After we left Beaufort we headed to Isle of Hope Marina 60 miles away so we could hit Hell Gate at near High tide on Tuesday, another ICW trouble spot! Like 3 ft at low tide! While at Isle of Hope Marina we went out to a cool Mexican Restaurant via courtesy car near the Marina....great cheap Mexican food! The next morning we headrd out at first light, 7:15 am, for Hell Gate which had an extra 5 ft if water when we went through the cut. Our original plan was to stop half way to Brunswick for the night but we were making such good time that by noon wr had gone 50 miles, so we pressed on to Brunswick, makong it through the Little Mud River on a rising tide of 3 extra feet which we needed because we hit a couple of 6 ft spots which would have been 3 ft at low tide! Yikes! Anyway after a long day, we arrived in Brunswick at 5:15 and tied up for two days to enjoy a Halloween Party at the Clubhouse Tuesday night and a cruisers party the next night. The beer is free the laundry is free and the folks are friendly! We even ran into Marathon friends, Cincinatti Bob and Katie! Donna and I went as Giants fans decked out in our Giants gear. The marina provided free pizza too! Brunswick Landing Marina is always worth a stop! Thursday we headed out at 8:30 so we could get through Jekyl Creek which is another shallow area. Well the fog was pretty thick but I could see the shore and out a quarter mile so off we went....the tide was falling fast in Jekyl and we had to get there before 9:30 to safely make it through. My bride was not a happy camper but the choices were few. We have radar and gps on our plotters so I could tell if any ships were heading our way but it was still scary. Fortunately the fog broke just as we reached the creek and made it through still reading some 5 ft depths! Next was St Andrews sound which can be a bear but Thursday it was like a mill pond! The rest of the rise to Sisters Creek free dock was a piece of cake. We even made it through the shallow areas at Fernindina without any problems even at dead low tide. Our Navionics plotter got us through nicely. We arrived at the free dock at Sisters Creek around 4pm and fortunately, there were 4 other boats there and we got help getting in as the current was pretty strong. We knew a couple of the folks and we had a couple of beers and discussed winter plans. Sisters Creek is right before the St Johns River which goes up to Jacksonville. We decided to go visit our friends from our Bahama trip 3 years ago, John and Jennifer Botterbusch, who live on there boat, Lady J at Ortega River Marina in Jacksonville. John works at the Marina part time and got us a slip for 3 nights! It just so happens there was a Blue Angels Air show this weekend! John invited our friends Kath and Dan who owned a boat called Majiks before they swallowed the anchor last year. It was great to see them again and we will see more of them as we spend the next two weeks in St Augustine whete they live. We all went out on Lady J which is a 40 ft Manta catamaran sail boat, to watch the air show right by the naval base. What a great show of death defying acrobatics. The show started at 11 and ended with the Blue Angels at 4 pm. The Angels were just amazing with their precision flying jus inches away from each other! Just a great bucket list show! Today we hung loose, Donna did some laundry and John drove us to Lowes and Walmart. We bougjt some 105 lbs of barbells at Walmart because Mighty Fine had develooed a list since the couch wad removed and replaced with much lighter chairs. So....I added more weight to the starnoard side to level us out! It worked! Lol. We had dinner on Lady J tonight and talked about future plans. We will see them down in St Augustine in 2 weeks for the festival of lights where the town turns on a million Christmas lights in the park and puts on a fabulous Holiday show....this is iur 4th year attending this event which is a blast! So tomorrow we head out to Rivers Edge Marina in Augustine where we will meet up with Claudette and Bruce of Summer Wind fame who just put their boat in the water at nearby St Mary's. It woll be great to see them again! Thats sll for now....it was a busy week but we are in Florida again!! It is always great to meet up with old friends again!!
Fair Winds and Calm Seas.