Moody Gardens Labor Day Luau - September 2014

Despite the ominous weather forecasts during the preceding week, the Labor Day Luau at Moody Gardens marina went ahead as planned and was a rousing success!

s/v Austintatious, s/v Tradewind, s/v Andante, s/v St.Somewhere, m/v Andiamo, s/v Slowride, m/v Sand Castle II, m/v Stardust & s/v Menestheus all braved the weather and went down to Moody in Friday to get a head start on the mai-tais!  They has some more 'weather' during the night, I believe. Fortunately for the rest of us - s/v Makai, s/v Island Time, m/v Fifty Fifty II, s/v Heeling Grace, s/v Waltzing Matilda, m/v Sand Dollar, m/v Shore Nuff, m/v Dock Trauma, m/v Sea Ya, m/v Seascape, m/v Bare Footin' - who had a calm trip down on Saturday, Christopher was on the dock with more mai-tais and leis. We had an afternoon rain shower just as we arrived and were docking.

We brought two pop up tents and fortunately there were two already set up on the Colonel dock (thanks Waghornes!) and the Andiamo hospitality tent was set-up mid-way along the pier (thanks Linda & Charles!).

Many hands made light work of decorating and soon we had our Hawaiian 'pavilion' decorated, complete with lights, decorations and tiki carvings, courtesy of Linda S.

We gathered for docktails around 5 o'clock Saturday and then continued the socializing at the buffet dinner in the Café on the Park.  Moody set aside the Monarch room for our party of 50 or so.  Following dinner, most everyone sat out on the dock in the clear breezy evening to enjoy great company, great stories, some Amarula liqueur and the fireworks show, accompanied by music, just off Palm Beach.

Sunday morning we all enjoyed a shared breakfast on the Colonel dock, complete with mimosas, and Roberta's world famous biscuits and gravy (YUM!).  Lots of the cruisers and families took advantage of the complimentary Palm Beach entry wristbands, while others did some dinghy exploration and the rest of us just whiled away a few hours around the boats.  A squall passed over quickly around lunchtime, causing a bit of a scurry to secure chairs and tents! Around 1pm on Sunday, four carloads of us drove over to the nearby Galveston Island Brewing Company.  This small nondescript metal building turned out to be a great place to spend a few hours in the A/C!  Their tap room and adjoining brewing facility was sparkling new, with plenty of seating and a big screen TV.  We missed the live band because we had to get back to Moody to prepare for docktails and dinner.  There were at least 10 varieties of beer on tap and every quantity available from a 'light flight' to a 'dark flight' ($6 for four baby food jars filled with your choice), to pints, all the way up to growlers. Thank you to Charles and Linda for bringing snacks, and to Gaye Lynn and Stuart, and Brian Boles for ferrying people over and back.

Docktails on the dock at 6pm Sunday, blended into the big Luau at 7pm.  There was standing room only on the Colonel dock, it was hard to get a count but we estimate close to 100 folks, between the boaters, the land yachters, the families and the brand new family anchored out, who were members by the end of the evening, thanks to Janet Medellin!  There was an amazing and colorful selection of salads and side dishes and meats as far as one could see down the four tables under the festive 'pavilion' !

We thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and it was our pleasure to lead this cruise and party!

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