23 January, 2020 Great surprise anchorage St James City

23 Sm, 4.0 engine hours

Wind shifted, decreased intensity plus blocking by the mangroves NE the anchor alarm went off at 0100.  Still solid, no drift or unset, but the 180 shift from the past two days with the wind for some reason upset the alarm.  51 deg @0500 with cloudy skies.  Warming today.

Mangrove creek

Uw at 0740, eased back along our track coming in a few days ago.  Very skinny water out of the narrow channel.  Once entering GCIW we traveled at 1500 rpm, not in a hurry, charging the batteries and enjoying the trip.  Most of the trip today was south/southeast and would have been nasty had we tried yesterday.   Extremely long fetch funneled between the barrier islands West and pine island East would surely have stacked the waves steep and close in the 20  knot north wind.  Today, remnants remain but not bad in NE 10 mph winds.  Our planned anchorage was south of St James city. (CITY)   Several anchorages noted.  Reviewing past comments, noted one reviewer said shoal draft boats could enter the canal system and there were numerous bars and restaurants and if dinner was had could probably tie up for the night.  So slowly we entered the privately marked channel that held 10 feet most of the way in.  Just as we were about to follow a pontoon boat into named canal, I noticed off to the port 3 sailboats anchored in a mangrove creek.  Going even slower, Serenity passed along side of the three sailboats and reaching 4.5 feet and far enough away from the last sailboat we dropped anchor at 1130.  Neat so far!  Quiet, light winds, calm and warming, fishing boats passing but respectful.  Respectful for only so long--there always have to be a few jerks and they passed close, full bore.  Oh well, a safe and good day, not going to get too worked up.
Splashed KAOS and paddled around for an hour.  Went around a derelict sunk boat off the side of the creek.  

Sunk cruiser noted from the dinghy KAOS

I sat/laid across a seat in the dink and just let the sun warm me. Winter weather alerts noted on my phone last night for those in the mid-west.  Left overs for supper, swinging on the hook.

Shortly, sun drops behind the mangroves.  Boat traffic dropping to zero.  Should be a peaceful night.

Million $$ view w/o the real estate taxes

1337.1 Hobbs, 1604 Sm elapsed