Day 3 at Cumberland Is. It has become the best anchorage anywhere for Trick-or-Treating as 15-20 boats are anchored here waiting for November 1, when our yacht insurance allows us to go south of Cumberland Island. (This because NOAA and the National Weather Service does not allow hurricanes to happen south of here after November 1.)
We are here for a few days for work meetings and to await our yacht insurance’s requirements to NOT be south of here from June 30 and November 1 (hurricane season). We are just a few hours away from Port 32 Ortega Landing in Jacksonville where we will be tied up through the holidays.
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In previous visits we saw a submarine underway here with LOTS of escorts and VHF radio traffic keeping ICW pleasure boats at a distance.
https://shellerina.com/2022/11/14/submarine-passing-by-cumberland-island-anchorage/
FMI:
https://shellerina.com/2022/03/15/naval-submarine-base-kings-bay-georgia/
We found over a dozen other transient cruisers like us already anchored here as we pulled in just after 2:00pm. Some Cats, some sailboats, some power boats. All were enjoying this fine anchorage with plenty of room for all. We went in deep to the north end called Greystone. Others were south known as Dungeness. There is some wake from ferries that make us prefer the more northern area.
Anchored at ICW mm 709.5
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I lived in Lewiston Maine through 7 of my elementary school years. I have many friends there. A new dawn for that changed city this morning, as news of the body of the mentally disturbed killer was found last night less than a mile from where his car was found.
Full moon tonight!
Some more shallow waterways tomorrow, so we leave at 8:00am to take advantage of high tide.
Slack Tide just began in this river. So the current will change from northbound flood tide to southbound ebb tide.
It is now Saturday morning …
We weigh anchor soon as the tide is near high and we have some skinny waters to go through today.
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Shelly and I will have to snuggle tonight to keep warm. But SNOW?! Fortunately we are not seeing temps like this here in SC.
The next 45 miles on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is characterized by shallow shoaling waters. We have transited this passage 3 times without a problem. Our strategy is ensure we have some tide water beneath us. Sunday we pulled into Steamboat Creek because our high tide window was too early in the day for us to transit these upcoming waters.
With work Zoom meetings scheduled on Monday and Tuesday, we decided to stay anchored here until an hour or two before high tide on Wednesday. Then weigh anchor to pass through the shallow areas.
Also, doable with some tide.
Our month of January is tentatively going to be spent exploring the St Johns River south of Jacksonville.
There are very few joys greater than interacting with wildlife!
This our first night trying out this anchorage.
It seems like it’ll suffice just fine.
A cat sailboat anchored and left 30 minutes later. We don’t know why. A mono-hull sailboat just dropped the hook on the same area about 100 yards north of us.
There are many anchorage choices near here, but tidal current is likely to be a factor in all of them. Good ground tackle is important.
We had dinner at The Corner Tavern, on the water, great food and service. Get their WiFi password so that you can connect out on anchor when you are done! We met these folks from MA and had some great conversations at Corner Tavern… a happening new place on the main drag and waterfront.
http://shellerina.com/2022/08/21/have-you-ever-heard-of-brant-rock-ma/
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Thanks to Captain Gene of Galene for recommending this port!
The routine is pull into one of the open spots on the town dock(S), go ashore for the day, have a meal, (get the WiFi password), then push off and anchor a bit off the town’s waterfront. Use the WiFi from the anchorage. Rinse. Repeat!
Tons of stuff within walking distance.
Don’t be stayin’ overnight on these town docks… this is the only port we’ve seen with signs telling us what the FINE is for that. I’ll just say the number has four figures in it. So, it is not worth taking a chance. IMO
The guys at Wacca Wache caught our lines and showed off their new docks! (ICW mm 383)
Of course we always show up on EMPTY when we come thru the Waccamaw River (between Georgetown and Myrtle Beach SC) cuz we know these guys will have the freshest diesel fuel at the best price.
Our new friends aboard Blontourage head out for their home in Southport NC… see the video below:
We took a day off yesterday. We stayed a second day in the state park marina at Carolina Beach. It was our 35th wedding anniversary, we were tired. It was the right thing to do.
This decision also meant we did not have to leave this marina before sunrise on Sunday because of the tide. Departing Monday meant we could leave at 7:35am instead of an hour earlier. Stats to follow in a separate post.
Our intended destination was the free wall known as “Barefoot Landing” in Myrtle Beach SC, a longer day than our norm. 57 statute miles. But we were well rested and got an early start.
So, off we were early this morning. It was a great cruising day by all measures. Wind, temps, sea state, current helping us out… it was a great trip.
We arrived at Barefoot Landing before a 3:00pm business call I had.
However, we found a LOT of newly posted signs at Barefoot Landing saying that only Day Docking was allowed. (No evening docking or overnighting).
We have stayed here a couple times before and taken advantage of the adjacent restaurants, with no problem. https://shellerina.com/2023/07/09/barefoot-landing-free-dock-n-myrtle-beach/
SO: our Plan A had to be abandoned.
Plan B became a 2-hour continuation to Osprey Marina, mm 373.
The end result was a total mileage for the day of 76.65 GPS measured miles, surpassing our previous record of 72.4 in April 2022 when we were still Looping across the Albermarle Sound.
Fortunately, the welcoming committee was waiting for us at Slip C16 at Osprey Marina.
This is our third time anchoring here. It is a well-positioned anchorage for those traversing the ICW.
