Here is a picture of the boater's lounge, one of the reasons we were so excited to get a slip on Dock 10. This is THE place to be in the marina! Here is where we gather for happy hour every Wednesday, nightly games of Dominos, free laundry, and watching the Olympics with a bunch of rowdy Canadians (best hockey game ever despite the outcome...)
Meet Ann and Lynn. Their boat is on Dock 6, so they resort to other forms of transportation to reach the clubhouse! These two incredibly funny people are from Dallas, Texas originally, but they have lived aboard their 36ft sailboat for ~15 years. Lynn was an architect in Texas, and now they have the most active lifestyle we've encountered -- they own rental property in Brunswick, so spend time maintaining that while they are here; and in April, they travel to Annapolis where they keep their boat in a slip until November while they work the boat shows in Annapolis. Then, it's back south in time for the huge boater's Thanksgiving feast on St. Marys River. It's a small world of boaters, and we hope to run into them again when we make it to Annapolis.
Thanks to Ann, I got motivated to learn how to use the pressure cooker on the boat. It's definitely a cool utensil when conserving propane matters. They show up every Wedneday for boater's happy hour with the dominos, and we never leave the lounge before 1:00 a.m. Just name a place on the east coast, and they can tell you were to anchor, what to see, and what marinas to avoid. Don't let the fact that Lynn is wearing shorts fool you into thinking that the weather is warm -- not so. He never wears long pants!
Meet Clyde and Sherri, aboard their 46ft Island Trader, "Morada" (which we fondly refer to as a mini-ocean liner because it has so much room inside!). These two have been cruising for ~12years, starting out on a 36ft sailboat. Clyde is an electrical enginneer (which we are finding to be a very good friend to have!). They lived in Texas and then moved to Virginia for better sailing! Both of them are full of good information about boat repairs and shopping and cooking on a boat. Plus, they taught us two new domino games! They have been here w/o a car since November, so now that we've cleaned out the GMC, we can go shopping together, which is great b/c Sherri knows where all the best deals are to be found. I like to follow her around the store because while I'm trying not to forget to buy bananas, she will remind me not to pay 69cents/lb at Publix because we can get them at the SaveALot for 39cents/lb on our way back to the marina (and, she also informed me that bananas are bad luck to have onboard while cruising!) ... like I said, experienced boaters are a font of the most useful information!
And speaking of the small world of boaters, after describing our boat to Sherri, she started asking about some details very unique to our boat, and we were surprised to learn that she knew the owners (prior to the guy we bought the boat from) who owned Maja for over 7 years and did all the major refits on the boat. They were neighbors at a dock in Ft Myers! Sherri was able to get us the phone and email addresses of these folks so it will be great to talk to them about the work they did (as we are learning, the guy we bought the boat from had no boating experience, and he just took their completely outfitted boat to the Caribbean for a year and returned and sold it. Unfortunately, he did no maintenance and several other dumb things that we are paying the price to fix now...).
Say goodbye to Lee and Karen, our neighbors on Dock 10.
They are leaving Brunswick to take their boat down to Ft. Pierce FL for major boat work. Lee just retired as a teacher in Brunswick after a career in the military. It's been 2 years since they took their boat from the dock, so they are quite excited about this 5-1/2 day trip. They will sail "outside" (on the Atlantic) from here to Fernandina Beach, then to St. Augustine, then to Smyrma Beach, where they will go inside to the Intercoastal Waterway around Cape Carnerval to Ft. Pierce. They are the first to leave the marina for a trip south. It's a big event for everyone on the dock, so all hands turn out to help cast off lines, wave goodbye and take pictures!
They postponed their departure for several days due to gale force winds and extreme cold temps. But today (Saturday, 3/5) is gorgeous -- it's in the high 60's, sunny, and absolutlely NO wind! Ahh, the sailors life!
Here's Earl ... one of our favorite neighbors on Dock 10. He's the resident expert on all things boating -- from transmission to refrigeration to water heaters to how much beer you need on board if sailing the Bahamas (300 cans) and where to store them in the bildge. He has been a great source of help to Dan on boat projects -- mostly b/c Earl's done it all! As he likes to say, a boat does much better when under way ... it's dockside cruising that gets so expensive! Earl is from Canada ... so yes, we did have to suffer/enjoy Winter Olympics Hockey with him; but in true Canadian fashion, he always brought the beer and chips to the games! He's been using the Brunswick Marina since 2002, so he knows all the best places to shop and eat and even clear customs (which we can do right here in at the marina, and the customs officer will come right down to the boat ...).
Art & MaryJane have been sailing their Endeavor 40 for 23+ years. Need I say more. They are our heros! She knows everything about baking on a boat and he knows everything about finding hidden space on a boat. They have cruised the east coast via the ICW over 15 times. Wow! Need I say more?
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