On Thursday, October 23rd, we left our anchorage at Queen Bess Creek around 9:30 a.m. and travelled the remaining three hours to Bob & Stephanie's home. They live about one hour off the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway up the North Newport River and, as promised, were there when we arrived to catch a line and help us get tied up to their wonderful dock, complete with power and water!
As you cruise this part of the world, sea gulls sometimes gather off the stern to eat small fish and shrimp that get stirred up in our wake. The Captain also feeds them stale crackers and then wonders why he gets so much poop on the boat - go figure!
"September Song" and "Life's2Short" share Bob & Stephanie's dock. Thanks again for letting us tie up for a few days!
Our original plan was to arrive late Thursday afternoon, but it was already very windy and, at Stephanie's recommendation, we decided to motivate earlier so we could get through St. Catherine's Sound before the winds reached gale force, as was predicted for later in the day. After a lazy and relaxing afternoon on the boat, Bob & Stephanie took us to the nearby Sunbury Crab Company for a casual, laid-back dinner.
On Friday we borrowed Bob's truck and drove to Hinesville, GA, about 20 miles away, to make a Wal-Mart run. It was a very nasty windy and rainy day and we both got wetter than we wanted to hauling our purchases to the boat - especially the Captain who did most of the hauling! That evening Bob & Stephanie invited us to their house for an excellent steak dinner as it continued to blow and pour rain outside.
Late Saturday morning I did a couple of loads of laundry at Bob & Stephanie's and then we untied "Life's2Short" from the dock and followed "September Song" to Blackbeard Island where we were anchored by 6:30 p.m. The trip through Blackbeard Creek to the anchorage took about an hour after we left Sapelo Sound. The creek is narrow and winding and can only be accessed within a few hours of high tide, at least for boats like ours, but we were anchored just across the sand dunes from the Atlantic beach - a rare treat!
The entrance to Blackbeard Creek.
A bald eagle perches on a gravel bar in Blackbeard Creek.
As you can tell from the two shots below, it is a narrow and winding path to our anchorage.
We had a beautiful sunset our first night at the Blackbeard anchorage.
Bob & Stephanie joined us aboard "Life's2Short" that evening for homemade seafood gumbo and cornbread. The gumbo was given to us by the owner of the Demopolis Yacht Basin who makes a huge batch each fall for his annual gumbo-feed. At any rate, Bob & Stephanie seemed to really enjoy it and we were happy to share with them!
Late Sunday morning we went for a two-hour walk on the beach and found several nice shells - lettered olives as well as sand dollars, starfish, sea urchins, moon snails, whelks and clams. It was a very nice day, sunny and near 70 degrees with very little wind and we had miles and miles of beach all to ourselves. That evening we joined Bob & Stephanie on "September Song" for another nice dinner and introduced them to Catch Phrase, one of our favorite games.
Sunrise over the dunes that separate us from the Atlantic Ocean.
Just beyond the 20-foot sand dunes lies the beach, the subject of our morning exploration.
Stephanie, Bob, Brenda and our four-legged friends Cassie and Godiva (Bob & Stephanie's girls).
The view toward Cabretta Inlet.
We had a wonderful time with Bob & Stephanie and were sad to see them leave Monday morning, but the weather was forecast to turn nasty again with gale force winds out of the northwest by afternoon and they, understandably, wanted to get home before it got any worse. We are very grateful to Bob & Stephanie for inviting us to their home and allowing us to stay on their dock, use their vehicle and laundry facilities and for sharing this exceptional anchorage with us. What wonderful people, generous hosts and great new friends! You can check out their blog at http://septembersong-bobandstephanie.blogspot.com/.
After Bob & Stephanie left, we also decided to pull anchor and ended up tying up to a nice floating dock we had passed on the way in that is part of the Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge headquarters. There are a couple of houses on the land, but apparently no one lives there this time of the year so we had the place all to ourselves.
What a great place to spend a few chilly days!
