Fernandina Beach Adventure

We left St. Augustine in clouds and within 1/2 hour we hit a rain storm that we motored right through, no problems.  The rest of the morning and early afternoon was overcast and in the low 80's.  We travelled over 60 miles and it took 9 hours.  We had intended to stop earlier, but the tides were working with us and giving us speed 9.4 mph on one engine at 1400 rpms ( as an aside, yesterday we were doing exactly the same thing and were getting only 5.3 mph, the tides were not working with us that's for sure.) The only problem we encountered were the biting flies.  They seemed to love Gary and he was squishing them when they got in the rolled up isinglass.  Now I have a mess to clean up, lots of bug guts.

We arrived in Fernandina at 6:00 Friday and guess what ......big, big, paper mill right on the harbor.  We were a little,  'Oh, no we know what paper mills do, STINK'.  The only time that was really stinky was in the middle of the night but closing all the hatches seemed to do the trick. The historic town of Fernandina Beach was well worth the stop.  Most of it was built in the late 1800's and all of the buildings in town had tenants and were going great guns with the tourists.  We walked around the historical house district also.  Many of the houses were from the late 1700's through the late 1800's, some very grand. 

Sunday morning we left for St. Mary's Ga. and the submarine museum.  I'll have to admit not the way I really wanted to spend Mothers Day, but it was interesting and I'll get back at him on Father's Day :)  Now we are sitting in the haze that started yesterday when we exited the museum.  Evidently the Okefenokee Swamp is on fire and drifting whichever way the winds send it.  We are anchored off of Cumberland Island which is the southernmost barrier island in Georgia and the smoke is pretty bad this morning in calm winds.  We will wait a little longer to see if the wind shifts and blows it away.  We'd like to go ashore here, it is a huge preserve.

We have seen a Flamingo in flight (that is something I never even dreamed I'd see), dozens of Manatee and Dolphin and Manta Rays jumping out of the water 4 feet in the air. We have experienced 6 foot tides and currents that made the boat sound like it was moving through the water when anchored.  We have had a wonderful week.