Lay Day - Osprey Marina (Day 025)

Lay Day

Osprey Marina, Myrtle Beach, SC MM 373.3

Weather: Bright and sunny; temp range 60 – 81 degrees; calm in the morning and 15 knots in the afternoon

Comment: Today is a tale of two stories.

Story Number One

After sleeping in (0800 is sleeping in for us), it was time for a special breakfast… not aboard SUNSHINE, but in the Osprey Marina Grill! Anna Marie exited the cabin first. I thought I heard her say something, but couldn’t make out what it was. Listening closely, it sounded like she was singing. Impossible! Anna Marie rarely if ever sings. I listened more closely. Sure enough, she was quietly singing on this beautiful, sunny morning. But what was she singing? Here is what I heard:

The ants came marching one by one, Hurrah, Hurrah,

The ants came marching one by one, Hurrah, Hurrah,

The ants came marching one by one,

The little one stopped to suck his thumb,

And they all went marching down...

to the ground... to get out... of the rain...

“What are you singing,” says I. “Ants!” she exclaimed. I poked my head out to see tens of thousands of ants marching across the cabin seats. Sure enough, they were marching one by one, coming into the bubble from outside. They were walking up the electric power cord. As I looked around, I saw tens of thousands more on the cockpit floor. Unlike the ants entering the bubble, these ants were scurrying about with no apparent purpose or pattern.

Our initial thought was to wipe them out with paper towels, but there were so many of them it became immediately apparent that would be the wrong strategy. We needed to bomb them! The marina did not have ant spray, but she did buy a can of fly and mosquito spray. It did the trick. In a matter of minutes, the cockpit seats and floor were covered with ant carcasses. Fortunately, none of the litter buggers made it into the cabin.

We postponed the final clean up until after breakfast, which was good and reasonably priced. It’s one of many reasons we like this marina.

Back on the boat, we finished the ant clean up projects. Then, we permanently routed the Sirius radio antenna. This project has been germinating for almost eleven months. A few days ago, I finally decided where to put the antenna and how to run the wire. As a result, we have great reception. Cabinet cleaning (the cabinets through which the wire was run) was an outgrowth of the project.

Story Number Two

Wheels… we have wheels! Enterprise Car Rentals picked us up at the marina, took us to their HQ where we completed the paperwork and drove off in a KIA Rondo. What should we do here in Myrtle Beach? How about visits to Boaters World and West Marine? After some tiring shopping a visit to Margaritaville was in order. The Nachos and Cheeseburgers were better then ever! The Myrtle Beach Margaritaville is the best of the franchise. They do the whole Jimmy Buffett thing is grand style.

We followed the late lunch with a circumnavigation of Broadway at the Beach. Several familiar stores have vacated the premises and several others have taken up residence in the vacated spaces. One of our favorites on this day was the “Don’t Call Me Crabby” store. If you want to purchase anything related to the beautiful swimmers, you can buy it here. From hats, to Crab laced Bloody Mary mix, to stuffed animals, to dinnerware, and everything in between, if it’s related to crabs, this store has it.

This was grand day for a walk, warm and sunny with a bit of a breeze. We completed our stroll, returned to the car, visited yet another Boater’s World (the first didn’t have everything we needed) and returned to the boat in time for some R & R before the Phillies game.

Remaining boat projects will wait until tomorrow.

SUNSHINE is dockd at Osprey Marina


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