This marina we stayed at last night is one of favorite stops with its massive live oaks with Spanish moss hanging from their branches. They are spectacular in daylight... Susan says they are pretty spooky in the dark walking Beecha. We walked Beecha together just before dark and I took some photos of them... not so spooky.





With a some what long day planned we were up bright and early and underway at 0700 with another beautiful sunrise over the Georgia marshes. We had planned to offshore yesterday from Brunswick and avoid the Georgia marshes and their strong currents but when you see a sunrise this you are happy the weather forecast kept us inside in the ICW.

We did have to deal with the currents… fast then slow and it’s really hard to predict what you are going to have the way the ICW winds around like a snake through multiple natural and man-made waterways. The other thing that can really add some tension to yur day are the tide levels in Georgia… 8 foot tide and some of the ICW has some really skinny places. We have been lucky though and have had mid and rising tides in every known trouble spot. First time in 2 or three years we transited the Little Mud River at high tide… very nice indeed.

We did have one interesting event just before the Savannah River. The ICW cuts across the river and just as we were arriving a container ship hailed on the VHF that they were crossing the ICW in 5 minutes… checking the chartplotter we would be crossing the Savannah River in 5 minutes… quick VHF conversation with the ship and it was decided that I would stand off and wait for him to pass in front of us. No Problem… well this happened to be one of the moments when we had the current with us and pushing us at abut 9 knots… so standing off was easier to say than actually accomplish. The problem was there are two channels of the Savannah River… the north channel where the ships transit to and from Savannah and the south channel… much shallower and only small boats can use it… but the current uses both of them and with the strong ebbing current we were also being pushed sideways down the south channel and it’s not deep enough for us… so I had to proceed into the north channel slowly and turn up river alongside the ship as it passed to keep from being pushed aground. I fell in behind him and proceeded back down river to the ICW. It was pretty exciting actually but Susan was not thrilled with the experience to say the least.

At the MTOA rendezvous in Daytona we had won a free nights stay at Port Royal Landing Marina is Beaufort, SC so this was our destination for today. Normally, we anchor in this area but tonight we would be docked with power for FREE!

We arrived to our destination for the night and were securely docked at 1645. Our position at the marina N32°23.750', W080°40.665'. We traveled today for 9 hours and 45 minutes covering 65.77 nautical miles averaging 6.75 knots.

We departed from Brunswick this morning at 0705 and again spent the day with yo-yoing currents… our speed ranging from less than 4 knots to over 9 knots… but think we had it in favor of us more than against us today.

Weather was the same… cloudy all day and a little windier than yesterday. Late afternoon radar shows a storm just south of us but no warnings issued for our area. I expect we will get some rain late evening.

A couple of photos from today...





We arrived to our destination for the night Kilkenny Marina and were securely docked at 1630. Our position at the marina N31°47.366', W081°12.167'. We traveled today for 9 hours and 25 minutes covering 63.37 nautical miles averaging 6.73 knots

We departed from Jacksonville this morning at 0705 and spent the day with yo-yoing currents… our speed ranging from less than 4 knots tp over 10 knots… hate the 4 knots… love the 10 knots.

Weather was ok… overcast for most of the day but not windy at all which made it very hot and humid.

This was the first time in a couple of years that we were able to cross St. Andrews Sound following the ICW. Last few trips it has been too windy and rough and we were forced to take the alternate route. This trip it was calm... very nice!

Plan for today was to fuel SAILS in Brunswick and continue on stopping at some anchorage around sunset. We should have known better than to try and make a plan. We were fueling at Brunswick Landing Marina.

As we left the north end of Jekyll Creek and headed up the ship channel toward Brunswick we received a weather alert… tornado warnings with winds up to 70 knots for the Brunswick area. We still had 45 minutes to reach the marina and we were at bottom of the current yo-yo… 4.5 knots. It did not look bad but checking radar you could see what was approaching.

We arrived to the marina at 1530 and pulled in to the fuel dock… they handed me the diesel hose and I asked them to turn it on high speed… WHAT! NO HIGH SPEED! That along with the approaching weather killed our plan to continue north after fueling. It took us almost 90 minutes to fuel SAILS. Luck was with us for the weather though and we did not see anything from it till after we were safely docked for the night.

Our position at the marina N31°09.179’, W081°30.000’. We traveled today for 8 hours and 25 minutes covering 54.95 nautical miles averaging 6.5 knots.