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.