Homer Smith Docks & Marina
We were treated with true Southern hospitality, at Homer Smith Docks & Marina. Originally a working dock for local fishermen, Tony Frost saw the writing on the wall for the future of local fisheries, and expanded his docks to welcome transient sailors. He’s learned that sailboaters are a friendly and honest lot, and as a result, is expanding his marina to host more. Generously offering new transients a welcome package of shrimp and fish so we can know local varities, Don and I savored steamed shrimp and whiting, or king makerel the first night, getting advice from Tony & Matt Frost to pan fry them. And to top things off courtesy wise, Tony even lent us his very own truck for errands when the marina courtesy car was unavailable.
Running into old Annapolis neighbors at Beaufort, NC town docks
Taking a stroll into town our first day, it’s always good to see familiar faces and not surprisingly, we ran into former Port Annapolis neighbors: Dave with Chris Houpt helping out (MV Naomi).
Home Thanksgiving
I flew to NY to visit Paua Kabalo, an old IDF friend, and then met up with Josh to move Tali out of her apartment now that she’s graduated with a BS in Culinary Arts. We then met up with Don in Maryland for a lovely American Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings: me with my family, the Finks, and Don with his family, the Preuss’im. We split the difference with some back and forth for appetizers, desserts, Shabbat dinners, and brunches, so we could spend time with both sides of our familes. There’s just nothing like a family Thanksgiving weekend. We were able to catch up with a few friends as well, but the trip was just too short to see everyone.
Make new friends…
Flying our Ocean Crusing Club burgee (along with the Seven Seas Cruising Association burgee…), got the attention of the local Port Officer, Dianne Tetreault. Dianne organized a dinner at Clawsons which allowed us to meet several other OCC members including: Jonathan & Anne Lloyd (Sofia RYS), Howard & Sue Chambers (Sundowner), Murrey & Cate Basingthwight (SV Coolchange). Don and I followed up the next night with an invitation for “nibbles” (appetizers). For a last supper, Reg & Nicky Barker (SV Blue Velvet of Sark) invited all of us to their lovely English built boat. Reg amped things up by cooking Homer Smith shrimp several ways: butterflied and fried with House Audry recommended by Dianne, grilled with Old Bay to commemorate their time in the Chesapeake Bay, and steamed with garlic aoili. We met Lionel Sole & Elsie Downie (SV Ruby Tuesday), and along with the other OCC members. Typical for cruiser meals, everyone brought a side dish; I then discovered the joys of chocovino for our after dinner dessert.
But keep the old, one is silver and the other gold…
In addition to being honored to celebrate Sabrina Hooper’s birthday in Annapolis, we were able to connect with a friend we made in the Bahamas 2018, Holt Faircloth (SV Agandau), in his home town before he left for another fun season in Georgetown’s “Fruit bowl”. Don and Holt enjoyed a few dinners; and I got to hug Holt albiet briefly, as we gave him some engine bolts to pass onto someone who gave us his last year when we needed them. See WE WERE LITERALLY HANGING BY A THREAD! for more on that 😉