Trip to Savannah and back to Homeport Jekyll Island

Sunset @ Jekyll Island Harbor Marina where The Office is based.

Chart location  http://cruisersnet.net/cruisersnet-marine-map/?ll=31.53251493906769,-81.20084224700928&z=15

We left our slip at Jekyll Island Marina http://www.jekyllharbor.com/ on Sunday morning with the tide at mid way to high. We decided to try 1400 rpms on the twin Volvo diesels to see what our fuel consumption will be. We had cruised the boat down from Savannah when we bought it on fuel that was reported to be over 5 years old. Capt. Frank Barron, of http://www.bluewatermarinesurveys.com/  advised us to add Cetane booster and we had no problems. A change of Racor filters reveled no bad deposits so we wanted to burn up the old fuel before adding more.

Some one hit the bridge guard?

Passing ICW Marker Green 19 about 100 ft off the marker we saw 8-9 ft of water.

Jekyll Wharf  near Green 19 has boats on the mud at low tide. The mansions built by the millionaires and the club house are just behind the Rah Bar and Latitudes Restaurant. Lots of skinny water here! Stay in the channel going past Green 19 and you will be fine.

Crossing the St. Simon sound we bid goodby to Capt Randy and Diana Prentice on SV Strider as they connected with Capt Sam and Trish on "Jekyll and Hide for a sail offshore to the Chesapeake.

SV Strider off St. Simon's Island

We turned north on the ICW for a 40 mile journey to Blackbeard Island. I had made this trip sailing offshore several times as the Georgia Auto Teacher's always have a training workshop in June at Savannah Technical College. The anchorage at Blackbeard is always a safe and interesting spot to anchor over night. 

We had somehow damaged our starboard prop. Our diver that takes care of our boat's bottom cleaning, John, bakersboatcleaningservices@yahoo.com

Pulled the prop and carried it to Dominey's Prop Service in Brunswick for repairs. John does a great service and is reliable. 

The now like new prop

John worked hard on this and took two trips to get the prop off and another to get it back on in time for our trip. Thanks John!

We towed our 11 ft Boston Whaler so we could visit the beach at Blackbeard Island. 

Susea enjoyed the view from the flybridge. 

The ICW is anything but boring for us as we enjoy the many sights and interesting creatures we see.

Susea sees a pod of dolphins

Turning into the creek that separates Blackbeard Island from St. Catherine's Island  at green 11 off the ICW in Sapelo Sound we anchor and go to the almost deserted beach of this protected wildlife refuge. Watch your pets and children as we always see alligators and sharks.

http://www.fws.gov/blackbeardisland/

To visit Blackbeard we recommend you contact 

 http://www.privateislandexcursions.com/

To tour any of the Georgia coast  with an experienced and reliable Captain.

Limit your visit to the tide line of the beach and take all trash out with you. 

Chart view of the anchorage on http://cruisersnet.net/cruisersnet-marine-map/?ll=31.5061166667,-81.3377833333&z=14&highlight=1

We left early next day for Savannah via the ICW. We arrived at Isle of Hope Marina  http://www.iohmarina.com/ for a stay 3 and 4th night is free deal. We used the loaner car and I rented a car from Hertz to attend the training. The pool is a long walk away and shared with the community so we did not use it. We were on the facedock  and the wifi was not usable. The old houses and live oaks are nice but the traffic, walkers, runners and all kept us from riding our bikes. There are no bike trails like on Jekyll, nor do they have a hot tub, and nearby pool like Jekyll. The staff were helpful with docking, loaning the cars and such, But there is no place like our homeport Jekyll Island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jekyll_Island

 Old flathead that was used to pull shrimp boats out of water for repairs.

 Nice restored old homes from the 1800s,  most way over 1$million.

Ramp that is no longer used

 IOH marina  from the street

 The Office on the Facedock@ IOH

IOH Marina, We could not see how they get some of the bigger boats out of the inside slips?

We left on Friday and hurried back to spend the weekend at Blackbeard Island. At Hell's Gate we encountered a barge and waited until he passed instead of sharing the narrow passage with the barge. There was a lot of weekend traffic with some boats respectfully slowing down and others flying by with out slowing.



Barge at Hell's Gate

Nice boat we had met before on the ICW

Susea has Dolphin watch

Anchor to the south of this sign and you will be protected from three sides in 12-14 ft of water. The holding is great in mud. The divided creek further down goes to Cabretta beach. We found a new fishing rod and reel some one had just lost  the day before on the sandbar at low tide. It is very nice and I will return it it if I knew who lost it. Ballast stones from early use of the island are exposed at low tide. Read your chart carefully  and you should have no problems. We had no internet nor are there any services or facilities on this part of the island.

Dolphins in the creek video

The beach was deserted on Sunday morning

Some body from South Carolina is missing a boat.

Sunrise over Blackbeard

Sunset on Blackbeard