Georgia on my Mind

*   St. Augustine FL. to Savannah, GA.  *

We’ve had a wonderful week meandering the northern Florida and Georgia coasts. The Now or Never has taken us just over 200 miles along the winding Intracoastal Waterway from downtown St. Augustine to downtown Savannah. We have seen very little traffic and have had our own private waters to enjoy. We are transiting the ICW made up of a multitude of creeks, rivers, lakes, inlets, and waterways twisting and turning along the East coast. You never know what’s around the next bend.

Our arrival in Georgia this week brings us to our 7^th state of travel. It seemed as if we were never going to get out of Florida. The Now or Never has been in Florida waters since the 10^th of November 2021. It was time to say goodbye as we had Georgia on our mind.

After two jammed packed, fun filled days in St. Augustine, the crew headed out early morning with slack tide toward Jacksonville. We were docked by the Bridge of Lions and with low tide were able to cruise under the bridge without an opening. A clear, crisp morning and another great day on the water.

The Captain sits high at the helm in the fly bridge, upon his perch he monitors three screens, 3 radios, a host of systems on the boat, and has 2 sets of binoculars. Dave usually has his phone in hand and a go pro running pointing toward off bow. With there being so many waterways, shifting water flow, tides, currents, and weather, you never know which way you’ll be pushed or brought to a crawl. And with all those factors cause much shoaling along the barrier and inner islands along the intracoastal.  

The hum of our Cummins engines pushing us along at 8 mpg avg speed is only interrupted by dolphins and manatees which never gets old AND the depth alarm going off multiple times a day. The alarm brings us a moment of panic as the captain slows the engines, checks his charts, and tries to move us into deeper water quickly We’ve had two soft groundings in our 11 months of travels and luckily Dave was able to get us off in short order with no damage to our running gear, no waiting it out for higher water, or a tow.

Tasha has taken over Remy’s seat next to the helm and made it her own little nest. After stowing lines and fenders when we push off, her ceremonial watch from the bow in honor or Remy is followed by making her way back to the flybridge. Most mornings have been cool, so she is bundled up with a light jacket with hood, and a blanket sitting with her laptop, iPad and phone, ready to research the area we are in, headed to, or find a place to spend the night. She snaps photos, reads, or works on the blog (and sometimes a cat nap!). Tasha makes too many runs to the bow trying to get the optimal dolphin or manatee photo and never succeeds.

Our target this night was a free municipal dock in Sister’s Creek, near Jacksonville. Our guides were conflicting, and we were a bit apprehensive of what we might find dock wise, as well as the speed of the current, and water depths. We were pleasantly surprised how everything worked out.

We enjoyed a concrete floating wide lay along dock with room for 7-8 boats. The current was flying through there, but water depths were satisfactory, and we didn’t find ourselves sitting on the bottom at low tide. It’s maintained by the City of Jacksonville and allows 72 hours free mooring (no other amenities). We were joined by 5 other cruisers. There wasn’t much other than a boat ramp, fishing pier, and parking lot, though it allowed us to get off the boat and walk a bit plus have a down day after all the bustle of St. Augustine. We were treated to a nice sunset and cool evening which is great when we aren’t plugged in.

From Sisters Creek we were headed to a TBD anchorage somewhere around Cumberland Island, GA, stopping for fuel on Amelia Island at Port Consolidated Commercial Docks. What a great stop, we were able to fill up $3.00 a gallon and the pumps flowed at 50 gallons per minute! Didn’t take us long. This best fuel price we’ve seen since New Year’s Eve 2021. We filled 269 gallons to top off our tanks.

What started as a beautiful day, turned windy and rough. We found ourselves in very skinny waters at times and hesitant to leave the charted channel to look for an anchorage. We kept motoring towards Jekyll Island and chose to check in at the marina a day ahead of schedule. As we crossed the St. Andrews sound, the wind picked up more and the waves along with fetch made a very unpleasant crossing of the sound as we skirted the Atlantic.

