Georgia!!

 12/5- We got off at low tide this morning so as to have a rising tide all day. We had a couple of trouble spots and it would be better to do them at a higher water level. The first trouble spot was right after we got out of the creek. There was a tug and barge coming down the river so we pulled up and slowed down so he could get out of the cut before we entered. The tide was a pretty high low tide so we still had a couple of feet of water to play with. As we came upon the shoal a trawler was stuck on the sand bar so at least we knew where the really shallow spot was. It had to really gall him to watch a sailboat go by when he got stuck. 

    Only a mile or so after clearing this we entered Georgia and came out onto the Savanna River. This is a busy river with many freighters of which we had to dodge a couple just to get across. The area after this was a maze of rivers and creeks. It would be easy to get lost here as everything crisscrosses back and forth. Fortunately we have our bread crumb trail to follow. The currents of all these creeks are also all over the place. Again one minute you are doing 4 knots and the next 7. 

   We passed under the Clossen Bridge today with no trouble. This bridge was the epicenter of a big controversy this fall as the construction company that was tearing the bridge down wanted to close the ICW for 2 months. The only times they wanted to let people through was for a couple of hours a day and at night. People protested and wrote the Coast Guard and eventually they settled on a more reasonable plan. The thing that struck me about this was they estimated that more than 10K boats would transit this area in the 2 months. Wow!!

    We decide to skip over Savanna as we had had enough with cities for a bit. We did cruise by the town of Thunderbolt which has a big marina. The town got its name from a lightning strike that struck and made a well or spring. Also we saw the schooner Pride of Baltimore there as it was hauled out at the marina. 

    We continued on our way twisting and turning through many horseshoe type turns. We would go under a bridge and still be able to see 5 miles later. People like to disparage the ICW in Georgia because of this. The coast is only 100 miles long but we will travel about 140 miles to traverse it. It is really pretty and more interesting as there is always another corner to see what’s on the other side. 

   We eventually got the anchor down in Redbird Creek which is another anchorage in the middle of a marsh. Standing on the house top you can see for miles over the grass. There is a good current here that will flip us every six hours but the holding is good.  This is another spot where there are no house lights on shore. I can see the glow of Savanna in the distance but close by is nothing but marsh.