Fernandina Beach, FL to Jekyll Island, GA (anchored)
January 4, 2023
NO fog this morning! We also had electricity enough to use the coffee pot and the toaster, which is a a treat.
We crossed into Georgia pretty quickly after leaving the marina; this feels like progress as we have been traveling north in Florida since the 28th.
Although we have had lots of fog on this part of the trip, the water has been pretty smooth. During our crossing of the Cumberland Sound, the wind was against the tide so we had some choppy water. I had forgotten how uncomfortable this feels (but my stomach reminded me).
As soon as we were out of the Sound, the water calmed down again. We were making great time with plans to go between 50 and 60 miles. Crossing St. Andrews Sound was easy – we were definitely on a roll!
In the last few days, there’s often been an “and then… moment.” Our “and then moment” today was when we turned into the Jekyll River and started hearing thunder. The forecasted cold front was closing in; the Coast Guard was issuing high wind alerts along the entire area from Charleston Harbor to Fernandina Beach.
We did a quick turnaround so we could get to an anchorage to wait out the front. As I got the anchor ready to drop, John looked for enough depth for Lailia.
We watched the front head right over us – as bad as it looked, there wasn’t a lot of wind and the rain was steady but not torrential most importantly, though, there was no lightning, which is always a good thing!
There was enough rain to discourage us from hauling the anchor again, especially since the front was moving in the direction we were. We settled in, ate, and finished watching Wednesday. It’s frustrating that we only traveled half as far as we had hoped but being safe is our priority.
We’ll head out as soon as we can tomorrow morning and get as far as possible.
One wonderful thing about this anchorage – at about midnight, there were owls calling.
Life on Lailia 