A Tale of Two Chemists: St. Simons Island again

St. Simons Island again ... Tuesday 16^th April 2013

I wonder if those who make many trips on the ICW always stop at the same places. It seems likely to me. We went back to Fernandina Beach because we knew it and liked it. Leaving from there, weren’t we almost fated to end up at St. Simons?

The winds for today were forecast to be from the northeast. This made us think that a trip outside would be more or less right into the wind. So we opted for the joys of the ICW. Setting out in the fog added a certain something to the trip. Once the fog lifted, the marsh was revealed. Truly, it is lovely. We had some entertainment in the shape of Navy Harbor Patrol boats (many, all with guns fore and aft) and Coast Guard Boats (at least three, only one gun each). Later we heard of a Coast Guard Live Fire Exercise somewhere off shore. Maybe it’s just as well we stayed in the ditch. I wouldn’t want to be diverted by that kind of thing again.

I remember trying to explain why the ICW in Georgia was so painful—large tidal ranges, shallow water, currents running in all different directions. Today was like a slow motion replay. At one point as we were motoring along, we saw something like 7.2 ft on the depth sounder. We are anchored off St. Simons Island and sweating as the depth sounder winds down like a broken watch. At springs, there is an eight-foot tidal range here. Thankfully, it should be neap tides today. We thought the twelve-foot depth should be enough but . . . Then there was the current. It was with us at first, then against us. I think we saw five switches in the course of about forty miles.

Tomorrow, all being well, we will go outside on a bigger passage to Charlestown, SC. This ‘should’ take something like 24-30 hours. In the morning the wind will still be northeast. By afternoon, we are expecting easterly winds clocking round to the southeast into Thursday. This signals the approach of yet another cold front. The front should come through on Friday. According to the weather guru, Chris Parker, this system will bring northerly winds for about a week. This is the reason we want to get as far north as possible over the next couple of days. In preparation, we put the Dumb Dog on the foredeck. Now we are talking about preparing some sandwiches, getting snacks and foul weather gear to hand. The biggest questions remain unanswered—how to organize the watches and what to do about the seasickness medications.

Gloria

31 09.834 N, 81 25.107 W