32°1′30″ N 81°2′49″ W

We are now docked at a marina in Thunderbolt Georgia which is about 20 minutes from Savanna (by car).

We will stay here tonight, go sightseeing in Savanna tomorrow & the continue our journey north the next day.

The marina here only has a few slips for transient boaters. It’s primary business is looking after the maintenance needs of all sizes of boats – including the huge one on the other side of the docks from where we are tied up. Talk about feeling inadequate in the shadow of this behemoth. But I love our little boat & am very grateful to have it.

Our trip today took us almost 12 hours. We left the dock at Two Way Fish Camp at 7:00am & tied up in Thunderbolt at about 6:30 pm. Our journey is certainly not physically demanding but the heat & humidity sure tires you out. I have been drinking 2-3 liters of water each day while underway & am still thirsty after we tie up on the dock. G&Ts sure hit the spot after the engine is shut down & the lines are secure.

Lots of interesting sights along the way. We saw a many black & grey dolphins/porpoises today. Not exactly sure what type they are but they are beautiful to watch. They are almost always in groups of 2 or 3. I keep trying to get a photo of them surfacing for a gulp of air but can never seem to time the camera shot right.

This part of the ICW has lots of grassy marshlands & boat speeds are restricted to protect the manatee that live in these waters (photo above).

Fortunately for us the speed restrictions do not hinder our progress as our “top” speed is below what is required.

We noticed that the traffic on the ICW increased as we got closer to Thunderbolt & Savanna. The properties along the rivers also got much closer together (& bigger – wow!).

TouringSavanna tomorrow. Should be fun. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow night.

Cheers!

Now docked at Two Way Fish Camp Marina.

31°19′41″ N 81°26′44″ W

I took the photo above at sunset last night where we were docked at Jekyll Island.

Our plan was to get up early this morning & try to get to Savanna-or at least as close as possible. That plan was foiled by a potable water supply mystery on the boat.

When we woke up the fresh water pump was running & our water holding tanks were empty. This was a surprise because the two tanks on board hold well over 100 gallons & we had not used that much since we left Jacksonville.

No evidence of any major leaks so we filled up the tanks & cast off at 9:00am. I will keep a close eye on the water system to determine if there is a leak or if we just used it all up. Meanwhile I will keep the electric water pump turned off unless we need it for dishes, etc.

Our original goal for today was to get to a marina that was about halfway to Savannah but there were no spaces available at any of the ones we contacted. So, on to plan B – to find any marina with space that was on our route north. It cannot be that hard to find a dock on Independence Day Long Weekend, can it? 😉

Well, the answer to that question is yes. What else should I expect on the biggest holiday weekend of the summer – with exceptional weather for boaters?

Fortunately we found a spot for the night at a marina called Two Way Fish Camp. It is just off the ICW on the Altamaha River & a few miles south of Darien GA.

This place is a bit off the ICW “beaten path” but it is a great place to stop with very friendly people & a nice restaurant on the dock. The scenery on the river in to the marina was beautiful & a bit exciting as there were some very narrow channels to navigate with mud banks & sandbars looking to greet us if we let our attention slip even for a moment!

Thank goodness for GPS & excellent charting by the US government. I simply don’t know how boaters managed before those resources existed.

We spotted several Ospreys nesting in dead treetops along the river shoreline just south of the marina. Looks like they have a prime spot for getting their dinner each day.

We pulled into the dock just as thunder started to boom & a heavy downpour was threatened but never materialized.

Tomorrow we will try to make it to a marina just outside of Savanna & spend a day exploring the city. Wish us luck getting there!

Cheers!

31°2′48″ N 81°25′22″ W

We are now on the dock at Jekyll Island.

Yesterday was Canada Day so we donned the appropriate clothing & had a parade down the Main Street in St Mary’s.

We left St Mary’s GA at 8:30 am this morning. Lotsa fun trying to get away from the dock with a very swift current trying to push us back into the dock & into the boat in front of us.

A fellow from the boat in front of us offered to help – a kind gesture & some security for him too as he certainly did not want us to get pushed into him.

Long story short, he showed us a reverse-out trick with only the bow line still secured to the dock & in a jiffy we were in full reverse away from the dock & plenty clear of all neighboring boats. Thanks mate – we will remember that maneuver for sure!

The photo above shows our wake with Cumberland Island on our starboard stern.

The trip to Jekyll Island was only 4 1/2 hours – a good pace after a long day yesterday.

We saw lots of dolphins on our route today & a wide variety of seabirds.

About 30 years ago Catherine & I had a golfing holiday on Jekyll Island. We had a lot of fun & still talk about it often. Wish you were here today, Honey!

It’s been really hot & humid here. Time for a shower & to start thinking about dinner.

Cheers everyone!

30°16′33″ N 81°43′2″ W

July 1, 8:00am

This morning we were preparing to cast off from Ortega River Marina in Jacksonville & get underway by 7:00am.

We had a few technical issues with the chart plotter but managed to get them sorted out and we able to cast off.

The photo above is Jacksonville city centre-right on the water.

We are making better progress than I anticipated & are averaging between 7.5 & 8.0 knots instead of 6.5 knots so we will get to our first destination of St Mary’s Georgia an hour (or more) sooner.

It’s a beautiful day but very hot. This is going to take some getting used to. Lots of bottled water on board & chilling in the fridge.

Cheers everyone!

I have been planning the trip north for several weeks now. The boat is all set to go and so am I. I’ve assembled lots of digital and paper charts of the route, cruising guides and have also learned many details from other boaters who have taken this trip before and been kind enough to share their experience with me.

The table below shows an estimate of the distances and travel times between major milestone locations. Several boaters who I have talked to and chatted with on the internet advise that if I am travelling at 6.5 knots then I should plan on averaging about 50 nautical miles (NM) a day and make further allowances for rest days, sightseeing, delays because of poor weather, etc. If I was going “flat out”, pushing hard each day and not stopping for rest days I might be able to make the journey in 30 days or less – but what fun would there be in that?

Click anywhere on the table above to enlarge it

There are a lot of interesting places to see and visit along the way so I don’t want to rush by because I may never travel (by water) this way again. Also, I have several friends who live in Georgia and the Carolinas, so I’m trying to plan my rest days to coincide with some visits and sight-seeing. As a result I have planned on taking between 35 and 40 days to get to Albany, NY. It will be interesting to see how my time/progress estimates work out.

I have only calculated the time and distance from Jacksonville, FL to Albany, NY because I am not yet certain where I will go from Albany. North of Albany the New York Canal System divides into two directions. I can take the route to Buffalo on Lake Erie or follow another canal to Oswego on Lake Ontario. If there is enough of the summer left I would like to go Lake Ontario, cross over to Kingston, ON and then up the Rideau River to Ottawa. If I decide not to go to Ottawa then my destination will probably be Port Stanley, ON.

I’m anxious to get underway. Weather permitting, I will leave Jacksonville early next Friday morning (June 30) and will stop for the night at a marina in St. Mary’s, GA. It’s only a 6 – 8 hour trip to St. Mary’s – a nice distance for the very first day of a long journey ahead. My good buddy Chris Cavanaugh is going to join me for the first couple of weeks and then Catherine will come on board for a week or two while Chris flies home for some summer sailing on his boat “Twocan”.

Each day of the journey I will be making a blog entry about our adventures for that particular day. I will also include the latitude and longitude my starting point in the morning and my end point for that day so you can see where I am on Google Maps.