Belhaven to RE Mayo dock
By morning in Belhaven it had calmed some but there was
still a strong NW wind. We decided to
motor over to the town dock to get off the boat and go have breakfast. Because it’s MY BIRTHDAY, YEAH! And we
deserved a treat after staying on that bronco so long. Docking wasn’t easy with the wind pushing us,
and with the big pole in THE MIDDLE OF THE FAIRWAY, but we made it on the
second try. We won’t talk about the scrapes and dings in the fiberglass. (Rick was pretty blue though – it’s always
hard when your new car gets its first scratch – frankly, I’m amazed we haven’t
crashed the thing) We found the only open place and joined literally all locals
for breakfast. Birthday Pastry! I’m not gonna lie, I milked the birthday
thing for everything I could! Part way
through breakfast we both noticed that the whole restaurant appeared to be rocking
and rolling, and we worked hard not to feel a bit queasy. Sucks to take Bonine to stave off seasickness
on the boat and then to get land sick…After breakfast we went off the peruse
the local Ace Hardware store, because we hadn’t been in a hardware store in
FOREVER (about 5 minutes). It was a
very unusual store…a combination kitchy gift shop and hardware, and we had to
really work hard to find something to buy.
But Rick is perseverant so we triumphed in the end, with some random home
remedy for leg cramps (huge eye roll).
We motored southward through the AICW and into another
narrow channel. We had been told that
we MUST stop at RE Mayo, commercial fishing dock, for fresh seafood.
We pulled up to a dock that had seen better days and was surrounded by huge shrimp trawlers and old rundown buildings. I loved that it was not a tourist place, but authentic and in use. Gritty might be the right word. We went into the ships’ store and looked at the great selection of parts – all gigantic as they were for ocean going trawlers, not our little cruiser. We bought a pound of fresh shrimp (heads on so I wouldn’t look at them until Rick cleaned them), and frozen tuna, salmon and grouper steaks. The total cost with overnight (no services) and seafood was about $60 – good deal for all the fish and a place to stay. We tried for a quick walk to stretch our legs (I’m pretty antsy when I can’t get off the boat at some point), but discovered no one had fed the mosquitos for years and had to beat a hasty retreat to our snug little boat. Which was tied up to an unmoving dock and did, therefore, not require a stupid anchor alarm. That and a fresh shrimp dinner by Rick, and a Moon Pie as cake - Happy Birthday to me!
We pulled up to a dock that had seen better days and was surrounded by huge shrimp trawlers and old rundown buildings. I loved that it was not a tourist place, but authentic and in use. Gritty might be the right word. We went into the ships’ store and looked at the great selection of parts – all gigantic as they were for ocean going trawlers, not our little cruiser. We bought a pound of fresh shrimp (heads on so I wouldn’t look at them until Rick cleaned them), and frozen tuna, salmon and grouper steaks. The total cost with overnight (no services) and seafood was about $60 – good deal for all the fish and a place to stay. We tried for a quick walk to stretch our legs (I’m pretty antsy when I can’t get off the boat at some point), but discovered no one had fed the mosquitos for years and had to beat a hasty retreat to our snug little boat. Which was tied up to an unmoving dock and did, therefore, not require a stupid anchor alarm. That and a fresh shrimp dinner by Rick, and a Moon Pie as cake - Happy Birthday to me!
What a great birthday!
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