What an exciting day we had today.  One of our new friends, Matt, invited us to go with him to participate in a sailboat race.  We were invited to be part of the crew, appreciatively known as “rail meat”. (Definition to follow.)  Matt’s invitation was for both of us to go.  At first, I just encouraged Gary to go and I wasn’t going to.  Then, the more I thought about it, I decided to go also.  How often would we get an invitation to crew on a 40 foot custom made racing sail boat.  The owner of the boat, Floyd, is a retired surgeon.  That’s all we know about him, other than he is Gary’s age, and is a delightful, optimistic, fun-loving adventurous gentlesailor (i.e., a gentleman who sails).

For the Melbourne Yacht Club weekly race, Floyd has a crew of seven, eight counting himself.  These are the gentlesailors who do all the real sailing of the boat.  Matt is a member of the weekly crew.  Then, there is the part of the crew that probably (would be my guess) changes week to week–the “rail meat”.  There were four of us today who owned this catagory.  Rail meat have a very important function as part of the crew.  I’ll try to explain it to the best of my literary ability to those of you who are not sailors.

When a boat if sailing in high winds, it heels, which means it tips over onto it’s side.  If the wind is blowing over the starboard (right) side of the boat, that side of the boat will be tipped up.  And vice-versa, it the wind blows over the port (left) side of the boat, that side of the boat will be tipped up.  How much the boat tips depends upon the setting of the sails and the amount of wind there is.  Today, we had gusts of wind up to 30 mph, which is a lot of wind when you’re sailing. (Right, Snellenbergers???)  So, the “rail meat” helps to keep the high side of the boat down by sitting on that side with our feet hanging over the edge, and sometimes our upper bodies hanging out through the lifelines, with only our bottoms on the rail (edge) of the boat.  Thus, the term “rail meat”.

When the boat has to shift from going one direction to another direction, that is called a “tack” when the maneuver involves the bow (the front of the boat) crossing threw the wind.  It’s called a ” jibe” when the stern (the back of the boat) crosses threw the wind.  Whether it’s a tack or a jibe used to turn direction, the boom (the hugh horizontal bar that holds the bottom of the main sail) swings across the boat very forcefully, especially in high wind.  If it were to hit you in the head, it could be fatal.  So, with that in mind, this is what the rail meat has to do… As the helmsman (in this case it was a helmsman, not a helmswoman) yells out he’s going to tack, the rail meat prepares to move to the other side of the boat by getting their legs, head and arms out from overhanging the boat.  The timing to move to the other side is crutial.  You need to time it to where you are crawling over the cabin top, with your head and full body below the boom (they call it “boom” for a reason), arriving to the other side at the same time the tack is finished and the rail of that side of the boat is at it’s highest.  You don’t want to be caught on the lower side of the boat.  This maneuver is done repeatedly throughout the race.

Now, keep in mind Gary nor I are the youngest sailors on this boat.  In fact, Floyd and the two of us were the oldest on the boat.  And two of the three of us were rolling around the top deck and under the boom for two hours, and one of those two people was not Floyd.  And, this old woman has bad arthritic knees and can’t move too fast.  So to compensate for that fact, when the helmsman yelled out we were going to tack or jibe, I’d go ahead and get my appendages out from hanging over the edge of the boat, turned around and got my feet onto the cabin and got ready for the climb to the other side.  By doing this, I would make it to the other side of the boat at about the same time as everyone else.  Except one time…

 Near the end of the race, we were observing one of the boats ahead of us having trouble on a tack.  Their boat had heeled so much, their sails were parallel to the water, probably just skimming the water.  I thought to myself, “humm, that can’t be good…” and I thought about what might happen to us when we got to that same spot.  But then, I dismissed the worry because our boat was a much bigger boat than that one and we had all this good rail meat on our boat… Well. a very short time later, I could feel our boat moving like it was going into a tack and I got my body into position to shift to the other side, and a crew member who was doing double duty as rail meat, said, “No, no, we’re not tacking.”  So, I swung back around and repositioned myself over the rail at the exact moment the helmsman yells, “ACCIDENTAL TACK!”  Before I knew it, in what seemed like a split second, everyone was over to the other side of the boat (the high side), leaving me with my legs and head hanging over the low edge of the boat.  Two things went through my mind in that moment. #1.  Don’t loose my shoes (flipflops–dumb me) and my hat. #2.  Don’t go overboard, because we’re on the last tack of the race and we’d loose our placing in the race if they had to retreive me from the water.  So, I grabbed my hat as Gary grabbed me under my arms to keep me from going into the water as it was desperately trying to drag me down, due to the speed we were going.  I don’t know which was harder to accomplish, getting my legs out of the rushing water without loosing my flipflops, or climbing UP the boat to get to the higher side.  But, somehow, with Gary’s help, both were accomplished.   And as far as I know, we didn’t loose our place in the race because of the whole incident. 

