Note – For some reason the AIS tracker didn’t work today and we’re still diagnosing why. That’s why the map still shows us in St. Simons. You may also have noticed from the mileage shown in the post title that we only went 7 miles today. This was strategic because of tide and weather conditions. We had to pass through a 2.7 mile stretch of the very shallow Jekyll Creek at high tide, which didn’t come until noon today. This creek is impassable for us at mid-tide or below. Since the creek was only a few miles beyond St. Simons, we couldn’t leave until late morning in order to time the tide correctly. Also, the next part of the route after Jekyll Creek is St. Andrews Sound which gets quite rough in moderate to heavy wind. Since the forecast for today, tonight and tomorrow is heavy wind, we’re now waiting here in Jekyll Island, an unplanned stop, for more favorable conditions to cross the Sound.
Another sleep-in day. The night herons were good neighbors until almost 7am. Then their barking and gargling became too loud for slumber. We were surprised and pleased to see that a local morning paper, The Georgia Times-Union, had been delivered to our gunwale, as well as a paper bag containing two fresh banana muffins. I guess night herons don’t like muffins, luckily for us.
The newspaper made sense out of a huge smoke plume noted on the water by all of us folks at the Marina yesterday. It was visible from sunup straight through the whole morning. It was located on the Fredericka River on the same approach to St. Simons that we traversed yesterday. It was too far away to see what was burning but the Marina rumor was that a boat had caught fire.
Today’s newspaper confirmed that the Coast Guard rescued 4 men and a dog from the 58 foot fishing vessel, Predator. Apparently the boat caught fire just before 4 am on the open water. The crew radioed the Coast Guard that they were abandoning ship and they all got off before the boat exploded! The human and canine crew sustained only minor injuries from what could easily have been a fatal event.
As we left the marina today an environmental recovery team was on site in their own specialized vessel. A Coast Guard helicopter repeatedly circled the wreck, of which only a charred spar remained protruding above the waterline. More as to how and why if it becomes available to us.
Just before Jekyll Creek, we once again gave way before a huge container ship chugging down the channel to the ocean.
The Creek was kind to us at high tide even when we veered a bit starboard to accommodate a passing trawler.
We are now tied up to the Jekyll Island face-dock with multiple other boats. We are all waiting for the high winds forecast over the next several days to pass before attempting St. Andrew’s Sound. This Sound is essentially a peek into the open ocean and can be very nasty under windy conditions. As this is being written at 4pm, the wind is already picking up with gusts into the mid-teens and some clouds are rolling in. We will be here at least through Sunday morning.
Once C Ghost was secure, we ate a quick lunch and walked into the Beach Village where preparations are underway for a huge Harley Davidson show and rally, and beautiful and unique bikes can be seen everywhere.
We bought some fresh greens and some grinder salt (our shaker salt has crystallized from the humidity like Lot’s wife) and Paula bought quick-cooking grits. Her plan is to try her own version of shrimp and grits sometime soon.
