Explorations and Another Ocean Sail - Fernadina to Hilton Head

     Pete had work, so the rest of us headed in to explore the revitalized town of Fernandina. It is a charming town, with a main street full of shops which offer a variety of things; unique items from souvenirs to jewelry, baby and children’s’ items to women’s fashion, galleries and hair salon, coffee shops and bakery, taverns and restaurants, home decor and antiques; all of this in a very pretty setting. We gals managed to see most of the stores.  I found a really nice simple black dress on a clearance rack. It fit perfectly and at a great price.

     We came back to the marina at noon so that Pete could join us at the restaurant at the marina for lunch. 

    After lunch, Pete and I walked back through town to the post office. Then we came back and readied the boat for tonight’s ocean voyage.  We were ready when our departure time came at 5 PM.

     As we were pulling away from the marina, there were 3 brand new Catalina’s pulled up to the fueling dock, a 335, a 375 and the 445.  We could not leave without motoring close by and exchanging a few words with the crews.  Of course there was a suggestion to upgrade to the 445 by the crew. . . Hummmmmmm.  Well enough of the commercial, now it’s back to the trip.

     We headed out past Fort Clinch, then out past the extremely long, rocky jetties.  These jetties must extend about 2 miles in a effort to keep the inlet passable.  Once clear of the MOA buoy, we set out heading for the Savannah, raised our sails, and cut back our engine.  We wanted to keep our speed over ground at about 6.5 knots to insure that we did not get to Hilton Head any sooner than 8:30 AM.  We have our marina reservations for tomorrow, but they do not know if they will be able to accommodate us that early.  We will just have to see.

Sunset over Georgia

    The only excitement that I encountered was when I was at the helm was when we needed to alter our course early in our travels.  There was a cargo ship bound for Brunswick, GA that would cross our track.  Martha spoke with him and we altered our course.  As we were approaching the MOA for Brunswick, the ship was traveling at less than 3 knots, while slowly crossing our path ahead by ½ mile.  At night he looked much closer.   We were able to cross behind him while he waited for the harbor pilot.  Pete had a cool, damp, but otherwise uneventful watch.  

   Coming up the Savannah River, we turned into Calibogue Sound. Dan was able to call Harbor Town Marina and they could take us.  The current was running with us.  We once again were able to hit 9 knots.  Around the same time we saw a tree float by.  Those storms that came though on Saturday probably will have deposited a lot of things in the water.  We will have to extra watchful.   

Our Greeting Party

Harbor Town Marina Light House

Harbor Town 18th Green
Stands and Leader Board!

TV vans !!!

    On our way into the marina, we could see the 18 hole of the golf course.  The leader board was lit and there were tents set up further down the fairway. . .very interesting. By 9 AM we were tied up and plugged in to our docks.   The dockhand informed us that this week is the PGA Heritage Tournament . . .very interesting.  We are allowed to walk over to the 18th hole and watch the players, but warned not to venture any further without a pass; very, very, very interesting.  Pete went right down to the computer to find out who was playing and start work so that he could go check it out ASAP.

     By 3 PM, most of the boats on the outer ring of the marina we sitting in the mud.  We are in a moon and spring tide, so when the tide went out, it really went out!  In this area there is usually a 6-7 foot tide.  Today, it was probably more like 8 foot.  We spoke to some people who live here.  They cannot dredge unless “they ship it about 500 miles away.” They are losing a lot of revenue with the number of slips that cannot be used. Our boats were among the many boats that were sitting in the mud as the tide went out. 

     Well, “ASAP” wound up being 3 pm, but we did see a number of groups on the 18th hole.  The sun was not at the best angle to be able to identify the players.  There are also 140 players starting the tournament, so Pete is not familiar with all the players only the top ones. We also were able to get over to the Pro shop and see a lot of others on the putting green.  Pete was also able to get a tournament shirt. We also found out that the tournament was moved over the past few years and this year returned to its regular usual time slot (3^rd weekend in April).  This change caught a lot of yearly ticket buyers off guard.  They booked their reservations for last week and never checked the dates of their tickets.  It affected the marina and probably the hotels and time shares.

    We walked the shops here at the marina and then met up with everyone for dinner at the Grey Goose.  We despite the fact that everyone was tired, we all had a great time at dinner.  We headed back to the boats with little expectations of staying conscious for very long.  

  

   What a wonderful and unexpected pleasure Hilton Head has been; the complementary bottle of wine with our check in, the tournament, the shops, the scenery, the music and of course the ongoing friendship.

~  ~ (\_~ ~ ~     Kathy and Pete