Cruising with Steadfast

 We left at 8:15 and had a smooth, easy run (slow cruise) to Fernandina Beach.  Arrived at 12:15… tucked in a tight spot… took 2 attempts and some line tossing… but we made it.  Steadfast got a bath (lots of salt spray).  Beautiful afternoon (mid 60s and sunny).  Enjoyed watching the pelicans beg as the fishermen were cleaning their catch.  Here is today’s track .  We’ll spend the day here tomorrow, then on Thursday, we head to Virginia (by car) for niece’s wedding on Saturday.  

 Nice (but cold & breezy) day on Jekyll Island.  We took a golf card around the perimeter of the island.  Neat place with some cool history.  It was a very exclusive club for the rich & famous in the early 20th century (ending around WWII when it was feared that German subs would invade the island and take it notable residents hostage.  There is an impressive in (the old “club house), lots of cool trees covered in Spanish moss, beautiful sand beaches.  One of the most unusual sights was “driftwood beach”… they pictures show why it has this name.  In the afternoon, we took a bike ride around the island.  Lots of nice bike trails.  Tomorrow… on to Florida!

 We left at 7:30, and had a smooth trip.  Very windy (20 ish knots).  Mid morning we noticed that our anemometer wasn’t working (had been 1st thing).  When we arrived at our final destination, it was powered down, disconnected, connections cleaned, and re powered… seems to be working.  We’ll need to keep an eye on this.  Not critical, but it’s nice to know what the wind really is doing.  Beautiful run through the salt marshes of Georgia.  Several shallow areas (Mud River & Hell Gate) that should be avoided close to low tide.  The shallowest (is that a word) provided some excitement… as we approached our final destination, there is a shallow area (near Green 19 marker)… we knew in advance that we would be approaching low tide, so we picked up the speed so as to arrive as much before low tide as possible (lesson learned… should have planned better, and increased speed just a little all day, rather than a lot at the end).  In any case, ...

 Heavy fog this morning delayed our departure till 9:45.  Forecast was for fog to lift by 10.  It started clearing at about 9:30.  Still dense fog crossing Calibouge sound… used fog horn, radar, and radio communication with other boats out in the fog.  Otherwise, nice trip, went past Savannah (we’re in Georgia!).  The Sunbury Crab Company is one of our favorite stops, fun atmosphere, good people, and great food. Gwen got grilled shrimp, Jim got shrimp & sausage pasta, both excellent, and of course we each got one of their special “ice cream sandwiches”.  Spectacular moon rise as we walked back to the boat after dinner (looks like a sunrise or sunset in the pictures… but it’s the moon).  I Forgot to mention that we turned on the AC yesterday afternoon (still heat this morning)… so we are getting south!  Here is today’s  Track

 Beautiful day in Hilton Head with mid 60s in the afternoon.  We got the folding bikes out and did about 12 miles around the island.  The bikes exceeded our expectations… not good for long distance trek…but great for exploring.  In the afternoon, we took a long dinghy excursion… but about 12 nm round trip to Harbour Town Yacht Basin, nice trip, a few dolphins along the way, and a nice looking marina… an alternate option for another time (much closer to the ICW, so more convenient by water, maybe not as convenient to things on land… would need to investigate further).  It’s hard to show in pictures, but even in the afternoon, there was a low fog just above the water (as you looked out to “bigger” water)… maybe just the 1st 5 - 10 ft above the water, then clear… it hung around most of the afternoon.  We went to the restaurant at Shelter Cove (our Marina), called  Elsa’s on the Water… beautiful view of the harbor (we sat outside with nice heaters), and go...

We waited, and waited for the fog to lift.  Plenty of time for a morning walk in the drizzle.  Finally departed about 10:40… even then, the fog rolled back in. We used Fog Horn and radar, and slow going… which in the end helped us time the tide/current perfectly… great fuel economy today.  Arrived just after 3:00 at Shelter Cove Marina in Hilton Head, SC.  It was just after low tide, and it was very shallow entering the marina (5.5’ vs our 4.5’ draft)… reported soft mud… but fortunately we didn’t test that.  While it made navigation more challenging… the fog was beautiful. Here is our  Track  from today.  For some reason, Nebo didn’t collect the last few miles we traveled.  Final distance was actually 29.3nm, arrival at Shelter Cove Marina was 3:04 PM.