This entry starts with a rant: Georgia legislators recently passed HB 201 prohibiting anchoring in GA waters without a permit (that's the condensed version). DNR hasn't figured out how to implement the bill and it doesn't really go into effect until 1/1/2020 so we anchored out all four nights. It has made GA an 'anti-boater' state to cruisers. We spent the least amount of time here AND spent as little $$$ as possible. A lot of other boaters feel this way -- some even go 'outside' and completely skip the state altogether. This is totally 180 from NC which offered a lot of FREE docks just to encourage cruisers to stop by and spend money. To start our 'protest', we stopped in Hilton Head at Hilton Head Harbor Marina to fuel up. This stop is right on the ICW, had the best price around and is right before GA.
HHH Marina has nice high-speed pumps. As I was pumping I heard a 'bang' of some sort. Kind of like something hit our boat. Then I heard it again and Sharon reacted big time! I turned off the fuel nozzle, pulled it away and diesel fuel spouted out! I guess our vent tube wasn't venting air faster than fuel was filling the tank. As far as I can tell, nothing 'exploded' and we're not leaking fuel but that was scary! That's never happened before.
We found an anchorage on Turner Creek near Isle of Hope. It was pretty far up the creek. Little Miss Google quickly discovered one of the anchorage spots was right behind a Publix! And between us and Publix was a marina. Sharon was getting nervous that we were running low on food and I was getting nervous I was running low on beer. This wasn't the most picturesque spot but from a utilitarian perspective, it was excellent! We anchored, dropped the dinghy and motored over to Lee Shore Marina to see if we could tie up to run into Publix. A guy came walking down the dock and I asked him if he worked there. He replied, "Ha! No one works here!" So he told us we could tie up, we spent a small fortune at Publix and went back to the boat. On the way to Publix, we passed a dive bar, Cheer to You, that we just couldn't resist! This place was a national treasure!!! As soon as we walked in, three people started talking to us wanting to know all about our travels. They even bought us a round! Welcome to Georgia.
Our 'shopping cart'!
As you can imagine, we were pretty packed in on the dinghy.
Pelican sighting
This bar was great! The crowd and bartender.
It even had some holes in the floor (not kidding).
Ka'Why Knot at anchor.
Publix -- it's right there!
We left Turner Creek Friday, 22 Nov around 0800. We literally wound our way through Georgia. We saw dolphins (we see them every day but can never get a picture!), low marshes, sandy shorelines and glassy water. Every day we seem to pass the same sailboats. Today was no different. We passed friends we met in Myrtle Beach on Whodoggie right before Hell Gate. Hell Gate is a known trouble spot on the ICW. We've been through dozens but maybe it's the name that gave me pause. There was a sailboat in front of us. There are two things I particularly like about sailboats -- following them through shallow water and being anchored next to them in a lightening storm. Well... the one in front ran aground right before Hell Gate and had to wait for the rising tide to get them off. We scooted past them and stayed in comms with Whodoggie who draws a foot more than us. We had plenty of water under us (both of us) and made it through no problem.
We ended up anchoring on a creek at Wolf Island National Wildlife Refuge. It's wide open, there's a lighthouse in the distance and supposedly alligators. It was much deeper than I prefer (25+/- feet) with 1-2 knot current. Fortunately, there was no wind and the holding was fine. For those not familiar with anchoring, you want a 5:1 scope. That means five feet of rhode (in our case anchor chain) for every one foot of depth. If you're in 10 feet of water, you want 50 feet of rhode. We only have 100 feet so we were at 4:1 scope. No wind made that fine but the current had me nervous. Anyway... we were fine throughout the night.
My FM gave me a break at the conn.
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| Lots of glassy water today! |
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| Underway snack |
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| I'm not sure what a charcuterie tray is but suspect this comes close! |
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| Wide open and a nice sunset. |
Where's Waldo -- there he is!
Next stop was Jekyll Island. In the late 1800s, Jekyll Island became an exclusive hunting club for the rich and famous with names like Rockefeller, Morgan, Vanderbilt, Pulitzer, and Baker. At one point, 1/6 of the world's wealth were members of this 'club'. Most stayed at the 'clubhouse' but some wanted more privacy and built 'cottages'. They were hardly cottages.
We decided to anchor here for two nights. We had been running hard since Monday and wanted a break. Plus the wind was higher than we were comfortable with -- especially crossing the St. Andrews Sound. We anchored right after the Jekyll Island bridge. We dropped our dinghy, loaded our scooters and toured the island. It was FINALLY in the mid 70s! And a 'toes in the sand' day!!! We tied our dinghy to a public dock (which was located in the middle of nowhere), scootered around the island and did a lot of exploring. We went to several beaches and historic district along with lots of trails. Our batteries were running low so we dropped the scooters off at the boat and dinghied to a marina. They let us tie up and we had drinks at Zachery's Riverside.
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| The "Clubhouse". Exclusive for the rich. |
Day two we went back to Jekyll Island Marina and tied up. They were nice enough to let us stay there for free for the day. We walked about a mile into the 'historic district' and bought tickets for the trolley tour. That included admission to the museum, the sea turtle hospital and Faith chapel. It was well worth it!
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| Inside the turtle hospital. |
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| No, she isn't asleep. Somehow I always manage to take a picture when here eyes are closed! |
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| Bedroom of one of the 'cottages'. |
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| Stain glass inside Faith Chapel. This was one of 10 stain glass pieces actually signed by Tiffany. Appraised at $850,000! |
We walked through the Clubhouse and whatever cottages we could get into. We walked back to the marina and stopped for "a drink" and to catch the end of whatever football game was on. That lasted a few hours since we ran into a couple we had met the day before at happy hour. Plus the bartenders were awesome!! Naturally, we had forgotten to turn on the anchor light when we left at 1030. Who thinks of that in the morning!?! Finding our boat was challenge but we did it (thanks to Sharon)!
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