By the time we were through the sound, Tasha was over anchoring in the wind and waves. It was the roughest water we have experienced on our trip. The boat rocked side to side and the spray shot up over the fly bridge. The boat was given a good wash down upon arrival, salt everywhere!

The boat and the captain handled it well (he believes the first mate is making more about it, than was), but for the first mate there was an hour or so that took the pleasure out of pleasure boating. We have no photos as Tasha was holding on!

Jekyll Island proved to be the perfect place for an extra day. Planning to spend two nights, it was easy to fill our time for three. We rode bikes and cruised in a marina courtesy golf cart. There are 22 miles of bike trails on the island, and we rode them all more than once. We explored driftwood beach, the historic district, the beach area, and every little nook and cranny.

We had never been to Jekyll and loved the noncommercial, non-developed, old-school island. This was our most beautiful port to date! The island reminded Tasha of Hilton Head Island in the 70’s and her youth.

The bike paths wander over marsh areas on wooden bridges, through the live oaks and the Spanish moss, along the beach, and through the historic village. Incredibly wonderful!

The Jekyll Island Club Resort is a throwback to yesteryear opening its doors in 1888! An island oasis for the wealthiest in our country. From a group playing croquet in all white on the well-manicured lawn with an old-fashioned scoreboard, and the traditional ball room, to the large veranda, it screamed old big money. The state purchased Jekyll Island in 1948 and operates it under the Jekyll Island authority. Only 1% of what can be developed (35%) on the island remains, which should keep the island charm alive for years to come.

Jekyll Island Club Resort – POSH!

Our last night at Jekyll, dolphins played by our boat after dark for over an hour. There was heavy cloud cover, and the moon was not sharing its light, we could hear them but not see them. Another great moment with nature.

The following morning, we headed toward Savannah. With it being more than 100 miles away, we knew we would want to find a place to anchor for the night. Within a short time of leaving Jekyll Island, flies overtook the Now or Never. Tons and tons of large biting flies. The captain armed with a flyswatter spent the rest of the 76-mile trip driving and swatting flies in the fly bridge. The first mate armed with another swatter spent her time on the aft deck killing flies. We killed hundreds of them, no joke. They were everywhere and it was a most miserable trip.

The scenery was beautiful, but we had no time to enjoy it swatting flies. The captain also had his hands full dealing with a huge tidal swing (5 – 9 feet in Georgia and South Carolina) fast moving current because of these tides, unfamiliar waters, shoaling, and sometimes very skinny water. After 9 hours we had both had enough and found an anchorage in an inlet off the channel.

We buttoned up our flybridge and aft deck, killed every last fly we could find, pulled out a tiny electric skillet and cooked 1 hamburger at a time, and then some veggies. We didn’t want to heat up the cabin and David wasn’t opening the strata glass to use the grill. It turned into an enjoyable sunset and a quiet evening. Miles from civilization and no other vessels around, the serenity was wonderful and the current swift. The serenity was interrupted.

After missing his favorite show, the week prior because of a remote location, the captain was happy we were close enough to Savannah to get MeTV reception and watch Svengoolie on the back deck. The first mate not so excited, read inside the cabin.

Waking up the next morning in the same place we went to sleep was a good thing. And most of the flies were gone. There were a few stragglers that we were able to kill off early in route for a much better ride. Dave was rechecking the route and realized we needed to go through an area called Hell Gate with very skinny water and the tide was on the way out. We quickly pulled anchor and were on our way just after 7:00 am.

Tasha was busy checking the river cameras in Savannah (thank you Blue Phoenix for telling us of these!) to find out if there was room downtown on river dock as it is first come. A fellow looper we had met at Palm Cove was there so Tasha was able to message them and confirm there was room for us.

The captain gingerly made our way through Hell Gate and another narrow, shallow passage on the way to downtown Savannah about and 8-mile diversion off the ICW. We made it in about 4 hours and were able to dock right on River Street in the heart of it all! Now it’s time to enjoy this wonderful southern gem!

Cheers!  David, Tasha,  

                  & Remy forever in our hearts!

 

Follow us on facebook for more frequent updates . . . Mann Aboard