Transiting Georgia 11-11-11

It's been more than a week and a half since I last added to this blog. We have been traveling, but I just didn't get anything down. Part of the reason has been an ongoing and worsening engine problem that we will get addressed in St. Augustine next week. With that clouding my focus, no blog entries were added. Thus endeth the excuses. We're now anchored at Cumberland Island in southern Georgia just about five miles from the Florida line. Because of the engine issue, we chose not to do any overnights in the ocean. Of course, given the weather over the past two weeks, we wouldn't have chosen to go out anyway. This is our fourth trip south and only the first one in which we sailed on the ICW through Georgia as we headed south. In the past we've avoided it because of reported shallow areas with lots of tidal current and tides as high as 9 feet in places. Last spring we did do the inside route, again due to weather on the ocean. But we were in a hurry to get back to Virginia, so we didn't notice much...just plodded along as best we could. This time south we passed through Georgia and took our time – in part because the engine issue caused us to move more slowly and partly because it was important to go through certain areas at mid tide or better. Our days tended to end early, and we took time to see what we were passing through. What a beautiful area, this coastal Georgia. It's as pretty as any of the ICW we've traveled. We go through wild areas with little evidence of civilization. We see lots of birds, and dolphins are daily coming by to say “hi”. I know it sounds silly, but whenever we see them, they are aiming right for the boat. Today we could see them playing in our bow wave. Oh and by the way, the shallow areas, if taken at the right tide, are no worse than many other areas in the Carolinas. Today we went ashore on Cumberland Island after arriving around 1 PM. We walked the beach collecting shells. We saw live welk hiding in the sand and some we thought were empty shells but turned out to be home to hermit crabs. Then we left the beach and headed to marshes where we saw spoonbills, storks, egrets, herons, ibises and other water birds. From there it was across the island where we saw wild turkeys, wild horses and deer. What a great walk! We're finally learning to stop more often to smell the roses along the way. Did I mention we were just north of Florida. I think I may have been mistaken. At 8:45 PM, it's already down to 47 outside. It's a toasty 64 inside but dropping. We have quilts, so we'll be OK. The weekend is supposed to be in the mid 70s. Can't wait. Captain Bob Carpe Diem