We ended up staying in Wrightsville Beach for a week or so and enjoyed our stay. There is a nice and very long beach where we took several long walks. We also made numerous ventures to the not so close grocery store and surrounding shopping centers.
The sailing vessel Serena showed up at the anchorage for a couple of days, and we were able to spend an evening with them. It was nice to see George and Terry again.
We witnessed an incredible number of boats pass through the area on their way to warmer weather. This can cause a bit of stress on a daily (afternoonly) basis, as some boats tend to get a bit too cuddly. Strong currents and wind make boats do funny things at anchor and the spacing needs to be a bit more generous than if you are just laying to the wind.
Our plan was to go offshore to Charleston and spend a few days there. The anchorage in Charleston isn't the greatest (we have passed through but not anchored there yet), and after witnessing the heavy traffic heading south, we decided to try Charleston on our way north when the traffic is a bit thinned out.
So we made a last minute decision to go offshore to St. Simons Island, Georgia. This would involve 2 nights at sea. The forecast was for winds 15 to 25 knots off our stern, and gave us 48 hours before it would clock around to our nose.
So like all good sailors, we weighed anchor on a Friday--once again. We left a little after 10 am to take advantage of a fair current through Snows Cut (we went 9 knots through the cut), and had minimal foul current down Cape Fear River.
Our boat is not named Noah's Ark, but for the second offshore in a row we had a visitor. This was a baby and totally exhausted. He toured our boat several times from bow to stern. He would walk over my feet and even hopped into my hand.
Three times he did head stands inside the cockpit drains and I had to pull him out by his tail.
When Lisa came up from her off watch, she brought a lid with water in it, but like Confucius said "you can lead a bird to water, but you can't make it drink."
It was windy and rolly and the bird had a hard time staying in place, so Lisa got one of her hats and put a rag in it. Then we got the bird to settle down in his new luxury home, complete with cracker crumbs. We couldn't find any worms or bird seed on the boat. That's a good thing...
This global warming has to stop. It's confusing the birds, and now they are flying north in the winter instead of south.
If this poor thing had missed us, his next chance would have been that floating block of ice with the marooned polar bear on it.
The following morning when I came up to relieve Lisa from her watch, I was informed that the bird almost made it through her watch, but not quite. We are now minus a bird, a hat, a rag and a cracker.
While Lisa has my full support, I have to admit this doesn't look good on her babysitting resume.
For estimating arrival time at the inlet of our destination, I jot down possible arrival times based on half knot increments from 5 knots to 7 1/2 knots of speed. Then we time our departure to ensure we don't arrive while it's still dark. If we go slower, we have the rest of the day to arrive. This time we left a bit earlier than normal so that we didn't have to fight the very strong currents in Snows Cut and the Cape Fear River. We had to transit these to gain access to the Atlantic.
We had another incredible sail all through the first day and night then into the following day. We were able to sail faster and longer than expected. When dusk approached on the second day, the wind finally died down to nothing and we resorted to the engine. It was just as well, because we needed to slow down anyway--we should have left Wrightsville later than we did. Motoring slowly (I'm talking slowly for a sailboat) through the second night was agony.
Once the sun decided to appear on the 3rd morning, we made our way through the inlet and on up to the Frederica River. Like most anchorages in the region, big tides and strong currents are the rule. Strong currents aren't that big a deal if the weather is calm, but when the wind pipes up it's not so much fun. While the wind will more or less blow from one direction, the current does a 180 every 6 hours or so. When the wind and the current are in harmony it's not bad, but when they oppose each other...like I said, not fun.
We had a couple of beautiful, calm days after arrival, and we took full advantage of that to explore the southern part of St. Simons Island. Though small, we really liked the town, and it was well worth the 3 mile walk (one way) under the moss laden oak trees which provided a canopy for a good portion of the way.
You get a good view of this lighthouse when entering St. Simons Inlet.
Anchor Babe.
Our boat boat is not aground, it really is in water. This was taken from the bridge on the way to the island. Much of this region has numerous rivers and creeks surrounded by this grass. At high tide the water is well above the bottom of the grass.
After our beautiful days, we had some cold,windy and nasty days, but that's all part of it. When the forecast was favorable, we made an outlet out of the St. Simons Inlet and made our way to St. Marys, Georgia. It was cold, but we had a very nice day sail (with lots of dolphins) until we reached the St. Marys Inlet, then we turned on the motor for the short trek up the river. No birds this time. Our hats are safe.
We are right at the Georgia/Florida border---a seasoned redneck could spit on Fernandina Beach, but a southern belle would want a car. If the wind is right, everyone can benefit from the aroma the near by pulp plants emit.
The people of St. Marys are some of the nicest you will ever meet. This is our second visit to this quiet, friendly town and it is a poster for southern hospitality.
