Tuesday, February 11, Jekyll Island to Cumberland Island

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We were away from the dock at 9:40 AM with the wind and current straight up our ass, uh I mean stern. Jim, an off duty marina hand offered assistance and we said, 

“yes, thank you!” and Captain Bruce did a great job!

Off we go, crossing St Andrews Sound which can be a true bucking bronco, which we have experienced as well as a calm lake. Today it was 1-2' waves and slightly choppy so a great crossing! Ok for me with a short distance and Bella did fine though she was giving us the "look" and started the panting thing, just before she gets sick. I don't think she could've made it for much longer.

We were anchored by 1:30 and traveled 4 1/2 hours today so we could spend some time on the island. We went for a walk to the beach across the island but we didn't go through the fields where the horses generally graze. We didn't see any horses today but we did see tons of evidence on the ground of them being around earlier today.

 A beautiful evening and we hope to head out for a long trip tomorrow to St Augustine but we just saw on the news that we are expecting heavy FOG in the AM. We are not traveling through that!

The sunset scenes just get better and better!

 Watching the evening news and Bella with all her toys everywhere! 

28 miles today

Monday Feb 10, Jekyll Island GA

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Today was a down day and we spent the morning doing laundry, filling water tanks etc... before going off for another walk to the beach and lunch at the Wee Pub.

Feb 8 - 9, SC and GA

Saturday, Feb 8 

Bull Creek at Dafuskie Island, SC to Crescent River close 

to Doboy Inlet, GA

We planned on cruising about 50 miles today inshore as our offshore reports were conflicting, so better safe than not. Bella said "thank you!". She gets sea sick 😓

It was a nice day and we quickly questioned our decision to not go offshore which would make the run through Georgia a lot easier but by early afternoon, the winds had picked up quite a bit and we knew that we had made the right decision. 

We had a beautiful sunrise this morning.

Bruce at the anchor.

Anchor up at 7:15 AM and it was calm but very COLD! The outside temp was 35 this morning so that is a definite BRRRRR, though the flybridge is not totally enclosed, it was warm-ish.  The sun quickly warmed us all up! 

As we got closer to the Savannah River which is a BIG shipping lane on the winding ICW, we could see these monsters (container ships).

This is our 1st time to travel this part of the ICW in GA as we have always traveled offshore here so there was some new parts to us. Like Hell Gate. The best part of that was when we thought our engine was overheating and Bruce runs down to the ER while I'm at the helm. Then the hell 😈 part of Hell Gate opened up as the channel narrowed extremely with the red and green markers literally only 10' of our sides with mud flats shoaled in and a current running like the devil. I got us through it without the assistance of Captain Bruce and I was not able to take any photos of it. We only got down as little as 4' under the keel but we were inches from a mistake. It was dredged in October 2019.

There has been little ICW traffic , big or small but today we encountered this guy.

We were making good time so we kept on going and got a lot further than expected, anchoring at 5:30 and everything bedded down before dark so it was a good day. We are only a couple of miles from our offshore destination and we can definitely make Jekyll Island tomorrow and have already called to secure a spot at the marina.

Our anchor spot view. 

And the sunset

Then the moonrise!

The night was so calm and with the full moon, the cloud cover reflected down onto the water making it look like the clouds were sitting on the bottom. It was beautiful and eerie!

Anchored in Crescent River turning in at R156 marker.

MM643 approximately 

77.8 miles today

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Sunday, Feb 9

We didn't have enough cell service to post last night. 

Anchor was up and we were under way by 7 AM in hopes of getting to Jekyll Marina on the early side of the day. 

We had the moonrise and the sunrise on opposite ends of the boat again this morning. What a treat!

The Golden Ray. Remember the car carrying container ship that sunk in the St Simons Sound, GA last summer? Still there. Looks weird in the water.

All tucked in at the Jekyll Harbor Marina early afternoon. The trip only took us 5 hours today which was nice as yesterday was a 10 hour trip. We went for a long walk and look forward to great meal at Zachary's River House tonight.

And of course, an awesome sunset.

And an awesome dinner of snapper, shrimp and oysters at Zachary's River House.

The trip from home to Jekyll Island, GA so far. It is a long and winding road.

MM 684

Traveled 39 miles today

Feb 5-6-7, Hunkered down across from Dafuskie Island

Wednesday Feb 5

February 3, 7:26 AM

Toogoodoo 365 Series

www.rosiephillips.com 

Today was a true down day. It was again a bit cooler and windier than the day before. We did "house" chores and I painted while Bruce read. 

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Thursday Feb 6

We woke to some strong winds and a bit of rocking and rolling. No real rain here yet but the the second line will get us tonight. We had a beautiful sunrise! 

In the mean while, this storm is barreling across the country. Charlotte got hit with a couple of tornados and Caitlyn was driving right in the area of the F1. Her car was wind pushed onto the other lane. She was close to where she works so she ran in there for shelter. It was quite a scary event for her. With that knowledge, we were a bit anxious on what was to come but the day was pretty quiet here with some gusty winds and a bit of rain off and on until the evening. 

