Fernandina Beach/Amelia Island, Florida. Shrimp Festival 2010

Thursday, April 29 - Monday, May 3.

Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island, Florida.  What a treat!  I'm glad we did not miss it.  We figured we would stay one nite, explore the town and then head back "home" (aka Brunswick Landing Marina ... where everyone knows our name!).

However, little did we know that we arrived just in time for the 47th Annual Shrimp Festival, held the first weekend in May!  And, they have a mooring field, which is a little slice of heaven for boaters!  A mooring field is an area of floating balls which are securely anchored.  For $15/nite, you tie a mooring ball to your boat and sleep easy, knowing that your anchor is not going to drag ... and that no one else is going to drag their boat into yours!  Plus, you get use of the boating lounge plus restroom and showers, which was an added bonus since the population of Fernandina Beach swells by about 100K people during the shrimp festival.  No porta-potties for us!  Dockage in the marina was completely booked because of the festival, and rates for the weekend were increased from the usual $1.50/ft to $3.50/ft (for us, that would mean $140/nite -- or $165/nite if they count our 5ft bowsprit).  Ouch!  Loving our mooring ball!

Maja ... secure on a mooring ball for 4 days.

The Shrimp Festival started Friday evening with a HUGE parade (eat your heart out Savannah!).  Pirates are a key part of the history in these waters, so the pirate theme was everywhere.  There were pirate boat floats, pirate cannons, pirate costumes, plus the usual assortment of antique cars and cute little girls performing their latest dance recital.

Crowded yes ... and I don't even like shrimp ... but it was a blast!  We found a restauant with the best pulled pork sandwiches (Happy Tomato Cafe), and Dan finally got to eat his FILL of shrimp!  By now, we'd had several Grouper sandwiches, but he was still yearning for an abundant amount of shrimp.  So he got to sample fried shrimp, cajun shrimp, rock shrimp, and one of his favorites, a shrimp twister (think tortilla, filled with fresh shrimp, lettuce, remoulade dressing ...).

We got to enjoy the best parts of land and sea.  Every day, we started out with a pleasant cup of coffee and breakfast on our boat, then we'd dinghy into the festival, until the hottest part of the afternoon when we'd return to Maja where there was always a cool breeze on the deck, and then we'd head back ashore for one last ice cream cone and shrimp treat before sunset. They had a fabulous fireworks show, and we had the best seat in the house, on the bow of our boat!  We even managed to get back on the boat before the rain started.

We've mastered the art of raising and securing both the dinghy and motor onto the back of our boat.  Captain Dan has a great system, and yes, I'm strong enough to not disappoint him.  I think we've just saved $500 by not needing to buy a motor lift system!  The 15 horsepower motor is a heavy sucker, but, boy does she run!  Dan was able to hit 22+ mph getting the dinghy up on plane!  Man, we were flying!

Our weather window for returning to Brunswick was either Monday or Thursday, so we took Monday.  We dropped the mooring ball at sunrise and headed offshore about 12 miles for the 40 mile return sail.  After a rough start with rolling 5ft swells (think being tossed repeatedly side to side to side for 2+ hours ...I think I could puke)... we settled into a beautiful downwind sail all the way to the channel leading into Brunswick, dropping our sails just off the St. Simons lighthouse.  Blue skies, 15-20 knot winds, rolling 4-5 ft swells, coming from behind the boat, so they would gently roll up and under our stern.  No problems here.

And of course, the best part -- arriving back home ... where we had 3 dock mates on the dock ready to take our lines.  Ahh, life is good!  And after our first 2-week extended sailing cruise away from Brunswick, we still like this full-time cruising  (esp. when I hear from my favorite Mayo co-worker, Kate, who is now a big-time lawyer for Boston Scientific as she rushes to catch one plane after another as she travels for work!  MISS YOU KATE!).

Next stop:  We'll wait in Brunswick for boat parts and then we aim to catch the shuttle launch on May 14.  However, we've decided to rent a car and drive instead of take the boat!  Much easier (a 3.5 hr drive instead of a 5-day cruise) .... and cheaper (considering the cost of diesel).  By then, Michelle should be in Savannah, and that will be our next port of call.