Well my trip north is continuing. After leaving Palm Coast, I did a non-stop trip to Jacksonville and got clobbered by a string of thunderstorms about four in the afternoon. Don't feel too sorry for me, I made up for it by having a few extra beers with dinner after I got tucked in to my slip.

Thursday I made a shorter trip to avoid the afternoon thunderstorms
and stopped in Fernandina Beach. Sure enough, the storms hit about an hour after I arrived. Fortunately, I was safe inside The Palace bar when the storms hit. Much better!

Today I was up early and headed for Georgia. North of Fernandina Beach on the Amelia River, the US Navy has a submarine base. As I neared the sub base, I was approached by a US Coast Guard RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat).

When I first saw the boat, I told Wilson "boy those guys are going somewhere in a hurry!" Then they turned towards me and did a very fast u turn just as they passed me. If you've never seen one of these boats, let me tell you they look like they mean business. In addition to 4 or 5 very serious looking coasties on board, they have a 30 caliber machine gun mounted fore and aft.

They pulled up next to us (Wilson was hiding below at this point....coward!) and the skipper asked me if it was my intention to continue up the ICW. I told him that it was and he told me to maintain my course and heading and that they would escort me past the submarine base. He said that they were getting ready to escort a submarine out to sea.

He told me in no uncertain terms that I should NOT turn toward the base for any reason. Needless to say, I didn't, although I did look that way. All in all, it was pretty impressive. In addition to several other RIB's, there were also two Coast Guard helicopters.
Oh yeah, I also saw the sub!! Pretty cool!

Anyway, I made it past without being killed (no thanks to Wilson) and am in Jekyll Island, Georgia. Enclosed is a pic of the sun setting behind Norma in her spot at the face dock.