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Trip's Log
Date: Mar 12 to Mar 18
Total Distance: 160 nm
Route: ICW - Fernandina Beach, Brunswick, Moon River, Savannah, Port
Royal Sound
Click on the map for a bigger image. The purple
line is the ICW route.
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| Mar 12 Left anchor at 8:50. Boy, were
we in for some excitement. As we passed through St Mary's
entrance, we saw a partially submerged submarine at a pier (sorry, no
details). Then as we went around Jekyll Point, Georgia, we
stared in awe at a sunken ship. We putted along to Brunswick
Landing Marina for fuel, but people were out to lunch because it was
around 12:00. We left and headed for Golden Isles Marina.
There was hardly any boat around except for a coast guard patrol boat,
who decided to board us. Fortunately, everything
checked out ok. No drugs or illegal immigrants on board. But
they did warn us that the waters here is very shallow. We knew
that all along. The approach to the marina was confusing.
There were markers all over the place. Every which way we turned,
it got shallower and shallower. We stopped to study at the chart.
The Coast Guard sat on the sidelines watching us. When we
thought we were going in the right direction, they radioed us to go the
way we had come from. We were so confused, not to mention
embarrassed. Later, they told us to follow them, and then left us to
follow the range markers (something new to us).
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Docked
Submarine
Sunken
Ship
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St Simons Island, one of Georgia's Golden Isles, is enchanting,
a place where time sits still. We stayed at the
Golden Isles Marina. It has a pool, nice clean showers,
a courtesy car, and a couple of restaurants on site. We recommend
it highly even though we had horrible winds that caused some serious
rocking and rolling. Our boat banged against the docks like never
before. To make matters worse, we heard earlier that the DOW had
slipped 400 points and the NASDAQ was now below 2000. If it goes
on like this, we might have to go back to work real soon :-( Still, we
managed to get a somewhat good night's sleep.
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Mar 13 We took our time leaving because we needed
charts for Georgia, and the store didn't open until 09:00. The
marina delivered the paper and muffins to our boat. How sweet.
Going out of the marina was a piece of cake, thank goodness. We
cruised for 62 nm before anchoring at Moon River for the night.
The river was lined with gorgeous homes with docks, and it looked so
serene. We anchored at 4.5 ft of water, but when we checked at
midnight, the depth was 15 ft. It confirmed our reading about the
vast difference in tide for this region.
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| Mar 14 We pulled anchored at 09:17,
and glided along the ICW. The water was so calm it looked like a
sheet of glass. The last time we saw a reflection like that was at
Mirror Lake in Yosemite National Park. At times, the water seems
to be shimmering as the sun darted in and out of the clouds. We
stopped at Palmer Johnson Marina for the night. And ended up here
for 4 nights! Must be that Krispy Kreme donuts that they kept
delivering every morning :-) Actually it was the work on the boat
as well as St Patrick's Day Celebration that kept us here.
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one
of many ICW Sceneries
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Mar 15 Apparently, a tornado came
through the area this morning. Winds of up to 40 knots were
expected for the day. The Coast Guard was standing by at the marina. There was nothing we could do, so we just hung out in the laundry room
and did loads of laundry. Around 14:00, the storm disappeared.
Just like that. Jon and Peggy, on their way to Florida, stopped here for
the night. They arrived around 18:30. After catching up with
them, we walked over to Tubby's for dinner. Apparently, we got
there for the first sunset party of the season. A band was playing
outside. You could sit inside or out. There was even a swing
at the entrance to the restaurant. Real neat place. Not to mention
fabulous food.
Mar 16 The next day, the marina people came to
work on the boat. The guys stayed behind while the gals went
shopping since there was a car available. After lunch, Peggy and
Jon continued their trip to Florida.
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| Mar 17 St Patrick's Day. It was
the Savannah's biggest celebration of the year! While at this
marina, we ran into an interesting couple - John and Sandra of Air
Force One - from Costa Rica. We went partying with them on the
streets of Savannah. Spring was definitely in the air - the
gardens and parks were blooming with beautiful azaleas. The locals
celebrated St Patrick's Day like it was New Year's Eve. They went
all out as to dye their hair, drink green beer, the whole nine yards. The parade was fantastic.
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Celebrating
St Patty's Day in Savannah
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Mar 18 We left the marina at 09:10, drove inside
all day as the temperature hovered in the mid 50s with cloudy skies.
We saw lots of sailboats at Hilton Head, but decided to venture further.
We cruised for a total of 38 nm before anchoring at Port Royal Sound (SM
542) at 15:50. We were the only boat around. A dolphin swam
around us all evening, but we couldn't capture the nimble creature on
video.
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