We thought we had the situation sussed out. We knew St. Marys was in for it the following day. Our friends in their Manta had already left St. Augustine and were somewhere out riding in the Gulfstream, heading north to Newport.
So the obvious thing to do is get up at the crack of dawn, get diesel and water, pop out the St. Marys inlet and join them. Of course there’s a small matter of a tropical something or other and 20 plus knots of wind on the nose until we turn north on the western edge of the stream. Not a pleasant prospect.
No fuel until 8:15 the very old voice said on the VHF. Ok, the first part of the plan had gone awry but we’ll persevere like we always do.
Nat turns out to be the very old voice and was not especially helpful with the dock lines in the trickiest docking maneuvers yet. We’ll call it a soft crash.
As I was leaving his office I turned and said what do you think of the weather? He’s the kind of guy you just know he knows what is coming. He said in a very slow drawl, “Don’t look so good.” That’s all it took. We’re heading up the ditch a little further until this weather settles down.
Heading out towards St. Marys inlet I knew we’d made the right decision. It was blowing like stink. When we crossed St. Andrews sound, and for at least forty five minutes we pounded into 25 knts of wind and the nastiest chop I’ve ever seen. I tried different speeds, different angles with very little effect. The violent movement scared Izzy shitless. Literally. Marce lurched below to clean it up.
Finally Marce found us a protected little anchorage on Jekyll Creek with the worst holding I’ve ever experienced. We had to re-anchor five times! Luckily the winds have moderated enough that we may stay put and get some sleep.
You were supposed to visit Cumberland Island!! Now you missed it!
New boat needs a shakedown overnight, Izzy needs to taper in to this life – perhaps a couple of one-night overnights are in store?
you’ve got a beautiful weather window for the next couple of days – you probably know that and are on your way outside
Weather window is very stable into next week – we may not hear from you for several days!!