Day 14: All alone.
03 November 2011 | Cane Patch Creek, GA (aka the middle of nowhere)
70 degrees, sunny... t-shirt and flip-flop weather, finally!

Nautical Miles Travelled: 52
Total Miles Travelled: 886
So after settling in last night around midnight, checking the SC/GA Atlantic Coast forecast and reviewing our route options both inside and out, we decided to wake around 7:30 AM and head out around 8 down the ICW. As usual, we had a hard time pulling ourselves out from under the warm covers, but it was warmer this morning than what we've been used to and we had to move down the coast to stay on track. So I threw on some slippers, lit up the stove and started to brew some coffee.
With a fresh cup of coffee in hand, we pulled up the hook and headed for the ICW. The outside forecast was nasty, so we opted for the more liesurely stroll down the ICW through the last bit of SC into GA. Derek steered the boat along the magenta line (the ICW on our chartplotter) while I booted up my computer to catch up on some work. We meandered through swamp lands, forests and past some ginormous Hilton Head estates. The sun was out, finally, and it heated up steadily all morning. We both had a different kind of chipperness in our attitudes today. After 20 or 30 miles, we realized that we had only seen one other sailboat, one trawler and one megayacht; there were only a handfull of skiffs along the 50 miles and us - we were alone... it's strange to be a sole catamaran navigating on natural, untamed rivers through the marshlands with dolphins swimming along side. If you're wondering what the effect of that soledome is...let's just say there was a lot of random laughs, some home-grown songs on top of a few (many) beverages and ultimately, just a real sense of vacation.
We moved farther down the interlacing rivers and are now anchored in the Cane Patch Creek, just off of the Ogeechee River, with no houses, no boats, nobody in site. There are fish and dolphins litterally jumping out of the water around us as feeding time arrives and all we hear are the chirps of the numerous birds in the marshes; we just heard a shotgun, so I'm assuming someone is hunting for deer or wild pig...which I of course hope to see and add to the long list of wildlife (btw - yesterday we saw another sea turtle and today a single butterfly along with the myriad of dolphins playing inland). I hear there may even be alligators in the area, so we'll see if we get lucky to spot another one this trip.
D just turned on the anchor alarm as the sun sets in the distance; with a glass of wine, some cheese and crackers we're hoping for a quiet, relaxing night in the bayou. This is true seclusion...not a soul for miles and literally marsh land on all sides of the boat within 100 yards...places you just don't know exist unless you venture out to see them.