Monday, April 27, 2015

Cumberland Island

It was another great stay in Jacksonville. We got to see so many of our friends. Eating seems to be a way to take time to visit, therefore we also got to eat at many wonderful places. We accomplished a number of projects. As always, Fred, Shari, Rich & Paulette and Richard were helpful in running us around town. Just before our first scheduled departure day, the oil temp/pressure alarm broke. When we went to get the replacement part at the nearby West Marine, Lorna had a Garmin chartplotter/radar on sale. It was a better price than we could get through IMarine. As a result, we accidentally bought a new chartplotter. Myron had the chartplotter installed by the afternoon. The radar, however, would be a bit more challenging. We set out to install that on Saturday, but discovered we did not have enough cable. None of the stores have the cable extension on hand and it will have to be ordered. The old radome has been removed. That radome worked just fine, it was our display that was going out. Paul and Shari are storing all the components (radome, display, cables, manuals) and we hope to sell it when we return in the fall. We stowed the new radome in the main cabin and plan to finish the project in Deltaville.

Today's trip was nothing too exciting. We planned for a 9 am opening of the Main Street Bridge, but it was already scheduled for an 8:30 opening. That meant we did not have the tidal current with us yet, but it joined us soon enough. We were near low tide once we turned onto Sister's Creek. We debated going outside, but the winds would have been right on our nose. A catamaran, 'Patchwork,' that went through the bridge the same time as us did go outside. They had AIS and we were curious about their progress, so we kept an eye on them. They were slightly faster than us on the St. John's, however when we passed the St. Mary's inlet on the inside, they were still an hour out. Glad we took the inside route today. Had we gone aground, I would not have been so happy. We came across two very shallow areas and on one of them, we hit ground twice. We thank God that Hold Fast kept going.just cleaning off the bottom of the boat.

We have said it so many times that you all must be tired of it, but: We love Cumberland Island! We will not launch the dinghy this afternoon, too tired. The forecast calls for rain beginning tonight and continuing tomorrow. We may get rained out and our stay may only include viewing the island from the boat. It is still beautiful either way.

It is a bit chilly, so the cockpit enclosure is secured. I think I may make some cookies to warm up the boat!

Love to all,
Dena

{GMST}30°46.10'N|081°28.26'W|4/27/2015|4:44 PM{GEND}

No comments: