After a comfortable sail from Rabbitt Island, we pulled into our slip at Long Beach Marina. Given our experiences at other marinas we'd stayed in, I was expecting to have to go through what had become our precarious routine. Bill would make sure that the boat didn't run into the dock as we pulled in and then jump onto the dock to hold the boat in place while I tied off the lines. Then we'd go through a little trial and error. Both of us would check, adjust, and readjust lines and fenders to make sure that the boat was situated so that it wouldn't incur damage from the dock or cause damage to the dock itself. Long Beach Marina was a welcomed change to all of that and more.
We were pleasantly surprised to see that the harbor guard was waiting by our slip to help us tie up and two other boat owners even chipped in. Once all of the lines were secure, we found that our shore power cord was too short to reach the outlet. Our volunteers were on it. Putting their heads together, they found another cord to extend the one we had and, voila! Power. Their help extended beyond the slip, too. The harbor guard offered to take us to the store for groceries later and when we explained that we needed to have our mail sent to us by our mail forwarding service, the harbor master allowed us to use the marina's P.O. Box and picked up our mail when it came in. He even gave Bill a ride to fill our empty propane bottle. Such generosity! Southern hospitality is definitely alive and well in southern Mississippi. Pretty much everything is within walking distance here in Long Beach. One of the places that we made sure to visit was a café called Darwell's. The reviews we'd seen were great and it was even a Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives spot. We are fans of the Guy Fieri show and visited other featured restaurants when we travelled in the RV. This was the best one by far. The place is definitely a dive; a cross between funky and down-home. The food was delicious and the staff was friendly. The head chef/owner even gave us free samples of their "Yum, Yum" Sauce and seafood gumbo. These are both must haves.
We've checked a few things off of our to-do list this week as well. Bill got the oil changed. This proved to be a very messy job, especially since the access to the engine is in our bedroom. . . there are a lot of things in there that I'd rather leave "oil-free". I got a lot of things put away and reorganized, mended a few torn items, and worked on making the boat more homey. We cleaned the boat, inside and out, and even created and ordered our boat cards. We should be able to send for them when we get to Florida.
As long as the weather cooperates, we will leave here on Sunday morning, anchor out at Dauphin Island that night (south of Mobile, AL), and pull into a slip in Pensacola, FL at the Naval Base on Monday afternoon. The marina there only charges fifty cents per foot and has free laundry (can't beat that). More projects and much needed haircuts (Yeah!) are on the list. We also plan on getting the cats' paperwork up to date (shots, checkups, etc.). We may not be pulling into the Bahamas just yet but, the process of getting pets into other countries can be a real hassle. So, we're getting it started now.
We'll soon be headed for warmer temperatures . . . and no socks . . .
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| Sunset Over Long Beach Marina |
Enjoying the pics.
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