Also, when I got caught in the “accidental tack”, my legs were under the jib sheets (“jib” is the sail at the front of the boat and “sheets” are the ropes attached to it).  So, in the process of this whole fiasco, I also got a flogging across my legs from the jib sheets.  And I am sure to have visible bruises on my body from the whole experience.  I told Gary I will have to keep my whole body covered until they heal, as people will think the captain has been beating the galley slave.  But seriously,  I am totally honest in saying, it was an AWESOME experience.  Would I do it again?  That is yet to be determined….It sure makes a good story, though.

Actually, the story is not finished.  As we were all standing on the deck of the boat, after we got back to the dock, talking about the race, Captain Floyd looked up at the jib halyard (the rope that takes the jib up and down) and said, “Someone needs to tighten up that jib halyard.  It’s loose.”  And right at that moment the jib fell to the deck as the halyard snapped in two.  Later, Matt told us he had noticed the halyard fraying and was going to fix it, but Floyd told him “not to bother, it was okay.”   I guess in this case, the “crew” knew better than the “captain”… At any rate, we all commented on how fortunate we were that the halyard breaking didn’t happen during the race.  And of course, personally I’m thinking,  expecially when I was in distress hanging over the rail being flogged by the jib sheet.  To have the whole jib fall on me would not have made a good ending to this story.  Thank you God, for watching over your “children and idiots”, as Gary so wisely says.

Glenn and Emily Becker with the Glenns at a Bon Voyage party at Kirby and Roberta Mehrhof's home in Annapolis, MD

The new high-resolution website header image is a product of Glen Becker’s creativity.  He is the dear friend who designed this website for us.  Glen is a former Gemini owner and he and his wife, Emily, live in Annapolis, MD.  They used to have the boat slip right next to ours in Annapolis and that is how we got to know them.  Now they are family.  We call them “the kids”, which is a term of endearment to us, and hopefully to them as well.  (No offense to our real kids,  Sonny and Kyle Bloom and to our spiritually-adopted kids, Kelly and Tom Ousley.)

The weather is a little warmer here now and it has not been raining the past few days, so we have resumed our bike rides to the beach.  Yesterday, we learned about “sand fleas” from a fisherman on the beach.  He had a big heavy-duty rake and he walked into the water and raked the sand below the waterline at the shore.  Curious Jean didn’t hesitate to ask him the purpose of his action.  He was raking in sand fleas to use as bait to fish for pompanos.  I’d never heard of sand fleas or pompano fish and he told us about a restaurant specializing in preparing this “tasty” fish.  Sounds like a road trip to me…  One of the men that we met in the marina showed us where a fresh seafood market is, so we might see if they have pompanos there and prepare it ourselves. 

Yesterday for dinner we had “tile” fish,which is a local fish.  We saw it on the fish menu at the fresh seafood market and since we’d never tried it before, and it had just come in from the fishing boat, we purchased some.  It was a real meaty fish, light in flavor, almost too light, tasted okay with fresh mango accompanying it, but this fish is not one we will purchase again as there are too many other species that are better, in our opinion.  We used the leftovers for lunch today, making sandwiches with it to share with our boat slip neighbor, Ed.  He’d never eaten tile fish before either.  We were talking to him about different foods we have tried since we’ve been on this trip, like alligator.  We feel like trying different foods in different parts of the country is part of the fun of traveling.   

Speaking of food, it’s time for me to start making some garlic mashed potatoes to take to a dinner tonight with other boaters on the next dock.  We are having a Bon Voyage party for a couple who will be leaving this marina in a few days to continue their voyage to the Florida Keys.  As for our travel southward, we are going to stay here until February 5th since we paid for a month’s slip rental.  And we have to wait the arrival of a US Custom’s decal for White Swan that we will need to re-enter the US when we come back from the Bahama’s.  We ordered it online and it will come to this marina’s address.  By the way, until we leave here our address is:  Gary and Jean Glenn c/o Telemar Bay Marina, 1399 Banana River Drive, Indian Harbour Beach, Florida  32937