Just a dreary day here ...

The line of storms hit this area as well as the Charleston area about 9:30- 10:00 PM with a 65 mph in the Brunswick area going NE. Yep, right where we are but I think it was moving so fast that the worst of it ran south of us. The rain and winds were pretty strong, we didn’t go outside to clock it and the rain stopped about 1AM. We stopped watching the radar and anchor alarm about 11:30 and got ready for bed. The morning gusty winds woke us before 7 to check the anchor alarm and we had either moved about 20’ or the chain was really stretched out! News said we were having 45 mph winds then and for most of the day. We suspect that the anchor is very well buried by now. 

This is our anchor alarm. The little black dotted lines inside the green circle is how we have traveled around the anchor the last couple of days. (Zoom in if possible to see the tracks more clearly.)  The upper left corner is the time during the storm last night.

Today, I painted and we are planning our early morning departure from this joint. We are getting conflicting reports on winds and offshore waves for tomorrow so we have a plan A and B but will be on the move again.  

February 7, February Morning

Toogoodoo 365 Series

www.rosiephillips.com 

I have been working on a commission and at the rate it is going I will be hand delivering it to Florida! Today, I brought it back out to work on the water refelections. Still a work in progress. I'm thinking, am I done? 

Nope...

A sunset again, though brisk and blustery feeling out there! It is much nicer inside Summer Breeze where it is warm.

Back on the ICW highway tomorrow as we travel either through Georgia or offshore as much as possible.

Feb 4, 2020 - Staying put for a few days

Tuesday 

We made the decision last night to ride out the incoming weather the next couple of days right here. We contemplated going offshore today for the 87 or 89 mile run to Doboy Sound, where we have anchored before but thought that this was a better storm shelter. So, we stay until it stops raining and blowing, maybe till or through the weekend. 

It was cooler and windier then predicted which made us feel better about not being offshore today. It was nice enough to get the dinghy down and go to Dafuskie Island. We had read on Active Captain about a closed marina but a really good and fun restaurant so off we go for a midday meal. 

And it was a great find for us and will definitely try to keep it on our travels list. It’s right on the ICW and boater’s and dogs are welcome! It is a friendly and fun place for all ages. I mean, it has several great bar areas and a playground where the kids can go get lost! 

And the food is good. We had Kicken Shrimp and Mahi fingers.  

One of the most beautiful oak trees with heavy laden moss we've ever seen!

We were told to walk over to the old gullah cemetery

 Well that was our outing for the next several days. I think they will be painting and cooking days! 

Feb 2 - 3, 2020 Florida Cruise

It was Feb 4 last year that we left for Florida and the Abacos, Bahamas trip so a year later and almost to the date, we left the dock at 12:27 on a rising tide with the sun shining, though it is cool. 

Leaving the Toogoodoo Creek

Bella, the 1st mate is along for this trip. 

It’s Super Bowl Sunday and our plan is to maybe catch some commercials at anchor somewhere on our way to Beaufort. 

We had all kind of plans for short trips to and around Charleston over the fall, but Summer Breeze has been tied to the dock since we returned from the Abacos last July except for a maintenance trip to Marine Propulsion in August.  She got some bottom paint, the stabilizers serviced, a thru hull seacock replaced on the sea chest, installed a dinghy davit brace, changed the zinc anodes and had her hull waxed. (Hmmmm...I would love to get serviced like that!) 

Jasmine's davit brace

During the fall, she also got new fender covers, the teal rails varnished, a bilge pump repair and bilge hi level alarms installed, a new Splendide washer/dryer, some leaky Racors rebuilt (which we hope was the cause of one of our generators shutting down), AND Jasmine’s motor got her carburetors overhauled (again).  

So off we go on our tour of the east coast of Florida, the Keys and over to the Gulf Coast. Thanks for tagging along! 

We only got as far as the Ashepoo River and we decided to call it a day at 4:00. We will be ready to go through the Ashepoo Coosaw cut and on to Beaufort tomorrow where we will fuel up. 

We had a quiet night, not much cell service so no hotspot for blog posting or tv streaming. We did get some antennae reception for regular tv but no super bowl. Bennett’s Point and B & B Seafood are right around the point. 

Our Mileage odometer started today at 1519

22 miles traveled today. 

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Feb 3,  Monday 

Anchor up at 8:40. It was a really quiet night with great protection from a westerly or n-westerly wind. 

We got to the Beaufort Downtown Marina which is now called Safe Harbor at 11:30. We took on 400 gallons of diesel, which took 1 1/2 hours and took Bella for a grass walk. It’s warm and beautiful today for the trip. 

We passed Hilton Head in the ICW and at 5:00 we stopped in one of our favorite quiet anchorages in Bull Creek off of Bull Island and Dafuskie Island. Tonight we study the weather and charts and decide whether we stay, go offshore tomorrow or go the ICW. There is some weather coming so we want to be ready for it.

49 miles today. 

71 miles total.