Ok I’ve been hangin at this five-star resort now for a few months and having so much fun that I forgot I needed to post something on this blog so here goes.
I have the boat buttoned up nice and safe here in the marina waiting out the tropical storm season not wanting to risk the boat. But all that is about the change because I will be putting the boat up on the hard in a couple weeks. Then at the end of October, I will move the boat to the La Cruz anchorage for trials before heading south for six months spending a lot of time on the hook. So I thought I would write about anchorages.
So when you’re in a marina you have a place to plug in and you have plenty of fresh water. You have rotating neighbors very close, that’s a good thing because they protect my boat in a storm as those boats take the brunt of the blow. Marinas have cable TV, trash pickup, free Wifi, and at resorts swimming pools, convenience stores, repair services, and if you’re really lucky an occasional Starbucks. At anchorages you get none of this; you have to make your own water and generate you own electricity using wind and solar to charge the batteries. You have to have a dinghy to get to a marina or someplace to resupply and maybe get an ice cream. You have to run up your cell phone bill to check email and stream movies from Netflix.
At anchorages, you get marine life and great sunsets. Anchorages are free; marinas cost money but house likeminded folks and you make lots of new friends; some who never leave. Anchorages have cruisers coming and going, you don’t have to try very hard to make lots of friends quickly. Marinas like the one my boat is in are like little cities with strip malls, beauty parlors, pizza places, coffee shops, ice cream parlors, Mickey “Ds” and boutiques.
By the way did I forget to mention anchorages are FREE of charge; you see the frigate birds and pelicans diving for their supper and the bait fish scurrying around before the bigger fish show up. At anchor you get awesome sunsets practically every night, in marinas you have to get off the boat and walk to a place to get a great view. Did I mention marinas cost money! In marinas like this one you don’t have to worry about poop; the guys come by every week and pump the tanks. We won’t discuss what happens to waste at anchor ok? In marinas you have rules and security personnel and they expect a certain level of maturity. At anchor you can do just about any damn fool thing you want to include, skinny dippin, playing Tarzan with a halyard, getting falling down drunk and walking the hand rails. In marinas you can’t see the stars very well, at anchor you get to stay up all night when a squall comes thru, in marinas you run for cover when lightning strikes, great show tho.
In some marinas you have loud music, at anchor you only hear silence. In a marina you sometimes get looky loos who don’t have a boat so the sneak in the gate to check out yours and other homes. Kind of like walking thru a neighborhood and snooping in window; I think they call that casing the joint, very dangerous. Don’t walk down the finger piers and peek in the window you might get shot! Some marinas have lounges and here they call it a hospitality room, these are shared by marina and resort guests and usually has a TV. Go ahead stick six not so perfect strangers to agree on what to watch especially during football season. At anchor you hand wash clothes and hang em out to dry on the lifelines. In a marina usually you can find a local to wash your clothes, or you can take them to the laundry mat where you can find my favorite person. This is the one that gets pissed if another person leaves clothes in the washer or dryer. The other type of person utilizes the whole facility and is probably getting paid to wash clothes.