Also,  while we are here, Aunt Margaret Simpson is going to visit us.  There is a hotel one block away from the marina and the manager lives on a boat on our dock, and she is giving our guests a fabulous price of $45 a night.  So, if any other snow-birds want to fly south to get out of the cold for awhile, let me know and I’ll make reservations for you at this special price.  No, we are not going into the “tour guide” business… Just willing to share the warmth…

The Captain and I are enjoying our stay in Telemar Bay Marina.  We’ve met new friends and are enjoying old ones.  Last night we had an intimate dinner party of seven, which is the maximum amount of people White Swan can host for a  sit-down-at-the-table dinner.  When I say “intimate” I’m referring to the bodily proximity of the guests sitting around the table as it was a tight squeeze.  The food seemed to be enjoyed by all and the company was excellent.  Laughter filled the cabin as we entertained ourselves with lively conversations of remembrances of exploits at sea.  Every sailor has his/her stories to share and it’s always better retold than lived.

Dolphin in the marina

Yesterday, a dolphin came through the marina searching for his lunch.  He must have found plenty to eat because he stayed quite a while, putting on a splendid show for us.  I find it funny that I grabbed my camera and hurriedly unzipped the cockpit enclosure to get out on the deck of the boat every time we spotted a dolphin on the ICW, only to be dubbed a failure by not capturing a single good picture.  And then yesterday one appears in our marina making circles around our boat just begging me to take it’s picture.

Miles of sandy beach and ocean

We have been riding our bikes to the beach every day since we’ve been here.  Yesterday, we packed a lunch and took our beach blanket and had a delightful picnic on the beach as we watched the antics of the shorebirds as they pecked at the beach for their lunch.  They are so much fun to watch as they evade the waves that continually chase them, yet narrowly miss catching them.  The birds know exactly when to retreat to avoid the rushing water coming toward them.

Today was a different story, in that there was no bike ride to the beach or a lovely picnic, as the temperature barely reached the high 30’s.  In fact, when I came back from doing the laundry (YEAH!!! I got to do laundry!) it was hailing.  Very small in diameter, but nonetheless, hail.  The people who live in Florida are really complaining about the cold weather.  When I hear their complaints, I tell them to blame us because we brought it all the way down the coast with us.  People seem to feel better about their adversities if they can blame someone, so they can blame us.  As far as we are concerned, we feel blessed that we are not having to shovel snow.

The day after we arrived at this marina, we got an e-mail from a fellow Gemini owner (“Gemini” is the model of our boat).  He had been watching our travel on SPOT, and he said we were close to the marina where he keeps his boat.   We all had a good laugh when we realized his boat is the boat that is in the slip right next to ours.  We were close alright, any closer and we would have been right on top of his boat.  After Gary called him, he came the next day to the marina and we met him in person.  A delightful man, who very generously offered us the use of his car if we need it.  Any “cruiser” knows the value of having access to a vehicle ( whether it is a car, pick-up truck or even a golf cart), and this gentlesailor (i.e., gentleman who sails) has had vast experience cruising for many years.  He also invited us to visit him and his wife in their home, which is 20 minutes from the marina.  Gary would like to watch the next Colts game and this man’s wife’s friend used to babysit for the Manning boys.  He said she would be delighted to watch the Colts game with us.  Such a small world, isn’t it???

YOU KNOW YOU’RE A SAILOR WHEN…

You know you’re a sailor when you know the difference between a sheet used on a bed and a sheet used to pull in a sail.

You know you’re a sailor when you realize you can’t assume “Red, Right, Return” is always correct.

You know you’re a sailor when you use your head to go to the toilet instead of think with it.

You know you’re a sailor when you have friends in every port.

You know you’re a sailor when you can clean your whole body with one small sink of water.

You know you’re a sailor when you can look at the ripples in the water and tell if they are from a school of small fish, the wind, or the current.

You know you’re a sailor when you can differentiate a canal, a channel, and a natural tributary.

You know you’re a sailor when you know the horn signal to the bridge tender is one long followed by one short blast.

You know you’re a sailor when you know which bridge columns to go through to safely get to the other side.

You know you’re a sailor when you wake up on a boat seeing the vapors of your own breath because it’s 29 degrees inside the cabin; and, you’d still rather be there than toasty warm in your landlocked home.　

You know you’re a sailor when you’re interested about the journey as much as the destination.

You know you’re a sailor when you realize there’s always one more thing you’re going to learn about being a sailor.

