Thanksgiving in St. Mary's GA

Day 58, Thursday, November 24, 2016

You can monitor my trip at the link: Second Winds Progress Live

Today is Thanksgiving. Our morning was spent getting ready for the big feast that has been planned for us by the town’s people of St. Mary’s.  Dwight sent the night in town at a local hotel so I began my day with chipped beef on toast, aka SOS.  I took the Dink over to the local dinghy dock and picked him up at around 8:30. 

Sunrise at St. Mary's Harbor

Back on the boat, I set up and baked a blob carrot cake as my contribution to the Thanksgiving meal.  I had assumed that I would work on eating more green foods on this trip so I had amassed quite a large number of single serving cans of GREEN BEANS.  I was only too happy to provide whatever number of those little cans to Dwight for him to concoct a GREEN BEAN casserole using

Diane of Valentine

mushroom soup and French fried onion rings.  Since we don’t have an oven, Mary Grace of the giant catamaran, Let It Be, allowed his to assemble and bake the dish on her boat. 

While we were doing the preparation, we were visited by a local power boat with three guys aboard.  They came bearing gifts of bloody Marys to every boat anchored in the harbor.  I

Jack of Valentine

estimate that there were at least 50 boats served by these gentlemen.

Also, a group of guys from the harbor had gone to town to clean up the site where we had enjoyed oysters and hors d’oeuvres last night.  They also set up tables for the upcoming feast.  This turned out to be a real good deal for our group because they were able to reserve the entire patio at the pub for our “Sail to the Sun Rally” crew.

At a bit before 12:00 we all began gathering at the pub to drop off our pot luck dishes and nail down our seat for the meal.  We were told that the food would be served beginning at 1:00 but having received inside knowledge, we began forming what turned out to be a very long line at 12:30. 

The local folks were charged with bringing the turkeys and hams.  The

Ken of Mauna Kea

amount of fine food that was presented was amazing.  They had set up 4 self-serve lines and fairly quickly fed over 150 boaters and town’s people.  It was truly an unforgettable feast.

 

After dinner, we spent the next hour or so socializing and

Lori of Mauna Kea

enjoying each other’s company.  This will be the last gathering that I will have with the entire group.  A number of the biggest boats will go off shore and bypass several bridges that promise to be a problem.  They will reenter the ICW further down the path at a point south of where I will be pulling the boat out of the water. These are one great group of folks and I will carry home with me many fond memories of our times

Sam of Sweet Pea

together.

 

Back at the boat, I took a nap to let the huge meal settle onto my frame.  Upon waking, I joined a number of folks who had gathered on the aft deck of Valentine where we socialized until about 8:30. 

 

In the midst of the gathering, I received a text photo of Janine and my son Scott who along with his family were enjoying a thanksgiving meal at a Cracker Barrel restaurant half way between Pittsburgh and Somerset.  I called and got to talk with them for a while.  It was great to hear their voices.  

Ssunset over St. Mary's Harbor

I finally climbed into bed and fell asleep at about 9:00.