Our Month at Brunswick Landing Marina
We had a great month in Brunswick and did quite a variety of things and met a number of interesting people. As we had planned, we drove to Orlando and spent 4 nights with Matt, Kris and our 2 youngest grandchildren. We were actually the guests of Judy and Art Williamson, our daughter-in-law’s parents. They hold a number of time shares and had arranged for a pair of condos, side by side at a luxury resort near Disney. It was a lot of fun sharing the Williamson’s apartment while our shared younger family was right next door. We grandparents enjoyed the tap-tap-tap at 06:30 each morning which meant the grandkids were ready to join us in their PJs while their parents took the time to get things in order for the day. The later evenings also gave us time to reflect on our children, “grand”children and how we did things in “our day”. It was a fun time and we really appreciate the hospitality the Williamson’s extended us. We arrived back at Brunswick on Sunday afternoon and son Matt called to report his family was all checked in at the train station for the over-night AutoTrain trip back to the DC area where there was a forecast for SNOW when they arrived. “Sorry, son” is all we could say.
We had rented the car for 2 weeks so that we would have it for another visit to see friends in Florida a bit later. We decided to take a day trip to visit the Okefenokee Swamp and National Wildlife Refuge. It is a vast area (hundreds of square miles) located about 50 miles SW of Brunswick, GA and actually straddles the border between GA and FL. There is a nice visitor’s center and we took a tour (by boat of course) into the swamp where we saw alligators and a variety of birds. The interior area also contains large floating islands of peat and several of the gators we saw were sunning themselves on these floating islands. This road trip gave us an opportunity to see a bit of the interior of Georgia – flat, long straight sections of road and pine trees.
Thursday morning we found ourselves heading down I-95 toward FL again. This time we were headed for New Smyrna Beach, one of our favorite boat stops when we were cruising up the coast. Friends Dorothy and John Brownley (and Charlie) had rented a condo for the month of March and invited us for a visit. The Brownleys live in Columbus, OH and keep their IP-380 sailboat at Spring Cove Marina in Rock Hall, where we became friends. The timing of our trip coincided with “bike week” in Daytona and there were 500,000 people with motorcycles spread over the region for miles and miles. It added a lot of traffic but also created somewhat of a festive atmosphere since the motorcycles folks were mostly in a party mood. But if you want a quiet winter get away don’t go to the Daytona area during bike week. The Brownleys were wonderful hosts and we enjoyed our visit very much. John prepared a gourmet chicken dish for dinner the evening we arrived, and we got all caught up on things going on in our respective lives. The WX was nice and we actually wore shorts on Friday for our walk with Charlie and our tour of the light house at Ponce Inlet. To get to the light house we chose to take the water taxi (another boat ride of course) and spent the afternoon touring the museum and walking the grounds around the light house. On the drive from the water taxi station at NSB we decided to stop at the Publix grocery store for the supplies Polly needed to make the Stromboli she was offering as our dinner. While waiting at the deli counter, Steve Morris walked up to us, he and Sue (the couple from Idaho we met and became good friends with during our stay in New Smyrna) had stopped at the Publix to pick up a few items. What a small world it is – we were very happy to see the Morris’ again.
Saturday morning we said goodbye to the Brownleys and headed north on I-95 along with at least 100,000 motorcycles – some being ridden and many others being hauled on trailers with license plates from all over the U.S.A. and Canada.
During our month in Brunswick we kept busy between visits to FL with a variety of things. On various days we took our bikes to St. Simons and Jekyll Islands and also up to Darien and rode the local roads. We used the time on nicer days to work on getting FLIGHT’s teak bright work back up to snuff – some areas were starting to show signs of cracking and fading. We also were able to have the vinyl lettering on the two trail boards replaced by the gal at a local sign shop. The original letters were curling at their edges, apparently from sun exposure. We took dingy rides around the marina and RCB did some kayaking as well. We went to Fox’s for pizza (several times) and a few mornings to Hungry Hannah’s for a diner style breakfast. Of course, up to Mud Cat Charlie’s for fried fish sandwiches.
