What an appropriate name for a submarine escort ship (click to enlarge)

A submarine being escorted out the St. Mary's River going past our anchorage.

Some of the wild horses on Cumberland Island

Why do we have to ware these stupid leashes dad? Because the park ranger says so, that's why

Looks like scenes from harry potter and the forbidden forest

Who's that walking in the wood? Why it's little miss blue riding hood

September Song at anchor off Cumberland Island

Waiting for the Gypsies

We are anchored off Cumberland Island waiting for Gypsies in the Palace (Doug and Tammy) to arrive tomorrow afternoon. Can't wait! They will anchor here with us Sunday night and then we will cross into Florida Monday morning and spend two days in Fernandina. After getting kicked out, I mean leave Fernandina, we will head to St. Augustine where we will spend Thanksgiving and a couple of exploring days. Know any funky bars? A guy gets thirsty doing all that exploring. From St. Augustine the two boats will put the pointy end South to who knows where. I think it's time to put Half Note in the water and do a little exploring on Cumberland Island. Oh! by the way, we took on 3800 pounds of fuel at 32 cents a pound. (half the price of bananas) Just let me know how many pounds of bananas you would like to pay for. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.
September Song (waiting for the Gypsies) out
Bob


Sunrise over Wally's Leg Creek as we prepare to leave

View of the Brunswick bridge as we head in for fuel.

Sean, our dock hand and fuel attendant. He says he loves one of our favorite BBQ places, the Georgia Pig. Best BBQ in this part of the country, but you need to close your eyes when you go in. All the doors are sticky from the BBQ sauce

Ocean Petroleum isn't much to look at, but they have the cheapest fuel on this part of the ICW

Me, the fuel meister filling the tanks

This house is perched on a sand dune in St. Andrews Sound. Nice view and location, but I wouldn't want to be there in a storm.

Submarine barns in St Marys, GA. This is about as close as you can get without a security gun boat coming out to confront you.

After anchoring off Cumberland Island these two wild turkeys came down to the shore to feed. You had better watch out guys, Thanksgiving is only five days away.

An unusual, but beautiful sunset over our anchorage

False start

Best laid plans oft times go astray. We left our home dock at 0900 Wednesday with dreams dancing in our heads of all the places we were headed for. We cast off the lines and idled away from the dock. It was a thing of beauty until I throttled up and Mildred, our starboard engine, started to do a dance in the engine room. My first thought was that we had picked up something on the prop so we decided to go back to the dock and I would check it out. After returning to the dock I got out the dive gear and went under the boat to check out the prop. Yes, the water was cold, even though I had my full body dive suit on. Nothing on the prop. HMMMM!! After climbing out of the water, Stephanie hosing me down, and a hot shower, I went down to give Mildred a physical. A couple of weeks ago Steve helped me put a new seal on one of Mildred's injectors that was leaking. Aha! After a little research and a phone call to the John Deere Dealer I figured out that it was the injector that was causing Mildred to be sick. Mr dealer do you have a new one in stock? Why did I know what his answer was going to be. No Sir, but I can order you one. This guy didn't know how infected we were with the wanderlust disease. How fast can you get on for me, I'm stuck and need to leave ASAP. A little cheese with that wine? I can have one here at 07:30 tomorrow. I will be there when the doors open. This morning, I left the boat at 06:15 and headed for Savannah. I returned to the boat at 08:45, had the new injector in by 09:15, and we were casting off the lines by 09:40. Oh, by the way, did I tell you we had been infected by the wanderlust bug? Me, Stephanie, and Mildred were happy again.
Our cruise started out in the fog but nothing was going to stop us. (did I tell you about that bug that bit us?) So with radar on, running lights on, fog horn on, we were on our way. After a couple of hours the fog started to lift and by afternoon it was a gorgeous, sunny calm day. It seemed that all the birds and dolphin were cheering us on as we traveled down the ICW. Tonight we are in a quiet, beautiful, gorgeous, peaceful, protected, and all by ourselves (except for the funny little boat farther up the creek) anchorage on Wally's Leg creek. Who's Wally you ask? and why is his leg in the creek? You tell me and we will both know.
Let's see, where should we go tomorrow? Well, we probably should stop in Brunswick because they have cheap fuel and we have a little over half full tanks so we can take on about 600 gallons. Because you are going along with us via the blog you want to chip in? I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.

September Song (happy to be cruising again) out
Bob

Saying good-bye to our home dock

A last look at our home in Georgia. Ah, the joy of cruising again. Not if Mildred, our starboard engine has anything to say about it!!!!! "Turn around buster, I'm not feeling well" If Mildred's not happy, no ones happy!

Mildred is so much happier now that she has her new injector. Ethel, our port engine was worried about her twin sister.

There are dozens and dozens of little islands along the South Georgia ICW that are made up of ballast stones unloaded from sailing ships before they went into the harbors to load their cargo. If you find a rock on the coast of Georgia, It came from somewhere else.

Cormorants white washing the channel markers.

This house along the ICW is on an island miles from everywhere

Must be a party! I didn't get the invitation

Cassie enjoying the ride on the front deck

Look Cassie! It's Johnathan Livingston Seagull

Seagulls feeding in our wake

It's about time Georgia started dredging the ICW

Wild life along the shore of our anchorage

View from the bow in our anchorage

Sunset over the anchorage

Funny little boat in our anchorage

We are infected with wanderlust

Thursday night Tom and Karla, friends of ours, Joe, Stephanie and I met on Sea Pearl for drinks and apps before heading to the Sunbury Crab Co. for a taste of Georgia seafood. As always, Joe was a great host and we had a fun evening. Thanks Joe! Joe and Salty headed out Friday morning and we will meet up with them again in Florida.
We are still here at our home dock, but the wanderlust is getting stronger each passing day and we look forward to casting off the lines this coming week and starting our next adventure South. We enjoy our cruising life together on September Song, the people we meet, the adventures it provides us, but I don't think it would be as wonderful as it has been if it weren't for being able to share it with my best friend, the love of my life, the admiral of our ship, Stephanie. How did I get so lucky? I don't know how long this adventure will last, but we will keep on doing it for as long as we can and enjoy every minute of it.

September Song (got the wanderlust bug) out

Bob


Playtime with dad

Cocktail hour on Sea Pear

Dinner at the Sunbury Crab Co.

Cheers to all of you