11/17/13 - 11/20/13 - Georgia

We left Beaufort at 10:00 a.m. heading for Georgia.  The first thing we passed was Parris Island Marine Corps base.  I couldn't get a good picture because we were too far away and it was a little  hazy.  About four hours into the trip, we entered Fields Cut where a sailboat was aground.  The water was very shallow there and the sailboat was waiting for the tide to come up so they could float off the sandbar.  He wouldn't have been aground to start with if he had paid attention to the charts and the Cruising Guide.  That's why it takes both of us to navigate the boat.  There are many areas like this along the ICW.

Sailboat aground in Fields Cut

We crossed into Georgia at 2:15 p.m.  Shortly after crossing the state line, we noticed a creek on the charts called "Runaway Negroe Creek".  I kid you not.  I cannot make something like that up.  

 

The water tank was low and the holding tank was full so we decided to go up Turner's Creek and dock at Hogan's Marina in Wilmington Island, GA.  The manager's name was Bubba (imagine that, somebody named Bubba, in the South).  He was very nice and accommodating.

 

John and I walked to the grocery store that was next to the marina and bought a few provisions.  Then went next door to the bar and grill and played some pool.  He kicked my ass, two games out of three.  I need a rematch.  A Garber hates to lose.

 

We left Hogan's the next morning heading to an anchorage that we had picked to stay for the night, but when I looked at the Cruisers' Guide, I read that we had to go through the Little Mud River, which you can only do on a high tide. The tide was good right then and wouldn't be high until afternoon the next day, so we decided to trudge on through and anchor on the other side somewhere.  We dropped the anchor behind Dolbow Island around 5:30 that night.  An eight hour travel day is not what we like to do.  That night was very windy and the boat rocked and slammed all night.  In other words, I got my ass kicked... again.  Actually we both did this time.  

 

The next morning, we got underway at 9:40 a.m.  We tried to get a berth at Jekyll island but they were full so we continued on.  



Jekyll Island Club

It was one of the roughest days yet.  We had to cross St. Andrew's Sound, which is the closest to the ocean of any sound south of Norfolk.  The five to six foot swells went on for about two and a half hours and guess what, yep, you guessed it, we both got our butts kicked, and it's getting a little old.  This makes for a very agitated captain and first mate.  John was struggling for all he was worth to keep the boat from rolling.  On the return trip, we'll have to remember not to cross St. Andrew's Sound except in good weather.  We dropped anchor off Cumberland Island that afternoon but it was still blowing a gale.  We're getting a little sick and tired of this damn wind.

 

We had read that Cumberland Island had armadillos and wild horses.  They also claim to be one of the most undeveloped places in the country.  It is also where John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Carolyn Bessette were married in a secret ceremony in 1996.  The ceremony took place in the Brack Chapel of the First African Baptist Church, one of the few remaining buildings on the island.  We would like to have taken the dinghy ashore to explore, but it was too choppy. Maybe on the return trip.  Since we were unable to leave the boat for the third day in a row, John decided that I needed to learn the phonetic alphabet.  After several tries, I got as far as F - - Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, and F*ck U.

 

We spent another rough night at anchor, so the next morning we decided to head to a marina.  We arrived at Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, FL before noon.  John didn't feel comfortable trying to dock the boat under the very windy conditions so we picked up a mooring ball.  That was quite a challenge.  John was on the bow and I was at the controls.  Every time we'd get close to getting the line off the ball, the wind would get us and push us away.  It took five or six tries before we got it.  It was another windy day and we were stuck on the boat again.  My birthday is in two days and all I want is a bed that doesn't move!!!!!

 

888 miles south of the Bohemia River.

 

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