April Fool (Day 169)

From: Jekyll Harbor Marina, Jekyll Island, GA MM 684.3
To: New Teakettle Creek, 3 miles north of Sapelo Island, GA MM 646.6
L/L: 31 27 10N 81 18 23W
Distance Traveled: 37.7
Hours Underway: 6.3
Average Speed: 6.0 mph

The Brunswick (GA) Bridge barely visible through the rain and fog

Weather: when it wasn’t raining, it was overcast; we finally saw the sun for a few minutes before sunset; temp range mid 50s to mid 60s; in the bubble it was in the high 60s and low 70s; winds were light and variable

Comment: After waking, we called for transportation to the Jekyll Island Club, our favorite breakfast spot. We enjoy breakfast in the elegant dinning room at the JIC.

At 1000 hours, we cast off from the dock at Jekyll Harbor Marina and pointed the bows north in a light rain. It continued to rain for several hours, heavy at times, but the winds were light and we had a favorable current for much of the day. Timing is everything, even when it involves dumb luck.

There was very little traffic on the waterway today. I didn't get a chance to try out the April Fool's joke on a passing motorboat because there were none. There wasn't much traffic on the VHF radio either. We heard a few pan-pans broadcast by the Coast Guard - Jacksonville Sector. The only real excitement, if you can call it that, was when we saw the American Spirit southbound in the Little Mud River. Our courses would have had us met at a bend in the river. I chose to hold our position until the ship negotiated the turn before proceeding. Anna Marie used the radio to tell the captain our intentions.

The American Spirit approaches


As the ship passed us, we noticed that two people were trying to get kites airborne from the top deck. They had no success. One lost his kite in the river. At the last possible moment, I saw the string as it trailed from the water to the top of the cruise ship. Hard to starboard! We don’t want that string to wrap around the prop. Anna Marie hauled in over a hundred feet of kite string but was unable to land the kite. It was full of water and the string eventually broke. At least we kept it from fouling the propeller.

A one whistle pass with the American Spirit

We had the anchor down by 1630 hours in the New Teakettle Creek. We haven’t used this anchorage before. The water was 16 feet deep at low tide and there is almost an 8 foot tide range. We let out plenty of scope.