Nov 13,14








Factory Creek oyster beds seen at low tide

Here you can see the tidal range here in Fatory Creek

We moved to an anchorage in Factory Creek today as it looks like it will be a few days before we get a weather window for Fernandina. It has been a blustery few days as the weather has turned pretty nasty, it is cold, rainy and we have winds of above twenty knots. A good time to hunker down and wait. Saturday the 14^th the weather has moderated and if tomorrow looks good we will be leaving. I dingied into the marina to go to Publix one last time and tonight we will secure the motor and dingy and prepare to leave at 0dark thirty tomorrow as NOAA says the weather should be perfect.

Nov 15

We upped anchor at 0640 and got a bridge opening through Lady Island bridge. There is a no wake zone south of the bridge for the first mile or so and we had to throttle back to 3 knots. As we entered Port Royal sound we passed Parris Island ( a Marine Corps Training Center. The sun was out, the sky was clear and the wind was out of the Northeast at 3 to 5 knots. The seas were smooth with only about a 2 foot swell running about 10 seconds apart. All in all it was almost like being on the ICW. We even had snags to dodge. .

We spotted several logs floating in our path as ran along the 3 mile limit ( they must have been uprooted by the high winds on the 13^{th )}.

Last year as we went outside on the reverse course at night we had to dodge a lot of very large ship traffic. This year during the day I understand why. Savannah Ga. must be a large ship terminal as there were around 6 large tanker, container, and cargo ships clustered around the outside of the channel entrance


Last year as we went outside on the reverse course at night we had to dodge a lot of very large ship traffic. This year during the day I understand why. Savannah Ga. must be a large ship terminal as there were around 6 large tanker, container, and cargo ships clustered around the outside of the channel entrance. Needless to say we did a lot of dodging to get through the area.

The sea remained calm and the weather warm and comfortable. Later in the the afternoon we spotted several pods of dolphins, one group of which decided our wake was a playground. The water was clear and we could see them swimming up and then jumping through our wake.

As dusk was approaching we ran into a vast area of sea grass. Even though we were more than 3 miles off shore and in 60 feet of water it looked like we were going through a swamp with the tips of the grass above the water. The grass extended from horizon to horizon and I was worried that the fresh water intake would get fouled. We arrived at the channel to Fernandina at about 2300 and started in. I noticed a green light in front of us that at first I thought was a channel marker until I realized that the light was about 50 feet up in the air and then I noticed it was moving relative to the other lights. I slowed down and as I got in behind the light it turned white. I realized it was a sail boat with his mast top tri color on! As I fell in behind suddenly the white light went our and there was a tense few minutes as he turned on his deck navigation lights. We finally put the anchor down at 0030 in the area between markers red 8 and red 10 and settled for the night.

Pictures from Fernandina anchorage