Month: April 2018

We’re in Wilmington NC for a few days. Here are some random photos from the last few days up the ICW.

Well we got to Jekyll Island but there was no room at the marina so we anchored out overnight just off the channel. There was a storm coming in and we rode it out “on the hook” as they say. We have a really good, strong anchor and have gotten fairly proficient at setting it so we weren’t unduly concerned even tho we were getting wind gusts in the 40k-50k range. We anchored early in the day, watched the tidal changes and knew we had enough water. There were a couple other boats anchored with us one being a smaller trawler next to us.

Once the storm hit and we were getting the winds, we noticed that the boat next to us (now in front of us) had broken loose and was drifting directly for our boat sideways to our bow. It was raining so hard you could barely see but we hit our horn a few times and got their attention. At that point all we could do was watch as the captain scrambled to gain control of his boat and move it to a safer location and reset the anchor. It was a tense 10-15 minutes and he missed our boat by only a few feet, a couple times.

So it was a nice moment the next morning when we pulled into the Jekyll Island Marina for a few nights to let the weather calm.

We’ve also caught up with  friends on Last Mistake that will be traveling offshore with us tomorrow up to Hilton Head. Fingers crossed for a pleasant, calm day!

Several people have asked why we prefer to run offshore rather than coming up the ICW.

The best way to explain it is that the ICW is like taking the local train versus the high speed rail (offshore). It’s scenic but it’s slow and crowded, especially on the weekends. Sometimes the weather dictates the local route as the only option tho unless Isabella and I want to be really sick.

Another issue is that although the channel is supposed to be dredged to 10 feet in depth at low tide we’ve run into problems the last two days with shoaling and less than 5 feet of depth. As our draft is 5.5 ft this presents a problem. We are picking our way thru and paying close attention to the tides. We’ve still managed to bump the bottom a few times.

During a particularly dicey section we came upon a boat about our size grounded in the mud waiting for a tow boat. In addition to our garmin maps we also have something called “active captain” on the ipad that allows comments from other boats that have traversed this way, saving us a few times.

We’re going to go as far as Jekyll Island and stop for a couple days for a window to go back offshore. There are sections of the Georgia ICW we just won’t even attempt with this boat.

This entry is overdue and I have no excuse except depression over leaving the Bahamas. It was a wonderful trip and we look forward to heading back that way in the fall….

March 31st we overnighted on Paradise Island on Nassau before heading north. Casino, restaurants and shops galore. Lots of really big boats too. Reminded me of a mini Las Vegas.

The next day saw us headed to Chubb Cay. A large pod of dolphins visited with us, surfing the bow wave for about ten minutes. They were beautiful to watch and we’ve never had so many visit at one time before.

We anchored just south of Chubb on Hog Cay. The water was the most pristine we’ve seen yet. You could clearly see the fish and a ray on the bottom through 15 feet of water. Needless to say we swam and snorkled a lot both that day and the next before moving to the Chubb Cay Marina. High winds dictated we dock for a couple nights.

With a break in the weather Wednesday we headed for Bimini to again dock for two nights and wait for the wind to calm enough to allow a smooth passage across the gulf stream back to Florida.

Both Chubb Cay and Bimini had lots of fishing boats and being spring break, lots of families. The marinas have hotel rooms and pools for the non-fishermen of the families but that is about it. Each only had one restaurant and nothing in the way of towns or things to do not boat oriented except for the small casino on Bimini. Never the less it was fun and we had friends onboard so we were constantly on the lookout for rum punch!

Now we’ve been in Ft Lauderdale at Gillen Diesel for the past week undergoing routine maintenance and a few cosmetic fixes. We’re leaving today to anchor out and catch the fuel barge first thing tomorrow before heading north.