Well, between Hurricane(s) Florence, Gordon, and Helene the Atlantic is a bit whipped up right now. And that means we're kinda stuck...but in a good way... Kim and Scott on Anthyllide are in town too so we have friends around.
Seas outside have been 8-12' (but at 10-15 second intervals which is not bad) but we have no real reason to be in a hurry - it's not exactly a fun daysail and that's what we need right now.
Either direction we go, we have to go outside. Drawing 6', we cannot make it reliably and safely through the ICW, so we don't even try. St. Simon's and such are just out of reach until this string of storms passes.
BUT DON'T GET ME WRONG, I AM NOT COMPLAINING!
There can be hurricane after hurricane but as long as they stay out in the Atlantic and don't threaten us, I will sit in port and smile.
Fernandina Beach has a lot of expensive restaurants so we don't have temptation. It is much cooler so we're back to more elaborate meals onboard. And the cooler evenings mean a sheet is necessary come middle of the night. A nice change.
Several of our foodstuffs conspired to spoil simultaneously so we decided to go see the grocer. Sit back for the Saga of Grocer's Day...
Skipper Bob's publication on Anchorages Along ICW says a local grocery, 4 miles away will give you a ride both ways from the marina. Coconut telegraph says it is Publix. Grapevine says Bob is your man to talk to there. So I get up my gumbo and call. Get ahold of Manager Brian, 2 months old to the store. He's never heard of such a thing and it seems ridiculous to him. Today is Bob's day off, so Brian calls him at home, gives Bob hell for advertising this service, and gives me Bob's number so I can talk to him. wtf? Bob says he has done this before for people, is recovering from cancer, only works three days a week, etc. But he is stinging from his lashing by Manager Brian and wants to know about this Shopper Bob guy so he can set him straight. I don't correct the mistake, glaze it over, and thank him profusely for his time and apologize for routing his day.
This does not solve our issue. Cabs in this town want $12 each way! 4 miles. No.
So we fire up our walking sticks and head into town. At this point I have no desire to give Publix a dime so we go to Winn-Dixie, with a refueling stop at Taco Bell (our first in about 4 months!) We go to the Customer Service Desk and tell the nice lady our dilemma - we can't carry all our provisions back and cabs are just selling crazy. She calls around the store and Tom in produce is more than happy to take us back in his pickup. He's even listening to Buckcherry on the trip to the waterfront! We give him a nice tip, tell him about our friend Chris Craft playing Friday night and invite him. He told us about friends who play at the Green Turtle which is where we saw Chris on Tue. (which is another blog in itself someday...)
I am just amazed at the kindness of people. But then again, at the dock, we loaned our car to transients, took them all around hell's half acre for parts... out here, we've schlepped people around in the dink, done errands for them... so maybe boat karma does work.
| 