I walked onto the deck this morning before sunrise and shined my flashlight over the gunnel. What a surprise, the stern of the boat was sitting against a mud bank. Seems we forgot that there would be an additional six feet of water flooding the creek during the night. The creek was narrow, so we kept the anchor line fairly tight (no wind or waves forecasted). When the tide came in, it lifted the anchor off the bottom and we drifted to the bank. No harm done, we idled away to the center of the creek then went on our way. The things a Lake Erie boater just doesn't think about.
Our plan was to travel 60 miles to St Simons Island, stop at the St Simons Marina for water and to let Cooper relieve himself, then cruise as far south as we could before dark. The trip to St Simons was great except for the occasional tidal current whirlpools, which would turn the boat almost 90 degrees. Jeff was manning the helm when we hit our first whirlpool, "Christ, what the hell just happened" was all I heard.
Arriving at St Simons at 1:30 Jeff filled the water tanks while I took Cooper for a long walk. We flipped the breaker for the freshwater pump after filling the tanks and heard the sound of water rushing behind the master cabin locker. We took the wall down in the locker and found a waterline fitting had burst. Jeff used all of his talents to remove the fitting and plug the leak, I played several vital roles in the job (held the flashlight, handed tools, and took an UBER to get replacement parts).
We completed the repairs and were ready to continue south when I saw the warning on my phone.
"Dense Fog Advisory Starting NOW, Mariners beware, if you MUST travel, proceed with caution".
We are spending the night right here at St Simons Marina.
Spaghetti and Italian Sausage for dinner tonight.
