We squeaked out of the Frederica River on low tide and headed to St Mary's for the Cruiser's Thanksgiving. We'd heard about this gathering from a lot of cruisers and at the urging of our buddy boats decided to give it a try. The town goes all out. They provide turkeys and hams cooked in the homes of local volunteers. The cruiser's bring side dishes. A local hotel provides the tables, chairs and a roof over our heads. It was fun and amazing and we met so many new boaters. There were over 100 boats here and well over 200 people. Murphy was the center of attention at the pre-dinner cocktail hours and as you can imagine, really lapped that up. He had to stay home for the main event, but once dinner was cleared he joined in for a big walk-about to help all of us walk off a little of the great food. It was interesting to see the wide variety of side dishes that people could create on their boats, everything from home-made bread to a concoction with turnips that was actually sensational. We had heard that mashed potatoes were always in high demand so I doctored up a huge batch of instant potatoes with garlic and onion sauteed in butter. I got several compliments on my home-made potatoes. As all of us foodies know, butter can hide a multitude of sins.
Tomorrow the party will begin to break up as most continue their journey south. We would like to go to Cumberland Island, a very short hop, so we're watching the wind direction to see if that exposed anchorage will be OK.