At noon we hadn’t heard anything on the radio for a while
AND we could see the bridge so we decided it was time to go. After about an
hour, the bridge disappeared again. This was not good. About 20 minutes
later, the water ahead of us began to disappear as a huge fog bank began
rolling in. As it approached, I swear it looked as if the fog was consuming
the navigation aids, the trees on the banks and even the water itself. Now this
was going to be a problem.
We slowed to idle speed (6MPH), turned on the radar, located
the ship on the AIS and yes, we put Ann on the bow so she could see things
twenty feet earlier than I could. We have been in a dense fog before, but this
was dense enough – visibility was about 150-200 meters or so. Then we heard on
the radio a securite call. Securite calls are issued when a captain wants to
issue a navigational warning that may concern safety at sea, yet may not be
particularly life-threatening. This particular securite warning was about a
vessel called Emerald Princess. Her
captain wanted everyone in receiving distance to know that she was setting to
sea – about a mile from where we were. <Gulp!> Now, I know that we could
not see Emerald Princess if she was 200 meters in front of us and she could not
see us at the same distance. I know from my AIS that she was taking some time
to set off from the dock and I could not yet see her on my radar. Still, I was
picturing the Emerald Princess from the Princess Cruise Lines. She is a 952
foot long ship with 15 decks and weighs in at 113, 581 tons. Though I must
admit I was wondering what the largest ship in the Princess Line was doing leaving
from Brunswick, Georgia I didn’t doubt that she was.
As it turned out, our Emerald
Princess was not THE Emerald Princess.
It was a casino boat from the Golden Isles Cruise Lines that was about 150 feet
overall and about four decks high. Moreover, by the time she got underway, we
had picked her up, first on radar, than as the fog lifted, visually. Still, we
gave her plenty of room. In case you were wondering, no, it wasn’t really
scary. But for about thirty minutes it was very nerve wracking!
Well, so much for the excitement! Before the fog and before
the fake Emerald Princess we stopped
at three anchorages. One was just past Savannah on the Vernon River at Beaulieu
or Possum Point (it is called different things in different anchoring books).
It was a mediocre anchorage without too much protection, but since the wind
wasn’t blowing too hard, it wasn’t a problem. Next we stayed at Duplin Island.
It has very good protection from trees from the west, but unfortunately for us,
the wind was from the north. In fact, it was so strong that it was actually a
bit bumpy in the anchorage the next morning! Still we may have made a
discovery. The Duplin River anchorage is about ¼ mile away from the Sapelo
Island ferry dock.
Some historians believe Sapelo Island was the site of San
Miguel de Gualdape the first European
settlement in the present day United States – though it was short-lived
(1526–27). If true, it would also be the first place in the U.S. that a Catholic
mass was celebrated. The island also houses the Sapelo Island National
Estuarine Research Reserve. Now here is the cool thing. There is a ferry from
Sapelo Island to the mainland that brings visitors and tourists. Since we love anchorages that are
also historical sites, next spring we are going to find out if we can show up
on our dinghy (rather than the ferry) and tour the place!
After the Duplin River anchorage we headed to Fort Federica.
We had been here before so didn’t go ashore; we just waited for the fog to
lift. Still, Fort Frederica has a history, about which I wrote last November:
Fort Frederica itself is one of those national monuments of which very
few people have ever heard. According to the National Park Service, Georgia's
fate was decided in 1742 when Spanish and British forces clashed on St. Simons
Island. Fort Frederica's troops defeated the Spanish, ensuring Georgia's future
as a British colony. Today, the archeological remnants of Frederica are
protected as a National Monument. As I am sure everyone knows, the Battle of
Bloody Marsh, near Ft. Frederica, took place during the “War of Jenkins’ Ear,”
which, as far as I know, is the only war named after a body part. In case you
were wondering, according to Wikipedia, “Its unusual name … refers to an ear
severed from Robert Jenkins, captain of a British merchant ship. The severed
ear was subsequently exhibited before Parliament. The tale of the ear's separation from Jenkins,
following the boarding of his vessel by Spanish coast guards in 1731, provided
the impetus to war against the Spanish Empire …”
Frederica was
followed by our harrowing encounter with the fog after which we arrived at our
destination Brunswick, GA.
We stayed at Brunswick through Thanksgiving. There were
about 100 people at the Marina Thanksgiving celebration. The owner of the
marina provided all the food, except dessert. A number of the cruisers brought
a dessert to share. Ann made and brought a scrumptious apple pie. We met Jim
and Paula on Sea Eagle on their way
to Sanford, Florida other folks who live in and around Brunswick.
Now, according to the locals, Brunswick has not had any snow
in over 28 years – and it did not snow while we were there. But it was COLD,
WET and MISERABLE!!! I mean seriously cold, wet and miserable. It was so bad I
was in long pants – again!!! It was so cold I actually got the coax cable out
of storage and hooked up the cable TV. Man oh man, I do not want to belittle
global warming, but couldn’t we have just a little bit down here in southern
Georgia?
