We're just back from our second day ashore this barrier island, a national seashore. It's a fascinating place comprised of salt marshes, maritime forests, a few buildings and one of the longest and emptiest beaches we have ever seen. There are no cars, just hiking trails, and we've covered a fair few of them.
The Carnegie family very much commandeered the island in the late 1800s to mid-1900s when the younger brother and his wife raised their nine children here. Every time one of them married, their parents built them a mansion here to keep them close by. Sadly the parents' home burned down and only the ruins remain but it's obvious the sheer scale of the place.
This morning we went 6 miles north in the dinghy, a somewhat bumpy ride, to visit the house they built for their eldest son and his wife in 1898 for the sum of $10,000. The property, Plum Orchard, was handed over to the national park in the 1970s and it was interesting to see. With it's own diving pool, stables, squash court and tennis court, the sheer size of the place clearly demonstrates just how wealthy the Carnegies were. Apparently they sold out their steel works to J P Morgan at the turn of the twentieth century for $300 million ... just imagine how much that would equate to today.
We're moving on tomorrow morning to Fernadina Beach all being well where Paul will take to the skies.
28 Nov 2015
27 Nov 2015
26/11/15 : Thanksgiving in St Marys
With the drama of Tuesday night behind us we have enjoyed the charms of this small waterfront town. The camaraderie amongst the cruisers and generosity of the locals have both been top notch, we rides to the store available and various social events. Last night was an oyster roast (we were assured they were delicious but not something I like and Paul is allergic to them) but the company was fun. And today the townspeople hosted a Thanksgiving lunch for us all.
There was more sailing drama in the anchorage, fortunately not involving Tumi. Another boat, swinging around wildly managed to cut through his anchor rope with his own propellor and went drifting off downstream! A "flotilla" of dinghies gave chase and rescued the yacht only for one of the dinghies to run out of fuel on the return and have to be rescued! This anchorage seems to be jinxed!
We're heading across the sound tomorrow to Cumberland Island, a national park, and hope to do a bit of hiking in the next couple of days.
There was more sailing drama in the anchorage, fortunately not involving Tumi. Another boat, swinging around wildly managed to cut through his anchor rope with his own propellor and went drifting off downstream! A "flotilla" of dinghies gave chase and rescued the yacht only for one of the dinghies to run out of fuel on the return and have to be rescued! This anchorage seems to be jinxed!
We're heading across the sound tomorrow to Cumberland Island, a national park, and hope to do a bit of hiking in the next couple of days.
26 Nov 2015
24/11/15 : Nightmare night in St Marys, Georgia
We had one of our best sails of recent weeks in many ways moving from Brunswick to St Marys being all in the daylight and timed to enter/exit channels with the tide rather than against it, add in pleasant winds and seas that were more sensible than recently, all in all a good sail. Until we were approaching St Marys that is.
The nautical charts stop half a mile before reaching the town anchorage but we knew that the channel had depths of 5 metres so it should have been no problem. What we didn't know is that the charts for the half mile before they ended were wrong, showing deep water where in fact it was shallow and vice versa. We ran aground as did the catamaran in front of us! Fortunately we weren't going very fast and after several minutes of manoeuvring managed to break free and follow a ferry boat through the unmarked channel. Phew. We anchored in good depths and looked forward to a few days at anchor.
We know that the rivers around here have quite strong currents and so anchored well away from other boats. Just before 1 1pm that night, we were woken by the sound of voices and air horns going off. In high winds blowing counter the current it seemed like the whole anchorage was awake. Our anchor held but we watched with a degree a horror as another boat dancing in the current headed our way and hit us full length. Fortunately had been able to put fenders in place and so no damage was caused but despite hammering on his hull, no - one appeared and after a short while the boat drifted away.
We thought it was dragging it's anchor but it turns out it wasn't, just swinging wildly on its chain, and within five minutes it swung back and hit us again! We realised we needed to move but being in uncharted waters it wasn't an easy proposition. That said we inched our way to another area and set the anchor. We seemed to be secure and after 30 mins or so went to bed, just gone midnight.
The winds continued to howl and less than two hours later we felt a gentle bump and shot out of bed. To our horror we now were wrapped around the bridle of a catamaran. We initially thought he had dragged in the current but it turned out we had slowly moved and caught him. The bridle was wrapped around our rudder so we were well and truly tangled.
To cut a long story short we were able to get free and moved away to anchor somewhere else, only to run aground again. Absolute nightmare! Fortunately we were able to reverse off the shoal and at this point, with boats still swinging this way and that, decided to head for a marina dock ... Safe harbour .... and docked there at 3am. What a night.
That morning two other boats joined us on the dock. Of the boat that had hit us twice there was no sign. We checked Tumi over and fortunately there is no damage.
Later in the afternoon another boat approaching St Marys ran aground and was left listing at about 10 degrees for a few hours until the tide rose and a local tow boat was able to free them. They are now berthed behind us having heard in advance about the tricky anchorage. All in all a memorable 24 hours!
The nautical charts stop half a mile before reaching the town anchorage but we knew that the channel had depths of 5 metres so it should have been no problem. What we didn't know is that the charts for the half mile before they ended were wrong, showing deep water where in fact it was shallow and vice versa. We ran aground as did the catamaran in front of us! Fortunately we weren't going very fast and after several minutes of manoeuvring managed to break free and follow a ferry boat through the unmarked channel. Phew. We anchored in good depths and looked forward to a few days at anchor.
We know that the rivers around here have quite strong currents and so anchored well away from other boats. Just before 1 1pm that night, we were woken by the sound of voices and air horns going off. In high winds blowing counter the current it seemed like the whole anchorage was awake. Our anchor held but we watched with a degree a horror as another boat dancing in the current headed our way and hit us full length. Fortunately had been able to put fenders in place and so no damage was caused but despite hammering on his hull, no - one appeared and after a short while the boat drifted away.
