Georgia

On Friday Nov 25, we left Beaufort, SC and headed for Georgia.  We crossed the Savannah River that marks the Georgia-SC border and anchored in St. Augustine Creek less than one mile southwest of the river.  This was a fairly narrow creek with a fast current do to a 5+ foot tide.  After we were settled, I saw a large ship headed down the ICW from the river.  The area we were in was all marsh, so you can see far.  I was wondering what it was.  I didn’t need to wait long to find out as much to my surprise the ship turned onto the St. Augustine Creek and was coming our direction.  As it squeaked by us, we found out it was a casino ship.  Must load/unload at a terminal on the creek.    We saw the ship pass us again around 7pm leaving the creek.  It must have returned later that evening but we did not see it until morning at its terminal.

On Saturday we proceeded down the ICW and anchored at Wahoo River just off the ICW.  This anchorage actually had trees that provided shelter from the wind in the direction it was blowing.  The ICW in Georgia consists of river and canals going from ocean inlet to inlet.  The depth varies greatly as the Corp of Engineers was not funded to dredge the ICW in Georgia.  We heard much chatter on the radio from various boats warning of shoal areas on this portion of the ICW.  Several boats went aground.

We decided to stop at St. Simon’s Island next and left on Sunday Nov 27.  Again, there were very shallow areas especially the Muddy River where were saw depths down as low as 5 feet at low tide.   It was a bit tedious going through this area.   Next time we will probably go out to the ocean (weather permitting) to bypass this section as there are many inlets back into the ICW to allow you to find protection.  We anchored in the Frederica River just off the ICW.  We took the dinghy to the marina (Golden Isles) near the anchorage and found out the town was at least two miles away.  Also, the marina charged $5 for leaving you dinghy there.  There were no other places to bring the dinghy ashore.  On Monday, we went to the marina and took showers ($10).  After, we were walking through the marina and we saw another Island Packet.  We walked over to it and saw it was Melaka II from Tulsa, OK.  The original name of Island Time was Melaka.  This boat belonged to the Bates from whom we purchased Island Time.  We asked the Dockmaster if they were around and since he thought they went to St Simons, we went back to Island Time.  Tuesday’s forecast was for rain and thunderstorms due to a large cold front moving through from the Midwest so we decided to stay put.  Wind gusts over 30 knots moved through about 6am for about one-half hour then subsided.  Genie checked the weather radar which showed another line of storms scheduled to arrive around noon, so we stayed with our plan to stay put for the day.  Later in the morning, we heard a knock on the hull and Sam and Carolyn Bates were outside in their dinghy.  The Dockmaster had told them about our visit and they came to see us.  They bought their larger Island Packet to sail in the pacific, but decided since that would require them to be away from the states for over a year (away from family) they would not go there.  They have spent the last few years sailing in the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coast.   It was a nice visit and again proves what a small world it is.

On Wednesday, Nov 30, we left St. Simons Island headed for Cumberland Island near St. Marys Georgia.  Again, the ICW had many shallow areas along with confusing markers in the area of St. Marys.  There is a large submarine base in this area.  Our chartplotter started to act strangely in this area with the magnetic heading deviating significantly from the course over ground (COG).  I first blamed it on the sub base, but after further investigation I found that our chart plotter was using a magnetic variation of 15 degrees instead of the 8 degrees shown on the charts for the area.  After correction, the magnetic heading agreed with the COG.

On Thursday, Dec 1, 2005 we took the dinghy over to Cumberland Island, which is a US National Park.  It is a barrier island which is not developed like all the other islands such as Myrtle Beach.  There are wild horses still on the island. The island was sold to the feds by the islanders, but they still live on the island and are allowed to drive their own cars as one of conditions of sale.  They are descended from slaves and servants.  Thomas Carnagie, brother and partner of Andrew Carnagie had an estate on the island.  It was a complete community as it was remote and needed to be self sufficient. 

The main house burned down in the 1930’s but the ruins of the estate are still intact.  It must have been opulent based on the fountains and other garden areas still standing.  They had their own ice house.  There were several old cars (model T’s etc) still rusting on the site.

There are self guiding trails on the island with placards in front of many of the interesting flora found on the island.  We saw an armadillo just off one of the trails.

We left Cumberland Island on Friday, Dec 2, 2006 bound for Florida, specifically Jacksonville where we made reservations to leave Island Time at Seafarer’s Marina on the Trout River just north of the St. Johns River about 9 miles upstream.  It took a day to get to the marina in the cold north wind.

Our schedule was to leave the boat in Jacksonville from Dec 14 to Jan 11 while we went to Vermont for the holidays.  In reality, were arrived at the marina on Dec 2 and left on Jan 18.  I did manage to get the water maker we purchased in Annapolis almost installed.  Still need to make the final water and electrical connections.