Yes, Thanksgiving Day was upon us, and — though we rather be hosting the traditional turkey dinner from home with our family and friends, the next best thing is to spend it right here on Amelia Island.

“What should we do for Thanksgiving?” was the question of the week. While our galley is plenty big for preparing most meals, cooking a full turkey smorgasbord was a bit too much of an effort. We decided it’s OK to opt out of the physical and emotion labor of the home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner and outsource our dinner to some local restaurant instead.

Surprisingly the demand for dining out on Thanksgiving was really high. We were waitlisted at 3 restaurants but Claudia was able to use her charms and persistence to reserve a table for us at a 5-stars restaurant David’s Bistro within walking distance.

Getting ourselves from an anchored boat to the dinghy dock on a wet & windy day is not exactly a walk in the park. It’s sort of a process. We first pack our street clothes, put them in a waterproof garbage bag, then we put on our foul weather gear looking like we’re ready to sail around the world. Then we descent into our inflatable and motor towards the dock, hoping not to get completely swamped by the wind blown waves. Once on land, we towel dry ourselves and changed into streets clothes before wobbling to the restaurant.

We’ve all got our special favorites that “have” to be included in Thanksgiving dinner. For me, it’s Claudia’s Portuguese stuffing that’s made with Chourizo and lot’s of love, but that’s not on the menu, instead, we ordered some of the restaurant’s specialities like Georgia beets, crab bisque, fresh fish, steak, pecan pie and of course, key-lime pie. Not a typical Thanksgiving meal but a fabulous three course dinner.

During dinner we talked about what we are most thankful for as we enjoyed one of the nicest meals we’ve had in a long time. Hopefully you’ll remember this Thanksgiving years from now because we will certainly remember ours for a long long time.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our family and friends back home and far away.