendly. Each evening at 5:30 pm we all meet for cocktails at the head of the dock and on Friday you bring your own beverage and meat to cook on the grill and a side dish to share with everyone. There are 20 of us each evening. One couple lives aboard full time and he works at West Marina. Several of the other couples leave there boats here for the summer and return home (Minn., Colorado, Canada, etc) returning for the winter cruising season. They will be heading for Florida, the Keys, etc. This is a great stop!! If anyone else does this trip we highly recommend this marina.

Since we had a car (big consideration) we went exploring the surrounding areas. We spent a day visiting St. Simon Island. We walked on the ocean beaches and saw shrimp boats with their nets spread out catching shrimp and fish. As you travel and encounter shrimp boats remember it is difficult for them to get out of your way when the nets are down, so let them have the space. We visited St. Simon lighthouse and keeper cottage, which is located at the southern end of the island. This lighthouse is approximately 1 block off the beach and the beach is getting bigger. We also walked through some shops (I like to look, not necessarily buy). We had a great day. The sun is shining and we do not need to be anywhere so we can just relax. Another day we drove over to Jekyll Island. During the early 1900, this island was the playground of the rich and famous. On the north end of Jekyll Island is a park with a large fishing pier, clean rest rooms and what is know as driftwood beach. There are large pieces of driftwood (by that I mean whole trees) on the beach. Needless to say not just one of two pieces but 40 or 50 trees, and when on their side they are taller then Bob. They are bleached to an off – white or gray color. This beach extends from the intercoastal side of the island all the way around to the ocean side of the island. It was a lot of walking and climbing over trees but worth it for the view. Likewise, on the southern end of the island has another fishing pier and a beach along with rest room facilities. From this beach you can also see St. Andrews Sound which we will cross as we continue south.

Since we still had the car for a few days upon our return to Brunswick, a major food shopping was in order. Restocking the cabinets and freezer is a major priority as we don’t know when we will be able to reach a large food stores. Yes, a lot of marinas have a courtesy car to go to the food store, but when you don’t know the area or where items are located in the food store and only have the car for 1 hour it get a little tight on time. We have a lot to keep us busy even when we are not traveling. Of course there are also the necessary chores that need to be accomplished. Keeping the boat clean (Mary’s job) and changing the fuel filters and oil and making sure the boat is in good running order (Bob’s job), along with filling the water tank and fuel tanks, getting rid of the trash (also Bob’s job), Also, setting up the programs and GPS for our next series of travels – where we want to go (marinas or anchoring) and making sure we stay in deep water. Deep water in the ICW can mean 4-5 feet under us. We are not talking about 10-12 feet as it is rare in the ICW to have this depth, no matter what they say.

The weather has been changeable. We have had above normal temperatures (75-83 degrees) and temperatures in the 40-50 degree range. When we were in NJ our dock mates said the temperatures were in the 25-27 degree range. For the most part it has been sunny or cloudy with very little rain. I know this area need the rain desperately, however traveling in rain is not fun, especially since I am the one handling the lines in the rain and Bob get to sit inside the covers and dock the boat. Well, I guess we each have the job that we are best at – don’t think I want to dock the boat in the rain with the wind blowing us sideways. Think I will just keep getting rained upon.

Will try to write again when we have internet access, as we will be leaving Brunswick either Sunday or Monday, Jan. 13 or 14 to continue our journey south. We hope to make St. Augustine by Wednesday.