21 November 2014

Buurrrr it’s cold. There are no pumpout facilities at this marina, so we are using their bathroom facilities. It’s a short walk, but we found out that it’s not well heated. We’ll grab one of the spare heaters off the Quo Vadimus and leave it there tonight.

I’ve been using my ham radio when possible, it’s been a good way to meet more people as we travel around. Something happened to the radio in Chicago and it’s taken me this long to find someone that can take a look at it and repair it. This morning packed it up, it fits perfectly in the USPS flat rate box. They should have it by next Monday and with a little luck I’ll have it a few weeks after that.

Next on our chore list was laundry. A short golf cart ride later we were there and suds were flying. The admiral from Ta Ta was there and we had a nice chat with her about their trip. They live in British Columbia Canada. They had trailered their Albin to Lake Ontario and started their loop there around June. They have had a good time and we all talked about the parts of the trip we had shared.

After laundry we returned back through town stopping at some of the shops and stores. The shrimp boats come into a processing factory about 5 blocks from the marina. Susan stopped in and got fresh shrimp to make dip for tonight’s Docktails.

Walking up the street to Docktails I spied a 2001 Adventurecraft. I was surprised to see one, but it would be the perfect boat for the Apalachicola River and bay. With the 12” draft it could poke and prod into all the tiny nooks and coves along the water. The owner wasn’t there, I’ll try later on to try to meet them.

When we got up to Docktails it was a full house, with crews from Beach House, Ta Ta, Serenity, Sundowner, Fat Cat, Free Bird Leslee and Quo Vadimus . There was lots of good snacks and we had a good time.

Afterward we had 90 minutes to spend so we stopped into “Up the Creek” for a round of oysters. Our selection was Mediterranean style – Oysters with an olive mix like is on a muffaletta; Russian – with “caviar” (really salmon roe) and sour cream; and “Classic” with Parmesan cheese. Very nice!

Tonights entertainment was a community theater play called “The Halleluiah Girls”. It’s set in Georgia where a woman has a mid-life crisis and opens up “Spa De Dah”. The play was OK, the editor in me would have told the playwright to ditch Act II Scene III and incorporate the closing scene in the prior act. My inner stage manager would have worked harder to get the scene changes down to under 30 seconds from a few minutes. (When the audience starts singing along with the inter-scene music and waiving their cell phone flashlights like Bic lighters, you know there is a problem. But we had great seats, they play was funny and they had a well stocked bar for intermission.

The show let out well past Looper midnight and it was cold out. We hurried home and set up the heater in the bathroom to keep it warm overnight.