Well... I left Savannah on Tuesday and sailed about 45 miles to a place called the Wahoo River. Right as I was leaving Isle of Hope Marina, my chartplotter started malfunctioning. Fortunately, when I reached the drawbridge I found my Beaufort Marina buddy Dave and his wife on "Sea Wings" waiting for the opening. I contacted him by radio and told him of my situation and asked if I could follow him. He said OK and told me that he was planning to anchor in the Wahoo River for the night.

As luck would have it, that was where I was planning to anchor as well. Marinas are pretty few and far between in this part of the ICW and, since many areas have to be traversed at high tide, you're rather limited on how far you can go each day.

Tuesday was a very raw and windy day. On more than one occasion we had wind gusts approaching 30 knots. Despite being dressed in multiple layers of clothing and sweatsocks on my hands, (I'm headed for the tropics, who needs gloves?) I was freezing.

My chartplotter continued to work part-time and we made it to our "protected" anchorage about 3:30 PM. Protected might be too strong a word. It was behind some trees sure enough but trust me, plenty of wind was getting through.

Well, I managed to get the anchor set just as our other Beaufort Marina buddies Larry and Lynn arrived on "Two Morrows." We all got our hooks down and gratefully retreated down below. This was the night that it was supposed to get down to 27 degrees and the wind howled all night.

Unfortunately, Norma Fay only has heat when I'm on shore power so it was a rather chilly night. Luckily, the anchor held through the wind and tidal current switches. The next morning, I got the anchor up and followed Larry and Lynn toward St. Simons Island.

My chart plotter seemed to be working most of the day. Anyway, as we reached St Simons, they pulled off to anchor again and I went to the Golden Isles Marina, getting tied up and plugged in about 3:45 PM. It felt good to get the heat on.

Once I was settled in and cleaned up, My Uncle Joe (My Dad's younger brother) came and picked me up. He brought me back to his house on St Simons where we picked up his lovely wife Jan and they took me to dinner. It was really nice getting to visit with them. I haven't seen him in about 15 years or so.

Today, Lester Forbes of "Forbes Electronics" came and fixed my chartplotter. If you're ever in the area and need that type of service, he's the man to call. He's a twenty-year navy man and he knows his marine electronics! Then I got to have lunch with Uncle Joe again and he gave me a daytime tour of the island. Once again, our visit ended too soon for me.

Anyway, it's warmed up a little but still unseasonably cold for this time of year and definitely colder than I'd prefer. (wah wah wah) Regardless, I'm planning to head out tomorrow for Jekyll Island and then (hopefully) on to Fernandina Beach, Florida on Saturday.

Here's a picture from Norma as we sat at anchor on the Wahoo River.