Sweet Georgian Thanksgiving

Large Bird of Pray spotted on walk around inlet

The drive from St. Augustine, Florida, to Brunswick, Georgia, was much shorter than I thought it would be, to my relief. I had Googled the route and thought for sure I had the fastest, most direct route…but NOOooo!  After driving through Brunswick itself and unknowingly right past the Marina, I kept on going to the large bridge that follows the town, and then nothing looked right at all. After a quick call to Paul, my new friend I had yet to meet who is sailing to the Florida Keys for the winter from Canada, I hung a U-ie and drove back into Brunswick.

Paul aboard his Mz Tumbleweed

Finally we met, and it was like meeting an old friend.  He showed me his boat and my private V-berth that I would have for the next 3 nights, and then we went to meet his friends.  Basil and Daniela were several docks away, on a larger sailboat.  They are on their way to Venezuela, and have allowed themselves a year and a half for their trip.  Later that evening we all went into the quaint historic downtown of Brunswick to Foxy’s Pizza café, where we ate THE most delicious pizza I’ve ever had, with tasty draft beers on Happy Hour to wash them down.  Ahhhh…my waist is ever growing!  Gotta get back up to the mountains and do some more hiking soon!

Sunkien Vessel with Giant Bridge in Background

Turkey day dawned and we took a looonnngg walk around the other side of the waterway, seeing tons of litter and quite a few Mexicans shore fishing…don’t know if there was a connection there. Hope not. Looked for gators swimming but saw none. On the way back to Paul’s boat we saw hundreds of large fish swimming under and around the docks. He said they could not be caught with a hook, but must be netted instead.

Me navigating Paul's dinghy

Back at his boat, he lowered his dinghy and we cast off for a little jetting around the watercourse. He let me take the helm and we passed two large tugboats underway, a sunken sailboat, and a long dock where the larger shipping vessels unload their goods into cargo bays which are then loaded onto freight train cars on the building’s other side, and away the goods go. We arrived back at his sailboat at exactly the starting time of the Brunswick Marina’s communal Thanksgiving Dinner.

Paul soaking up sun in dinghy

Sailors and boaters from all over the docks began arriving with their potluck dish and beverage. The Marina had contributed the turkeys and pork butt (we’re in the south, folks!), and had set up the tables, chairs and food stations.  Basil and Daniela were there, and about 30 other people as well. Needless to say, most all of us ate too much, me included, but it was mmm-mmm good!  And a great joy to be with such sharing and friendly people!

More Thanksgiving Dinner Crowds

At the end of the meal, someone ignited a small canon right next to the tables and its blast broke my eardrums and sent me jumping a mile high…slight exaggeration there, but it was highly intrusive and very loud and startling.  I don’t know why they thought it was the ideal thing to do right after everyone had eaten so much food, but the men who set it off thought it was so much fun they continued to blast it off every few minutes for the next 20 minutes or so. Needless to say, it dispersed the Thanksgiving gathering pretty quickly.

Brunswick Marina

The weather had been perfect, and we had decided to go explore Jekyll Island the next day. This is the island where the private, small meeting was held that decided the United State’s formation of the current Federal Reserve.  There’s an excellent book called “The Creature From Jekyll Island” that you, as an American citizen, should read. In fact, it should be required reading in all 5^th grade classes. Delving into this subject more deeply would require a different category of posting 🙂  Maybe another time. For now, we planned to go to see where the richest of the rich play in the summer in their castles – oh, I meant cottages – and see the place where history changed the course of this country’s money and entire financial future.

The Largest TugBoat I've Ever Seen!