Getting in so late at night or early in the morning we decided to take a break for a day here in Fernandina Beach. I had several cabinet design tasks to take care of and Susan wanted to do a few loads of laundry.... so, this is a great spot to catch up. Plus we both needed to rest from the 20 hours cruising from SC to FL.

We will depart in the morning most likely stopping in St. Augustine for the night. We have to be away by 0800 as an American Cruise Lines ship is docking where we are docked now.

We left Port Royal Landing at 0730 and continued south... however, the plans today were a little different in that we would be leaving the ICW and going offshore... final destination to be Fernandina Beach, FL eliminating the Georgia ICW and it's winding swamps and many shoaled areas.
We left the ICW via Port Royal Sound and had 116 miles and 19 plus hours to go.

We did not have a great start in that current was against us as we exited the sound and well out in to the Atlantic.... eventually we did get up to 6 knots and a few times we ran at high as 6.7 knots. We were approximately 15 miles offshore at the mid point of the trip but even this far out felt the effects of tidal currents at the various inlets we passed.

The sea conditions were awesome.... not flat calm but an easterly 2 foot swell with about a 12 second period... felt like gently swinging in a hammock... very comfortable ride.

Very little boat traffic... a shrimp boat as we exited Port Royal Sound... a ship off Savannah, GA and a couple of other fishing trawlers along the way. We could hear a lot of boats we had been traveling with on the VHF... all of which had taken the ICW through Georgia.

It had been cloudy all day and I expected the trip to be a very dark one but was surprised to have the clouds disappear and the moon illuminate the water to the point we could of turned off the radar. But, all good things come to an end and near Brunswick, GA the clear skies turned to FOG... pea soup thick FOG. We could see to about 100 feet past the bow of SAILS.

The fog remained with us for the rest of trip offshore and through St. Mary's Inlet into Fernandina. When we reached the ICW again we left the fog behind us and has clear skies the last 30 minutes to the marina.

We were securely docked at Fernandina Harbor Marina at 0330. Our position for the night 30°40'13.9"N 81°27'59.2"W . We traveled today for 20 hours covering 116 nautical miles averaging 5.8 knots.

We left from St. Johns Island at 0645 and headed out to the ICW with destination today as Beaufort, SC area.

We had current on and off today... for the most part slowing us down. Speeds as low as 3.2 knots at times and over 8 knots others.

We arrived to the Beaufort area at approximately 1700 and called Port Royal Landing Marina for dockage. They were just closing but said they would wait for us to arrive. We wanted to use their courtesy car to restock a few groceries. Susan was excite in that we would be able to go to Publix.

We were securely docked at 1730 for the night at position N32°23.693', W080°40.699'. We traveled today for 10 hours and 45 minutes covering 57.6 nautical miles averaging 5.4 knots.