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Last Thursday, I decided to check out Darien GA - it's about 8 miles off the ICW, so it's out of the way. My friend James, from St. Simon's Island, had written a piece about it for Southwinds - it's not published yet, but I'll post the link when I have it - and it sounded interesting. Also, there was a nasty storm on its way, so a dock sounded good.
I arrived in the dark, and was helped to tie up by another sailor docked there. He told me that this was the weekend for the Blessing of the Fleet, the 45th annual shrimp boat festival and blessing. Well, that sounded interesting, and since Darien was providing 48 hours free dockage to encourage visitors - why not?
To be honest, Darien is a different sort of place....very down to earth people would be the best way of putting it, and you know, when the first tune from the band is an old Merle Haggart standard, you're going to be hearing a lot of country and very little rap. Not a bad thing, come to think of it, and I'm not a big country fan...
Darien partied on all weekend, I made some great new friends, and Gypsy Wind had a front row center seat for the festivities - as loud as they were. And on Sunday, the big event - the blessing of the fleet.
This video gives you an idea of what it was like....
