Sunday we really slept in today… 0830 before we got out of bed… boy did it feel nice… Susan fixed a big breakfast and it was great to relax and enjoy it… no rush to get anywhere and looking outside the weather was crap… windy and rain all around us… we had some rain during the night but it was not raining this morning. Took Beecha to land via the dinghy landing at the University of Georgia Marine Institute docks. They have a great floating dock that you can land you dinghy. The current is really swift through the area but this morning we were close to a slack tide and landing was no issue. Back to boat about 1030 hours… pulled the anchor and we were underway at 1045 hours.

Checking weather pretty much confirmed the way it looked… it was going to be windy and chance of thunderstorms… oh boy!

Getting such a late start we would not get to far today… Walburg Creek or maybe Kilkenny Creek depending on the currents… and we had them today… saw as low as 4.4 knots and as high as 8.6 knots… I was running at 2250 rpm about 500 rpm below full cruising speed and that would normally push us at about 6.5 knots… keeping the rpm down 500 helps tremendously with the fuel economy.

We did encounter one thunderstorm as we crossed St. Catherines Sound and headed up the Bear River… radar showed it as a real small cell… but it packed a big punch… winds as it approached increased to a steady 30 knots with gusts to 38 knots… although the rain was not too bad… visibility remained pretty good through the whole 30 minute duration of the storm. After the storm passed the winds remained fairly strong… 15-20 knots with some gusting to 30 knots.

We had already passed Walburg creek and decided that we would stop at Kilkenny Creek… anchoring just past the Kilkenny Marina… however, in the Skipper Bob’s Cruising Guide we saw a paragraph about the Shrimp Docks Restaurant… we love dock and dine restaurants… normally they will let you spend the night on their docks… we arrived and docked at approximately 1600 hours… only to discover that the restaurant is closed on Sunday and Monday… we decided to remained docked and see if we make it overnight without being kicked off. Our approximate location N31°47.419’, W081°12.159’.

Today we traveled for 5 hours and 15 minutes covering 32.94 nautical miles averaging 6.27 knots.

Since my last post it has actually been 7 days... we arrived in Fernandina Beach on the 15th and it is now the 21st... We were attending the MTOA Southern Rendezvous. We had a great time with a lot of good friends and we are start heading north to Rhode Island today... This is our 9th day of traveling.

We were not in a big rush this morning to leave... did not set an alarm and slept in... Well that was the idea anyway... I woke up before 0700 and tried to go back to sleep but finally gave up and got up at 0730 hours. I needed to top off the water tanks before leaving and Susan wanted to go the Farmers Market in town before we left. I did fill the water tanks but Susan decided not to go the Farmers Market.

I had checked the weather and the winds were to be out of the east at 10-15 knots and increasing to 20 knots in the afternoon… with a chance of thunderstorms… wave heights per my XM Satellite weather were from 3-4 foot with a 9 second period… so we decided to stay inside rather than go out into the Atlantic… and with the late start an outside trip would have been much longer and arriving to our final destination after dark… and 3-4 foot waves with increasing winds might not of been a smooth ride… We departed at approximately 0945 hours and continued north on the ICW.

The currents would be back an forth today… first on our nose and then on the stern for a boost as we approached and passed each inlet from the Atlantic… being inside we also had to deal with shoaling and shallow water… once area of concern was the Little Mud River… checking ahead we would arrive there a couple of hours after low tide and should not have any trouble.

We passed under the bridge at Jekyll Island Marina and encountered our first shallow water… we saw 6 feet in a couple of places but was 8 feet most of the time… slow speed through here… we hit a few funky areas that SAILS decided to veer away from… SAILS will veer away from shallow water if you let her… and she did this in a few places… it’s always a shock when this happens.

At the Little Mud River entrance I slowed to just above idle at the entrance… seeing less than 6 feet for several hundred yards… but we made it through unscathed. I am not sure if we would make it through here at low tide… the tide state was 1.9 feet above MLW when we entered... take away 1.9 feet from 6 feet and you’re at 4 feet with my math... it’s all soft mud bottom but I still would not want to attempt it at low tide.

We arrived to our destination for the night at approximately 1900 hours and anchored in 22 feet of water in the Duplin River at approximate location N31°25.275’, W081°17.744’.

Today we traveled for 9 hours and 30 minutes covering 58.96 nautical miles averaging 6.21 knots.

At 0700 hours we pulled the anchor and departed from Fort George River and headed north on the ICW towards Fernandina Beach, FL. We would be spending a week in Fernandina Beach attending the MTOA Southern Rendezvous being held at the Fernandina Harbor Marina. SANCTUARY departed at the same time as we did.

We did not have far to go today… but since we would be staying at a marina we wanted to arrive early to get the most bang for our buck as they say… we arrived at approximately 0915 hours and contacted the marina on VHF… we needed a pump-out before we docked for a week… after pumping out our holding tank we moved forward 100 yards to where we would be docked for the next 7 days… Fernandina Harbor Marina at approximate location N30°40.227’, W081°27.991’.

Today we traveled for 2 hours and 15 minutes covering 16.98 nautical miles averaging 7.54 knots.