Brunswick isn’t like many of the towns and cities we normally
visit. It isn’t an exclusively tourist town and it isn’t one of those dying fishing
villages; it is as much an industrial center and seaport as it is anything
else. It is kind of like a miniature Baltimore in that respect. Like the islands in the area, Brunswick was
initially settled in 1738 as a buffer to Spanish Florida. The Brits never did
trust those Spaniards down in Florida and were always concerned that they would
start coming north.
The Brunswick
Excursion
 |
| If you look closely, you can see a small rafter of turkeys. |
After Thanksgiving we decided to take a week-long cruise
around Brunswick to check out some of the area. We decided to go to Cumberland
Island, to St. Mary’s and Jeckyll Island. Cumberland we had visited before and
liked it so much, we thought it would be worth another visit. St. Mary’s is a
traditional cruiser’s destination to which we had never been. The town puts on
a big Thanksgiving for cruiser’s that we were going to attend before we decided
to go to the marina’s instead. Jeckyll is one of Georgia’s barrier islands that
has been developed as a tourist destination with a number of hotels,
restaurants and at least one marina – that we planned on visiting. We figured
it would take a week to do these places justice, so off we went.
Our first stop was our southern –most destination,
Cumberland Island. When we arrived there
were about 15 boats there, by the time we left there were about ten. We
anchored in the northern half of the anchorage which I believe gave us the best
protection and the best view of the other boats arriving.
 |
| The main road on Cumberland Island |
We had visited Cumberland before and had already seen the
feral horses. This time, though, we saw the full panoply of animals, several
horses, four separate armadillos, a bunch of individual deer and at least two
different a rafters of turkeys. (Do you like the way I snuck in “rafter of
turkeys?” A rafter is a gathering of turkeys. In one rafter there were about
ten, in the other there were maybe four.) We also paid more attention to the
history of the island (Ann is really getting into it) and went shelling on the
National Seashore. For some reason we found more and varied shells last year, but
we managed to pick up a few.
After a couple of days at Cumberland Island, we went to St.
Mary’s, GA. St. Mary’s traditionally puts on a huge Thanksgiving bash for all
cruisers in the neighborhood. Initially we had planned to go to St. Mary’s for
Thanksgiving, but changed our minds at the last minute and decided to stay at
our marina in Brunswick. Anyway, besides a huge harbor that could easily hold a
hundred boats at anchor, the town also has three museums, one focused on
Cumberland Island, one at Orange Hall, a well-maintained 1740ish mansion built
in the Greek Revival style, and the Submarine Museum. Yes, you read that right,
the Submarine Museum. King’s Bay Naval Submarine Base, right next door to St.
Mary’s, is the home port for all Trident submarines in the Atlantic Fleet. The
town has a kind of homemade museum that consists of donated artifacts. It is interesting
and kind of fun to explore.
 |
| The second floor of the submarine museum in St. Mary's |
After a couple of days at St. Mary’s we started meandering
back towards Brunswick, but before we did, we had to stop at Jeckyll Island,
another of Georgia’s barrier islands. Jeckyll is a very developed, resort-type
island with water parks (too cold to use while we were there) several hotels, a
number of restaurants, a few historical sites and bike paths galore! I was able
to go bike riding only one time, though, as the fog was so bad it kept us
inside a lot of the time. We managed to get out a couple of times on the
marina’s golf cart (substitute for a car) so we could get to the grocery store,
some souvenir shops and a small museum. As I suggested above, though, the name
of the game at Jeckyll was FOG. In fact, we had intended to leave on 4th
December and ended up staying another
day because of the fog!
 |
| Our Coast Guard Inspectors |
The trip from Jeckyll Island to Brunswick Landing Marina was
only about an hour-and-a-half, BUT on the way, we were stopped by the United
States Cast Guard! Once in a while the Coast Guard will stop a boat for a simple
safety inspection. In the three years we have been full-time cruisers we had
never been stopped, but in Brunswick Harbor, just as we were turning into the creek that
led to the marina, we saw the flashing lights and the coast guardsmen that meant
we were about to be boarded. We weren’t quite sure how they were going to get on
the boat, but that is only because we had forgotten how athletic young men in
their late teens/early twenties can be. Four young men jumped (literally) from
their boat to ours to make sure we had all the equipment and paperwork
necessary to operate a boat safely in US waters. And … we … PASSED!!! The next
time the Coast Guard wants to check us out, all we have to do is show them our
paperwork.
ANN’S Notes: Since we are in Virginia over the Holidays and
all my notes are on the boat in Brunswick GA. I will not have my wild count in
this issue. I will update you in the next blog issue.
 |
| Ann's luscious Thanksgiving Apple Pie |
While we were at the marina in Jeckyll Island, we had our
cruising friends, now RV land cruising friends, come visit us. It was wonderful
seeing Russ and Lori again and enjoyed having lunch in a rather POSH restaurant.
The food was good and pricey but the company was priceless and excellent.
Thanksgiving was fun but loud. 100 people in the same room
all waiting to be fed proved to be an interesting experience. The apple pie was
a first for me, I made it in a ten inch cast iron pan, it was yummy and I had
to pull it off the “share” table so our table could have some. There was plenty
of other sweets, so I did not feel too bad.
To close my part of the blog,I will end with a poem I saw on
the cruising Facebook page,
Traveling Soul..
OUT..
