Thanksgiving, St. Mary's Style!

Celebrating Thanksgiving St. Marys Style! There is one word to describe our Thanksgiving celebration in St. Marys Georgia. HEARTWARMING! We were already feeling very thankful as we entered the St. Marys River on Sunday November 23rd, but this riverside community brought new meaning to giving thanks. We dropped the hook and couldn’t wait to dinghy in and get acclimated. All of our boat show friends (the ones I declared I didn’t need in Annapolis) declared that we did NOT want to miss Thanksgiving in St. Marys. We were anxious to find out what all the fuss was about. The first person we met was Ralph, who doubled as the Bait Store Attendant and Ambassador for the St. Marys Yacht Club. He gave us the low-down on everything and offered to give us a lift to the grocery store. I couldn’t find hot pepper jelly, the key ingredient to an appetizer I intended to make. Ralph said he would get me jelly if we didn’t mind going for a ride…and took us to his home! He had phoned ahead to his wife Sandy, who said she had a jar that she would give to us. That was our first of many examples of this entire community’s warmth and hospitality. You could almost feel a red carpet under your feet as you walked through town. Next we had to track down Sea Tramp, who Ralph said coordinated the whole cruisers event. En route, we ran into Ann Barr and Lynn Harden from the boat show, and told them we were anxious to meet the people from Sea Tramp. Ann smacks us and says “WE are Sea Tramp ya big dummies!” Oops, we missed a critical boat name association. Sorry Ann, most of the time we talked to you at the boat show we were either not awake yet or too exhausted to retain information! Great! We are buddies with the big wigs! Now I will be in the know about everything! Where do we go for the first party Ann? Happy Hour at Seagle’s! Count us in. What else do we need to know? Ann got her clipboard out and added our names to the cruiser attendance list along with what we were bringing to the pot luck Thanksgiving dinner. Next she added us to the shuttle schedule with Lynn (world’s coolest chauffeur) for a provisioning run. Anything else we need to know she will announce each morning at 9:00 a.m. on Channel 69. Morning announcements, just like back in school. This is so cool! The first happy hour was a small but jovial crowd of fellow cruisers. The legendary bartender Cindy Dean wasn’t working, everyone gave us a heads-up to treat her with great respect, we’ll see why at happy hour number two tomorrow night. Good news Monday morning. Jage and her friend Carmen from Simplicity are on West Dock, and Archie docked Janey right next to her. Sounds like this is shaping up to be the boat show party dock. Gary knew what to do right away to make his baby happy. Get Tessa a spot on West Dock quick! Boats continued filling the anchorage all day Monday. It was fun listening to the morning announcements and hearing familiar boat names checking in with Ann. She warmly welcomed everyone, then moved on to business at hand. Who needed a ride to the store, laundry, or to fill propane tanks? Who wanted to volunteer for transportation, set-up, serving Thanksgiving dinner, or clean-up? Volunteers flooded channel 69, everyone eager to help their fellow cruisers and contribute to the success of our Thanksgiving celebration. The Monday happy hour crowd doubled in size. Cindy Dean wasn’t scary at all. She was totally entertaining, slinging cocktails and insults all around the bar. We all shared appetizers and swapped cruising stories, mostly about the cold weather. The weather in St. Marys was absolutely gorgeous but still very chilly. Jage, Carmen, Archie, Gary and I walked together to West Dock to check out our new digs and plan our docking procedure for the next morning. Tides and current make or break a successful docking maneuver, so Captain determined that we would move Tessa Tuesday morning at dawn. Everything went smoothly with competent help from our crew on the dock. Archie worked the lines expertly but had to strain a bit. After getting her all tied up, he commented “Tessa’s a big girl!” We spent Tuesday bouncing from boat to boat, doing some boat chores, some visiting and some cooking. Gary and I had a big pot of Admiral Hanks Chili simmering on the stove to fight off the chill. Our gang agreed to come back to Tessa after Seagle’s happy hour for a bowl. Then we moved the paahty to Aaahchie’s boat so he could D.J. for us like he did in Annapolis. We had so much fun listening to him explain the lyrics and tell the stories of his Caribbean music. Dancing soon followed….or something slightly related to dancing. Archie moved with that beautiful St. Lucia rhythm, and with just the right amount