Written by:  B. Jean Glenn 12-08-09

This leg of the ICW offered the pleasure of seeing numerous dolphins and waterfowl.  We saw hundreds of cormorants, brown and white pelicans, and a plethora of seagulls.  While navigating through the NASA Causeway Bridge, cormorants and seagulls were sitting collectively all along the piling wall with a group of cormorants on one side, and seagulls on the other.  I told Gary they remind me of  Democrats and Republicans, literally the “left wing” and “right wing”. I crack myself up…

By late afternoon, we made it to Indian Harbour Beach, Florida where our friends Tom & Pat Dennis spend the winter on their boat.  Also, another Annapolitan, Doug Dangerfield is presently here.  He will leave in a few days to continue south, but it was nice to be greeted by his familiar face as well as Pat and Tom’s as we docked White Swan.  We have rented a boat slip for one month, not knowing how long we will really stay here.  As I’ve said before, it’s more economical to rent for a month since we plan on staying here over a week or two.  We are still considering going further south at some point in time, and/or going to the Bahamas.  We were informed this might not be a good year to sail to the Bahamas, as the wind is stronger than usual and it might not be as pleasurable as we would like.  We’ll make that decision at a later time.  For now, we just want to relax and enjoy some “down time”.  And hopefully, the weather will warm up so we can really enjoy being outside.  The ocean is only 3/4 of a mile from our marina and we are looking forward to long walks on the beach on warm, sunny days.  We also are anxious to explore the area while riding our bikes.  We’ll see what adventures await us on land and keep you informed of any happenings.  In the mean time, please continue to e-mail us at glennsgonesailing@gmail.com as we enjoy hearing from you so very much.

First Mate & Galley Slave Jean and the most honorable Captain Gary S. Glenn

After Gary went to West Marine and purchased a new boat hook and a Cruising Guide for the Bahamas, we left Halifax Harbor Marina to proceed down the ICW.  Our journey took us down a lot of narrow channels with lots of luxurious  homes lining the shores. 

For the night, we anchored in Mosquito Lagoon, just 17 miles north of Titusville and Cape Canaveral.  It was a clear evening and we could see the large Space Shuttle hangar at the Kennedy Space Center in the far distance.

 It was a very cold night at Mosquito Lagoon, so fortunately we were not bothered by mosquitos.  If I had to choose between these two atrocities, I would choose the former, the cold.  If there is a mosquito in our presence, he enjoys me as his dinner.  Gary is rarely bothered by them.  I think they don’t want to navigate through all his hair to get to his flesh.  Thus, Gary calls me his “fly strip” ,and in this scenario,  I become the protector of the most honorable Captain Gary S. Glenn…

Yesterday, we observed our anchored neighbor trying to retrieve his anchor as he was leaving St. Augustine Harbor. His anchor was apparently caught on something on the bottom of the anchorage, and he had to hire a diver to retrieve it for him. We had purposefully anchored on the north side of the Bridge of Lions, after reading in the Cruiser’s Guide the south side of the bridge presented problems with anchors dragging and debris from wreckages.  But…after observing our neighbor and his dilemma, we tried to shake off our concerns for a similar problem when it would be time for us to leave this superficially beautiful anchorage.  Having said that… this morning was our time to see what awaited us as we weighed anchored.

Our anchor did indeed come up okay with the help of our battery powered “windless”, a device that pulls up the anchor rode (line) and anchor.  However, attached to our anchor was a coral encrusted three foot square crab trap.  It took Gary half an hour to get it off our anchor, losing our boat hook in the process ( a necessary piece of equipment for boaters).  Thanks to his valiant labor, we did not have to call for assistance.

Bridge of Lions repair

Bridge of Lions and temporary Lift Bridge

After idling White Swan around St. Augustine harbor while Gary accomplished the task at hand, we finally left via the historic bascule bridge, Bridge of Lions.  Repair of this historic bridge is in process, so a temporary lift bridge is accommodating the boat traffic, as the bascule bridge is left open during the extension repairs.

Our trip south was uneventful.  We were quite warm with our heater running and our enclosed cockpit.  Having slept through two freezing cold nights anchored at St. Augustine, motoring down the ICW with heat was a pleasure.  During the trip, I saw what I thought were four white swans.  I got the camera and went outside the cockpit to take their picture and I was surprised to find they were not swans, but white pelicans.  These were the first we have seen.  We started seeing brown pelicans as far north as the southern part of the Chesapeake Bay.   One unique difference in the character of the two is the white pelicans do not dive like the brown ones do.  To feed themselves, they work together as a team, flapping their wings in the water to herd the fish into a group where they cobble them up.  Nature is a continual source of amazement and wonder.  We love watching the brown pelicans dive for their feasts.  They dive so close to the shore, and are going so fast in their dive, they look like they would knock themselves silly in the process.  However, they survive the dive and continue to do it over and over again, making their antics an enjoyable sight for their spectators.

