Swinging on the Hook

Wednesday, Nov.14

High tide comes approximately every 12 hours and low tides occur in between these
high tides. This causes tidal currents that greatly affect the movement of your vessel
and how it moves and swings to the anchor that holds it to a spot of ground under
the water. It takes a great deal of trust to go to sleep at night, relying on the anchor
to keep the boat in the same spot all night. It takes even more trust on a very windy
night like last night when we were ready to go to bed. Wind seems to gain strength
when it's dark and you can't get your bearings.
The tidal change every 6 hours causes big swings in a boat at anchor and a wind
that opposes the tidal current adds a special dimension to the experience. All that
to say we didn't sleep as well last night. The good news - we trust our anchor more
than before, as it held securely.
We had planned on spending some time this morning on Cumberland Island but had
to pass, literally, on account of the weather. We will stop there in the spring on our
way back through. Instead we continued on to Fernandina Beach, and are now in
Florida.
Right before crossing the Cumberland Sound we passed Kings Bay submarine base
at St. Mary's, Georgia. There were several surface craft there but we only saw one
submarine back in the bay. With the heavy wind , opposing current and the ocean
inlet right there at the Cumberland Sound it made for a rather exciting ride until we
made it into our dock at Fernandina Beach Marina. We fueled first and the outside
face dock was very rough with waves and the worst current situation we have had
so far. We learned some new techniques for docking, using spring lines and fenders.
There are lots of small shops and restaurants in this town and it seems more lively
than the other towns.
We met a young couple here from New York City that married two years ago,
bought an older sailboat, and have taken a three month trip on it down to Florida.
They will sell the boat in Florida and go back to New York but wanted to do this
before starting a family and settling down. They are both architects and were able
to take the time off.

20 miles