With a very peaceful night at anchor, we actually slept late today because we had to wait for the tide. We got underway at 8:20 and had a very nice journey down behind St. Catherine's Island and Sapelo Island. Lots of marsh and low woodlands as we navigated several narrow and shallow sections, but our planning had us through them at almost high tide. With an 8 foot tide range added on to the mean low water, that's a lot of cushion when we only need a little over 5' total. Jill drove us through several pilot ranges so she could learn how to do it. A pilot range is a couple of markers at the end of a long straight channel. You line up the lower front mark with the higher back mark and that tells you that you are steering correctly down the channel. As we motored along the winds got gustier, confirming the weather forecast that we're in for a blow tonight as a front comes through. We are securely docked in a very nice marina, Golden Isle Marina, just off the ICW. Tomorrow, we do the last trouble spot at high tide and then will push on, possibly as far as Fernandina, Florida. The Captain.
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As we were getting ready to leave this morning I took the beautiful sunrise picture above. We left the marina to get to a drawbridge three miles away for its 8am opening. We rounded the first corner and motored into dense fog that lasted four hours. We were last in a line of 3 sailboats and we all used our chartplotter gps map and our radar to navigate. As the last boat, we frequently could only see the middle boat, and the front boat, a grey hulled boat from Maine who was used to traveling in fog, would fade in and out depending on how thick the fog was. About noon the fog finally blew away and we emerged into bright sunshine. By the time we anchored it was 81 degrees & humid, although there is a pleasant breeze blowing. The Captain.
We are anchored in a creek somewhere in the middle of practically uninhabited land. There are two house lights in the distance and a few channel markers blinking on and off but otherwise, nothing but a dark star filled night. It's been years since I've seen so many stars. It's so dark that I can hear fish jumping but I can't see any of them. Maybe they are dolphins or alligators. I think I'll go out with a flashlight and see if I can figure it out. The Admiral
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Today was our day to use the marina's courtesy car for grocery shopping and a boat store visit and to do the laundry and wash the boat. The temperature was 76 with a light breeze and we spent much of the afternoon sitting in the cockpit reading. Over the next three days we have to time the tides to get through certain shallow stretches of the ICW. We will go behind St. Catherine's Island and then behind most of Sapelo Island and to an anchorage in New Tea Kettle Creek. The next day we will go behind St. Simons Island to a marina at Lanier Island. The third day we need to time the tide through Jekyll Creek behind Jekyll Island, and will either stop at the southern end of Jekyll Island which would be a very short day, go a couple hours further and anchor behind Cumberland Island at the State Park, or we could possibly make it to Fernandina, Florida with a little push. The picture is the old Savannah street on the river front. The Captain.
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Stay and tour it if you can you will enjoy it!
And watch out below you for those pesty submarines near Kings Bay !
Bob & Diane Slotkin
Today was a land day for us. After a cab ride into Savannah, we boarded The Old Savannah Trolley and learned all about the history of Savannah from none other than a former school teacher. 31 years teaching and now she's a tour guide. Among the highlights were the Savannah River waterfront, the parks, the historic houses, the graveyards, and the churches. There is much to see in this clean, well laid out city but we enjoyed the overview. The facts about the city were interesting and plentiful; the scenery and pace were relaxing. Tour guides were driving trollies, horses, bikes, and Segways and no one was rushing. Spanish moss draped the tree limbs and swayed in the light breeze. We learned that it blows there. It thrives independent of the tree on whatever is in the air, so it doesn't damage the tree at all. It may be tempting to pick it up but don't do it because it harbors little red chiggers that will make you sorry you touched it. The tour guide also told us that when the Union soldiers camped out in Savannah's cemeteries, they had nothing to do so they changed the dates and names on the tombstones. They even moved some from one place to another. No one is really sure who is buried where unless family came forward and figured it out. Wouldn't you think the soldiers would have had something better to occupy their time? We had a fun day seeing a city we knew very little about and had never visited. Tomorrow we'll be borrowing the marina's car and running errands so most likely our blog will pick up on Tuesday. The Admiral
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We arose early because we had planned a 70 mile day. The picture is this morning's view of the fog lifting as we left the marina. However we had very limited visibility for the next two miles. We chose to go very slowly down the river the marina was on to get back to the ICW. Within 10 minutes the fog suddenly lifted and we could see just fine. We went through two drawbridges today, passed right by Beaufort SC waterfront, and the ICW side of Hilton Head Island, and are now docked in a marina that is a bus or cab ride from downtown Savannah, Georgia. We plan to spend tomorrow sightseeing and then just chill out here on Monday before heading into the wilds of Georgia's southern coast. Lastly, there is a saying about boaters that there are two types, those that have gone aground, and those that lie about it. We no longer have to lie, as we bumped bottom pretty good in one spot today. Fortunately the Admiral yelled to the captain to turn right, which he did, and we slid right off into deeper water again. The Captain.
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Early this morning we passed by Charleston's Battery, and that is today's picture. We also were pretty close to Fort Sumter at the entrance to Charleston Harbor, but the sun was directly behind it so a photo was not possible. At about 11:11am today, 11/11/11, we realized we had passed the halfway point on our trip. Our target of Marathon, Florida is about 1350 miles from home, and we have now traveled 670 miles down the Chesapeake Bay and down the ICW to here! We are docked in Dataw Island Marinas so we can run the heat for what is supposed to be the coldest overnight here since February. Our target tomorrow is Isle of Hope Marina which is a suburb of Savannah. We plan to spend a couple of days there. The Captain.
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