We arrived at Dayton Beach, made it through two bascule bridges, and arrived at the Halifax Harbor Marina fuel dock, in good form. After fueling up and pumping out the head, we rented a boat slip for the night as tonight is to bring another night of freezing temps. We chose this marina for two reasons: one, we’d be through the two bascule bridges, and not have to contend with them in the morning; and, two, there is a West Marine store here where we can purchase a replacement boat hook. Having a laundry very near our boat slip was a bonus, and I got to do a couple loads of laundry. YEAH!!!

Touring the old historic district of St. Augustine, Florida comprised most of our day. Walking the narrow cobblestone streets, crowded with numerous tourists, fulfilled any needs we might have had to commune with other humans. The serenity White Swan has to offer is an oasis.

Cannon shoot from fortress Castillo de San Marcos

We viewed the fort, Castillo De San Marcos, as we walked around it. Construction on this fortress began in 1672 and it was completed many years later. We listened as a colonial garbed docent recited the history of the fortress and then other museum volunteers shot a cannon from the top of the fort. They periodically shoot the cannon throughout the day as they give tours of the old fortress, and the shots can be heard throughout the whole downtown area.

After our walking tour of the fort, we went to the Colonial Spanish Quarter which is a living history museum (similar to Conner Prairie, only much smaller) and experienced a view on life in Spanish St. Augustine in the 1740’s. It was interesting that their porches were always built on the south side of the houses, because it was cooler there, and they had no windows on the north side of their houses, thereby giving their neighbors privacy for their porches. In my opinion, that was pretty clever architecture for houses in close proximity to each other.

Flagler College, formerly the Ponce de Leon Hotel

We went to the former Ponce de Leon Hotel, which is now Flagler College. Built in 1888, this beautifully restored hotel building of Spanish Renaissance architecture now serves as the college offices, cafeteria, and girls dormitory. We watched a video of the history of this building and of Mr. Henry Flagler who built it and other hotels, as well as the railroads needed to get guests to these hotels in the state of Florida. Mr. Flagler was born in poverty and through his own ingenuity and ambitions, he became a very wealthy man. After his first wife died at an early age, he humbly testified that wealth is not the most important thing in this life when “the Higher Power calls“. It was then that he realized his work was also benefiting others with jobs and a source of income, and that was important to him. As he built his own empire, he helped others along the way. And now the college is named after him to pay him the honor and respect he deserves. As you can tell, I was moved by the life story of this man. I love it when people see beyond themselves and “get it” that each person’s life encompasses “everyone”.

Sculpture, chandaliers and mosaic tile floor in lobby of Lightner Museum, formerly the Alcazar Hotel

We also went into the lobbies of the Lightner Museum, formerly the Alcazar Hotel which was also built by Henry Flagler, and the Casa Monica Hotel just to see their ornate lobbies with crystal chandeliers, sculptures, glistening mosaic tiled floors and courtyards with fountains and palm trees.

In our conversations with some of the locals, we found out which chocolatier made the best chocolates in town. We had to make a stop at “Claudes” for “the best” chocolates, and we were not disappointed.

Before leaving the historic district, we visited the National Greek Orthodox Shrine.  We enjoyed this historic city very much, and will probably revisit it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!

New Year's Eve dinner on White Swan 12-31-09

Gary and I had a lovely New Year’s Eve on White Swan. We had a gourmet meal consisting of grilled South African lobster; baked potatoes; salad with grilled pear spiced with cinnamon, sliced almonds, feta cheese and raspberry balsamic dressing; pumpernickel bread; and, a strawberry/blueberry tart for dessert.  This is one of the reasons why Captain Glenn doesn’t pitch the galley slave overboard.

After dinner, we watched a DVD movie on our laptop while wearing our New Year’s Eve hats.  Yeah, we’re dorks…  After the movie was over, we still had an hour to go until midnight.  We read for a while and when our books started hitting us in the face, we gave into fatigue and set our alarm for 11:59 so we could usher in the new year.  By 12:01 we were back to sleep.

Last night we anchored up a creek just off the ICW, approximately 10 miles north of St. Augustine, FL.   It was too late in the evening to continue on to St. Augustine when we reached this anchorage.  So far, we have avoided being out on the ICW navigating in the dark, and that will continue to be a goal of ours.

