5 January - Day #34. Cold! Very, very cold! How can it be this cold in southern Georgia? We woke to temperatures in the 20s yet again. But we smiled and started the day with nice, hot marina showers, did a load of laundry and took a short walk to a local cafe for a bit of breakfast. Our plans to cut the dock lines and head farther south faded as the winds built. The forecast was not very encouraging and indicated the winds would continue to increase throughout the day. Oh well, another day in the marina. For some strange reason we cruisers never seem to get enough of going to chandleries--even when we don't need anything. So a walk to West Marine was in order after lunch. We stopped by the marina office for directions. The gal behind the counter got out a map, but before handing it to us drew a yellow line between the marina and West Marine and then drew an "X" through half the town, saying, "You'll be tempted to take a short cut through this area, but don't. You need to stay on the main road. It's safe. Do not walk in this area (pointing to the "x"ed out half of town). It's not where you want to be." We dutifully walked along our map's highlighted road and arrived at West Marine. We spent a bit of time looking at various boat things but there was nothing we needed and so left the store empty handed. Heading back to the marina we decided not to heed the warning and began walking down one of the streets in the map's "X"ed out areas. There were beautiful trees and some small business--it seemed just fine, but within a few blocks the scenery started to change, the neighborhood looked more forlorn, dark and unkempt. In our imaginations we could hear the gal at the marina explaining to the missing-persons cops, "I told them not to go into the "X"ed out area but they just didn't listen." With that happy thought motivating our pace we quickly returned to the 'safe route'. So today's lesson is when a local puts an "X" on a map and says "don't go here", it's like being told about an unmarked shoal--don't go there. Still happily docked at the Brunswick Landing Marina, GA for the night. 0nm today and 757nm total. BJH & DBH
