Awoke this morning to very strange scratching noises on deck. Realised that the flock of blackbirds that we had seen in the marshes last night were on the foredeck drinking the fresh dew off the boat.

Enjoyed another blissful day wending our way through the marshes of south Georgia accompanied by an unbelievable number of birds – pelicans, cormorants, bald eagles, vultures, gulls, terns (?), and more. The birds were fishing heavily – must be loads of food in the water. We’ve seen just one boat heading in our direction in the last two days. We think a lot of ICW boats go outside on the Atlantic for this stretch, because it is quicker and also because there are a lot of very shallow sections which don’t bother us too much with our lifting keel, but would bother deeper draught boats. It’s also very tidal here, with a spring range of around nine feet. As a result, we pretty much have had this natural wonderland all to ourselves today. Not complaining!

We’d planned to call in at the town of Brunswick, where there is a convenient anchorage. However, it turns out that there is nowhere to go ashore (the local marina refuses to allow you to use their dock) so really there was no point in spending a night there. Instead, we are having another night at anchor in a marshy creek.

We were enjoying our arrival cup of tea on deck (has it really come to that!) when we heard more strange noises around us – a sort of heavy breathing. It turned out to be four dolphin that were swimming round the edge of the marsh fishing, but pretty much on the surface all the time so their breathing was really loud when there was hardly another sound. Never heard that before. We were finally chased inside by the local midges – nasty wee creatures – on a par with their Scottish cousins.

We’re realising how far south we are moving: the sun is setting later each day (technically put - we are outpacing the loss of declination) and it’s definitely getting warmer.

ICW Mile 702 – 55 statue miles today