“A tourist remains an outsider throughout his visit;
but a sailor is part of the local scene from the moment he arrives”.
~ Ann Davison ~
So true isn’t it?
You can walk down a street of a large city,
or even in your own city
and rarely anyone greets you or looks you in the eye.
A funny side story –
when I first moved from the east coast to Montreal,
Francois took me by the hand and said:
“Now Kathy, you can’t just say ‘hello’ to everyone you meet”
and remember the law of the jungle: ‘never look the monkey in the eye’.”
But arrive at any marina and I bet you won’t be there more than 20 minutes
regardless of language spoken, type or size of boat…
someone will pass and strike up a conversation…
…commenting on the name of your boat…
…’where are you from?’…
…’want some help’?…
‘yes, she is pretty isn’t she?’…
It’s the commonality that binds all sailors together.
We have now been to 5 different marinas and it’s always the same.
The most recent was when we had to make an emergency stop in bad weather
at a tiny marina of not more than a dozen boats.
A lovely young lady answered our rather distressed call:
“Marina this is RED – require dock for night – please respond”..
On arrival, she helped us dock, made us a pot of fresh coffee.
One of the marina owners who happened to be there,
offered to take us to the local market if we needed provisions.
Thankfully we had kept to our provision strategy of +20%.
We also had reserved a berth at Trois-Rivières that night
so when Francois called to let them know we wouldn’t be able to keep our reservation,
they had been worried about us and thankful that we were all right
as the weather there was even worse than at our location.
No special pictures to accompany this post.
Just two sailors, happy to have become a part of this wonderful community…
Addendum: Back safely in Trois-Rivieres Marina we went to a local supermarket for more provisions. It wasn't very close to the marina but it was a type we were familiar with. There in the produce department a man approached Francois and said: 'I know you.' He and his family had been docked beside us in Portneuf and left just before we did. They too had a terrible time getting home to Trois-Rivieres even though they had a very stable powerful motor cruiser. Both he and his wife were sea sick. It took them 6.5 hours to get back. They had been wondering if we arrived safely or had maybe turned back. His daughter who was also with them was our check-out clerk. Small world!