And The Horse You Road In On!!!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

I take back all those snide remarks about South Carolina's lack of Cell phone towers and the dearth of Internet access. Compared to Georgia, South Carolina is Silicon Valley! I at last have access, but I am in a Marina on Jekyll Island which is basically a resort, so of course they have cell phone and Internet coverage . . . . though when I got here today, the entire island experienced a communications breakdown that lasted for 3 hours.

Sunday November 28th

Would you believe that there are two "Hell Gates" on the ICW? One, the more famous, is in New York in the East River. There other isn't. It is in Georgia and connects the Little Ogeechee Riber and the Ogeechee River. It was supposed to the that channel of swirling currents and sand bars and it was one of those places of "Legend" on the ICW. Unfortunately, It didn't live up to its reputation and it got dredged and all the "terror" has gone out it. But it is not all fun and games on the ICW. During this stretch, I have found marks that are charted as being on land and they are out in the water and marks that are charted as being in the water which are high and dry on land. If you are not careful, you can run aground seriously by aiming for a mark and heading at it irregardless. Dropped the hook that night in WALBURG Creek. It is a creek that lies between Walburg Island and St. Catherine's Island on the South shore of St. Catherine Sound. IT runs along the eastern and southern shore of the Island. There was a boat already in the creek, though in the eastern portion. There was a lot of wind that day and they were dealing with that and the wave action flowing in from St. Catherine's Sound. The sailboat was "SELA" from St. Cloud, MI, and its crew way Bob and Mary Anne. We discussed anchoring scenarios and I decided that I would rather deal with just the wind and anchor on the southern portion. I think it was a good choice as "Sela" dragged during the night. No harm was done just a little bit of excitement. Dragging an anchor in high wind, which have had a lot of recently, makes going to sleep at night a real act of faith.

Monday,November 29th

I might have dragged a little last night myself but not much. The high wind was still with us and made some passages slow, battling the wind, and others very fast going with the wind. Sapelo Sound was a perfect example. with the throttle untouched, my speed ranged from 3.8 to 8.6 depending where I was in the sound and which way I was trying to go.

You do a lot of switch-backing in the ICW in Georgia. You can look ahead or behind and see boats moving left to right across your field of view. For every mile south you go 3 or four miles east and west. Fully 20% or more of the ICW in Georgia is going back and forth and not forward. Had a great spot picked out for the night in a place called "New Teakettle Creek" and when I got there, a big power boat was in the sweet spot. It was a guy who had rush passed me that day and never bothered to slow down or ask how I wished to be passed or even to let me know what his intentions were. But I always have back up and so I went into "Doboy Sound and up "Duplin Creek" and anchored. IT is a bit unnerving to anchor in a creek where the width of the creek seems little more than the length of your boat. You have to pick your spots based on what the wind will be doing that night so that you are always oriented up or down the creek at anchor. Usually, you have good holding if you are in a marsh as the marsh grass holds the mud in place. Otherwise, soft mud has very little holding power, especially in a blow.

Tuesday, November 30th

The day was hot and humid and in the 70's BUT it wasn't going to stay that way. NOAA was already calling for a cold front hat would show up Tuesday night proceeded by thunderstorms and heavy winds. The winds would come from the south and south west and build during the day and then when the cold front approached, there would be thunder storms, possible tornadoes, and a wind shift to the North, North west. Just outside of Brunswick, there was a place called Jove's Creek and it had a lovely spot in it that oriented east and west but was wide enough to anchor north and south. This would be "perfect" as the marsh grass would cut the wind and I would still be able to rotate with the wind when it shifted.

To get there, I had to pass through another one of those ICW "Legends", the Little Mud River. It is amazing how w]many rivers and water ways on the ICW have MUD in their names. This little spots, about 3 miles long, was a River that ran into ALTAMAHA Sound from Doboy Sound. I had been hearing about this place for week. Nothing particularly dangerous, except for that fact that odds are that you would run aground. I seriously considered running outside between Doboy and Altamaha, but there were small craft warnings and the just crossing Doboy Sound from my anchorage was enough to convince me it would have been a bad idea. Entering into the canal that led to Little Mud River, I met a Core of Engineers' Survey Boat doing a survey of that portion of the ICW. I asked the crew about Little Mud River and they said that the channel was narrow and shallow.By the time I got to Little Mud River, I was hyperventilating. I am not sure why as a gounding in "mud" would not damage the boat and would be easily extracted, either on my own or by the friendly Folks from TowBoat/US. This Bogey Man of the ICW also turned out to be a bust. By not following the channel and going wherever I found deep water, I got through and never saw less than 11 feet.

When I got to Jove's Creek, there was another boat already there but not in the spot I had picked out which was farther up stream. I dropped the hook, had supper, listened to the weather several times and went to bed.

Wednesday, Dec. 1st

The thunderstorms came at 1:47AM and I spent the rest of the night watching my little sailboat go round and round on the GPS as she danced to the wind. It was quite nerve racking and when the sun came up, I took off intending to get to my next location early and crash for the day. I never got the chance. The winds from the storm and the front were still blowing and I had to cross St. Simon's Sound which was a horror. Waves crashed the boat and about every 10th one got me square in the face. I had my rain gear on ( to keep warm) but neglected my boots and my sneakers got wet. I really had to fight to make even a reasonable show of staying on course but thankfully there were few turns until I got to the Jekyll Island Creek. To call this water way a creek is to damn with faint praise. Actually, it is more wet mud than water. And twisty. I had planned to stop at the Jekyll Harbor Marina for fuel and a pumpout and then proceed, but the wind was still gusting to 30 and showed no hints that it would wind down soon. Also I was beat, having been up most of the night and having to fight to get this far. So I decided to stay. Good think to as I found a leak in my raw water system that cools the engine.Technically it could have sunk the boat or at least cooked the engine. So the stopped was a very good thing. The best part is that I am 32 miles from Florida!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!