On The Road Again and again and again
26 April 2018 | Isle of Hope, Savannah Ga.
Sunny 70's
We have been on the move and today finds us at Isle of Hope Marina about 200 miles from St Augustine. The first night was supposed to be at Sisters Creek at Jacksonville, a free dock. Problem was no room at the Inn! 300 ft of dock was occupied, never seen that before. We even got there early! So on we went, another 30 miles to Cumberland Island, one of our favorite anchorages. It is a federal park with immense beauty and wild horses. Unspoiled beaches and sand dunes too! We dinghyed to shore Wednesday morning because we had to wait for some tide in nearby Jekyl Creek. Dylan, Donn and I walked across the island and Dylan had a ball running all over the beach! Just a gorgeous wide beach and we had it to ourselves! We went back to the boat, pulled anchor and headed to scary St Andrews sound which can be a real bear sometimes with huge swells and waves. Not so this time. It was very docile and relatively calm. Jekyl Creek had an extra 4 ft of water which is why we waited until noon to leave...high tide was late in the day. We are in a cycle of low tide in the middle of the day which makes it difficult to get through shallow spots like Jekyl Creek. We anchored on the north side of the Morningstar Marina so we could get an early start this morning to get through the Mud River early this morning with a neat high tide then go another 60 miles and get through Hell Gate in a rising tide! Planning is paramount in Geargia because of 8 ft tides and 3 ft low spots at low tide. It all worked we hit all the bad spots with the right amount of water. In fact, I told all the boats that passed us that we would see them at Hell Gate Cut around 3:00pm for safe passage. They all went flying by but as I predicted we caught up to them waiting for some tide to safely pass through. I love it when a plan comes together! Lol. We went through Hell Gate and saw no less than 7 ft of water! We continued on to Isle of Hope Marina tonight and celebrated by taking the courtesy car to Tequilla town Mexican Restaurant in South Savannah. Food was great and cheap! A quick stop at Wal-Mart and back to the Marina to watch my New York Giants pick Saquan Barkley with there first pick! Very cool. Ok, so I'm a football nerd. The only bummer is our dinghy is not holding air in one front chamber. I can't figure out where the leak is. I tried soapy water to no avail. When we get to Beaufort tomorrow I'll investigate more. It's only 3 years old. Oh well, its always something on a boat! Tomorrow we are off to Beaufort SC for two nights. One of our favorite towns to visit on the ICW. Early start tomorrow to get some tide through the last but of Georgia. Some more shallow spots early on then ok the rest of the day. That's all for now....we're on the move!
Fair winds and calm seas.