Well, it’s September 15th and we’re still enjoying Jekyll Harbor Marina. Actually, we love it here!  The marina is small and privately owned with about 50 slips. Everyone is over-the-moon nice, the restaurant has delicious food, and the venue is just what you’d expect to see in the south with canopies of massive centuries-old, moss laden, oak trees, meandering walking paths, picnic tables and seating scattered about and lots of grass for the doggies.  Oh yeah, and HOT/HUMID days with thunderstorms and lightning many afternoons.

To access the marina from the land side you take a winding road off the beaten path, past the alligator (we call her Allie) who has taken up residency in the pond in front of some new condos being built, then turn down a dirt road, dodging the potholes and park on the grass under and between the trees.

From the water side, we are on the face dock and enjoy activity from pleasure craft and commercial boats, mostly shrimp and tugs with and without barges, and, on occasion, we’ll see dolphin and/or manatee swim by and most evenings produce beautiful sunsets. On the marsh side we get a pop of color from the Roseate Spoonbills. These Spoonbills are pink and look like a flamingo with a shorter neck and legs and a bill shaped like a salad server – perfect for sifting shrimp and plankton for food (sorry, can’t find my photo of the Spoonbill).  Last night we were visited by an Osprey on top of the mast a few boats down. Life is good.

We feel quite protected here. To access the Island, by car, you must pass through monitored gates, where license plates are scanned AND you pay $8 a day. This probably discourages the criminally inclined from coming on the Island by car, especially since a State Police substation is also located at the gate. Kelly, one of our dock mates, told us about an annual pass which we purchased for $55, so no more $8 days. Now we just pull slowly up to the gate, and it opens for us – like magic. Oh yes, I forgot to tell you, we do have our car. Michael Ubered back to St. Mary’s to pick it up.

We were able to secure dockage for the month of September so we’ll be here a bit longer.  Scout said, “a year and a half is a long time to be on-the-hard with no one taking care of me and I need some attention”.  So, Michael continues to do lots of projects – repairing and replacing stuff.  I continue to organize and create more projects for Michael.

Since we are scheduled to be back in Houston in early October, we didn’t want to get too far north. Another advantage of staying in one place longer are lower slip fees. They call us “transients” (I’d much rather be called a guest, but no one asked for my opinion) and, if I have my numbers right, it goes something like this: The daily “transient” rate here is $2.25 per foot per day ($2.25 x 40 feet=$90) plus $9 for electricity or a total of $99 per day. The monthly “transient” rate is $16.50 per foot ($16.50 x 40 feet=$660) plus $9/day for electricity ($9 x 30=$270) or a total of $930 or about $31 per day. Duh.  Anyway, this will give us an opportunity to get the boat back in shape and explore by water and by land.

We’ll keep you posted…..