Heading North

Yes, we were headed north again.  December.  Winter.  This was not the way to the Bahamas that we had intended.

We booked up towards Pine Island, but we were so early, we continued to Sister’s Creek, and hopefully a spot on the public dock.  Anchoring at Sisters would be a challenge.  There’s lots of current, and the depths at the anchorages are sometimes not well charted.  Whew, there was room at the dock.

The winds and current were calm enough for us to try out our new electric dinghy motor. It has 1.5 horse power and is very light.

Ever heard of a nor’easter?  We have now experienced one.  Once we got to the dock, we had a nor’easter start up.  Upwards of 30 knots of wind pinned us hard for two nights.  Our fenders were working hard to prevent damage.  On the second morning, the winds eased to under 10 knots a little after sunrise, so we took the  opportunity to escape the dock and continue north.  The tides and currents gods were on our side.

We made it all the way back to the Cumberland Island ancorage, just a few miles north of Fernandina.  We were trying to get a slip for a month in or near Brunswick so we could regroup and recoup, and maybe get some visits in with relatives over Christmas.

As luck would have it, we had used up our luck.  No slips.  We were able to snag three nights at Jekyll Island marina to give our mechanic time to fix our coolant leak.  Jekyll Island Marina has a hot tub amongst other amenities, according to their website.  Maybe we will leverage that amenity for some recouping.

But that’s tomorrow’s journey.  This evening, our anchor is dug in, holding us against the easing 20 knot winds of our first nor’easter.