Wednesday – Saturday, April 17 – 20, 2019

This is the day we leave Florida! The boat entered Floridian waters on December 5th, so our boat has been in Florida for 133 days (4 months and 12 days). We have spent only 121 days in Florida due to the 16-day trip home for the holidays. Either way, it sounds like a long time. From Pensacola, down the west coast, around the Keys and up the east coast to Amelia Island… and now, good-bye Florida!

It was good to be moving on with clear skies and a high tide! Shortly after leaving the harbor, we got a whiff (not a pleasant whiff!) of the nearby paper mill. We saw freighters being loaded with cargo, including giant rolls of paper. On a sad note, we witnessed a baby dolphin that didn’t make it. We noticed a very stationary mother dolphin in the water with a very still baby floating at the tip of her nose. It was such a sad scene, but one that reminds us that nature, as life, is not all sunshine and roses. We are thankful for having had the privilege to see a successful baby dolphin (calf) born just a few days earlier.

So, on we go through the Georgia rivers & swampland arriving at St. Simons Island. We docked at Morningstar Marina at Golden Isles mid-afternoon after an uneventful 5+ hour trip.  The marina is on the MacKay River just off St Simons Sound on the ICW. The tides here were 7.5 – 8 feet, making floating docks a must!

Even though it was a long walk to the grass, Bo was a trooper and fully cooperated. There was a very good restaurant, Coastal Kitchen, and to Sue’s relief, a hair salon! Finally, after waiting way too long, she got her hair cut by Trent, a woman who understood the situation and did a great job with a short cut! 

Much to our pleasant surprise, we were treated to scrumptious muffins and a newspaper placed on our boat before we woke up each morning! The weather service was predicting a storm front to come though soon and the river was quite rough while we were tied up at the marina. So, we decided to stay an extra day which gave us time to get laundry and boat projects completed, and an extra morning of muffins!!  It was a good decision since strong storms came through on our third afternoon there leaving a nice calm river to depart on the following morning.