January 30

January 30  Friday

What a night ! We were anchored along side the shoreline in 16 feet of water and settled for the night. At midnight we felt a bang and bolted out of bed to see what had happened. We had stated out about 50-75 yards from C-Soul, but when we looked out they were only about 50 feet from us. We didn’t hit them but it scared us so we upped the anchor and moved another quarter mile down the river. It took us an hour to get set again and feel comfortable going back to bed. At 3 am it happened again  but we weren’t on shore and we weren’t anywhere near the other boat, so we went back to sleep..well, we tried. In the morning there was no sign that anything was wrong, except that before where we couldn’t get the drive leg to lift, now it was loose and wouldn’t stay down!  So Rick stood on it like we used to do to get it to lock in place in reverse. Grrrrrrr!

We dragged ourselves out of bed at 7:00 am and started the engine. We were off the hook at 7:30 with C-Soul about an hour behind us. Of course they had no problem catching up and passing us! Today has been a fast day. We are determined to reach Fernandina Beach by tonight. The winds are forecasted to run to 35 knots, not good for anchoring, so we will take a dock tonight and head out again tomorrow to St. Augustine.

We have seen lots of dolphins today, but it’s mating season so they are oblivious to us! We also saw a couple of flocks of white pelicans cruising along one of the oyster islands. We are finally moving into the sandy outer islands...not as much grassland.

Coming through Jekyll Sound we both got caught in the channel when a huge car carrier came through. We both scooted out of the way, and he ploughed his way into Brunswick. Coming though Cumberland sound, there were notices to watch for returning submarines and other was –type ships. C-Soul was way ahead of us and had a “close encounter” with one of them. Luckily we were slow enough that we didn’t get in his way. We watched a tiny little security boat guarding the shoreline with all the navy ships in King’s Bay. At first he looked like a fishing boat, but the flashing red light sort of gave him away.

It was 5:30 when we arrived at the dock in Fernandina Harbour marina.  About a mile before the marina is the border. We are in FLORIDA!!! The showers are hot and clean and we are done for the night! We will see what tomorrow brings for weather to determine the next step.

 

Big boat, move fast!

An oyster bank... we should be over there looking for pearls

White pelicans

dry dock at King's Bay navy yard

let's see how close we can get !

Fort Clinch

Go  around it to find the marina

getting lines ready - he's always cold

Jannuary 29

January 29, 2015

In Darien there is practically no industry except the shrimp boats. However it was once a thriving town, rebuilding the Spanish, French and English ships that were battling off the coast of Georgia for 200 years for the right to own or occupy the state. Darien did not play favourites... they fixed them all with the oak trees that grew around the area. But during the Civil War the Yankees burned the town to the ground including all except one of the warehouse, (pics in yesterday’s post]

Point being, the town is very interested in tourists both by land and sea. The town is situated on I-95 and very accessible. There are beautiful restaurants and shops and really nice hotels.

Yesterday around 2 pm the dock master came down to see if there was anything he could do for us. He said he would come by in the morning and drive Rick to get fuel. Good as his word, he was there at 8:49 am.

Around 4:30 pm Gail got a call from the Wine Bar/Gourmet shop to come up for the free 5 o’clock glass of wine and bring the new boaters from Canada. [other pic from yesterday] It was a great place. True to his word we all got a free glass of wine and Mark ordered a cheese tray which was delicious.

Then we went for dinner at the Skipper’s Fish Shack. Rick had mahi-mahi with collard greens [spinach type veggie] and sweet potato soufflé, which he ate last because it was like dessert! It had pralines and cinnamon in it, mmmmm. I had a half pound of peel-and-eat garlic and buttered shrimp and salad. That was awesome.  Unfortunately we had an extra coffee and that proved to be a mistake. Just as we finished the waitress at the table behind us dropped a bowl of freshly cooked collard greens on the table in front of this poor woman. It splashed all over her, her husband and between them all over my back! Guess where the colour lime green comes from ?!?! It took Whisk, some other cleaner and some Clorox super stain removed that Gail had to get the spots out of my pale blue shirt!! It came out of my hair pretty easily.