We thought it was dragging it's anchor but it turns out it wasn't, just swinging wildly on its chain, and within five minutes it swung back and hit us again! We realised we needed to move but being in uncharted waters it wasn't an easy proposition. That said we inched our way to another area and set the anchor. We seemed to be secure and after 30 mins or so went to bed, just gone midnight.
The winds continued to howl and less than two hours later we felt a gentle bump and shot out of bed. To our horror we now were wrapped around the bridle of a catamaran. We initially thought he had dragged in the current but it turned out we had slowly moved and caught him. The bridle was wrapped around our rudder so we were well and truly tangled.
To cut a long story short we were able to get free and moved away to anchor somewhere else, only to run aground again. Absolute nightmare! Fortunately we were able to reverse off the shoal and at this point, with boats still swinging this way and that, decided to head for a marina dock ... Safe harbour .... and docked there at 3am. What a night.
That morning two other boats joined us on the dock. Of the boat that had hit us twice there was no sign. We checked Tumi over and fortunately there is no damage.
Later in the afternoon another boat approaching St Marys ran aground and was left listing at about 10 degrees for a few hours until the tide rose and a local tow boat was able to free them. They are now berthed behind us having heard in advance about the tricky anchorage. All in all a memorable 24 hours!
22 Nov 2015
22/11/2015 : Brunswick, Georgia
Having visited Savannah by car from Hilton Head, we decided to bypass it on our journey south and instead headed for Brunswick in Georgia, about 100 miles south of Hilton Head. As with our last four ports of call we arrived after dark and negotiated the long entrance channel, and we're talking up to 10 miles long, using the lit channel marker buoys. Sometimes picking the one you need to follow out of all the others can be tricky, but we made it in with no problems and anchored at 10pm last night in the middle of nowhere. We set the alarm to wake us early this morning to move up to a small marina, timing it to arrive before forecast winds picked up. We needn't have bothered: Yet again the forecast was wrong and the winds actually have dropped as the day has progressed.
After a couple of hours relaxing we walked into downtown Brunswick. Settled back in the late 1700s as are a lot of towns/cities in this part of America, Brunswick definitely has a feel of being down on its heels: Lots of vacant shops for lease, no-one around (although it is Sunday so everywhere is closed up) etc. It's a shame for the place as it obviously was a thriving community in the late 19th / early 20th century but the damage from hurricanes, flooding and the economic crisis back in the 1920s have all taken their toll. Whilst effort are being made to revitalise the town, it's not somewhere we want to spend much time so we plan on moving on tomorrow.
We're not far from the Florida border now and plan on visiting two more places in Georgia before we leave it: Cumberland Island, a natural coastal border island, and St Marys, another old town and somewhere a lot of cruising sailors congregate for Thanksgiving so we thought we'd join them!
After a couple of hours relaxing we walked into downtown Brunswick. Settled back in the late 1700s as are a lot of towns/cities in this part of America, Brunswick definitely has a feel of being down on its heels: Lots of vacant shops for lease, no-one around (although it is Sunday so everywhere is closed up) etc. It's a shame for the place as it obviously was a thriving community in the late 19th / early 20th century but the damage from hurricanes, flooding and the economic crisis back in the 1920s have all taken their toll. Whilst effort are being made to revitalise the town, it's not somewhere we want to spend much time so we plan on moving on tomorrow.
We're not far from the Florida border now and plan on visiting two more places in Georgia before we leave it: Cumberland Island, a natural coastal border island, and St Marys, another old town and somewhere a lot of cruising sailors congregate for Thanksgiving so we thought we'd join them!
20 Nov 2015
20/11/2015 : Hilton Head Island
We cycled around some of the island yesterday on the marina's bikes, heading off to Dolphin Point at the top of the island where we were told by a local that some fishermen caught and tagged a 12' Tiger Shark the other day. The Hilton Head Plantation where the marina is located is an exclusive gated community with myriad golf courses, expensive houses and loads of posh cars (right up Debra's street, you might say). The two of us trundling around on the bikes must amuse the locals who seem to drive literally everywhere - we have yet to see anyone carrying golf clubs or even towing a set, they all ride buggies which rather defeats the purpose of exercise!
Anyway, as we were wending our merry way back to the marina we passed a lake where there was a fisherman sitting by the bank. As we rode towards him I noticed a slight movement in the water. I called to Debra and asked her what she thought it was. We stopped and watched and sure enough it was our first alligator sighting. We stayed chatting to the fisherman and discovered this 'gator, all 6 feet or so of him, is a regular and hangs around waiting to steal the fish off the line when they are being reeled in.
The weather for the week ahead is very windy and so we're having to pick our days for sailing carefully, but with only 250 miles to go before we reach Cape Canaveral, we've got plenty of time to make it in time for flying home. We're heading 110 miles south tomorrow to Brunswick in Georgia in a 24-hour weather window before high winds return and have booked into a small marina there so we have easy access ashore.
Anyway, as we were wending our merry way back to the marina we passed a lake where there was a fisherman sitting by the bank. As we rode towards him I noticed a slight movement in the water. I called to Debra and asked her what she thought it was. We stopped and watched and sure enough it was our first alligator sighting. We stayed chatting to the fisherman and discovered this 'gator, all 6 feet or so of him, is a regular and hangs around waiting to steal the fish off the line when they are being reeled in.
The weather for the week ahead is very windy and so we're having to pick our days for sailing carefully, but with only 250 miles to go before we reach Cape Canaveral, we've got plenty of time to make it in time for flying home. We're heading 110 miles south tomorrow to Brunswick in Georgia in a 24-hour weather window before high winds return and have booked into a small marina there so we have easy access ashore.
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