Thursday, November 27, 2008
bubba gump................from P
I now fully understand why the deep south is fertile ground for fiction writers and movie producers. This place is full of "colorful" people. First, you have the shrimpers. Apparently they don't much care for sailboaters from up north. They will crowd you out of the channel and nearly dismast your vessel with their widely spread outriggers pulling long nets. Admittedly they look charming, especially in the sunset with dolphin and pelican following along. Next, you have the butch marina nazi in Brunswick, GA. She was clearly not interested in a delightful customer experience. The coup-de-grace was when she told K that we could not get our septic tank pumped out because it was nearly low tide, and that would require too much effort to pull her "pump out cart" (never seen such a thing) up the dock ramp and to the city sewage lines. I thought she was kidding. That is so wrong on so many levels. Then she flatly said "I encourage people to just dump overboard." I guess that's how its done down here. I asked her again this morning because the tide was up - she literally said "no pumpout for you!" Imagine a cross between Kathy Bates in the movie "Misery" and the soup nazi in "Seinfeld." I was looking around for the candid cameras, but no - this was real. Then, we called for a cab to transport us and our groceries from the Winn-Dixie to the marina. A cab/mini-van pulled up, and out jumps what appeared to be a U.S. Marine in full combat fatigues. He had the marine hair, the marine boots, and full cammo with "U.S. Marines" on the chest pocket. When he stood smartly at attention with his arms akimbo behind his back as we boarded the cab, I asked him if he was driving this cab while also on active duty. He said "I'm not really in the military - I was just raised this way." Huh? It was too late, we were already in the moving cab. No escape. He went on to tell us stories of how a local recruiting office mistook him to be an officer, with salutes and all. And how he often "scares" people with how he looks. Glad it was a short cab ride. Then he charged us double what I estimated for the fare (no cab fare monitors down here). I was in no position to argue. Needless to say, we were glad to be back on Senara and motoring toward Florida today. Happy Thanksgiving!
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3 comments:
LOL :)
hey u all skipped right over wrightsville beach, nc & wilmington, nc 2 of my fave spots in the world (a little biased)
happy thanksgiving!
We did a quick one-night stop in Wrightsville - we'll need to check it out more closely on our way home!! The closest we got to Wilmington was Southport - and we LOVED that! We enjoy your comments, Randi Jo!
I'm originally from Jersey and live down here now --- so I loved your stories of unusual characters. I definitely know what you mean! :) haha I've come across some very colorful characters :)
I'm not sure what it's like from the boat side of things - but we love wilmington & wrightsville both from the road side haha :) you all be safe & enjoy. Love the pics & tales of your journey! :)
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