St. Simons Island, GA

Today was a strange day. We had rain, sunshine, wind, no wind off an on throughout the day. Today, like yesterday, was a very beautiful leg of the trip. We went from Killkenny (statute mile 614) to St. Simons Island, GA (statute mile 675). For a lot of the trip today Bill cut the engine back so we were doing between 4.5 and 5 knots. He did this for two reasons. First, we wanted to let the tide rise a little more before going through the Mudd River, which has depths of under 6 feet (mean low tide.) Second, if we were going to run aground, we wanted to do it at a slow speed. There were two boats ahead of us who were nice enough to give periodic updates on the water depths that they saw, and we went through without incident.

Today we also saw lots of animals on the shore. We saw some type of burro, goats, herons, and of course dolphins. The rivers we traveled through today were windey and narrow, so we got a good view of the shoreline.

It rained off and on today but ended up being a beautiful late afternoon. We even saw a rainbow, which disappeared after only a few minutes.

We are staying at Golden Isles Marina in St. Simons Island, GA, which is a nice facility. We enjoyed a fabulous sunset and are about to go to dinner. Destination Fernandina Beach, FL (statue mile 770) tomorrow.

For more pictures of today's beautiful trip, click here.

Killkenny, GA

We left the dock at Thunderbolt around 10:00 and had another short day to Killkenny, GA. The ride today was beautiful. We didn't see another boat until we were almost to Killkenny. The shores were lined with marshes and trees; very few homes. What a beautiful way to see parts of our country. For most of the day, our view looked exactly like the picture below.



Today we went through through Hell Gate at statute mile 601. The cruising guide we are using (Doziers which has been very helpful, very spot on) and the reports on cruisers net indicated that there was some VERY shallow water here. We went through at mid-tide and saw no less than 8 feet, which was a relief.

Not a whole lot to do in Killkenny (no cable, no restaurant, no Internet, just us and another transient sailboat and a few locals) so we did boat projects down below. Bill put up some Christmas decorations. We'll do the tree when we get to the Boca Raton Club and Resort where we'll spend the holidays. We are excited because we will catch up with Cindy and Boyd who live close to Boca for New Years.



I reorganized the "office", the forward cabin, and the forward head. We culled our books and have them ready for the next book swap that we come across. Believe it or not, above is the "after" picture of the organized (what we call) "office," which is basically a room where we store spare parts, extra water, ditch bag when we are not offshore, Bill's guitar and golf clubs, tools, cleaning supplies, and other gear. It is a work in progress to keep this part of the boat organized.

Bill did a few crosswords and caught up on magazines and I read. We called it a very early night. We expect to be in St. Augustine by Thursday, which will be nice. We are having our mail delivered there; the marina is nice enough to accept our packages for us.

Another interesting thing is that we have received several emails (via our gmail account) from people following the blog. Most are from fellow sailors who have done the trip down the ICW before or hope to do it soon. The stats on the site show that many more people have been reading in the past month or so (we're almost to our 4,500th hit on the site!) So thanks to all our family, friends, and those of you we have never met for reading.

Savannah, GA

Bill and I have had so much fun in Savannah. On Saturday when we arrived in Thunderbolt, we took a cab to Savannah, which is about 20 minutes away via car. After a late lunch, we walked down River Street, and were happy to find out that there was a Christmas fair going on. There were vendors selling everything from jewelry to pottery to homemade breads. And various dance schools performed on the stage. It was great; very Christmasy. We decided to stick around for the Christmas parade, which started at 5:30 and went right down River Street. There were thousands of people lining the street. It was a cute parade; local high school bands, old cars etc. And Ruby from the TV show on Style was the Parade Marshall. When we got back to the boat, we caught the tale end of anothe parade -- this time a boat parade of lights. About a dozen boats were completely decorated and all lit up and went right by the marina where we were docked. Very cool.

Downtown Savannah is beautiful. There are a ton of old churches, lots of parks, beautiful homes. We decided to stay another day and explore a little more. On Sunday we again took a cab to Savannah and walked the historic district. Each park has a sign explaining the historical significance of the various statues and water fountains. Again we were happy to discover that in one of the larger parks there was a music / chili festival going on, and again thousands of people were out enjoying the beautiful day. We found the Oyster Bar at Dave's recommendation and watched some football while eating good cheap oysters and shrimp.

We took a cab back to Thunderbolt and found a bar to watch the night game. Unfortunately the Redskins lost to Baltimore. Today we are on our way to Killkenney, GA for the night.

Even though we whine about the cold weather all the time, one of the great things about doing this trip during November and December is that we get to experience holiday happenings in each city. It was great to see a holiday parade and see the various performers, etc. Savannah is by far one of my favorite stops so far. Who would have thought?

For more pictures of Savannah, click here

Hilton Head, SC and Thunderbolt, GA

As I said the other day, in Hilton Head we stayed at Harbour Town Marina, which is actually part of the Sea Pines Resort. Thursday I went for a long walk along the bike path while Bill enjoyed a round of golf. Friday after the rain I rented a bike and went for an even longer tour of the area. Sea Pines is actually 5,000 acres of neighborhoods with three golf courses, marinas, tennis, shopping, and restaurants. The homes here are beautiful, and the scenery is outstanding. Bill saw a six foot alligator on the course yesterday. We have also seen pelicans, herrings and turtles on the paved bike path. It was a nice place to stay for a few days.

We left the dock at 9:00 this morning and had a very short motor (about 3 hours) to Thunderbolt, GA. We are going to take a taxi to Savanah this afternoon and do a little sightseeing. On our trip to Thunderbolt today we saw lots of dolphins. Here is an attempt to capture them on video. It is an overcast day, but not freezing.