We left the marina around 11:00am on Thursday, May 12th. Our friends and dock
mates Donna and Alan (s/v Sunshine) came to crew with us. We had decided to go
to Galveston for the night and then down the rest of the way to Freeport. We
really weren’t able to do any sailing so we just motored and hung out and talked
down to Galveston Yacht Basin, where we had a slip for the night. We got into
GYB and was put in a slip next to a derelict boat some guy was working on that
had a spreader broken off and hanging by some rigging swinging in the breeze. We
were able to hangout and relax just a little bit till we were forced down below
for a storm blowing through. It was supper windy and rainy for a bit, but not
too long. Thank god, because we could not stand hearing that spreader banging
against our neighbors mast for much longer.
Once everything stopped, we started to cook dinner. Cory had bought some really great fillets at the meat market and we put them on the grill with some fresh green beans and potatoes. It was a delicious dinner. We hung out for a while after dinner, but not too late because we were getting up early to go offshore the rest of the way to Freeport.
We woke up and were out of the slip at 7:30 am on Friday and on our
way to Freeport. The sailing offshore was beautiful, but the ride was a little
ruff. Nothing like Harvest Moon, though. I was a bit nauseous and so was Donna
so we both wore these shock watches they had for sea sickness. The watches
helped, but nobody could really go down below for any length of time without
feeling really sick. It made for a long trip plus the fact that we had to go far
offshore. We tried to do some fishing off the back of the boat, but all we were
catching was seaweed. By the time we made it into the City of Freeport Marina
it was Probably about 6pm.
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| Coming in to City of Freeport Marina |
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| Ready to dock at Freeport |
and cleaned up as fast as possible so we could go eat dinner. We had purchased
wrist bands to have the dinner there that night and we didn’t want to miss out.
Dinner was very good and we were so hungry it wouldn’t have matter if it wasn’t.
The whole marina was filled with boats for this TMCA event. There were
broker boats to look at on the docks and Marine Max boats in the parking lot.
There was a big stage set up with various bands playing at different times.
There was a big building with tables for vendors set up, it was just about
closing though and we didn’t get to see them that night. We went into the
building just as it was about to close to get some ice and the lady we were
supposed to get it from wasn’t there. Bob Bitchen from Latitudes and Attitudes
magazine walked by and asked who we were looking for and helped us get someone
to get us ice. The rest of the night we just walked around and kinda hung out in
our cockpit, we were all really tired. Long Day!
Saturday we all woke up and had a nice breakfast on the boat. We got cleaned up and headed out to check things out. I had paid for an ad in the program and I made a bunch of TRS Canvas Creation t-shirts, so we were all wearing my matching company t-shirts. We
wondered around and went in the building to check out what vendors were there
and what they had to sell. Cory bought some Peek-a-boo shades for our hatches
and bought a dinghy ladder from the Lats & Atts store. Cory also bought me a
t-shirt and I bought myself a beautiful bracelet (an early birthday present to
myself). He also bought some weird rubbery tape called Rescue tape…kinda cool
and useful on the boat. We also had our picture taken with Bob Bitchin.
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| Cory, Me, and Bob Bitchin |
Our friends Rick and Steph (m/v Phat Bottom Girl) were also there and they hung out with us on and off all day. We all went to the Lions Club Trailer to grab a burger or hotdog for lunch and some amazing cake the little old lady had made. The Coast guard did an in water resque demonstration in there helicopter right off the end of our dock. They then
landed back on the parking lot and opened everything up so everyone could climb in the helicopter and check things out. It was pretty cool to see soo up close.
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| Coast Guard Demonstration |
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| Coast Guard Demonstration |
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| Coast Guard Demonstration |
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| Parked after demonstration |
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| Opened for people to check out |
That evening we decided to go out to eat and we had the trolley service take us over to On The River Restaurant (like the only real restaurant in Freeport). Just about everyone’s food was awful and I was very disappointed. I had to use the restroom right before the trolley was supposed to come and when I came back outside everyone was gone, but i didn’t fall for it….they were hiding behind the building around the corner.
We got back to the marina and the Lats & Atts people were doing the raffle for
the prizes and calling out the winners. We didn’t buy any tickets so we weren’t
really interested in that, but then the party began. The main band was playing
and everyone was sitting, listening and hanging out or dancing.
We didn’t stay up too late because we had to leave early in the morning to head back
home.We woke up early and headed out back home down the ICW to the ship
channel. It was a pretty uneventful ride back other than the fact that there was
a continuous line of boats headed back towards Kemah and various other
places.
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| Old abandoned cruise ship alone the ICW |
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| House boat on land alone the ICW |
It was a great weekend and a great TMCA event. We are looking forward to next year which promises to be bigger and even better.
Menestheus and Me 