What a couple of days! We left Sisters Creek at 7:00am so we could go all the way to St Simons Island to Morningstar Marina....It was decided because of the constant 25kt West wind, we should forget anchoring at Cumberland Island and press on through St Andrews Sound, go through Jekyl Creek on a rising half tide and finish at Morningstar Marina instead of Brunswick Landing! 75 miles! This is all because of the tide cycle which has low tide mid day right now. It just made sense to do it that way. We missed Brunswick Marina and its free beer which greatly upset Dylan but it was necessary to get an hour earlier jump on Sunday because of more cuts that need higher tide to get through. Some of these cuts have 4 ft at low tide! The Little Mud River is another shallow section that we neede some tide. Let me digress on our trip from Sisters Creek which was fine except for 25 kt winds made for choppy conditions. It wasn't bad until we hit the dreaded St Andrews Sound just before St Simons. It is always a mess with ocean swells and wind against tide. Well yesterday there was no ocean swell but the constant west wind ahainst the incoming tide made some nice 4 ft standing waves. Mighty Fine had no trouble but it still wasn't fun. Fortunately we hit Jeckyl Creek with 3 feet of extra tidal water and with the aid of our Navionics plotters that have crowed sourced sonar data, we made it througj the 2 miles of very skinny water. This is an amazing tool which uses data that other boaters have uploaded yo Navionics who in turn download the data every day to everyone with the Navionics AP. Very cool because it gives you up to date readings on where the deeper water is. It makes navigating the ICW and all its trouble spots much easier. Brian abd I are amazed at its accuracy. What a great tool. After arriving at Morninstar Marina, we had to hose the boats off as they were covered in salt from all the spray all day from the high winds. After cleaning the boats we went to the Restaurant on site and had one of the best hamburgets ever. Jane was with us too and we all concurred on how great the burger was. Brian was back cleaning up stuff on Mar-a-Lago amd he missed out. Sorry Brian. We had to leave Morningstar at 7:00am to be in the LIttle Mud River near high tide, 20 miles down the ICW. We got there with plenty of water but then it happened.....the invasion of the horse flies! We seatted and sprayed all day, hundreds of fly carcasses were on our decks! The carnage was massive but through it all we neber got bit! Donna looked like Serena Williams swatting back hands and forehands, she eas a decent tennis player back in the day! Originally we were going to stop in Kilkenny Creek, about 60 miles away but with all the flies and the fact we could get through Hell Gate, another low water cut, with some decent tide, the decision was made to go 20 more miles..... On we went, and we got to the cut with plenty of water on a rising tide. We had a little bit of an incedent where a boat passed Jane and Brian in zHell gate and tried to pass me. This is a no no in one of the most notorious spots on tge ICW! They would not answer their radio either. Donna signslled for them to slow down and wait till we got out in deeper water. The boats name is True so watch out if they are ever around you! So now were,only 20 miles from Thunderbolt Marima near Savannah and it was only 4:15.....on we went. We arrived at 6:15 and tied up after a 100 mile day! Georgia in a day....wow. We all ctashef on our boats after hosing them down again....damn salt! This morning the marina left a box if Krispy Kreme donuts on the boat which is just something they do. Man those donuts are melt in your mouth good! We left Savannah this morning at 8:30 to catch the tide at Fields Cut, 6 miles away. No problem....the rest of the day was quite pleasant, light wind, not a cloud in the sky and 75 degrees. Hardly any biat traffic other than our buddies on True, who showed up again. I gave them a wide berth! Just a 42 mile day today. We pulled in to Lady's Island Marina, always a favorite, at 2:15 this afternoon. Mary, the new marina mgr helped us in and then we helped Mar-a-Lago in. They are 3 piers aeay from us....Jane made the reservation.....hmmmm, was it something we said? Lol tonight we went to dinner at Upper Crust Pizza, one of Donna's favs. Great pizza! We will stay here 2 nights and then on to Charleston.
Last comment is about the smoke that is everywhere. The grasslands of the south are burning up! Especially in Georgia and North Florida. Now South Carolina has some wild fires going! No rain and low humidity equal fires down here.
Fair Winds and Calm Seas and no Horse Flies!!!