We're floating again! Serenada was "Splashed" at Green Cove Springs, Florida on April 10th, a week after our arrival there. We begin the last season of the adventure we started back in August of 2013. We are bringing our boat back home now, after several seasons south in the Bahamas and Caribbean. It appears that not all boats and their crew complete their journeys....
We certainly hope to! We've met many cruisers along the way and everyone's path is different.... some have circumnavigated or crossed oceans, some have ventured to the western Caribbean, some stay among their favourite islands, some stay put, some are RV'ing on land now, some have returned home; some live aboard permanently, some snowbird cruise, some cruise for a few months or years; some never leave the dock. Our own adventure has stretched out much longer than we had originally anticipated - it's been memorable, and we've enjoyed it - but we're ready and looking forward to returning home. We are young grandparents now, and the grandkids (and kids) tug at out heartstrings.
Burke, Stephanie, Maddox & Amie
We are happy to be floating, but we are still getting our act together. Only our fellow cruisers can relate to what's entailed with refloating a boat after it's been 'on the hard' for a time. There's always something, and our somethings this time have been the holding tank and blocked tubes (eeewww), the resolution of which resulted in a broken head (toilet for the landlubbers)(eeeww again), non-functioning inverter, an outboard that won't start, electronic charts that were lost while updating.... there are always extra challenges to overcome in the first few weeks. Fortunately, Captain Gil and Admiral Diana seem to get past them all in time. So while we may elicit some sympathy from our cruising friends; I suspect our landlubber friends will be less understanding of our challenges ;)
'feels good to be floating
Our first sunset on the water
To date, our northbound progress has been slow, as we get our boat back together. Green Cove Springs is 40 miles inland on the St. Johns River, so it was a couple of days just getting to the eastern seaboard. There's a lot of commercial activity on the St. Johns River, and a lot of underwater activity in it! It is noisy. I had to use earplugs to sleep! Shrimp are tiny creatures but they are loud. I felt like I was trying to sleep in a typing pool (I'm dating myself). Dolphins make noise too, but shrimp are worse.
commercial activity on St. Johns River
Once out of the St. Johns River, it wasn't far to Georgia's border. We sailed past King's Bay, a submarine base.
Kings Bay, St. Mary's, Georgia
(submarine base)
Cumberland Island is Georgia's southernmost barrier island and a favourite of ours. It is protected land and will remain undeveloped. We had to "wait for weather" to go ashore, however! Why? The tides are big in Georgia - about 8' - and therefore currents can get strong. Our dinghy's outboard motor wouldn't start, so we had to row. The wind was blowing strong, and kicking up waves. We waited a couple of days there before we could safely row to shore and back.
Cumberland Island anchorage
By the time we got ourselves off the boat, we were ready for a good walk. By the time we got back to the boat, we had walked 10 miles! That wasn't planned of course, but that's what happened.
the only wild horse close enough to photo
Without a map of the island, we went this way, then that, and back this way again. At one point we got close to some wild pigs - close enough to hear them - but thinking better of it, not close enough to see them! We met some campers who told us about an old slave settlement about 3 miles down a nearby road. That 3 miles turned out to be about 41/2, one way....
originally built in 1893
Cumberland island has huge old oak trees draped in Spanish moss... so eerie... Blair Witch could have been filmed here.
Spanish moss hanging from huge oaks
beach at low tide
After that walk, we're good to stay on the boat for another few days!
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