Captain's Choice blog: Big tide swings

Now that we are back in Georgia we not only have to watch the weather but we have to watch the tides. We are back to some of the biggest tide swings on our journey, up to 8' and you don't want to hit the skinny waters when you are at low tide or you'll run aground. The tides will cause us to have some short travel days so that we can position ourselves to go through the skinny waters at high tide!

If you've ever sat and watched and waited for water to boil and it seems to take forever, that's how it felt Tuesday as we waited for the rain to stop. Just as it seemed like it was going to end the skies would open up again. There is just no way we can move Captains Choice in a downpour. Finally about 10:15 am it looked like we could move, off came the lines from the mooring ball and we were on our way. We weren't alone as we heard several boats contact the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine to request the 10:30 opening. We are able to get under the bridge without a lift so we bypassed the others and went right through. It was a cloudy, dark, grey, miserable day but at least the rain had stopped and we traveled 70 miles to Cumberland Island. We anchored in 13' of water, good holding with 8 other boats. The sun finally came out late afternoon which warmed things a bit.
On our way to the anchorage the CBP (Customs and Border Protection) was engaged in training drills which were quite interesting to watch. There were 2 CBP boats, 1 fast boat and a fishing boat. The CBP had their lights flashing and they were chasing the fast boat then the fish boat, kicking up water and waves. We stayed well out of their way, but it was fun to watch, almost like a movie being filmed. Suddenly we heard a boater call the coast guard asking what they should do because there were CBP boats in hot pursuit of a fast boat...we chuckled because we knew it was a training exercise...I'm sure it was intimidating to the boat that happened upon them, we had seen the boats set up so we knew they were training. CBP called the boater, explained it was training and told them to just stay on the side of the channel.

WOW! Wednesday in Georgia was mighty cold! No more getting up and putting shorts or bathing suits on as the temperature was a mere 42. Actually we had wool socks and 3 layers on, maybe we are moving north too fast or we need to learn to sleep in until the sun comes up and warms things up a bit! We made our way 38 miles to Morning Star-Golden Isles Marina on St. Simonds. The boat needed a good cleaning inside and out and with the cool breeze it was a perfect day to get that done. Thank goodness the cold morning temperatures only lasted one day and they were back to 60 degrees on Thursday as we made our way 72 miles to an anchorage on Redbird Creek. The great part about Georgia is there are so many creeks that it is pretty easy to find an anchorage...the bad part about Georgia is the bugs! The no-see-ums/gnats, whatever you call them are everywhere, especially if the winds are low as they were Thursday. We got to Redbird Creek right at low tide and knew that Hell Gate was only 3 miles ahead of us. We had conflicting reports as to whether there would be enough water at low tide...we had already gone 70 miles...we decided to take the conservative route, anchor and make a nice dinner and hit Hell gate in the morning when we were closer to high tide. We ended up being the only boat in the anchorage, 8' deep with good holding.

The weathermen said Friday was going to be a washout, 90% chance of rain. With holding up at Redbird Creek we hoped we would get to the marina, 24 miles without getting too wet. If it was really down pouring we would delay leaving by a day. It rained early morning but was fine when we were ready to pull up anchor, so we set off for Thunderbolt Marina. The weathermen really blew the forecast, we had a couple of sprinkles and the rest of the day was partly cloudy and in the 70's. It was nice to get to the marina early so that I could get wash done, it was also nice to pay $1.50/load instead of $5/load in the Bahamas. The marina also has a courtesy car so off we went to Home Depot and the grocery store.
There are several loopers here at the marina and Jill Kristy, gold loopers are docked right next to us. They finished the loop in 2016 when we started and know many of the same people that we looped with but we had never met them. We had a nice time sharing looper stories with Richard before we made dinner.

Originally the weatherman said Saturday would be the best day of the weekend, but before going to bed Friday we checked the forecast and again 90% chance of an all day rain. I think Mother Nature is just playing games with the weathermen as the weather was fine Saturday morning. Our plan was to go into town mid afternoon, walk around and have dinner at 17hundred90, a super cute restaurant where we ate when we were here in November. Ahhh...April showers bring May flowers...that's what I told myself as the rain came down when we were walking around downtown Savannah. The rain didn't last long and we were able to duck into a few different establishments before we headed for dinner. As we were waiting for our table we struck up a conversation with a couple from Toronto. Since Buffalo is only 2 hours away we had plenty to talk about. We have met so many interesting people along our trip, it adds to the fun of going to new places.

Sunday brought partly cloudy skies and then a few sprinkles as we left Georgia and entered South Carolina. The skies were really dark just north of us so we were very happy that we only had sprinkles and not a downpour. We traveled 44 miles to Port Royal Marina, just south of Beaufort, SC. It's amazing to see how strong the current is in some of these marinas and this one is no exception.