When Rick left to get the fuel, Mark came over to see if he had gone and as we were talking, this HUGE island of loose swamp grass came coursing down the river with the outgoing tide. We both jumped onto the boat and grabbed boat hooks to try to fend it off. It was so strong it lifted the dinghy up onto its side and nearly turned it over. Luckily it missed C-Soul and got hung up down river passed the shrimp boats. I was expecting to see it come back up when the tide turned.

We got away from the dock around 12:30 after Rick and Mark went for gas and shrimp ($8.00 /lb and they are huge!).

Coming through one of the narrow channels I thought I hit something although I was on 10 feet of water. when I looked back all I could see were DOLPHINS!  They were bouncing off the side of the boat! Tw

Shrimp boats in the morning

River otters or sea otters?

Guess what they're doing

Old shack on the marsh --how did it get there?

And how did they get here? no access and deep water!

C-Soul ahead again

Sunset on Buttermilk Sound

ice!

As we were coming around one the marsh islands we saw cows and goats! Not many and they looked very ...wild! Like someone dropped them off there. The chart shows very little solid land around that marsh so I don’t know how they got there unless they swam across. And where do they get fresh water? There were only about 10 of them, all different colours and a couple of what looked to be Brahma bulls but they were mottled grey.

 We are now anchored in a place called Buttermilk Sound. The scenery is spectacular and the camera does not do it justice...grassland marshes as far as the eye can see with very little solid land. It looks like African plains except for the water surrounding everything. Rick is doing a maintenance oil change. His back is still really sore and we are doing whatever we can to fix it...pills, massage, A535...

 We made about 20 miles, which as a good run against the tide and can just see Brunswick, Georgia [Jekyll Island] right in the sunset.  We expect to be passing it tomorrow. We will head to Fernandina Beach tomorrow and anchor somewhere there. That puts us in Florida! YAY!! Ttyl!

January 28

January 28, 2015

The trip today was cold but clear and calm. We managed to up anchor with no problems and we had the tide with us all day except for a couple of miles up the Doboy Sound. We are about 15 miles from meeting with C-Soul at the mouth of the Darien River.

Anyway, I forgot to tell you... we passed the old cemetery that was featured in the movie with Kevin Spacey: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Not my favourite movie but really interesting. The cemetery was very old and creepy, what I could see of it.

 

Old cemetary

Old cemetary

Storm damages

ON the quiet river

Shrimp boat passing us

Waiting to hit the dock

Shrimp fleet in Darien

Old warehouse ruins

celebration time, c'mon!

We have mixed feelings about the Georgia ICW. Some places are beautiful and wild and interesting; others are just boring and the weather sucks. Maybe warmer would make it nicer!?

We made it to Darien today and met up with C-Soul... back together again! The dock is free here, and we can stay for two days but we won’t. Tomorrow Rick is going to get the fuel in the morning and we will head out at the turn of the tide so we get a boost out of the river. We will go as far as we can to an anchorage and then head down to Brunswick, the last stop in Georgia or Fernandina Beach. That will take us into Florida. We will skip Jekyll Island this trip because it’s very expensive and we don’t want to stop that soon.

Right now we are tied up to the dock jut about under a bridge that appears to be a four lane highway. It’s quite noisy and sounds like thunder but the sky is clear, the winds calm and we only have to contend with the tidal current squashing us against the dock [ we have fenders out so the boat is ok].

So, here are some more pics. Enjoy!

January 26-27 in Georgia

January 27, 2015

So yesterday we crossed into Georgia. It was a cold, blustery day and I can only say that it wasn’t raining or snowing. We got as far as Isle of Hope and anchored in front of the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography.  It took 45 inut4s to get the anchors up this morning out of the friggin’ mud! Oh yeah... Georgia mudflats!

It was a cold and blustery day again today and we did NOT have a good run. St. Catherine Sound was as rough as crossing Lake Ontario and the water was just as dark. The winds ran from 12-22 knots. Sometimes we could put out a sail but most times it wouldn’t help.

But we made 40 miles in 8 hours! That’s a good run for us. We got up at 6:30 and got off the anchor by 7:45. Tonight we are anchored in the middle of “creek” called Cattle Pen Creek. It’s basically a space in the grasses where you can get a boat.

So it’s 7:30. All the chores are done and we just came in from looking at the stars and the underwater lights. It’s dead calm, quiet and clear! We are going to bed to watch a bit of tv and go to sleep so we can start early again. I really hope tomorrow is like this.  

tonight at anchor

sunset tonight