Sail Brunelle: Once again we bypass the byways of Georgia!

Our stay in St. Augustine was longer than usual because we wanted to wait for the McClelland family to arrive in FL. Katherine, Ryan, Zoe and Kinsey came to Jacksonville for Easter and when Pegg heard they were coming she suggested we invite the girls to the Easter Extravaganza put on yearly by her good friend Judith. I had attended three years ago and enjoyed it thoroughly - - - being the crafty sort and it promised even more crafty events than before. The girls drove down from Jax on Saturday and we made a day of it. Sorry I don't have any pictures, I was too busy crafting! and eating. It was great fun. Turnabout was fair play and we were asked to join Ryan's family for Easter Dinner. Turns out there were 28 of us! This included all families of the Maida clan, incluing all the in-laws (that's where we came in!) It turned out to be a lot of fun.

Monday found us ready to shove off even though the day was cold, gray and windy (from the North.) We headed off around 7 AM and headed up the "ditch" for Fernandina Beach. We had no trouble making it in spite of tides against us 90% of the time. We chose to anchor out a few miles shy of Fernandina Municipal Marina and the surrounding paper mills and found a quiet side creek. The current was very strong and the tide range was 6 feet, but the anchor held well.

These dock pilings give you a good idea of the tide range.

Dan threatened an early start and had me up and us on our way before sunrise. While he was raising the anchor I played with trying to catch the red flashing buoy at the creek entrance in the flash mode. I also like the look of the paper mill with the lights twinkling and steam curling. Finall the sun made it's appearance as we approached the Marina dock to take on fuel. The thing on stilts is a mystery to me!

We were done fueling by 7:15 AM and headed out the St. Mary's Inlet for an overnight adventure. Very little of pictoral interest happened on our trip from Florida to South Carolina, but Dan did get a good shot of some porpoises before we left Florida waters.

I did the math and although the GPS showed our trip was 240 nm, we went from Statute Mile Marker 720 to Statute Mile Marker 373 ( 347 miles) on the ICW. We checked and double checked the tide tables and gauged it so we arrived at Winyah Bay (the Georgetown Inlet) at noon, just as the current was heading in. It made the trip up the river and on to Osprey Marina much quicker than past trips.

The ocean portion of the trip was quite pleasant. The wind cooperated so we could sail or motor sail and the seas weren't bad and really calmed down by the time we arrived at the Inlet. I did get a picture at sunrise, but the sunset was blocked by clouds. We had traveled from St. Augustine in the company of several boats from Montreal and found ourselves in their company throughout our entire trip "outside". We chatted with them during the day and they called as the sun was setting to give us a report of the weather forecast from some aviator friends from Montreal. It was nice to have company for the whole trip.

As soon as we were in phone range we called Osprey Marina to see if they would have room for us if we arrived after hours. They said sure and promised to leave our "goodie" bag for us. As it turned out, we made it at 5:59 PM (they close at 6) and they greeted us, helped us tie up and delivered the goodies in person!

The trip up the Waccamaw River was delightful. I don't think we have taken the time to enjoy the scenery as much in the past. Dan had his camera out and captured lots of great shots. Some of the bird shots are from the trip up to Fernandina.

Sea birds of the southeast.

The Waccamaw River in springtime, including the neat old plane that was definitely flying "under the radar". He seemed to be enjoying the beautiful weather as much as we were.