Tortuga Tour Day 3: St. Simons/Andrews Sounds and Cumberland Island

We turned in for the night last night after finishing the day’s journal, checking the anchor, making sure the anchor light was on, talking with parents and opening windows and portholes.  It was quite a lovely evening.  The partial moon was bright in the clear sky and falling asleep took little time.  Vacation mode is beginning to set in.

Those of us over 60 usually wake up once a night.  I awoke to the wind blowing and a chill setting in.  Again, there was a need to close the windows and portholes.  It’s a good thing there were extra blankets.  The remainder of the night was cozy and warm. 

However, the alarm sounded time to rise because a longer travel day was planned.  The power of a warm, cozy bed was very strong, but the urge to be underway won.  It was downright chilly!!  This morning’s need for hot coffee was intense!!  Ah, but once the coffee was in hand there was a glorious sunrise to savor and appreciate along with the coffee.  A flock of pelicans gracefully landed near the boat to complete the beautiful scene.  This is what many of us call a God Moment.

Breakfast eaten, engine checked, and dishes washed and stowed, it was time to pull anchor and embark.  Our teamwork was successful once again and this time the Admiral kept the wheel until we were out of South River and well on to the ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway).

Along the way we encountered many boats (Snowbirds) heading North.  They were a parade of many.  We are a parade of one.  I took the wheel a couple more times.  The only problem with that was I seemed to pick the shallow waters and made the low depth alarm sound.  Some might interpret this as a problem with the channel.  Others might choose the pilot steering the boat.  It shall remain a mystery though I am going with the channel.

The waters were relatively smooth today even though there was still wind.  That is, until we turned into St. Andrew’s Sound.  Thankfully we were in the sound a shorter time than the ocean on Tuesday and nothing was in position to fall to the floor.  My discomfort was short lived, and the whine didn’t have time to be expressed.  St. Andrew’s on a sunny day like today is actually quite beautiful and that did not go unnoticed.

While we were in St. Simon’s Sound, we passed an operation taking place that gratefully you rarely see.  A large sunken vessel was being salvaged—see the captain’s comments, below.

We are now anchored for the night next to Cumberland Island, another favorite spot and not just ours alone (see picture showing the line of anchored boats with similar ideas). Cumberland Island is a barrier island for the Georgia Southeast Coast.  It has an incredible history which includes some Carnegies.  The only way to get to the island is by boat and there is a Cumberland Island ferry which makes daily runs.  It is a fairly large island with a number of available activities.  You might enjoy reading more about it online (https://www.nps.gov/cuis/index.htm).

Just a few of the boats anchored with us by Cumberland Island:

Captain’s Comments:

The Admiral did great job driving the boat and caught some things today that I might have missed.  You might recall a tragedy a few years ago when the 656’ cargo ship Golden Ray overturned with its cargo of 4000 cars in St. Simons Sound (Brunswick, GA).  The coast guard reported inadequate ballast tank filling as the cause; a good operating team would have reported that unsafe condition to the captain prior to leaving port (and the captain would have listened!).   When we went by today, the ship was being salvaged by being cut into sections with a giant chain saw:

Before we left Port Royal, I took this picture of a boat whose captain had apparently lost focus on which span of the bridge he was under (some of which were too low for him):

Always worth taking advantage of those no additional cost lessons.

And when (enough of) everything goes right, you can enjoy the gift and promise of a peaceful sunrise.

Peace

Fred