Day 107 – N 30° 40.201’ W 81° 28.159’ Fernandina Beach, FL

While at St. Simons Island, we celebrated our 44^th wedding anniversary with dinner at the Coastal Kitchens restaurant nearby the marina.  As we entered, we met Peggy and Barney Riley, the Catalina dealers that sold us Kite.  We have often met them at the Miami Boat Show and occasionally met them while cruising the local waters.  They joined us for a drink before dinner.  We were discussing our plans, and how a high tide was needed for transiting Jekyll Creek, and Peggy observed that it is better to do it at low tide because then you can see where the channel is (if it is not the channel, it is a mud flat visible only at low tide).  Peter thought that was a significant point and we decided to try out this idea.  There was nothing to lose, because high tide would be at 17:30, and low tide was at 11:30, so if we got stuck at low tide we only had to wait until the tide came in to float away.  On the other hand, if Peggy was right, we would be able to have time to make it to Fernandina Beach, 25 nautical miles closer to Jacksonville, and within one day of home.  Otherwise we would stay the night at Jekyll Harbor Marina, at the south end of Jekyll Creek; two days from home.

Cumberland Island from Cumberland River

You can tell from the title of this entry that Peggy was right.  It was easy to find the channel by staying in the middle between the mud flats on either side, and we never saw less than 6 feet of depth.  After that, we rounded Jekyll Island on the south and crossed St. Andrew Sound in 20 knots of southerly wind, but the water was surprisingly calm with waves under 2 feet, and we were able to motor-sail out to the buoy and tack back into the Cumberland River, continuing motor sailing the entire length of the Cumberland River.  With a favorable tidal current, most of the time we were doing 8 knots! 

At about 14:30 we heard a storm warning for an approaching storm with strong winds and heavy rain that would reach us around 15:30 to 16:00.  We were prepared for it when the winds started to increase, and we were motor-sailing at the time so we reefed down the jib to about ½ its full size and continued on.  The winds were almost 30 knots, and lasted for about 90 minutes, but we were in a more sheltered area than Sapelo Sound, so the seas only kicked up to about 2 feet and we were able to make 3 to 4 knots of headway until the wind subsided at about 17:30.  By this time we were crossing the St. Mary’s River, and 30 minutes later we had arrived at Fernandina Beach. 

Some of our welcoming committee

A welcoming committee of a half-dozen dolphins welcomed us as we entered the harbor.  We picked up a mooring for the night just as the rain started.  It rained for about 20 minutes, but we were below in Kite’s cozy, dry cabin and appreciated the cooling effect of the rain.

We’re ready for this journey to end.  It has been exciting and fun, frustrating at times, but now it is time to become landlubbers again.  It looks like we’ll make it home tomorrow.  We have made arrangements to dock Kite at Fleming Island Marina, the marina next door to our townhouse.  After the 4^th of July, Kite will be hauled out of the water and given a cleaning and fresh coat of anti-fouling paint below the waterline.  While that work is being performed by yard personnel, Lyn and I will polish and wax Kite’s topsides.  Then she will be re-launched and moved to a marina in the Ortega River in Jacksonville, ready for the more mundane existence of day-sailing in the river and occasional long weekend trips with our local friends.