We are really lazy today; well sort of. I did some “work” work, and Beth used the
free loaner car from the marina to run to the store for some fresh
produce. As advertised, the paper and
muffins showed up shortly before 7.
Since I had been up since 6, I had already eaten, but having the paper
was nice. We pulled out around 10:30,
with our goal to anchor at this one spot about 15 miles away. We reach the anchorage at 12:30, too early to
stop, so we decide to go to the anchorage Jim and Gail had marked on their
charts. It is about another 30 miles, so
we figure that we should get there around 6 or 7. Nope; with tidal ranges of 5 to 7 feet,
opposing tides can slow your progress to a crawl. Usually, when you reach the center of the
island you are transiting, the tidal current releases you and gives you a
boost. On the final 5 miles, it seemed
to take forever. We were crawling along,
and I am waiting for the tide direction to change. When it finally does, we are flying compared
to the previous 45 minutes.
Funny thing (well not so funny for the other guy), we
approach this boat, and it looks like a boat that passed us (and most power
boats do pass us like we’re standing still), and I think he is anchored for the
night. I look at the charts and it looks
like he’s near a sand bar; nope he’s on the sand bar. One of the differences with the way the ICW
channel markers are set is the green marker are always toward the ocean. I am not sure if he misread the chart or
markers or both, but he was high and getting dryer as the tide was still going
out.
We finally reach the anchorage about 7:30, but not without
some interesting bouts with a sand bar ourselves. The anchorage is up a river, but you have to
go down the sound and loop back as there is a sand bar. Ever since the Bahamas and the Keys, you do
not cut corners. I go down at least a
quarter mile and still bumped; the depth sounder was reading 15 feet and all of
a sudden bump and then 4 feet. I point
the boat south and the depth slowly comes back to 15, then 25 feet. We finally arrive at the anchorage with another boat. and set the anchor. As I walk back to the cockpit, a beautiful sunset descends over the anchorage. Sorry no pix.
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