I like to pilot the boat from the Flying Bridge. I can see the world better from up there, and its just "more outside". Deidre is not so keen because its high, and when the boat pitches around she feels a bit insecure. But today was special, because we were attacked by marsh flies, AKA horse flies. There were a lot of them and they bite you if you lower your guard, so both of us retreated inside.
Just about all the Georgia coast line is marsh, and it extends deep into the interior. There are pockets of "civilization", but not much. If you are in the right mood, then it can be beautiful and intriguing. If you are fighting off big biting flies, then maybe not so much. There are few signs of civilization and very few lights at night.
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| Anchored in a tidal creek for the night |
Deidre is Amazing.
Last night we had sweet and sour chicken for dinner. Monday
night we had pork loin with roasted potatoes. When navigation gets awkward, Deidre sits behind
me in the RPH and calls the course corrections. When we anchor the boat she
runs the boat from the flying bridge while I mess with the anchor and chain.
When we dock she handles the lines and calls instructions to me. When we go to
bed she says “Don’t worry about the wind, we are fine”. What a woman!
A bit of traffic.
We saw a bit of traffic today, and a couple of bridges. We needed to overtake this barge - easier said than done because he was running about 7 kts and we were running at about 8 kts, so the whole process seemed to take hours. I talked to the driver on the radio, and he was pleasant enough, but we were not his concern. As we drew alongside, we were intrigued by the items on the barge, so radioed the tug and asked the captain what they were. He responded "No clue, something for the defense department". (Maybe I should not publish this photo!)
Today we ran for only 5.6 engine hours (Take almost an hour from that for dropping and recovering the anchor) and made it to St. Augustine creek by about 4 PM. We are still being dogged by wind. It is really starting to piss me off. It does not bother me much when we are underway, but finding a decent protected anchorage with enough depth difficult. Today we are in a creek that is barely wide enough plus it is used by local boat traffic and they seem upset that we have parked our ample beam in “their” channel. The positive side is that we are becoming a better team at anchoring, and Deidre is really picking up how to handle the boat controls.
I had a snooze on the couch after dropping the anchor and so we did not sit for dinner in the RPH until about 7PM. As we ate, I was sure I could see the bank "sliding past" - this observation was quickly verified by the GPS. The bloody wind and the tide flow was teaming up on our anchor and it was losing. The dinner table was quickly abandoned as we jumped to the "get the engines running and the anchor in before we are blown aground" mode. As we got the anchor up we then became aware (across the marsh) of this "big old bloody ship" heading our way. No mind we were in a "named anchorage" (whatever that means) and here was this 200' long rusty ship heading our way, filling the whole creek. Fortunately we were underway and could maneuver, so I hailed "it" on the radio to make a passing plan - no answer - and I hailed 4 times with the same result. So we just headed for the bank and got out of the way. As it went by it became apparent that it was some sort of offshore "Casino" cruiser.
That was it for us. Big tide, lots of wind, bad holding and traffic. We decided to move, late or not. Deidre had picked out another potential anchorage about 5 miles away but on the other side of the Savannah River, so we headed for that. We crossed the Savannah river in the dusk, it seemed a complicated route, and we did not run into any container ships. It was dark when we finally made it to the Wright River and we dropped anchor in the dark and it "took" first try. All a bit nerve wracking, but it was a better spot so we were set for the night. Happy ending.
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