May 10, 2014 - May 16th Cumberland Island Anchorage

Just have to go through these two bridges to leave Huckins

We left the Huckins dock around 8am and ran up through Jacksonville and on into Sister Creek which is the continuation of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) after crossing the St. Johns River.  Typical ICW ditch scenery.

Heading out of Ortega River into Jacksonville and beyond

We came up to Fort George which has been described as a popular anchorage in past years but reading the latest notes about entering the waterway there, many mentioned the shoaling to the north side of the channel.  In fact when we tried there was 3 feet of water even though we did use the current instructions on hugging the south side of the entry. Sorry no pictures.  I was too trying keep us out off the muddy bottom.  So no joy for Ft. George.  It was on to Cumberland Island.

Fernandina Beach City Marina

We had to pass through Fernandina Beach which was just as we remembered it from last year.  The marina was pretty full too but the mooring field was rather empty and several boats were anchored out near there.

Running across the inlet and its myriad number of buoys  

Anchored right in front of the Park dock

We ran across the St.Marys River inlet and into the main channel before turning up into the Cumberland Island entry point which lies right along the ICW but behind some very low islands which disappear at high tide.  Found a spot right across from the park dock.  It was a nice spot but only 20 feet or so from the shallow island.  But we were hooked pretty good and the weather wasn't turning nasty until later in the week.  We made water and are ready for a week of relaxing.. 

From the anchorage looking out towards the inlet

Ice Cream deprived mother annoyed at my dawdling

Mothers day we took the dinghy 7 miles across the sound into Fernandina Beach.  Had ice cream.  Being Mothers day I guess it was permissible to have ice cream at two or three shops.  But just to compare you see.  One must always add to one’s experiences.  And there are a plethora of ice cream shops in this town.  Now they all know Mary personally.

Our dinghy is in here somewhere

Ice Cream!!

Satiated and relaxing on the main drag

Mary and "her" beach

We headed back to the boat and went to the Cumberland Island beach for a brief walk before the storms blew in.  Well, storms in appearance only.  Nasty dark clouds out in the southwestern sky which I figured would bring us buckets of rain and momentary high winds.  All we received were a few sprinkles and no wind.. 

Nasty looking clouds

 I was on the bow watching all the lightening off in the distance.  Very scenic.  Some  friends of ours further north near Savannah got drenched so I guess we were a little wedge of mild weather.

Our dinghy at the Cumberland Park dock

Radar image of the rain which never got to us

Main road along the river in St. Mary's

Next day we took the dinghy another 7 miles but to St. Marys, a sleepy town up the St. Marys river.  Of course we had ice cream again.   We stayed for a few hours and then headed back down the river but with the tide and winds in conjunction, it was pretty rough.  

Delightful boulevard in downtown St. Marys

Ice Cream and gift shop sells a lot of these?

Looking back towards the river

Yeah!  Bug Free.

Stopped back at the boat then went over to the island to walk to the ruins.  Made it about ½ mile when we realized we were a banquet for the bugs so I dashed back to the dinghy where I had some Deep Woods Off.  We sprayed up and set out again.  Bugs were foiled and not just mosquitoes but these damnable no-seeums which you can’t see but essentially eat your skin, one tiny chunk at  a time. 

Cumberland Horses

Perused the Dungeness ruins .  Wow, big house and overly generous lands around it.  And of course the horses.  Saw almost 2 dozen.  They just eat the grass and ignore you even though we were only feet away.  Literature cites a warning to not interfere with them because they will kick and bite but these seemed unusually benign.  We also stumbled upon wild turkeys and a number of small deer.

Cumberland Horses again

Dungeness ruins.  

Gates in front of the mansion 

Ready to head back

We headed back to the dock around 5 with swarms of mosquitoes around us but unable to suck our blood thanks to the often sprayed Deep Woods Off.  Frustrated mosquitoes elicit sympathy from me.  Yeah ...








 We dinghied back to the boat and had a drink on the bow, grilled chicken, made water and did laundry and then, after Mary had her TV fix, went to bed.  Since we had to run the generator to make water and charge up the batteries, I had the rear stateroom A/C on full blast.  But it still went up to around 80 at about 2am when I woke up dreaming I was a loaf of bread in an oven.  Sheez, was it warm.

Anchored in a new cozy spot

We plan on figuring out where we'll head to next tomorrow.  But its really cozy and nice here so the impetus to move is waning..

Today, Tuesday, we ran the dinghy the 7 miles to Fernandina Beach again to gas up (4.9 gal)  and dump out garbage.  

Dolphins ... always showing off

Got back to the boat and packed up the beach gear including our Canadian  beach umbrella (Kathy will remember!), chairs, books, and a cooler.  It was low tide when we got there so the beach had grown double to what it was on our prior visit.  And surprisingly warm water.  We sat, sunbathed walked and swam until about 4 when we headed back.

The path back to where we dock the dinghy is through some forested areas replete with creatures of all sorts including a lithe and slithery black snake.  I couldn't tell what kind it was since the loud exhortations from Mary and some other people sacred the crap out of the poor thing and it wiggled its way off the path and into the underbrush.  But it was a stunner.   All black with a tiny forked tongue flicking in and out gauging the tenor of its situation.  Anyway there are 3 poisonous snakes indigenous to the island.  For all I know we may have seen one!

On the way though we came across an armadillo who was entirely focused on  consuming creepy crawly things it was finding along the path.  He momentarily halted his bug consumption to  gaze up at us rather disinterestedly before abruptly returning to his bug hunting.  Good for him!

We still haven’t decided where we are going next so given that decision, we’re probably going to stay here through Friday since there is a low pressure system rolling across from the west and bringing rains and winds.  We’re nice and secure here and we have a whole island to explore.

Today Mary kayak and I hiked 7 miles through mosquito invested jungle.  All in all, I made the poorer choice of activity.  

We also met two ladies on a small sailboat, Louise, with a dog and a kayak as a dinghy.  And it was a big dog!

Decided to move the boat today because we were about 20 yards from the sand bar which runs parallel  to the anchorage.  In fact our draft is 4.5 feet. And the depth sounder was showing 4.6 feet.  Time to move.  So we hauled up the anchor and as Mary held the snubber up I drove the boat about a 100 yards closer to shore and we anchored again.  Much better.  The winds were forecast to pickup tomorrow along with some thunderstorms.  And so having finally learned, its better to get situated before the storm, we did.  Nice and cozy now!  

It clouded over by mid morning which diminished the solar panel output severely. So much so I had to run the generator for 2 hours to get the batteries topped off before it rained.  I noticed a disparity between the port and starboard battery charging rates.  It looks like the temperature probe for the port battery charger is faulty.  It still charges but the charge rate isn't compensating for battery temperature.

Thunderstorms raged all around us but we were lucky as we only  received periods of torrential downpours.   It actually turned sunny in the early evening before the last line of rain moved through.  

The next morning though we noticed we had dragged a bit during the night and were way to close to the Park dock.  And since the winds were really blowing out of the Northwest and we ended up having to move the boat again today to reset the anchor.

In preparation for visiting Savannah we called Thunderbolt Marina which is the premier marina near Savannah.  Full.  So we ended up making a reservation at Isle of Hope Marina for a few days from now when we, according to our failure proof planning, will be there.  I hope ...

And so the next day, Saturday, May 17, we're heading out for Duplin River where we'll anchor for the night before heading out Doboy sound to the ocean in the morning for a 60 mile trip to Walburg Creek in St. Catherine's sound.  We decided to by-pass some of the ICW in favor of ease of cruising and worrying not about tides and depths but just enjoying the ocean.