One week on the hard at Cracker Boy Marina was enough. It is a safe, friendly place but waking to sanders and the hoist each morning gets tiring. 4:30 Monday afternoon we launched. It also happened to be approaching low tide and Cracker Boys lift slip has shoaled somewhat. It took quite a bit of manhandling to get the slings past the stabilizers but after unbolting one of the slings we slipped out and anchored a quarter mile away.

Tuesday morning brought beautiful weather with light, NE winds. At 7:15 AM we weighed anchor and proceeded out Ft Pierce inlet to start our 250 mile trip up the Florida coast. The weather held throughout the day and the auto pilot steered us past Cape Canaveral. The shoals off the Cape extend out several miles and as we rounded we were treated to 8 dolphins swimming beside and in front of our bow. Cath took the first night shift and watched offshore cargo ships till 1AM. I picked it up after that and had not a single boat appear within 8 miles on the radar.

Dawn broke and the weather changed to colder NE winds. We approached St Marys entrance and heard the Navy warning all boats to stay away from a nearby Lat/Long position as they were practicing live fire. We stayed away. St Mary’s entrance is long, stretching over 8 miles from the first entrance buoy to the front range marker. It is well marked  along its path as it serves the Kings Bay Naval Base. Our destination was the anchorage on the west side of Cumberland Island. We dropped the hook about 4:30 in the afternoon. It was our longest single trip to date and all went well.

We left Cumberland Island for our final destination at Morningstar Marina St Simons, Georgia. The weather was cool and rainy but the trip up the ICW was superb. The 36 miles was well marked until you entered St Andrews sound. A couple of greens were missing providing some navigation excitement.

By 2:30 we were safely tied up at Morningstar Marina, Golden Isles. This will be Big Smiles home for the next six weeks or so while we empty out the house in NJ. We had time to spend two nights on board before driving north. Morningstar has an awesome seafood restaurant attached to it and we enjoyed a dinner there. On the next dock was a beautiful 169′ Trinity motor yacht the “Norwegian Queen”. A quick google search identified it as having lots of custom Italian Murano colored glass which can be seen in the photo below.

Currently at anchor off Man O War Cay. Our Rogue Wave Wifi antenna has picked up an open channel which is good since Bahamas Wimax is either out or doesn’t reach here.

 

Hopped from Green Turtle Cay to Great Guana to Elbow Cay. Weather has been nice but only in the 70’s. Winds have clocked around to the east over the last week bringing lighter breezes.

 

Easter Sunday found us anchored in Fishers Bay on Great Guana. Nippers was having their usual Sunday pig roast plus an Easter egg hunt both in the sand and water. The day was perfect and the place was packed.

 

Spent two nights at Sea Spray Marina on Elbow Cay. Wonderful little marina with a pool, bar and beautiful restaurant. Dock Master “Junior” runs a great establishment. Easy 3 mile bike ride into Hope Town. Golf carts are the main mode of travel on Elbow Cay but for $50/day the bikes work fine. Took the dink out for a 15 mile sight seeing adventure including a trip to Cracker P’s on Lubbers Quarter for lunch. Weather was perfect with light winds so rode out thru Tilloo Cut into the Atlantic. Anchored at Tahiti Beach with several other boats.

Moving on today to Treasure Cay. Strong winds are expected out of the southwest and we want to find an anchorage with less fetch.