August 14: at. Simons Island

 

By 6:15 AM there was enough ambient light to see and we slipped quietly out of Harbour Towne Marina in Hilton Head. We have 114 miles to cover to get to St. Simons Island. At 10 mph or less, it’ll be at least a 12 hour day.

By 10:30 AM we had to fire up the generator because it was sweltering. This is the first time before lunch we had to do that so we must be getter close to home!

Georgia is a labyrinth of creeks and rivers and mostly impassable waterways. Half the time we are traveling north or west instead of south.  The worst bottleneck is Hell Gate where a narrow passage in shallow water makes transit butt puckering. You can see depths of 1 and 2 feet on the chart. On the way up, there was a Whaler high and dry on the island and a sport fish aground. Today we caught it during a higher tide and we came through unscathed. 

But this has been a loooooong day. Even the cats are bored out of their minds. I finished another book and Debbie saw a bunch more spoonbills.

Peanut volunteered to help Debbie rest her eyes between shifts.

We arrived around 6:30. We took the cats to the flybridge, had a quick dinner and will head to St. Augustine the morning!