For many ICW travelers the Georgia section has the greatest challenges and the greatest rewards.
On the one hand, maintenance of the ICW here is a big challenge that often is not fulfilled, so there are many shoal sections. Also, the tides and resulting currents are significant, and this is mostly a very rural area, so marinas and other support facilities are scarce.
On the other hand, those negatives can be pluses. The remoteness yields great natural beauty, in both the marshy landscape and abundant wildlife. The large tides help with the shoaling issues if you can time your travel with rising and high tide
We had planned on 2 nights on the Savannah riverfront, but Saturday morning, after a night where Sheila was awakened every half hour by ship and tugboat traffic (I slept through most of it), and being a bit saturated with the Christmas celebration underway there, we both agreed to head back to the ICW and continue southwards. Here's a bit of the riverside show in Savannah.
After 35 miles of meandering we turned up Kilkenny Creek and anchored 2 miles off the ICW at Kilkenny Creek landing, chosen because we could land at a restaurant's dock to drain the dogs.
It was a very warm day (GA weather has been good to us) and the no-see-ums were out, requiring us to close Spray's windows, so cooking supper aboard was not desirable. Surprisingly to me, the restaurant, Marker 107 (nearest ICW marker), was open for supper so we dinghied in and had a great meal. Nice that such a good restaurant can make it in the middle of nowhere.
Sunday we were back on the ICW and making a 30 mile run to anchor off Sapelo Island, which has an interesting history and a U of GA marine research facility. We walked from their ferry dock to the research facility, through some gorgeous woods, then continued on a nature path to the Atlantic beach, for a 6 mile round trip walk. Very enjoyable but all 4 of us were beat after that.
[Side note about anchoring in these creeks : They have tidal currents of 1 - 2 knots that reverse every 6 hours. You look for a location that is not too deep - about 10 ft at low tide is good which means 18 ft at high tide. I would put out 100 ft of anchor chain for that and the current will keep Spray lined up with the creek until the tide reversal swings her around the other way. Somehow the anchor pivots around and still holds.]
Monday we awoke to fog so didn't pull anchor until 10 am. We continued south about 25 miles to tie up at Jekyll Harbor Marina, on civilized Jekyll Island. Back to hot showers, WIFI, laundry, full water tank and empty holding tank. They have a great network of bike paths which we explored on foot with the dogs and then later on borrowed bicycles. A hundred years ago Jekyll was a retreat for the 0.01% of the day, and their 'cottages' are still there.
Tuesday we waited for the tide to rise some, then at 11 am we continued on a short 18 nm run to anchor off of Cumberland Island. These runs have a cycle to them. We head towards an inlet against the current since the tide is rising (traveling on a rising ride is preferred). At the inlet we often have to push out nearly into the open ocean to get around shoal areas, and the conditions can get bouncy. Eventually we turn to starboard and head away from the inlet, up a different river, with the current now behind us. After we pass behind a large island (Sapelo, St. Simons, Jekyll, Cumberland) the cycle repeats at the next inlet.
We arrived at Cumberland Island's Plum Orchard anchorage, named after the old estate with an impressive mansion on shore here. Most of Cumberland Island is National Seashore, run by the National Park Service. They have a dock here so we landed the dogs and explored around the mansion Tuesday afternoon.
[Continued sidebar about anchoring in tidal creeks : Its all good until the wind blows, adding another force to that of the water current. We are anchored in a bend of the Brickhill River where the river runs north-south, and now have strongish N winds. When the tidal current runs north to south and aligns with the wind, then Spray's bow points north and its all good. Later on when the current runs south to north then the opposing forces on Spray make her swing at anchor, often sitting 90 degrees to the current and swinging close to one bank of the river. Spray will even swing such that she drifts over the anchor chain and you hear it rubbing against her hull. Its a bit disconcerting.]
[Related sidebar : At about 4 am this morning (Wednesday) I suddenly awoke (not sure why) and looked out the front window to see the 40' yacht that had been anchored 200 yards upriver from us right on our bow. After all the swinging we had done earlier I assumed that our anchor was dragging so I fired up Spray's diesel and tried to back away from the approaching boat, to no avail. It turns out that it was the other boat that had its anchor dragging and they just slightly grazed us (no damage) as they slid by. They quickly got their anchor redeployed and spent the rest of the night 200 yards downstream from us. At first light the owners dinghied over with contact and insurance info, which wasn't needed but still very upright of them. The captain said that after they slid past Spray he pulled on his anchor line and found no resistance. When he hauled it up he found its chain wrapped around it 3 times yielding a ball that would not dig in. They are headed to Marathon for the winter and we hope to see them there. You bump into the nicest people when cruising.]
Today (Wednesday) we took a wonderful hike across the island, which is 2.5 miles wide here, to the Atlantic beach. It was windy and cool on the beach, with ugly surf, but we let the dogs run and chase ball/frisbee and had a picnic lunch that included a pound or so of blown sand. The best part was the walk itself, through forests of live oak and palmettos. We saw a wild (feral) hog and also one of these :
After 2 nights here, tomorrow we will make a quick 13 mile run to our last GA port of call, the town of St. Mary's, right on the FLA border. That town might be worth a 2 night stay as well.
One final note : many of the photos in this posting, and throughout the blog, were taken by Sheila on her iPhone. It's great that she always has that available, and she takes some good pictures with it.
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Looks like an armadilla, Larry
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