Awwww, Shucks! – Matt & Jessica's Sailing Page

Wednesday November 21, 2012

Having made a last minute decision on Monday night,we planned to, instead of waiting for the swing bridge on the ICW to open at 9:00 and take that route down to Port Royal where we’d jump out into the Atlantic, we’d instead leave with the tides at 5 am the next morning and just jump out from Charleston. Our next destination was St. Mary’s, GA which was 145 miles from channel to channel. There we’d be able to enjoy cruisers Thanksgiving and meet back up with Rode Trip. And if anyone was wondering where they are or why we haven’t mentioned them in any of our Charleston posts, they were supposed to meet us in Charleston and as we pulled in just after Anthyllide Friday morning neither of us had any clue what happened to Brian and Stephanie who were supposedly making a straight shot there from Beaufort, NC where they had left just a few hours before Anthyllide. Not hearing a word from them since Wednesday afternoon both of us boats that did make it there were worried that they were not in the anchorage and not responding to any text, e-mails or calls. Finally we heard from them Friday night that they had arrived to Charleston Harbor Thursday night but the fog in the area was so thick they could not tell where they were going and instead of chancing that they’d hit something they kept going on to Georgia and went in at Sapelo Sound. Although I thought it would never happen to me I was like a panicked mother all Friday thinking the worst had happened to them. Once we knew they were safe we had Anthyllide and Hideaway to fill in as buddy boats and still had a great time in town.

Â Getting back to the present. Staying on schedule as we always do on travel days, the anchor was out of the water at 5 am and through the dark we rode out the currents and dodged large tankers until we were in the ocean. When the sun had come up behind the clouds and we traveled the necessary five miles out the channel until we were free of the jetty we turned the bow south where I successfully marked the St. Mary’s inlet. Overall the trip was less eventful than the past few ones which was a relief to me. Since batteries were low and we wanted to try our hand at working the water maker (which worked out great) we turned the engines on just after noon and ended up leaving them on the whole time since winds were dying to under ten knots and we were slowing to a crawl. Knowing that we’d make it to the inlet at sunrise if we were going six knots it wasn’t an issue to slow down, we’d still make it in during daylight, but the fact that we skipped laundry in Charleston for one last day of sightseeing put us in a little hurry since we did not want to show up to Thanksgiving dinner Thursday in clothes that had been worn for days on end and smelled like it too.

Keeping in touch with Anthyllide through the VHF because of our close proximity to each other we still ended up in sight of each other when the sun rose and went through the channel just in front of them with their aluminum hull and red sails making it look like we were being chased by something out of Pirates of the Caribbean. Dropping anchor as quick as possible I was thrown on the dink with our dirty laundry where all the cruisers that gather here had put together a shuttle to bring people in to town for such necessities as the laundromat or grocery store. Arriving back a few hours later with clothing that was now acceptable to wear around other people I found that Matt had fully cleaned the boat and we even had sheets now set back on the v-berth to sleep on. It had finally become warm enough that the condensation wasn’t as big of an issue and we could go back to sleeping in there instead of the settee like we’ve been doing for the past month. Did I also mention we found the sun in Georgia? Things are really starting to look up.

Not having time to enjoy the newly cleaned boat though I was quickly whisked off to shore again with Anthyllide and Rode Trip in tow. As part of the holiday festivities the hotel/restaurant that is putting on the dinner tomorrow was holding an oyster bar tonight. If you brought a side dish to pass you could participate in the festivities and even though we unfortunately did not have anything to bring we could take advantage of the drink specials at the bar. It was after all the biggest bar night of the year and who could pass up such an occasion with a legendary bartender ‘Cindy Deen The Porno Queen‘ (no, she was never actually in porn, still trying to figure out how she got that name) or now that she’s married, ‘Cindy Chubb, Queen of This Pub‘ serving up your drinks? Pulling together a few tables to seat the six of us we started taking advantage of the ‘buy one drink get a free refill’ special. We caught up with Rode Trip and listened to their stories of storms on the high seas with waves as high as their spreaders and how they managed to catch and clean a tuna along the way.

We hadn’t even been talking an hour when one of the gentleman putting on the event saw that we were sitting at an empty table with no food in front of us. Asking the guys if they’d like to learn how to steam oysters we all followed them out back to the patio where the action was going on. Sitting all the way in the back were bags and bags of raw oysters. Pulling them out they had to be set on a table to be hosed off and cleaned before going into a giant steamer and finally transferred to the oyster bar to be shucked and enjoyed. Matt and Brian got working with the hose while us ladies stood around with beers in hand watching. Having cleaned a full batch they went in the steamer and more oysters were placed on the table to be cleaned. A few more rounds of that and we figured we (they) had worked enough oysters to enjoy a few. Standing at the end of the table we waited for the next batch to be shoveled from the steamer into wire baskets attached to a plywood table. Only having one knife available since it was still a crowded area with oysters being picked up as soon as they were set down, we set Brain to work shucking and when he opened one he’d pass it around for the rest of us to eat.

I was able to eat one from the first batch and had it without and kind of lemon juice or cocktail sauce. It was a little chewy but overall not bad. Waiting for the next batch we were each able to get one more and this time I topped it with cocktail sauce. Waiting ten minutes for each of us to get an oyster though was becoming old so having a stroke of genius, Brian walked over to the table for us to start shucking them raw. Adding cocktail sauce again I thought these were even better and now we were able to enjoy an unending feast. Eating until our stomachs were full (surprisingly didn’t take that many) we started talking to other cruisers about their journeys and even met back up with Groovin who we enjoyed the roast with back on the Erie Canal. Ending the night we used Anthyllide as our tour guides for a late night walk through a cemetery with graves dating back to the past two centuries and then landing at a gazebo in a quaint little park on the riverfront. Talking until the low temperatures for the night started forcing us back to our dinghies it was exactly how the day before Thanksgiving is back home. Spend the day traveling so you can make it to Thanksgiving dinner but not before catching up with some of your best friends out at the bar. Some things never change.