4-17-21 – In Transit, Ron’s View

The state of day one could not have been more perfect.   The sunrise was incredible and the weather was dead calm.   First leason for the way was calling the bridge tender and ask for permission to pass during the next opening.    Seems easy enough right?   As we come through the bridge of lions the bridge tender wished us a safe passage.  What a way to start a crazy day.    We motored 10 hours to Fernanda Beach marina and picked up a mooring.  The journey to get there was an initiation of the ICW bridge clearance, tide and shoals dance.   Typicaly you time these passages with the tides to either give us extra clearance below the bridges or extra water in the shallow sections.     This captain(me) learned this on the fly the first day.   As each bridge crossing came up I anxiously looked at the tide boards making sure we had enough clearance to fit under.   Then reading reports that these boards are often ot correct,  I held my breath hoping the rig did not hit.   The shallow sections were another story, when the tide it low we can fit under the bridges no problem however there are sections in the ICW where we had to weave around the shoals to not run aground during low tide.   These sections were almost always either before or after a bridge crossing.    We made it minus a few more gray hairs safe to the mooring field which we spent two days.   

And we are off!

The first of many

Bridge of Lions

Tuesday came and it was time for the next leg of our trip which was to Jekyll harbor marina.  Sally’s parents have a place on the island, and it was nice to have a dock.  Oh a dock?  Yes, had to dock again and while each dock event causes anxiety it went smoothly.  Sally is doing a great job handling the lines and I somehow drove the boat away from the expensive boats and docked without embarrassing myself this time.   

Day two was full of rain.

Jekyll Harbor Marina View

We stayed at the marina for a week.  First it was three days to wait out a storm then I got lazy and as an attempt to reduce my anxiety declared we stay for a whole week since it is cheaper that way.  (Always looking for a bargain).