Rain accompanied the daylight this morning, so we stayed  in our secure anchorage until it lessened. You might wonder if we just sit around the boat during times like these. Sometimes we read, but we usually save that hobby until we get in our berth for the night. There is always something that needs to be done on the boat. Much like living in a house, there is cleaning and upkeep. I am amazed at how dirty the boat can get even though we are not going from shore to boat a lot. This is one of my secrets… we don’t have a dog because Gary sheds like a dog (there’s hair everywhere that needs cleaned up continually); AND,  he will eat anything I put in front of him; he is the protector of our boat; I don’t have to take him to shore a lot, but he does like to go to shore occasionally for a good walk; he doesn’t bark a lot; and indeed, he is my best friend. (Yes, I have his permission to say all these things.)

At 2:00 today we checked our Sirius weather station and saw that the rain was clearing out from this area.  Sirius weather station is just like what the meteorologists use on TV.  It’s a comprehensive weather radar system that boaters use a lot, especially if they are navigating off shore, i.e., ocean.  We had this system added to our GPS/Chart Plotter.  Today it paid for itself, in that it was right on target with the weather pattern.  We watched the weather move out of the area on Sirius and then we left our anchorage and motored to St. Augustine.

We set our anchor in the harbor at  St. Augustine and plan on staying here tonight and tomorrow night.  After we were sure the boat was secure, we got in the dingy and went to shore.  We walked through the touristy part of town that was beautifully lit with Christmas lights.  The narrow cobblestone streets and quaint shops reminded us of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Island, only St. Augustine has a distinct Spanish flair. 

We had dinner at the A1A Ale Works Restaurant.  Shrimp and grits were on the menu, and I was curious as to how they would compare to the first time we had them, so I ordered them.  If this had been the first time I’d tried them, I would not have ordered them the second time.  They were not to our liking.  I think the key ingredient missing this time was the cream.  Now I know to ask if they are “creamy” grits, when I see them on a menu.  Also, there was no brown gravy on the top.  Both of those ingredients make a huge difference in the taste of this dish.

Tomorrow we are going to tour the town some more.  Until then…Adios amigos.

After staying two nights at the Brunswick Landing Marina, we are leaving this morning.  I’ve enough time to write this blog as Gary fills the water tanks and takes care of our bill at the marina office.

Sunset over Brunswick, GA

The picture is of last night’s sunset.  As I was doing laundry (YEAH!!!), I looked out the window and saw this lovely view, so I had to get a picture to share with all of you.  We are still not bored with seeing these stunning sunsets.

Yesterday, we rode our bikes quite a few miles.  I needed to get weighed in at Weight Watchers, as I have to do that once a month to keep my “lifetime” status.  I got online and found a location of  a WW meeting that was 3 miles away from the marina.  From there we rode our bikes to a grocery store and a West Marine.  We have a backpac and a cooler backpac to carry our groceries when we are getting them via riding the bikes.  It works out well if we watch the volume of the purchase.  There also was a CVS downtown and we picked up a prescription as well.  These are the mundane necessities of life that takes organization and ingenuity to accomplish as boaters.

The historic downtown area of Brunswick was on Gloucester Street, and it is within walking distance of the marina.  Mostly, I noticed numerous antique stores as we rode our bikes down the street.  So if a person were interested in antiques, this would be a wonderful place to spend some time checking out what these stores have to offer.  On our way back through as we go north, I’d like to do just that as I would like to look for a bread bowl in which I can knead bread.  My friend Alicia Byers has one her father-in-law made her, and it looks like it would be very functional and contain a lot of the mess of  kneading bread. 

The other interesting thing I noticed while riding our bikes down Gloucester Street was they used decorative octagonal pavers for all the sidewalks.  The boulevard down the middle of the street and the pretty sidewalks, made a lovely setting for all the quaint restaurants and stores that comprised the historic area.

This port offered many “necessities-for-life amenities”, including a very clean and FREE laundry facility with a TV lounge at the marina, so I am sure we will return to Brunswick, GA  again.

Gary and I are ready for the New Year’s Eve celebration on White Swan.  We have hats, bubbly, and lobsters for our celebration.  We will be somewhere in Florida, probably anchored out with no WiFi availability, so our dear friends and family, WE WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR and GOD’S BLESSINGS TO YOU IN 2010.

Sending our love and gratitude for YOUR  love and friendship, First Mate & Galley Slave Jean and the most honorable Captain Gary S. Glenn