11-23 As a new cruiser I’m going to make a make a statement. You know you’ve been in on place too long when you can give a stranger directions to the nearest shopping center using the names of the streets. You know you’ve been in on place too long when you can enter the TV channels without needing to surf through them.
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| Greg from Fracas doing his best Captain Morgan imitation |
In our final days here at Turner Marine I have to say I’ve enjoyed my stay. The staff has been friendly and very helpful with my many questions about work being performed, wildlife and general knowledge. We’ve had a good amount of work here on Last Mango and so far so good. I have no doubt that Roger and his crew are doing a great job and would recommend them to anyone traveling in the area. Other locals we’ve met have been great also willing to share their knowledge and time explaining it to us. Southern Hospitality again? I don’t know but it’s a pleasure to be a stranger here. I want to make a recommendation of a couple of places here in the Mobile area. The West Marine Express here on Dauphine Parkway has been great, speak with Wes and he’ll take care of your every need or question. Gambino’s Italian Grill in Fairhope has great food and wonderful service.
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| Crazy looking Mallard hairdo. |
Turner Marine is located on the Dog River, I’m not sure how the river got its name but the area is full of dogs roaming around loose without apparent owners. The dogs are all friendly and appear well taken care of. The area also has scads of cats roaming around. It’s easy to identify the ferrel from the tame by how friendly they are. The dogs and cats seem to get along without any issues. We watch them walk by each other all day long without even a second look. However the ferrel cats do not like opossums. The other evening I was jogging along and found a few local fisherman gathered around something on the dock. I stopped by and they showed me a small opossum that was attacked by a group of cats. The opossum was playing opossum only hissing occasionally when picked up and moved around. Looking closely at the ugly little thing showed lacerations and abrasions from the gang of cats.
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| Small group of feral cats |
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| Playing Opossum |
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| Local pressing his luck in my opinion. |
Tuesday Last Mango got her mast put back on. Not everything is done Turner is waiting for a part the broke during their assembly of our rigging. Progress is progress though and we’re not complaining. Jennifer from Wild Raven found a coin today and gave it to us to place under our mast. She stated that when you find money it's good luck to give it away for both the giver and receiver.
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| Coins placed under the mast for luck. |
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| Placing of the mast via crane. |
Tuesday night Canadian friends doing a similar trip as us but in a canoe received their new canoe. They had some misfortune with the first canoe and ordered another just to have it damaged in shipping. Tonight Pierre and Jennifer and their dog Jasmine were like 6 year olds on christmas morning. They’re looking forward to being able to paddle again. I think both of them were getting a little stir crazy. They also said they were starting to get fat. It’s an incredible journey and their blog is at http://www.wildravenadventure.com/
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| Pierre, Jennifer and Jasmine shortly after unloading and unpacking. |
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| Canoe ready for water after a day of prep work. |
Wednesday is Turner Thanksgiving Day. For the past several years Turner has made deep fried turkeys for visiting cruisers. Each boat brings a dish of some type to pass and with the large number to people the food was very plentiful. Karen made a dish and a desert. There was a great crowd and of course I ate too much. I thought the turkey was exceptional but everything else was great also. The afternoon finished with a nap. Life is good.
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| Christy Turner giving a short speech. |
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| Line starts here |
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| Waiting patiently for turkey. |
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| Abby was extremely well behaved. Hard to believe |
Thursday was quiet and Karen and I hooked up the wind instruments, lights and other items on the mast. We put the boat back together just in time to watch the Bears loose to the Lions. We figured as much before the game even started. Karen also decorated the boat for Christmas and I have to say it looks great, especially with the oil lamp going. The other cool thing is that the lights use battery power and don’t need AC power.
I need to say that I think we miss our families more than we thought and look forward to seeing everyone at Christmas. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Be thankful and enjoy.
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| Last Mango ready for Christmas |
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| Last Mango's Thanksgiving Chicken Parmesan. |
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