Cumberland Island to Brunswick, GA

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Seemed like a lazy morning because we didn’t plan to leave Fernandina until 8 A.M. The tide was low but we had sufficient depth and just stirred up a little mud. The ebb and flow of the tide certainly affects our cruising much more than it did in the Gulf or in southern Florida.

We traveled up the north end of the Amelia River into Cumberland Sound where submarines enter from the Atlantic Ocean to go to King’s Bay Naval Station. We got a nice push in the sound with the tide coming in. We were now in Georgia! It was just a short trip up to an anchorage off Cumberland Island. We even saw a few of the feral horses grazing by the water’s edge. Cumberland Island is Georgia’s largest barrier island and was officially protected as a national park in 1964. It is a natural habitat for numerous plants, animals and marine life and also many wild horses which are not native to the island. We took the dinghy ashore and walked the trail to the beautiful wide beach – so pristine with very soft sand.

 

Trail to beach under live oaks and Spanish moss

One of the wild horses meanders along the gorgeous beach

One thing we look forward to, almost every day, is the social time as boaters gather in the late afternoon. Call it docktails, cocktails or mocktails, the word goes out to every looper about the time and place to meet. This is when we go over the adventures of the day and study the charts for the next day’s travels. Everyone brings their own beverage and some nibbles to share. The fare is usually hearty enough that no one is hungry for dinner afterwards. Our daily meals have been consisting of breakfast, lunch and hors d’ oeuvres – saves on a lot of planning!

Five o'clock on MV Fruitcakes with Andy, John and Julie

We all took our dinghies to Andy's boat - with Becky and Mark

We often ask how people come up with the names for their boats. Andy and Julie always say that they named theirs Fruitcakes because they are nutty and half baked!

Thanks, Kathrin, for bringing me the beautiful orchid while we were in
Daytona Beach - it always brightens my day!

April 23, 24 & 25, Thursday through Saturday
Today we went through some of the lowlands of Georgia. We wanted to be on a rising tide because we had some shallow spots to transit and our timing was important. The channels were very pretty with smooth water and no winds. I didn’t take photos because there wasn’t much to see but water, sky and a strip of green in the middle.

Navy ships at the large King's Bay installation

We crossed two sounds today - Jekyll Sound and then St. Simon's Sound (a sound is a large ocean inlet or deep bay) but the water was fairly calm and we only had a little rolling. In between these two sounds we had to go up the narrow channel of Jekyll Creek which is known to be quite shallow. Our timing was great because it was high tide and we were following a sailboat who had a draft, with their keel, which was deeper than ours.



Fruitcakes, Mara Beel and Field Trip following us through Jekyll Creek

When we got to Brunswick Landing Marina it took a while to get fueled up and pumped out, but this annoyance was greatly offset by our greeting from old friends on TA TA, Roger and Mary! We hadn't seen them since the first of December when we arrived at Dunedin, FL and we were so glad to finally reconnect.

We all walked into town for pizza that evening with several new boaters that we hadn't met yet. It was a great group of 14, good food that we didn't have to prepare and vital connections to others in a similar situation as ours.

Women are seated at one end because we don't usually enjoy
conversations about boat engines

Next morning some of us had some time to get together to do yoga at the club house, but then we had to say good-bye to Mary again as they left to head north. They have a long way to get back to Canada but we still hope to see them again!

You can tell that Mary and I were happy to see each other!

 The next day we all rented a car, got some provisions and went to St. Simon Island for lunch. On the way back we had to make the obligatory trip to West Marine - a boating Mecca in almost every port. 

Saturday there was a Farmer's Market nearby and a woman named Earleen was selling homemade crab cakes and slices of sweet potato pie - sweet!

Oops! It is almost 5 0'clock and time to go. My nibbles for tonight are chunks of watermelon with feta cheese and a leaf of mint grown right here on the boat. We will be off on an adventure again tomorrow. 

Captain’s Log April 23, 2015

Departed: Cumberland Island Anchorage, GA 9:10 a.m.
Engine hours: 5.5 hrs. – 628.9 total for trip
Actual hours: 5 hrs 10 min
Miles covered 37.86 - Total for trip: 4420
Arrived: Arrived Brunswick Landing Marina, GA 2:10 pm
Wx: clear, wind light and variable. Cool temps high 60’s. nice cruise, cruised with Mara Beel, Fruitcakes, Sweetwater and Field Trip.  No issues on trip, ran at 1800 rpm to keep up with the others.  On arrival we pumped out and took on 100 gals of fuel at 2.41/gal. Lowest price we have seen on this trip. Changed engine oil and filters.