Travel Tips

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Fixed bridge with old bridge next to it

Running the ranges is hard when they are northbound ranges - the scuba box gets in the way of seeing whether you are on the range. Coming down past Brunswick we saw the new suspension bridge that is half built. Bob wants to know if we are going there, and it was hard to tell from the charts, but we weren't.

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Anchored Ship

There is a big ship anchored in the channel, with a lighthouse beyond.

We intend to go to Jekyll Island Marina. We hear CHARISMA calling them on the radio. There is a big power boat behind us which does not want to pass.

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Marina from dockmaster's office

It turns out to be ENDLESS VACATION from Annapolis, and they want to go to the same marina.

The marina is just past the new fixed bridge and the old swing bridge, which is still there for fishing, but with the swing part taken out.

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RosalieAnn on the gas dock - fixed bridge behind

Visiting Jekyll Island

The fuel dock is on the north end, almost in the shadow of the bridge. Fortunately, the current is away from the bridge. The picture here was taken on a subsequent trip when we spent the night on the fuel dock.

CHARISMA is there in the best easiest spot getting fuel and that restricts the area that we have to put the boat into. But Bob eventually maneuvers us into the dock and we get 25 gallons of fuel.

They put us on the outside dock down at the other end. Directly behind us is a boat named WHIPPORWILL with a dinghy named TWHEE. We are tied up by noon, after 25.9 miles at 6.7 mph for a total of 748 nm.

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Bow at Sunset Dec 5. 2000

I talked to Jan and Hank who are leaving their boat here for the winter and driving home. Unfortunately, no local cars can be rented for a one way trip, nor can they be taken out of state. So they got a ride to the airport, rented a car, and then have to go to Savannah to get a car that they can drive to MD (they live in Columbia) and drop off there, and then drive back to drop of the local car. We have free cable TV, and we borrow the courtesy car and get groceries and also got ice. The grocery is small and doesn't have any fresh veggies except for salad type like lettuce and tomato.

We had Brunswick stew at the restaurant for lunch. Bob can't understand with all the shrimping going on how come shrimp is so expensive. Local shrimp is almost 9$/lb.

I downloaded e-mail twice, and after the office closed at 6 I tried to use the pay phone (only one) to do pocketmail, but the phone and the pocketmail refused to talk.

While waiting I talked to some guys who were phoning their wives each night - they were taking a trawler down. Bob had bought a new heater in Charleston (I think) and he started using it tonight - it has a thermostat so I won't be tempted to turn it off like I did in Kilkenny Creek!!!

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Wreck south of Jekyll Island toward the ocean

Dec 6, 2000 Crunching rocks

We've decided to go out Brunswick Inlet into the ocean to go down to the St. Mary's River. This will be our first venture out into the ocean. The weather forecast seems good - light north winds are forecast.

We both have trouble sleeping (I keep thinking about going 'outside', so we wake up cranky. So after the power boat ahead of us leaves, we start off. We go around the south side of the island, which has the mast of a shrimp boat wreck sticking up. How did that happen? Will that be our fate too?

The first part of the trip - almost out the channel - is also used by the ICW, and that's fine.

But the books say that one shouldn't exit at this point without local knowledge. There is a LONG line of breakers (marked on the chart, and visible with binoculars) extending down from the north on each side of the channel. We see a fair number of shrimp boats out near the channel.

Bob gets out the staysail for the first time in awhile, and then gets all the sails up. We motor sail, but the winds are quite light - not the 10-15 knots that was forecast.

Bob takes in the jib and then starts fooling with a way to keep the boom over to one side so that we won't have an accidental jibe.

Suddenly I notice that the breaker line is very close and it is getting shallower.

I yell "Breakers, Breakers", at Bob. He doesn't understand the situation, and apparently thinks he's too close to the buoy on our starboard. The depth alarm goes off and he's still going the wrong direction.

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Then WHAM, we come down hard on something - probably a sand bar - I hope not rocks. The breaking waves wash us off and then back down again. We hit at least 3 times really teeth-jarring hard. Eventually the waves lift us and Bob guns the motor, and we are over on the other side.

Bob hopes aloud that the rudder is OK. We idle along because there are two shrimp boats with their nets across where we want to go, and then resume speed. Bob checks the engine room, and all appears to be OK. I take comfort in the fact that these boats are called 'coral crunchers'.

We have 7.5 knots of wind from the NE for a little while. No particular waves. Eventually, Bob gives in and puts the sails away and we motor.

When I snorkeled around the boat in Key West and the Dry Tortugas, I report to Bob that all the paint (both the base red paint and the top blue coat) down to the bare white fiberglass has been scraped off the front end of the keel up 3 or 4 inches on each side. I took a picture of the results when we hauled the boat in the spring of 2001.

Next: Fernandina Beach