Up at 6:30 and had a leisurely breakfast of bacon and eggs, English muffins. We were waiting until 8 a.m. when we were going to call Fernandina Beach marina to see if they either had a slip or a mooring ball. The woman Tom spoke with said they had no slips but would get back on the mooring balls. We got rid of the garbage and left the dock at 8:40a.m. and headed south.

While underway I asked Tom if he had heard from the marina about the mooring balls and he said yes, they only had 3 vacant and they are on a first come basis, so guess what - yes we decided on Cumberland Island.

The winds were pretty steady at 20 knots as we entered St. Andrews sound. You have to go to the mouth of the sound before you turn back inland so we took plenty of water over the bow. Of course the front window was open so a lot of the spray came our way too.

Once we rounded the final red marker and headed back in we had a following sea for a short time. I then took a bucket of water and wiped down the windows inside and out. Of course later in The morning we were heading back into it and they got salty again.

Although we were in a falling tide situation most of the passages were deep enough until we came upon 4 red day marks (60, 60a , 60b& 60c) in succession in Crooked River We should have stayed more toward the green (lesson learned) day mark but instead were nearer the red and ran aground. Luckily Tom was able to back off head north and then turn around and we were back on track. We may run into some skinny water tomorrow but if Tom applies what he learned today we should be fine.

We arrived at Cumberland Island at 1:00 p.m. I went around the boat with a bucket of water and a rag and wiped down all the stainless on the boat to get the salt off. Had soup for lunch, determined our stops home and then lowered the dingy to dink into the island. Before we left Tom got out the 2x4 (yes a 2x4, 4 ft. In length ) he got from the shop at Jekyll Island marina to help in straightening one of the supports for our dinghy. When we left the marina at Savannah our dinghy caught one of the cement pilings and pulled on it. We thought we just had a little scrape on the dinghy but at a closer look it bent the downward support quite a lot. Tom used the board to bend it back into position and it's almost there. He will wait until we pull the boat to finish the job. If you know of anyone in need of a 2x4 around Cumberland let us know.

Once on the island we took the path to the beach. It was about a mile walk and once we got there it was beautiful. The surf was high and the water was cool. We sat for awhile watching the surf and then made our way back to the boat. We took a wrong turn and were suddenly walking through the campsites so we backtracked and found our way back to the dock.

Once back I cleaned off the transom, it was getting green! We also noticed that although we're not getting the intra coastal mustache on the bow we are getting it on the stern. Another cleaning jobs once we get back. Once the dinghy was secure we enjoyed some wine and cheese and crackers and then dinner of strip steak, sweet potatoes and Caesar salad. We had strawberries and ice cream for dessert.

As I finish writing this we are sitting on the back deck watching the sunset and enjoying the cool breeze blowing through the boat. Great sleeping weather and the wind seems to be keeping the bugs away.