Cumberland Island Anchorage to St. Mary's Harbor

Day 56, Tuesday, November 22, 2016

You can monitor my trip at the link: Second Winds Progress Live

Today was a short travel day.  As the crow flies, we only had to travel about 5 miles.  As have been the case most mornings, this one dawned beautifully.  It was cold, about 47 degrees, but the sun was shining and there was not a

Great Blue Heron heading out

cloud in the sky.  I again fixed sausage gravy and a blob biscuit for my first meal.  Dwight joined me for this gourmet creation.

We took our time getting ready to head out.  We drank a second cup of coffee and straightened up the boat. At about 10:00, we pulled the anchor and headed down wind along Cumberland Island.  It turned out that most all of the big boat had the same idea at the same time. 

As I motored away, I noticed that our friends on Valentine had raised their

Another really big one

sails while they were still on anchor so we turned around, headed into the wind and raised our main as well.  Back around, we unfurled the jib and for the next couple of hours, we had a wonderful sail.

The waters leading into the submarine base at Kings Point are filled with confusing markers.  I had routed a course on the chartplotter so rather than trying to sort out our path using markers, I just followed my plan and made it through the confusion without incident.  At least two boats in our group ran aground in this short passage.

Our destination was the little town of St. Mary’s Georgia. It is located a short distance up the river for which it was named.  It is another of the really old cities that was first explored in the 16^th century by the Spanish and chartered in 1787 and grew to be an important industrial hub and seaport.  The Kings Point Submarine Base is a major employer for the area. 

The town also serves as the jumping off point for the Cumberland Island

National Sea Shore.  A fairly large ferry carries campers and hikers to the Island daily.

We rafted along one side of Valentine with Sweet Pea tied to the other.  We spent a bit of time socializing with Jack and Diane before we headed to town in the dinghy.  A group of about 6 or 7 of us wandered the waterfront street along which are a couple of museums and a number of shops.  We were all looking for a grocery but the only one in town turned out to be too far to walk. 

Oak Hall image taken from the internet

A couple of us noticed a beautifully restored old home that had a sign inviting us in for a tour. Orange Hall, circa 1828, was one of the first Greek Revival architectural designs built in America favored by the Antebellum South. We paid the $4.00 fee and were treated to an interesting tour by a local volunteer.

As we were heading back to the dock we were hailed by the rest of our group

who had settled onto a porch of a local pub.  We joined the group which soon swelled to about 15 or so sailors. 

This is a cruiser friendly town.  They had planned a hors d’oeuvres potluck for this evening, oyster roast potluck for tomorrow evening and a thanksgiving potluck for Thursday.  We chose to return to the boat rather than partake in the hors d’oeuvres gathering.

Back at the boat, I prepared my last carrot cake which I took onto Valentine where Diane and Jack treated Dwight, Sam and I to a wonderful chicken parmesan dinner.  Diane is a wonderful cook who is able make the marvelous creations on their sailboat.  We spent the remainder of the evening laughing and telling lies.