By noon it had gotten quite windy so we stayed pretty close to the boat all day. Todd did some fishing off the dock and caught a small flounder and three sea trout. Since it was forecast to be in the mid-30's overnight we made use of the 110-volt outlet we found at the dock and ran an extension cord to the boat so we could at least plug in a space heater.
It has been a while since we had some of the Captain's fresh-caught seafood!
Tuesday was still windy and in the mid-50's, but it was sunny and the wind was from the northwest, so we headed east on Blackbeard Island and followed the trail about three-quarters of a mile to the beach. We then followed the beach north two miles where we intersected with another trail that eventually took us back to the dock. We were both worn out by the time we made it back to "Life's2Short," three hours and more than five miles later!
Beautiful scenery on our way to the beach.
This area of the beach on Blackbeard Island is called the bone yard. Can you figure out why?
Tom Hanks had "Wilson," the Captain found "Mitre!"
Wednesday was sunny and near 60 and somewhat less windy, but other than Todd doing a little fishing off the dock we basically just relaxed on the boat. We decided to move back to the anchorage Thursday morning and found that it was still very windy. Todd took the dinghy to shore for a brief visit and said there was blowing sand on the beach. He also did some more fishing in the area and caught a redfish to add to the flounder and sea trout. Way to go, Captain!
It was not as cold Friday morning, probably in the mid-40's, but the wind just wouldn't give us a break so we decided to try an anchorage in the Duplin River about 20 miles south. Bob & Stephanie had told us about a community of Gullah that lives near the river and we were hoping to pay them a visit. For those who are not familiar with the term, "Gullah" are African descendents who live in the Low Country (coastal) region of South Carolina and Georgia and have their own language (creole) and culture. Unfortunately, the north wind was whistling down the Duplin River so we gave up on that idea and went a few miles further south to anchor in Back River for the evening. We were still somewhat exposed to the north wind but not nearly as bad as in the Duplin River.
Saturday was a warm (60's) sunny day with more north wind, which caused it to be rather rough in St. Andrew Sound. We covered 45 miles in about six hours and were anchored by 4:00 p.m. in Brickhill River. On Sunday we crossed the Georgia-Florida state line and took a mooring ball ($15/night) at Fernandina Beach. The north wind was still nasty and showed no signs of letting up. We dinghied to shore about 3:30 Sunday afternoon and spent a few hours walking around town before settling on a Spanish/Portuguese restaurant called Espana for dinner. We had a couple of appetizers and shared an entree, thoroughly enjoying everything we tried. The food and service were both wonderful!
Some of the sights in Fernandina Beach, a wonderful stop if you get the chance!
Didn't we see this V.W. van in Puerto Rico this past February?
We had planned to continue south on Monday but we woke up to a dismal, gray and even windier morning and decided to stay on the mooring ball another day. Besides, the Captain was really jonesing for shrimp and grits and the restaurant that a couple of people recommended was closed Sunday evening so we thought we would make another trip into town Monday evening to satisfy the Captain's craving. Unfortunately, the weather was so nasty we elected to stay on the boat and forego the trip to town.
Tuesday we were up and underway early with a stop at Florida Petroleum to top off with $2.91 per gallon diesel fuel. By 8:00 a.m. we were on our way south to Jacksonville, and five hours later we were tied to the dock at Jacksonville Landing where we spent a quiet afternoon and evening.
Our nighttime view of Jacksonville Landing.
Today is Wednesday, November 5th, and the weather is still cloudy, though not as gloomy as it has been. And we don't have the coastal winds to deal with here which is a huge bonus! Jim & Sherel aboard "Sandpiper" are docked nearby and have offered to give us a ride to the grocery store this afternoon to do a little reprovisioning. We met Jim & Sherel this past May in the Exumas and they have been docked in Jacksonville since returning from the Abacos this summer.
We will probably leave Jacksonville on Friday or Saturday and continue upstream on the St. John's River toward Sanford where we plan to winter at Sanford Boat Works. Much of the St. John's is remote so our next blog update will most likely be from Sanford, depending on the strength of our Internet signal along the way. But we are looking forward to having "Life's2Short" in fresh water again!
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