of rum and wine, we all assumed we could to. During the party, Jage threw out the idea of hosting a Pain Killer party on our dock the following day. We’ll make ten gallons of the Pain Killer mix and everyone can bring their mug and rum. Sounded like a great idea at the time, but just to be safe, I checked in with Jage and Carmen early the next morning before it was too late to turn back. They had already contacted Ann and our invitation was on the roster for the morning announcements. We were committed! Tuesday we were on the schedule for a noon laundry run combined with lunch at Ann’s highly recommended restaurant, Dick’s Wings. Ann, Jage, Carmen, Archie and Leslie (Archie’s friend from Minnesota) joined us. Happy Hour followed again at 5:30, but we cut it short to head for Simplicity for the tasty pork roast Jage and Carmen had waiting. Wednesday you could sense the anticipation growing along with the size of the group. I’m not sure what our red hat gang (boat show employees) was more excited about….Thanksgiving, the Pain Killer party, or the long awaited arrival of Hayden that afternoon. The ladies prepared the Pain Killer mix while Archie prepared twenty pounds of Caribbean chicken. Right before 3:00, Archie got the tropical party music blasting from Janey, and within minutes friends were arriving with mugs in hand. The party was a hit! HOT-HOT-HOT was playing and Archie and I stood side by side at the dock basking in our success when he leaned over and whispered “See…we know how to throw a paahty!” Yes we do, my friend! That afternoon, our friends Captain Don Dunn and Lauren arrived from Put-In-Bay to cruise with us the last leg of our journey to Key Biscayne. It didn’t take long for them to fit right in once they both got a mug of Pain Killers. And then came Hayden! We had not forgotten that unforgettable smile and laugh, and it felt SO good to see him again. First things first, we checked the length of the bunk in Tessa’s salon and were relieved that he fit! Then on to Happy Hour where it was quite obvious that we weren’t the only ones happy to see Hayden. He received a rock star greeting as loud cheers erupted when he walked into Seagle’s bar. Except from Cindy Dean. The only comment she had was “YOU OLD ENOUGH TO DRINK SON?” To which Hayden replied confidently “YES!” and the bar was lined with shots of Tequila. The celebration continued back on Tessa and Janey with more laughs, music, and dancing. Thanksgiving Day dawned bright and sunny, just like every smile we encountered as we walked through town. Each person, young and old, cheerfully wished us a Happy Thanksgiving as we passed by. This is how Thanksgiving is supposed to feel! The first event was a gathering at Seagle’s for an oyster roast sponsored by the townspeople. The local men prepared the oysters and eager cruisers lined the oyster table to slurp. While this was going on, the ladies of St. Marys and a committee of cruisers laid out the Thanksgiving spread. The turkeys and hams were all generously prepared and shared by the locals. The cruisers supplied the sides and deserts. Many tables were lined with wonderful dishes, and Seagle’s looked and smelled like Grandma’s kitchen when the flood gates opened. A line soon formed halfway down the block, but everyone was in good spirits and enjoying the experience. Just like a traditional Thanksgiving, everyone was soon stuffed and moaning that they ate too much. Unlike a traditional Thanksgiving, we had no living room couches to flop on and no TV’s to watch football, so we improvised and went back to Janey to continue the party. Even sailors run out of steam (and rum) once in a while, and we called it a night earlier than usual. Friday we decided to save the $50 bucks and move Tessa out to the anchorage, but not until the festivities were planned. A local came down the docks inviting everyone to visit his buddy’s restaurant, transportation to and from provided in a limo. A real limo? Yes, a real stretch limo. OK, count us in! We’re not sure if they knew what they were getting in to, as the limo ended up running numerous trips of cruisers who take advantage of any free transportation offered! It was a perfect way to top off a perfect week of celebrating with friends. Looking back toward the town of St. Marys as Tessa carried us down the river Saturday morning, I realized that we were leaving with so much more than we came with. Boatloads of memories, great friends that were now family, and a renewed faith in the genuine goodness of people. The oh-so-appropriate lyrics from one of Archie’s songs kept running through my head. “Celebrate! Celebrate! Another Day of Livin!” Thank you St. Marys for showing all of us how to celebrate the joy of livin…St. Marys Style!