1/23/08 Isle of Hope, Savannah, GA

WHEN YOU GET TO THE END OF YOUR LEASH, JUST JUMP IN THE NEAREST BASKET!






Fog held us another day in Beaufort, not that we're complaining. Turned out to be a great day that we would have missed had we moved on as planned. (Sound Familiar?) Once the fog lifted we took one more stroll around the harbor, had late lunch at Plums on the porch, took another turn on the swings, then off to coffee shop for dessert.


Pretty easy......just as we were getting all tucked in for the night I heard the bridge whistle sound for an opening. That's unusual so we popped out to see a light shinning on us from a tug & 250' of what looked like 3 sections of a pontoon bridge docking at the town wharf. Pretty impressive since the captain was just pulling in to see his wife for a few minutes. And to think, we get nervous about docking our 34' sailboat.
Bob talked to the crew of one, I took some pictures.
Then they pulled off into the dark night.
We watched the lights disappear in the direction we hoped to go tomorrow.




The next morning we visited with Jody & Mike on Hermione, a 57' wooden Elco




Pulled in our lines and








Said good-bye to another beautiful town of the ICW.



We ventured back into the Beaufort River making our way to the next bridge when we were hailed by the Coast Guard who requested permission to board for a Security ID and Safety check. This was a crew from the 'Yellow Fin' out of Charleston that was now docked in Beaufort. They made a very professional, polite inspection, completed the always present paperwork; while Bob held our course and their tender followed behind. We are now the proud owners of a golden paper stating we passed the inspection. Good girl, Hakuna Matata! It's nice to know these professional men and women are out there should we need them in an emergency.

We passed Parris Island, crossed Port Royal Sound...took an unplanned detour to Atlantic Ocean..oops!...back on course to Skull Creek & Hilton Head where we begin to see sandy beaches


big homes

Lots of Big Homes!

We turned into Bull Creek near Haig Point to anchor for the night.

Toward the late afternoon private boats started coming in with what appeared to be commuters aboard. The next morning as we hauled anchor the boats passed us going the opposite direction, to work with everyone all tucked in from the morning chill. Made car commute look pretty wimpy!!

The word for the trip ahead was cautious...
"follow the magenta line" on the chart and watch for shoaling.

Often we see powerlines going somewhere??

Trees are down possibly from previous storms.

Interesting houses tucked in the trees.

We find the birds along our way very entertaining.
Here's a private dock ... guess the birds couldn't read!!

The day's a little dreary and the cuts can look threatening, but all went well for us

Yet once more we became anxious. As we approached the Savannah River we could hear the commercial traffic announcing their crossing of the ICW section of the river. We crossed with caution and re-entered the ICW just ahead of a container ship that looked very big coming at us as we crossed. We're not even as large as just one of his containers. All went well.

This is a shot looking over the marsh into the Savannah with the ship to the right and a C&G terminal & tanker to the left. Yes, I know...they look pretty small now - but take my word for it...they're huge.

Yes, there are still bridges to go under.

We wind our way down the Wilmington River and pass The Bonaventure Cemetery,
made famous in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

We pass Thunderbolt Marina that has changed, as most other things have since Bob made this trip 22 years ago.

The next couple of days are spent dockside at Isle of Hope Marina. We're on the face dock so we get to enjoy the waterway traffic and sunsets.

This tug is making a tight bend just before the marina and is pulling a dredge.

Isle of Hope is a charming village of winding roads and old houses scattered among the tall pines and oaks .













The marina has a large pavilion that held someone's Birthday Party while we were there. From the sounds, it was fun, from the remains...they had shrimp.






You can tell the weather is warmer here with only occasional cold spells as the colorful kayaks were still on their racks.




This little guy is 'Sport'. He belongs to Ephraim & Carol Botnick, who we met aboard Finely.















BOB'S MAKING THE BOAT READY TO LEAVE.
BETTER HURRY DOWN THE DOCKS
AND JUMP ABOARD HAKUNA MATATA.

02/02/2008 Fernandina Beach, Florida

After thoroughly enjoying our stay,
we left Brunswick Marina with a little help from our friends.

and the usual supervision from the local bridge birds.

Once more Hakuna Matata entered St. Simons Sound, but this time made a turn to starboard into Jekyll Creek and back on the ICW.

We entered Jekyll Sound passing a a sunken shrimp boat now buried in the sand.
There's something very unsettling looking at this scene.

Soon we came to Little Cumberland Island
keeping an eye out for wild horses (didn't see any)

We did see - A wayward buoy aground on the beach

A four wheeler perhaps looking for those wild horses

and a dinghy long since forgotten.
This is a beautiful beach and we plan to explore it on our return trip
as well as the many creeks and waterways in Georgia.

We made our way up Shellbine Creek for our evening anchorage
where we found Carol & Don from Mystic, CT,
already anchored and being visited by dolphins (look to left).

Next morning found us happily winding our way down the Cumberland Dividings

till we reached a spot where the Brickhill River re-enters. We found the water in this spot to be shallower than the 7' we had expected around marker 60, but passable.

Mind your buoys
But do you favor the green side or the red side,
maybe stay in the middle?
There's no set rule on the ICW.


We were now making our way into Cumberland Sound
where Kings Bay and a military installation are on our right

On the horizon we begin to see Fernandina Beach, Florida.
Yes!

But hey, it's not sunny Florida right now. You're not seeing sunshine in these pictures.
We enter Cumberland Sound working out some confusion with marker numbers that had been changed. If we turn where our charts indicate we'll be going up St Mary's River and that's not where we want to be just now.

So we continue on keeping an eye out for
the yellow ICW symbol on the buoys,
keeping the green to right and the red to left.

After our turn into Amelia River the numbers begin again
and we're now looking for red 2 to be on our right.
This can get very confusing.
You have to be sure to notice which way you are headed ...
'to' or 'from' the sea and which traffic the markers are set up for.

FORT CLINCH soon appears on the point

We're pretty excited that we have finally entered Florida waters. I've been marking our journey down the coastline on an Eastern shore US map. There is now a long yellow line from Connecticut to Florida.

Y E S !...We'll Follow the Yellow Marked Line Back Home

We were very surprised at how busy Fernandina Beach Harbor was.

Launch ramp had continuous activity
Paper Mill was busy

and the container port was hustling
However, we're just slowly making our way through the anchorage area
looking for a spot for the night.




With a little more water than this
















But not quite this much!

We find a perfect spot in the Amelia River and drop anchor for the night.

Sitting in our cockpit we watch another beautiful sunset
realizing just how lucky we are.

OOPS...we won't be leaving early this morning.

This is a nice spot so we'll stay and explore soon as the fog lifts.
That dot on the horizon is Hakuna Matata.

Must have a serious bug problem here at certain times of the year as many houses have extensive screened in porches and often times part of the yard.

Oyster bed taking over abandoned beach chair

Pelicans were a constant source of entertainment.

Tugs and barges passed us by.
This anchorage was not boring.

Once more we had visitors from the air

and sea.

This group passed us and took the same tour we had just made in the dinghy, only they retrieved a net from the water. We inquired on their return trip and it seems they were checking the fish population in the area. They reported it was good. So why aren't we fishing?

We used a windchute to pull in the cool breeze while we waited for the right time to once more haul anchor (or in this case 2 anchors) and be on our way.