Today was supposed to be the EASY day!

As I said yesterday, Fernandina is an interesting town with the railroad tracks running between the town and the marina. While I was ashore this morning the train went by and I was able to get a picture. They are very careful here and stop and the crossing to make sure everything is safe.

It was supposed to be a quiet and easy day. No need to wake up extra early and be out on the water at the crack of dawn. The plan was to cruise about 6 nm north instead of south, anchor off Cumberland Island and dinghy to the island. We got off the docks at Fernandina easy and turned north. It was a comfortable ride with little traffic and the currents were in our favor. We anchored off Cumberland Island and dealt with the finicky chain counter that has been an issue from the beginning............it wasn't counting the chain length. Fortunately, we had marked the chain in 25 foot increments and knew how much was out. This is critical in high tide areas like this. The difference between low and high tide can be up to six feet. We got the anchor set and used the longer of the two bridles we have. Six hours later and we are still staying put. That is success in anchoring. Cumberland Island is to our starboard and the Kings Bay submarine base is to our port. 

After getting anchored safely, we put the dinghy in the water to head over to the island. Things seemed amiss when we noticed a lot of water in the dinghy. It has a bilge pump that is supposed to keep it dry. We had enough juice in the battery to get the engine down, but not enough to get it started. Here we go again with the old adage, "everything on your boat is broken, you just don't know it yet!" Two issues now, 1) we can't go to the island, 2) we can't get the dinghy back onto the swim platform with the engine in the down position. After trying with no success to solve the problem myself, I called Towboat US  for help. The young lady on the other end of the line was helpful, but she really didn't know how things work while cruising and on anchor. She wanted an address and how do you give an address when your at anchor. We eventually got it worked out and she sent out a dispatch to the most southern Towboat US captain in Georgia. Unfortunately, he wasn't the closest, the Fernandina Beach guy was closest. Things eventually got worked out and a guy from Fernandina came to assist. He couldn't have been more helpful, except his jumper cables were bad and took forever to charge up the battery enough to get the engine running and the engine raised. He spent two hours with us. We gave up the idea of visiting the island and had to be satisfied with just getting the engine raised and the dinghy back on the swim platform. We will deal with the issue when we get to Jacksonville tomorrow. While waiting for the Towboat US captain to arrive, I contacted a Seakeeper dealer in Atlantic Beach about our malfunctioning Seakeeper and Chesapeake Yacht Center about a malfunctioning pump. We should be able to get those issues resolved over the next two months. Tomorrow is our last day on the water until late January. What should have been an easy and fun day today, became just another boat problem day causing us to miss the goals we had made. My patience has been tested and I can't say that I passed the test.