31 March 2021. Georgia on our mind

 

30 sm; 5.2 hours

Quiet and peaceful anchorage, nary a whisper of wind after sunset.  Unfortunately, cloud cover obscured the night sky.  Calm night also resulted in dense fog as the sun broke above the horizon, delaying our departure till 0915.  No rush, another short day of careful navigating northward as the AICW shoals badly and the navigation markers are missing or have been moved before the charts revised.  Encountered three south bound tows today; quick refresher on the one whistle, two whistle drill.  AIS sure makes relative motion and apparent course and speed easy to determine and great situational awareness builder; tally ho, fights on and left to left pass (PORT-PORT).

Our intended anchorage for the night is St Marys, GA.  As we approached the junction of St Marys river and the Cumberland sound at AICW 712.0 mile marker we exited NW then west proceeding about two miles inland.  Lots of security boats along the channel to the ocean; USCG and others awaiting either an inbound or outbound submarine from/to Kings Bay sub base.  No body bother us and we were well clear of the main channel.  Amazingly deep river entrance of 20+ feet all the way to the town docks as we maneuvered at no wake speed to an anchorage a little west of town.  Tide ranges six feet here so as we hunted around for our spot, we found 12 feet as the tide began to ebb and dropped the hook.  Sack tide just occurred and we still have six feet but a a bit close to the shore.  Wind strong from SW but shifting to NW and N later tonight as the front passes through so we should swing into deeper water.

Today was the first day of towing Kaos.  Easy and towed well.  BUT, after we anchored we noticed Kaos was full of water!  I got in and started bailing and eventually got the water out.  

Where did all this water come from

I was doing this in the front of the boat, but as soon as I moved aft, Kaos started filling with water.  What the ….the drain plug is gone.  Not a great design as the plug is a tension fit from the outside of the stern inward.  So, somewhere along the way the plug was pulled out or sucked out and as long as we kept moving the water syphoned out.  When we stopped and set the anchor, well Kaos filled with water. I have made a temporary rubber plug secured with a hose clamp.  Will test again tomorrow then row to the town dock and go get a drain plug.  Lesson learned—again.

Safe for the night in our anchorage. 

Winds will shift to west then Northwest around day break with forecast of 15-20 gusts to 30.  We plan to remain here until Friday due to the strong winds.    

2731 sm on our loop journey; 1527.1 hours hobbs