Cumberland Island

5/7/16   To  30 45.825N,    81 28.378W    7.2NM    Cumberland Island, GA

 
By the time we'd finished the laundry and returned the car, it was noon.  Knowing we'd get a late start, we only planned going as far as Cumberland Island, and that anchorage would give us the option of heading offshore it the wind and weather cooperated on Sunday. 
Cumberland is also one of our favorite stops, so we left the outboard on the dinghy planning to go ashore for a walk.  The falling tide gave us a boost until we got to the St. Mary's River where, while still flowing out, we were going upstream, fortunately we didn't have far to go.  It was a beautiful day, and lots of local boaters were out fishing and enjoying a day on the water, including a tour group  of little tandem rental boats from the marina.
The park docks, which had been 'under improvements' when we'd visited in November, had been rebuilt, widened and moved out further into the water, had a number of both dinghies and local runabouts tied up.  Being a weekend day, lots of folks were enjoying the park.  We joined them, hiking our usual loop over to the beach, south for a mile or so, across a boardwalk and dunes to the marsh board walk, past Dungeness to the work dock and along the river to the dinghy dock.

Olive shell with its foot out burrowing back into the sand

Oyster catcher working on a shark's eye snail
An olive shell's opening is narrow and probably more difficult to remove the meat

I don't think we've ever seen quite such a low tide in the past.  The beach went way out, exposing several shallow ridges that would normally be under water.  The low water must have confused the olive shells as we saw quite a few, all occupied, trying to work their way down under the sand until the tide came back in.  Several were at 90 degrees to the surface, and about 1/2 buried.  While I've collected 'vacant' ones on the beach here in the past, I never realized how the creatures that live in the shells moved.  If they're on  the surface their vulnerable to becoming a meal for one of the shore birds.  We watched a couple of oyster catchers pecking away at what turned out to be a shark's eye snail.

Great egret and a little blue heron

 

Salt marsh at a negative 1' low tide

The park service folks have been busy this winter.  Along with the improved dock, the Dungeness crossing boardwalk had been rebuilt and lengthened, as had the dune crossing by the camp grounds.  While we saw a number of dragon flies, there weren't the swarms we saw last May.  When we reached the marsh boardwalk, there were more oyster beds and mud flats covered than water.  A small runabout looked like they were waiting for the tide to rise to have sufficient water to leave.  As it rose, the man used a little trolling motor on the bow to slowly work their way downstream.

Grazing horses at Dungeness ruins

It must be spring!  the canopy was filled with bird song, unfortunately it's difficult to see the birds hidden in the leaves, and I'm not great at knowing birds by their songs.  We'd been warned by the ranger when we checked in that the horses were a bit feisty, but those we saw, including a small dark colt, seemed more interested in grazing that tourists.  It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.
With favorable winds forecast until mid week, we put the dinghy on deck, planning an 0400 start in the morning, for a long day to St. Catherine's Sound, riding the end of the ebb current out the river. 
5/8/2016   Offshore
We were awake before the 4 AM alarm and had the anchor up and underway with the outgoing current by 0415. The favorable current held until we turned out of St Mary's entrance channel at 0540.  With a west wind, we ran out the jib and shut down the engine - heading for St Catherine's Island, planning to arrive at Walburg Creek around 1700, after a 70+ NM day.
Around noon, Leonard took a closer look at the chart plotter, and suggested an overnight run to Charleston (gotta make up for the day we couldn't move!).  Under these conditions it would be a fairly easy run, motoring if the wind was too light to sail and we'd arrive in the morning.  The only catch was we had reservations at the marina starting Thursday, not Monday, and the marina is usually full during snowbird season.  We called the marina too see if we could change our marina dates.  We could, but we'd be on  the 'tricky' dock, with sideways current,  and the dock guy suggested arriving before 1130 (the current really runs here, making docking sideways to it difficult). 

Sunset with clear skies

So we settled in for an overnight sail.  Other than a few hours mid day, when the wind went light, we sailed, once again running a bit more down wind when the wind shifted into the SW, and picked up to 15kts.  The 15kts of wind built the waves into the 4' range, not bad, but the 'down wind roll' gradually became more evident during the afternoon, and I decided to fix dinner before it more pronounced.
We debated what sail combination would work best for running overnight, and, since we already had the main out and tied down with a line to prevent an accidental jibe, we rolled in the jib. While going offshore is  easier than dealing with traffic and currents in the ICW, a down side is the lack of wildlife to break the monotony of the waves - there's a lot more to look at along the ICW.  So when just before sunset, we were joined by a playful pair of dolphins off the Savannah River, they made our day, staying with us until it was too dark to see them.
5/9/2016     To 32 47.368N,  79 55.453W   Charleston Maritime Center 164.5 NM
  

Passing an outbound freighter as we enter Charleston

The wind held until 0430, when our speed dropped below 3 kts, we started motoring to make sure we arrived before the current switched.  If only the wave height would drop at the same time the wind does!  For once we arrived at the inlet when the tide was flooding, and had a fast trip into the harbor.  I was surprised when Leonard woke me, telling me we were 15 minutes out.  Just before 0945, we were on the dock at the marina, having been underway just under 30 hours with the log reading 154NM.  When we checked the track distance, we'd done another 10NM (translates as 2 hours at 5kts), thanks to having the current helping much of the trip, and we'd sailed about 20 hours of the trip.  No need to stop at the fuel dock since the gauge still read full.
After giving the boat a good wash, especially along the hull where the fenders would be against the hull during ebb current, we wandered ashore to get some exercise.  Both of us were looking forward to an early night.
Lynnea