November 24, 2012 Saturday
We left Cumberland Island this morning; but fairly late in the morning in order to transit the shoaled area, that is located south of Fernandina Beach FL, during a rising tide (just in case you go aground, it’s nice to think that the incoming tide will float you off the shoal).
We caught the very end of the ebb tide coming south from Cumberland… but it was still running fairly strong toward the St. Mary’s Inlet as we approached the shoaled areas.
We did manage to get through there without touching the bottom,… Although we saw a 6.4 foot depth.
The remainder of the trip did see some shallow water, but… hey… we made it all the way down to the Sisters Creek Bridge, which is where we planned to anchor. BUT………. When we got there, five other sailing vessels that left earlier than we did from St. Marys, where already anchored in the available space above the Sisters creek bascule Bridge. We circled around a bit, and then finally decided we just go through the bridge and anchor in the St. Johns River…. SO, We did.
We’re now anchored in about 30 feet of water, with plenty of scope out…. (big swing circle).
We’re at N30 23.172 W 081 28.158
I’ll post that as a location on the www.sailblogs.com web page in a minute or two…
Brian Strutt would be proud… This is his type of anchorage…. (just like anchoring at G-35 in the Cape Fear River).

We had to laugh at one point… one sailing vessel called another on the VHF radio, after leaving St. Marys GA at different times today… the first sailing vessel asked where the other boat was located (Lat/Long – speed – azimuth, etc). The answering boat said they were in the ICW… motoring along; The calling boat said “WELL….. we’re outside in the ocean….at your recommendation, by the way!!!_”
OUCH!!!! At that we had to laugh…. So much for buddie boating….

We have a lot of scope out there for our anchor, but about 2100 hours when the tide turns, I think I’ll spend some time in the cockpit; just checking…
The news forecast some freezing temps for this evening for in-land counties around here… brrr