Tuesday May 3
We missed seeing our friends Beth and Peter this trip. We hope our schedules work out to see them in the fall. We easily slipped off the dock at Sister's Creek at 8 a.m. with the current. The sun was out but a few clouds were rolling in. Thunderstorms are in the forcast for later in the day. Averaging 7 knots (occasionally 8+), we are making great time running with the tide. As we passed Cumberland Island,I saw three horses on the beach there. Across Cumberland Sound, a submarine was docked at the Naval base. As we approached Fernandina Beach there were numerous shoaling notes on Active Captain. While trying to decipher the detailed instructions for the area ahead, we ran aground. The wind was blowing hard in the direction that would blow us harder aground. The sky was growing dark behind us and weather alerts for strong thunderstorms with damaging winds were starting to come in more frequently. We steered the boat back and forth towards the charted deeper water until the depth sounder registered again. It was showing 22 feet and we were still stuck! The depth sounder is mounted at the bow. The keel was stuck in the mud. We were on a shoaling edge of a 20+ foot drop. We finally moved our way off and were underway once again. We arrived at Jekyll Harbour marina at 5:30. I'm glad that I made reservations before leaving Sister's creek. The transient dock was full. There was just enough room for us. It was like parallel parking. Captain Carl was able to maneuver right in with no problem. The docks are floating...the tides are nearly ten feet here. The storms moved around us and we never got a drop of rain.
Wednesday May 4
While doing a few loads of laundry we met Lisa and Billy on another 410. They are living on their boat waiting for their new condo here to be finished. They have friends sailing in later and invited us to join them for a sundowner on their boat. At noon,we took the marina golf cart out for a spin. We found a new shopping village with specialty shops and restaurants nearby. I had a Georgia shrimp basket and Carl had a bbq sandwich for lunch. Back at the boat we spent the afternoon talking with others on the dock. We headed to S/V Down Time about 5:30. Lisa put out quite a fancy spread of food that included caviar. It was all delicious and we had a great time!
Thursday May 5
A cold front moved in overnight. I had to pull out my jeans and a sweater buried in the back of a drawer. The winds were gusting to almost 40 knots. Looks like we'll be staying another day. We took a walk to get off the boat. No one had reserved the golf cart, so we took it again to Tortuga Jacks Mexican restaurant for lunch and margaritas. It was Cinco de Mayo after all. The boats were really bouncing around when we returned. The fenders had to be readjusted several times. The winds finally calmed down just before sunset. The sunset was beautiful.
We are planning now to stay until Monday. We're watching a weather window to go offshore.