Two Days on the High Seas

There was no blog yesterday as we had a long day cruising from Charleston to Hilton Head via the ocean. It was a little choppy, but we have been in much worse and got through it fine. There was little traffic leaving Charleston, but we did see a NOAA ship heading out for some type of research activity. The waves were heavy enough to spray the whole boat with salt water leaving it a crusty mess. We were pretty exhausted once we arrived in Hilton Head, but we had to load up with fuel, pump out and wash down the boat. We went for a little walk around the marina and ran into a couple that we met at Dowry Creek last week. While talking to them, a couple from Osprey Point came walking down the dock. These things are fairly common among those cruising up and down the ICW.

Today we left Palmetto Bay Marina in Hilton Head right after sunrise. It was a beautiful day and the water was much calmer. We traveled over 100 miles to Fernandina and only saw a couple of boats and a few large commercial ships. The boat ran well for the seven hour trip, but the Fernandina Inlet was a little choppy with a swift outgoing current. It took a little extra power to fight it and maintain headway.

We got to the Fernandina Harbor Marina and hailed them on the radio. They asked to hold up for a few minutes while they moved a sailboat down to make space for us. We finally got docked into the tightest space I have ever been in. Only a foot or two to spare fore and aft. Our anchor was hanging over the boat in front of us. I'm not sure how we actually docked with the wind and current, but we did and the whole process looked pretty good. It could have been an embarrassing situation, but not this time. 

Fernandina is a conundrum, a quaint town with nice shops and restaurants, surrounded by big noisy industry. The docks are at the foot of the main street and separated by train tracks that see frequent activity from the surrounding industry. It was lit up and decorated for the holidays and many of the shops had Christmas window displays. Even with relatively cold weather, a number of the restaurants were open with outdoor seating and live music entertainment.

We are only about 25 miles from our final destination in Jacksonville, but tomorrow we will head a few miles north to anchor for a night at the Cumberland Island National Seashore, part of the National Park System. Hopefully we will get a chance to dinghy over to the island.