One evening we had our friends Kathleen and Jeff Gregg, who live on St. Simons, aboard for dinner. We had a lovely evening sipping wine and dining on grilled salmon. We used the large dock-side gas grill supplied by the marina and about 10 minutes before we were ready to start cooking I went to the dock and turned on the grill to pre-heat it. When it was time to cook the salmon, Jeff and I got things together (including a couple glasses of wine and a flash light) and headed up to the dock patio where the grill was warming. The BBQ grill was one of those big stainless steel mothers that you see for sale outside of Lowes and Home Depot stores - the model with four knobs plus a side burner, and I was surprised to see one of the knobs laying on the deck in front of the grill. I couldn’t figure out how the knob fell off until I tried to adjust the burner for cooking. Turning the knob had no effect on the flame because the hub of the knob was as soft jello – all the plastic knobs had melted! After returning to the boat for a pair of pliers we got the salmon in process and in a few minutes we were enjoying dinner. The next morning when I reported the grill damage to the marina, Sherry said it happens all the time and to just throw the melted knobs in the trash. The marina has about a dozen grills and apparently none of them are in great condition.
One of the great things about our stay in Brunswick was the people we met. Some were winter snow birds like us, but there were also a number of full time live-boards. On our dock alone there were four of our neighbors who have been cruising a long time. Bob & Gail still have property in California but have been cruising on their sail boat for the past 18 years. They have circumnavigated the globe, transiting the Panama Canal and have spent several years at a time in places like Australia and South Africa and ports on the coast of South America. They would fly home from time to time but for the most part have lived on their boat. They have been at Brunswick since July of 2008 and have now decided to put their boat on the market and move back home. It seems their daughter-in-law is expecting their first grandchild. Imagine that.
There is another fellow who lives on his boat full time on dock #4 and he is a supervisor at the county water department in Brunswick – we didn’t get to know Ray too well because the silly guy works all the time.
Lisa and Kirk have been cruising full time since they sold the marine canvas business they owned and operated for 8 years in Baltimore. They own no property ashore at this point and do not have a car. Lisa writes novels for Harlequin and is working on the third in a series she has committed to. Polly read the first one and reports that it is not of the smutty variety. Her husband Kirk serves as a sounding board and pre-editor by letting her know when she writes something that “no guy would ever say anything like that”.
Robert was by far the most entertaining fellow on our dock. A Single (divorced I am sure) 76 year old bachelor who actually left Tolchester Marina four years ago in his 32’ forty year old sail boat to “go south”. When he got to Brunswick it seemed nice enough and he has been there ever since. This is confirmed by the noticeable growth on his bottom, waving just below the surface. Whoever eventually does a bottom cleaning on the boat is going to need a power mower. When we first met Robert he was working on his engine so he could have the boat ready for the “cocktail cruise” season when he hopes to be able to entertain some of the younger (50-55 year old) lady friends he has by taking them down under the big bridge for an evening on his boat. We were recently told that he goes to the covered dish suppers at the Baptist church so he can meet new eligible women. It seems he doesn’t always get his calls returned – another dock neighbor suspects it has something to do with the kind of jokes he is prone to telling in mixed company. Robert is a carefree and friendly man who seems to enjoy his life and is able to take things in stride a day at a time.
One of the first nights we were on dock #4 at Brunswick Landing, all of the above folks and a few more, had planned a dock BBQ and included Polly and I. Bob and Gail had just purchased a smoker cooker and there were several whole chickens and two 6-7 pound pork roasts to feast on. Bob had not used a smoker before and thought we should be eating by 7-7:30 that evening. So we all sat around on the dock patio with snacks and drinks as the slow-cooking smoker did its thing. 7:00 o’clock came and went and the meat was not nearly done. With darkness came a cool breeze and after a number of people returned from their boats with more and more jackets and sweaters layered on, talk began about abandoning the party and going to our respective boats to keep warm. It became clear that we had the only boat with good heat so we moved the extended cocktail hour aboard FLIGHT and switched on the central heating units. In no time at all 9 of us were shedding layers and the rum was flowing. Bob would check on the meat fest from time to time and finally at 10:30 he was carving pork and chicken. Four people returned to their own boat to eat, but five of us dined together aboard our boat. It was a lot of fun and served to expose Polly and I to our new neighbors quickly.

Wave patterns on the Jekyll Island Beach.