The Trip to No Where!!

Just got to be flexible!! Today was a replay of the strong winds from yesterday. It never did really lay down last night so I knew that St Andrew Sound would be rough today. I thought maybe we could do the alternate route around the sound. I discussed it with the trawler (Castel Felice) that stayed here last night and he was game to try it first since he only drew 3.5 feet of water.

He left a little after 8am and said it was a bit rough out front of Brickhill River but quite calm in the alternate passage – begins at Floyd Creek. He called back later and reported nothing less than 10 feet as he approached the cut across St Andrews then said he had hit a patch of 4 foot – but it was low tide. I never heard back from him on the rest of the passage where the really shallow water was reported.

So around 9am – low tide – we left. We got out into the Cumberland River and took some spray on the windshield, then entered Floyd Creek and it calmed down but a lot of wind and no trees – we were on a slight heel. We stayed in the center but never saw the really deep water on the chart. Then as we approached the first hair pin turn we encountered crab pot floats which were very difficult to see in all the water foam that was occurring. The wind was blowing 25 plus. Darn – I wanted to try but if I ran aground this strong wind would just exacerbate the issue and could become dangerous. I decided to abort the attempt and go back to Brickhill River and re-anchor which we did with no problem. A nine mile trip to NO WHERE!!

Unfortunately this is the 4th day this week that we are sitting and waiting for the weather to improve – it’s going to take awhile to get home if this keeps up!! I’ll need to buddy up with another boat or boats to avoid this isolation in the future. It really makes the day go long when there is no other boat to commiserate with..

The wind is supposed to lay down tonight and be only 10 – 15 and dropping to 10 tomorrow. We will try and get across the sound in the morning. Unfortunately we have to delay the departure because we need a rising tide to get through Jekyll Creek due to shoaling. Georgia is the PITS for transienting the ICW.

On the radio today we heard at least 3 boats run aground near the same spot I had trouble with yesterday R60. Gosh I hope it moderates because I want to move again!! Plus I need a grocery store stop.