Cumberland Island

Today we enjoyed a relaxing day at Cumberland Island. The southern-most island just over the Georgia border is a national park, a preserve for lots of wild horses as well as the ruins of the mansions of the Carnegies, some early Indians and early settlers/farmers. It is a beautiful island, riddled with horseflies and no-seeums. But, despite the local pests, we really enjoyed our day here. We walked around miles of wooded trails - surrounded by old live oaks draped with beautiful Spanish Moss. And enjoyed lots of up close encounters with the wild horses there. They, much like the wild mustangs in Corolla that we are used to, are used to people being around them all the time so do not shy away from those of us following them around with cameras.

This guy was getting a good butt scratching from this low-lying branch:

The ruins were great - the mansion there was huge (40 bedrooms!!) and although it was mostly destroyed in a fire in the early 1900s, you can just see the grandeur and the beauty that once stood. We could practically hear the music on the lawn from all the fabulous parties and retreats that were held there.

The beaches here are gorgeous as there are only campers on the southern part of the island. And the only way to get to the island is by boat. So those that visit either come on their own boats, as we did, or come over on the ferry, lugging all their camping equipment along with them.

We took Koa to wander around the park later in the evening and he loved it! He was so intrigued by all the horse smells and he couldn't seem to get his nose to work fast enough. Lots of ticks here though (as we were forewarned by other boater friends of ours!) and we did our best to keep him out of the underbrush.

Tomorrow we head out for St Simons Island, about 35 miles North, and get to sail past Kings Bay, the base for six of the military's Triton submarines. Although we haven't seen any sign of them, maybe we will get lucky!

Disaster Pros

We left early Saturday morning, motored up the ICW and out into the Atlantic. There was rain all around and we knew it wouldn't be long before we got a little wet. Luckily, the rain held off until we were clear of the inlet; the deluge started about 1/2 mile from the jetty.

We had raised the sails and were getting ready to cut the engine off when we heard a loud snap and the boom suddenly flew across the boat and out across the water. We both paused, looked at each other and then sighed. What could possibly have gone wrong now?! I like to think that this is a testament to our getting used to boat emergencies, as neither of us panicked - but most likely this is a sad statement about our boat getting older and us getting used to things breaking on a regular basis. Either way, we suddenly had a big problem. We quickly diagnosed that the problem was that our traveler block pin had snapped - the traveler keeps the boom in place and keeps the sail from flopping all over the boat, it also keep the boom pulled forward so that wind stays in the sail. At this point, the boom was just flapping about in the wind, doing no good whatsoever.

I took the helm and Brad went out to tie down the boom - all done in the pouring down rain. Koa and Moo were freaking out and were both frozen in the cockpit - Moo was curled up in the corner getting soaked and Koa was sitting right in the middle of the companionway, wanting to go downstairs but too terrified. It was a hot mess.

We got the boat under control, took down the sail and Brad secured the boom. While we limped along under motor, Brad scrounged around and found a spare block and was able to replace the necessary parts. But not completely, so we were not able to use the main for the remainder of the day.

Once the rain stopped, we released the jib and motor sailed our way to Cumberland Island, Georgia. All in all, not our best sail, but certainly not our worst either! We were happy to have the anchor down, Brad was able to finish fixing the traveler and tomorrow we will go see what Cumberland Island has to offer.



**Although this is the replaced traveler block, here is a picture of what it looks like, where it goes on the boat and the pin that sheared off:

Back to where it all Began...

We motored up to Jacksonville Monday morning, amidst all the last minute Memorial Day boating idiots. We arrived well after lunchtime, mostly due to going against the current the entire trip. We docked at Beach Marine, right across the ICW from where it all began 5 years ago.

We started our visit off with a night with my cousin Carter, his wife Annie and their 1 year old son Callan. We always enjoy our time with them and before we knew it, it was getting dark and was time for Callan to go to bed and we hadn't even had dinner yet! We had a great time catching up with them and really enjoyed spending so much time with Callan!

We enjoyed Tuesday, spending time with our friend Chelsea and also meeting up with some old Navy buddies of ours from back when we used to live here. It was a coincidence that we were all in the same place at the same time, which made the reunion that much better! We enjoyed dinner and drinks together and then called it a night.

The following three days (yes...three!) were filled with boat work....for Brad. We had some unexpected engine and battery issues that needed to be dealt with immediately so Brad spent hours everyday working on those. We had to polish the fuel (get all the sediment and water out of our tank), change the oil, change all the filters and then replace the batteries. By this time, we had stayed three days longer than we had intended and put lots more time and money into the boat than we had intended. Such is the life of a boat owner....

Meanwhile, I got to spend some quality time with Chelsea and run some errands for things we needed on the boat. But mostly, I spent time at the pool or lounging around Chelsea's air conditioned apartment watching television. Isn't my husband the best?!

Finally, with the engine back up and running and our brand new batteries in place, we were ready to head out! Tomorrow starts our trip into new waters and North into Georgia. First stop - Cumberland Island!