Darien, GA 31 22.040 N, 81 26.112 W

Darien, GA Monday April 23

We departed Umbrella Creek this morning after two nights at anchor. It blew like a SOB just about all day Sunday and Sunday night. Our anchor was holding OK, but I was a bit spooked by the strength of the gusts that when it was time for bed I sat up in the Pilot House with a couple of pillows and the iPad. It was so black out that I could not see the shore, but the iPad showed our location down to a couple of feet so after every howling gust I had a look to be sure we had not dragged. During the afternoon Deidre and I had gone up on the Flying Bridge and removed all the plastic to reduce our "sail". I should have had more faith, Tide Hiker held her ground. By about 2 AM the wind seemed to die down so I went to sleep. I woke up at about 4AM and all was calm, so I went below to bed.

The forecast for today was not much better, but we just wanted to get moving. It seems easier to move that to park, so we recovered the anchor and were on our way by 9AM. We had a lot of chain out - maybe 150' in 15' of water, and the tide and wind were still rolling, so the recovery took some time, with me on the bow and Deidre at the controls. She is getting quite deft at moving the boat towards the anchor, and we got it up without blowing the breaker.

It was good to get underway. It was sunny but so windy and cold (the storm had reduced the night time temp to high 40's and when we got underway it was only 52 degrees) that I decided to run the boat from the Pilot House - the first time ever. We got away early because the tide would peak about 10:30 AM and we had a couple of "trouble spots" to get over with the extra water.

The Georgia part of the ICW is a bit tricky. There are only a few towns and the ICW winds thru the marsh and tidal rivers. I steer the boat following the day markers and the chart plotter, and at the tricky spots Deidre sits behind me with the iPad, calling instructions. As I have mentioned previously, Tide Hiker is a bit windy, and seems to be tipped 10 degrees depending upon where the wind is coming from. It bothers me.

After the last couple of nights we did not feel like anchoring out again. There is virtually no civilization around here, but Deidre found the historic town of Darien mentioned in a few of the cruising books. It is an old town, about 10 miles inland up the winding Darien River. They have a municipal dock, so we turned off the ICW at Day Marker Green 183 and headed inland.

Tide Hiker in Darien

It took about 10 calls to get anybody to answer the phone. But eventually someone did, and yes, we could park the boat at the city dock but there would be no one there to take our lines. That makes it hard for  us - the wind is still blowing, the tide is racing, and Deidre does not do well jumping from a moving boat to dock. But as luck would have it there were a couple of "locals" crabbing off the dock, and they helped us - ever so slowly, but it got accomplished.

These days Darien is a bit of a back water, but the town has an interesting history. It was settled by Scottish Highlanders in the early 1700's and a fort was built to defend against the Spanish in Florida. The Spanish were the losers at the battle of Bloody Marsh in 1742 but the British burned the place down during the revolution. There was obviously a lot of money in cotton and timber that the town was rebuilt, only to be burned down by Sherman in the civil war. Which just goes to show how crazy the human race has become.

Safe arrival snooze

Tonight we will eat at "Skipper's Fish Camp". As you can see from the previous photo, we are right next to the shrimp fleet, so the sea  food should be OK.

There is only one small complication. I just put a blanket on the Admiral, and she is out like a light.