Day 3 - NOT at Sea!

After a cozy and very cold night tied up at Jeckyl Harbor Marina, we woke well rested after almost 12 hours of sleep.  Since we had easy access, we did some housekeeping and put a couple loads in the washer at the marina while we went for a walk into the historic district.  Jeckyl Island has either made great strides in being a cute island town or we just didn't take a good enough look at it when we were here so many years ago!  Anyway, it's CUTE.  After laundry was finished, we further ventured out on the marina's bikes and made it almost entirely around the island through parks, gold course, beach, campground . . . a little bit of just about everything.

Biking through the woods . . .

Since we had stretched the rules on leaving the marina (yup, even marinas have "check out" times) we pushed back off just after 1pm.  The new cockpit enclosure does a really great job of acting like a greenhouse and it was lovely in the cockpit as we headed down the intercoastal toward Cumberland Island.  I've always heard so much about Cumberland and have been excited to be anchoring there for a visit.  I don't really know many facts about it, but it's a nature preserve, noone lives there, and there are many great things to see - wild horses, other wildlife and old ruins from days gone by.

We have been doing really well at keeping our course and watching our marks to avoid an unnecessary "stops" (aka running aground).  Unfortunately, when we arrived at the chosen anchorage, the river entrance had shoaled and was not recorded as such and we ran swiftly aground just after making the turn.  UGH!!!  Okay, not to worry, the tide was rising and we started drifting within the following 15 minutes.  We continued up the river only to be stuck once more not 10 yards further up!  We powered around in a circle and headed OUT OF THERE as fast as Moonshadow would go! 

This is where Laurie began to get really nervous . . . there was no other recommended anchorage within the next 12 mile stretch and we were an hour from sunset.  Oh, the joys of the unexpected!  So, what choice was there?  You just can't make a sailboat go faster than she'll go nor can you just drop anchor in the middle of the intercoastal waterway . . . so we headed toward the next anchorage hoping for the best.  We can navigate in the dark with new instrumentation but it's not a great nor welcome idea.  Thankfully, we arrived at the anchorage just as the sun dipped below the horizon and we managed to anchor before the dark settled in.

Today's Sunset

So, let's see, what are some highlights of the day - biking through the trees, another successful push off of the dock, actually seeing the wild horses on the bank of Cumberland Island as we motored by,  (neat knowing they're some of the only truly wild horses remaining in the US), seeing all the nice comments on facebook, warming the cabin tonight by baking cookies . . . but the BEST is the full moon shining on the water in one direction while an amazing sunset was off the other side of the boat - yup, another glorious day!