 We
left Beaufort at 0735 with a favorable (ebb) tide. It turned out
to be a pretty uneventful day. We covered nearly 45 nm and
anchored at the Herb River. Boy, this is easy. If this keeps up,
we'll be in Florida in no time. The next day did not begin very
well. Lowering clouds, rising dew point and a feeling of
uneasiness greeted us as we weighed anchor. Looks like it might
rain today. And darn if it isn't getting colder. Also, the
visibility is becoming more and more restricted. Florida suddenly
seems further away,
 By
noon, the conditions have become really stinky! Rain, cold, and
...the dreaded fog. The wind was piping up in our face. Boy, this
is fun! Bob says 'enough' at 1215 and we hang a port to Buckhead
creek. 1215! What a bunch of weenies we are...but we are dry and
warm. Warm until the wind blows out our diesel heater filling the
cabin with black smoke at 2000. I knew I should have installed
the damper in the flue. Not one of our better days.
 Gosh
is it cold! 43 degrees at 0720. Windy, gusty, and not in the
face! But, no fog! We were motorsailing (jib only) at 7.4 knots.
Wow, this is fast! At 1715 we anchored in the Frederica River (MM
667). Lots of current and tide. Ann lost her sauce pan in the
River. If anybody finds a red sauce pan, it ours! Diesel heater
blew out again at 0345! Got even colder the next morning (39
degrees). Anchor up at 0730. We passed Jekyll island at 0900.
Winds now were exceeding 25 knots. At 1330, a naval vessel from
the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base asked us if we were lost.
Guess we got to close to something. He pointed us down the Saint
Mary's River and a few hours later we pulled in to Fernandina
Harbor Marina.
 We
experienced one of the best sunsets we have seen. Who would know
that in another two weeks, a boat will sink and a sailor will die
right outside of the anchorage. It just so happened a sailboat
anchored inside the shipping channel without an anchor light.
Very late at night, a pushing tug will not see the boat and will
run it down. We were surprised with the lack of anchor lights
throughout our cruise. Sometimes we use two, just to be sure!
 Kit
Kat and her crew aboard the M/V Outbound arrived the next day.
Kit Kat explored the marina while Kevin and Doris fueled up with
1700 gallons of diesel. To date we have used less than 40
gallons. The joys of a sailboat .. but .. bet they weren't cold
the nights we were. Bet they were not soaked the days we were.
Doris gave Ann a new sauce pan and invited us to use their motor
scooter to check out the beaches. The Wild Ones (Bob and Toby)
accepted and drove to one of the beaches on Amelia Island. It was
fun! It took us a while to figure out how to start it though
(tip: got to use the break before you can start it).
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