Friday April 26: Georgia on My Mind

The last minute shopping was done, the rental car returned and good-bye's said to Kathie and Werner on It's About Time. We likely will not see them until the fall - they are hoping to be able to get a dock at Banana Bay for some of the winter months and then go to the Bahamas. If all goes well, we will join them and hopefully Surona also.

The power chords are the last thing to be unhooked before casting off. The day started overcast and cool. All of the plastic went up on the flybridge before we even left the dock!

Fernandina was a good stop and is the northernmost port we visit in Florida. Within an hour of leaving the dock we crossed the St. Mary's River and were in Georgia.

All went according to plan except for the wind! There were 3 large sounds and/or river openings to cross today and we hit them great current wise but the wind made for interesting travel. Current going OUT + wind blowing IN = very large not fun waves. Lets hear it for the flybridge cover or it would have been a wet day with many waves breaking over the bow - and then wind blown spray up all over the place.

It's a full moon so the marshes become either super full with really high tides or super low with not enough water even for our short 4' draft. The red triangle in the picture is usually at least 6 feet out of the water, but not at a super high tide.

Fortunately we made it through Jekyll Creek - one of the notorious low areas - with 2 feet left on a falling tide.

If we had not made it to the entrance of the Creek in time, we would have had to just anchor there for the night and wait for the next incoming tide.

We passed a small ship cruise in a relatively narrow spot. With the high tide it wasn't a problem but this was where I ran aground a year or so ago. Seeing the ship coming didn't make me happy!

Like with everything, experience makes such a difference. This is what the GPS look like as we passed by the cruise ship. The blue area means shallow!...Danger!  White is nice and deep, therefore safe.  Was it any wonder I ran aground? I was mostly watching the GPS telling me to go in the white at the time and the placement of the markers was very confusing. Little did I know the white was really shallow water and the blue was where I needed to be! Now I know the solution is ignore the GPS and just look at the markers :-)











You know it's been a long day in the swirling winds when the flag looks like this at the end of the day :-)







But we're now tucked safely away in a spot off of the channel. Still windy but it's supposed to die down somewhat overnight. There is an 8 foot tide here so we let out extra line - I really like lots of swing room when we anchor. Especially since Peter and Cheryl on Surona (with their 5.5 ft draft) aren't around to keep us off the shore should the anchor drag!

Tomorrow: the challenge of the Little Mud River - another notoriously shallow spot in Georgia. We have a good plan for it .....

I can't hear a Ray Charles (Georgia on My Mind), Brook Benton or Nat King Cole song without thinking about my Mom. As a kid every Saturday we cleaned the house (not MY choice of things to do for sure) and her choice of music playing (LP's of course) were one of the above. Pleasant memories ..... though not pleasant at the time :-)