Cumberland Island; 4/16-4/18

      After saying goodbye to Diamond, the family we've been traveling with since February, we headed north toward Cumberland Island, Georgia.

     It was a great morning for sailing. At one point we got up to 9.7 knots. However, the afternoon brought many challenges. First of all, the tide was dropping, and since there's been a full moon lately, the tides have been even lower than normal. We hit bottom several times, but were able to plow through the mud to deeper water. At the same time, the winds picked up into the 40 knot range. We decided to bail out on our plans to go to Cumberland Island and stay in a marina to get out of the wind. Fernandina Beach had no slips or mooring balls available. We secured a slip in another marina, but when we arrived, we found out that their entrance channel only has three feet of water at low tide. We would've had to wait two hours in the howling wind to enter. So, we continued north across the Cumberland Sound. In the sound, we had waves to deal with along with the wind, which made for an exciting trip. We were happy to tuck in next to Cumberland Island, and we got a good set with our anchor. The wind continued to get stronger, and it blew our American flag off the halyard and into the water.

     By evening the wind settled down, we were able to get a good night sleep and we woke up to a beautiful morning. Mom's goal was to spend the whole day exploring the island, and we all took turns accompanying her. The island, which is only accessible by boat, has sixteen miles of beach, a campground, and ruins of The Dungeness, which was a mansion owned by the Carnegie family. So we learned a little history, added to our shell collection, and got plenty of exercise.

Here are some pics from Cumberland Island...