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Griffin Update #2: Emergency Surgery Went Well; Ambulance Workers "Very Nice"
Alligator River Marina, Sunday Morning, 0730, Onboard M/V Griffin.

We pulled in to the Alligator River Marina right on schedule at 3:45 yesterday and we were met on the pier by a nice young guy named JJ. We refueled with 98.6 gallons of diesel, missing the nickel a gallon price discount break by 1.4 gallons! We tried to explain that we would like to pay for 100 gallons and get the price break, but the concept of paying for 100 gallons when we only took 98.6 was too hard to get across. We felt like Jack Nicholson trying to order toast in a diner.

We took advantage of the hour and a half of daylight to give the boat a thorough wash down. Russell took the cushions on to the pier and scrubbed away while Jon cleaned the deck and topsides and Andrew cleaned up down below. After the wash-down, Russell went on a recon mission. Alligator River Marina is a very nice establishment. New, clean, and with very friendly people, but not very big compared to what we are used to in Annapolis. In fact, there are two single-wide mobile homes, one pre-fab rancher, and the marina office that doubles as a road side gas station/convenience store/diner. Plus a nice, new bath-house and laundry pier-side. Throw a marina on the back of the convenience store in "My Cousin Vinny" and you've got the idea. Size is definitely not an indicator of good we are finding as we really like this little place.

In his recon, Russell found that Miss Wanda, in addition to selling gas at the road side Texaco Station/Marina Office, also ran the convenience store, operated the marina radio, waitressed the 8 booths in the diner and COOKED TOO. Russell brought back the menu to the boat. Full dinners with two vegetables started at $2.49 for chicken livers, up to $6.99 for steak!

We decided to defer turkey leftovers for tomorrow, in favor of the "Miss Wanda Show". It was definitely worth it. Miss Wanda was the most relaxed person working at a hectic pace. The food was quite good and the fried Ocra was the best I've ever had. We chatted during dinner with the couple in the next booth. Canadians Jennifer and Terry have recently retired from careers as a nurse and restaurant owner, respectively, and are heading south for the warmth. No more "tukes" for Terry!

We returned to the boat to set-up and watch "Liar, Liar" on the 12 volt TV/VCR. Jon peeled off to the bath-house for a minute while Russell and Andrew returned to the boat. When he got to the boat he found Andrew had slipped when stepping into the cockpit from the side deck and had landed flat on his back with his head banging down hard on the 3" fuel valve cut-off handle on the side of the cockpit. There was an amazingly large pool of blood under his head, but he never lost consciousness. Jennifer and Terry were climbing onto their sailboat two slips over and Nurse Jennifer came over to check Andrew out. She said he needed medical attention, which we had already suspected, so Jon ran back to Miss Wanda to have her call 911. JJ came back to the boat to help. After checking Andrew out to make sure he hadn't broken anything, Andrew decided to sit up and wait for the Rescue Squad.

When the rescue squad arrived we started a 3 hour adventure that is hard to describe. These people are the nicest folks you could ever want to meet. They are all volunteers who give freely of their time. The nearest hospital was 45 miles away. After getting Andrew off the boat, they strapped him to a back board and loaded all three of us into the Ambulance. We went code 2 to the hospital which means lights on but no siren. Russell got to ride in the shotgun seat for the ride over and watch the cars pull over to let us pass. In the back, Bobby, a professional paramedic in the next county who also volunteers in his county, kept Andrew and Jon entertained with his country humor and local stories. Bobby shot a 419 pound Black Bear about 1 mile up the road from the Marina last year. He told us we are heading south in to bear country on the waterway! Yikes. We did check that bears are not attracted by fresh human blood in the cockpit, so we felt reasonable safe on the boat for the night.

The ambulance crew described the Doctor in Edenton, N.C. as being like the country doctors you see on TV, but slightly more modern. A regular Marcus Welby. And a good stitcher. He was as good as advertised and he quickly Stitched Andrew's 2 1/2" gash up with 7 Frankenstein sized stitches. Andrew is safe until he goes bald, when he will look sort of like a football! Now you know his secret! Time to join the hairclub for men.

We slept like logs after all the excitement and got up at 5:00am for an early departure. Unfortunately, fog took away that option. We talked to a delivery skipper in the Diner during breakfast and he said the fog should lift in about an hour so we went back to the boat to read magazines and wait.

The fog lifted to about 1 mile vis and the delivery skipper and another 50' cruiser both lit off their engines and headed for the ICW in a hurry. We scrambled around and followed, so we are now back underway in company with two other boats with about the same cruise speed. Destination: Morehead City, North Carolina.

Russell, Jon & Andrew

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