Elixir: The St. Mary's Experiment & Hurricane Matthew

Three masted schooner at St. Mary's

Shortly after our return from South Carolina, our marina decided to increase our slip fees. For you non-boaters, slip fees are usually calculated at so much per foot per month or year. Depending on the marina, the length of your boat can be calculated based on the listed length (what the manufacturer says is your length) or the length overall (the actual length taking into account swim platforms, dinghies hanging off the stern, and anything sticking out past the bow). Our marina had been using the stated length. Now they informed us they were going to start using length overall. For us, that meant an extra 3 feet of slip fees!

Lang's Marina - East

At the same time, they decided to increase the per foot fee by $2.00 a foot. Then they added a $25 per month environmental assessment fee! All of this increased our slip fee beyond what we wanted to pay for a place to park our boat.

So we looked around and found a quaint little marina in St. Mary's, Georgia called Lang's Marina. The docks were far from perfect and were in some degree of disrepair, but it was half the price! And after all, we just park our boat somewhere but do not utilize the amenities so it didn't matter what it looked like. We made the decision to move.

Just another Friday night concert on the waterfront!

The town's waterfront is beautiful and well maintained. They have walkways and bench swings along the waterfront. We spent more than one evening swinging on the bench swing looking out at our boat. A nice public dock gives access to the town by boat (tie up your dinghy for the day or your boat for a quick lunch) as well as a place from which to fish. A concert stage is well utilized and we were entertained by a wide variety of bands over the summer, all of which we could hear from our boat!

One of the many festivals on the waterfront

Little shops lined the waterfront giving you plenty of places to poke your head into. And there was enough of a variety of restaurants to please any palate. It seemed like every time we turned around, there was a festival being held in the waterfront park! And all of this was right at the end of our dock!

Do I need to say anything?

If the town was not enough of a reason for a visit, the St. Mary's River is a beautiful and peaceful place to park your boat. Night after night we were treated to spectacular sunsets. Nature was abundant (something almost entirely absent in Brunswick) and we would watch a wide variety of birds feeding along the water's edge including Roseate Spoonbills whose pink plumage was as stunning as the sunsets that seemed to attract them. An osprey frequently perched on top of the sailboat masts and a family of three otters swam playfully among the boats. We had found the perfect home for Elixir!

Elixir at her new home

But then came Tropical Storm Hermine. She popped up unexpectedly in the Gulf and decided Georgia was the place to be. We kept a vigilant watch on her track, ever hopeful that she would turn and head straight towards the Florida Panhandle and Alabama beyond, or even further and hit Louisiana, Mississippi, or Texas (sorry you guys, but every boater for himself). But it finally became clear that even though Georgia is considered one of the best hurricane holes in the U.S., this storm was going to hit us.

Rare "white" moon rising over St.Mary's

So my good friend Steve, my brother-in-law, Ken, and I drove helter skelter towards the coast. We made the four hour trip in record time. We first went to St. Mary's, were we removed Elixir's bimini and secured the bows. We took everything that was topside and placed it inside the cabin (I didn't realize how much stuff I had topside). Then we set about to tie her down so that she would neither break away from the dock, nor bang herself up slamming against the dock. I was concerned because the cleats were small and not enough of them, so I actually ran out and bought all the supplies and installed two more cleats to secure the boat.

Hermine takes aim on Georgia

After we had just about every dock line on-board going from Elixir to the dock, we made sure every sea-cock was shut. Then we took one last look and headed for Brunswick to do the same things to Steve's 53 footer, Solemar. Then, with the sun having long ago set, we headed home....and right into the storm. The outer bands were already hitting Georgia as we were driving home and it was quite a windy drive! As a side note, insurance companies won't let non-resident boaters into Florida during hurricane season. But after looking at Hermine's track, I ask you: where is the safest southeastern state to be?
Surveying the storm damage the following weekend, our only loss was that our 50amp to double 30amp pigtail had arc welded to the shore power stanchion on the dock. It was welded solid and as far as I know, is still there! But the dock fared worse and the boards on the far side from us had split and the dock curved precariously towards Elixir. The concrete piling that was supposed to hold the dock in place was loose and leaning every closer to our boat. So we promptly relocated to a vacant spot on another dock. This spot was perpendicular to the very strong current and it took me a half dozen hair raising attempts before I was able to bring her alongside the dock without hitting another boat or the catwalk! I was not happy with our new placement.

Matthew slams Brunswick

But all of that soon took a backseat to Hurricane Matthew. Every boater on the Georgia coast would proudly tell you that they had not been hit by a hurricane in over a hundred years. That was about to change. With powerful Hurricane Matthew predicted to hit the coast, Marie and I were not comfortable with leaving Elixir in the relatively open Lang's Marina, especially after what we had just experienced with Tropical Storm Hermine. The St. Mary's experiment a failure, the decision was made to go back to Brunswick where Elixir would be safer. We made the necessary arrangements and arrived in Brunswick in the middle of a rainstorm. With the help of Ken and Melvin, a friend of his visiting from out of state, we tied her up as best we could.

Soaking wet, everyone headed on their way. Marie and I waited out the storm in a little town about 30 miles inland. We stayed at one of those no-name hotels and wished we hadn't. Even on a good day, I would not want to stay there, and this was not a good day. But everything was booked from Brunswick to Albany as they had evacuated the coast.

Tree fallen on a house

We slept little that night as first the rains came, then the power failed and then the winds came. We listened to a loud train go by only to find out the next day that it was a tornado that missed us by less than a quarter of a mile! The damage to the coast was extensive. Hundreds of trees were down, many on top of houses and other buildings. Bridges were damaged isolating whole communities, including St. Simmons Island which was closed to all traffic for almost a week! Pretty much every traffic light in Brunswick was blown off their wires, but since most of the town was without power, it didn't matter that much at the time.

A damaged building at the marina

It was two days before we could get to Elixir to check out the damage. Power was down at the
marina at first, so we kept a close eye on our batteries, glad that we had a generator if needed. We were relieved to discover that the only damage Elixir sustained was a broken VHF whip antenna, a small price to pay for such a violent storm! After making sure Elixir was safe, we ventured out into town to inspect the damage. It was apparent everywhere. Many roads were closed. It took days to restore power to most of the town and weeks to restore complete power.

Grocery store shelves

With the extensive road blockages and power outages, grocery stores ran out of food and gas stations could not pump gas. Restaurants and most stores were closed for days. A nearby marina suffered such extensive damage that the entire marina was emptied and closed. Our own marina suffered minor damage on some of the docks (including the one we were on) and between the two storms, dock one was so damaged that it has been shut down pending repairs.

No perishables anywhere in town

We have been safe from the big storms ever since we bought Elixir, but 2016 will go down in the log book as the year of the storms. With 3 (or is it 4?) named storms having hit us in one year, I'm considering increasing my insurance coverage!