1-3 April, 2021 Waiting out the winds

10 sm; 2.5 engine hours (including battery charge)

Crazy gust front before the cold front passage the other night.  One of the hardest blows we have ever experienced.  Woke us up.  Checked local weather and a nearby weather station recorded a 40 mph gust.  Whew--anchor held.  Remainder of the night just showers and shifting strong winds from the W-NW.  

1st. Cloudy and extremely breezy sunrise.  Beginning third tidal cycle since anchoring and the current flow was stronger that the gusty winds.  My temporary dinghy drain plug repair failed in the cold.  As I splashed Kaos the rubber and hose clamp sprang off.  I quickly retrieved Kaos back on the davits before it filled with water.  We found a hardware/plumbing/boat parts store in town but with no way to get ashore.  Checking numerous options with zero success we contemplated alternatives.  We spent the day afloat swinging and rocking and rolling on the hook.  Reading and napping.  Started and ran diesel 1.5 hours to add some juice to the batteries.  Still liking the new alternator and external regulator.  At 1500 RPM was getting 55 Amps for the first hour, then around 9 amps last half an hour.  Brought batteries up to 75% capacity.  Keeps the frig/freezer, iPad iPhone and WiFi going another 24 hours.  Skies cleared later in the afternoon but temperatures dropped throughout the day.  Fabulous sunset dinning on board Serenity.

24 hour swing on hook

2nd.  Sunrise plan which coincided with slack low tide was to weigh anchor and get underway and proceed to St Mary’s free town dock.  Docks were posted for six hours only.  Winds were still 15 + but blowing away from the docks. It was an easy slide up to and secure Serenity @0740.  Once secure, we hoofed 1.5 miles to the above mentioned store.  With fishing boat drain plug stoppers of two different types we hoofed it back.  Darn, they were 1/8 of and inch too small.  We splurged and had pastries at a near by bakery, then I hoofed it back to the store for another three mile round trip.  Finding nothing of the proper size, I bought two pvc caps with OD of 1 3/8 inch and a tube of silicone adhesive.  Back at the waterfront, I filled the drain plug hole with silicone and force fit the pvc caps into the drain plug hole. Letting everything dry before the wet test.

St Marys waterfront from anchorage

Serenity at free dock

We spent the afternoon walking and touring historic St Marys.  Beautiful buildings, museums and artifacts.  While I rested my legs, POC went to the Magic market and got us burgers, chips and chicken livers.  Fried chicken livers are my favorite and real southern comfort food on a breezy and chilly day.  

Magic market menu

Revolutionary war cemetery

We fired up the Yanmar, cast off the lines and motored back to the anchorage.  Another spectacular sunset over the Georgia marsh land.  Windy and getting quite chilly tonight.

3rd.  Cold windy sunrise.  Direction rotated clockwise during the night, winds now NE 12G 15-18.  44 degrees on the water while just south of us Jacksonville broke a cold record of 39.  Drifted around over night with the winds and tidal currents.  We are going to relocate today to an anchorage just west of Cumberland national sea shore ranger station.   Plan to ease into the big sound and test the waters and if not too ruff, then proceed to the anchorage.  Decent amount of fetch with today’s wind direction and with an opposing tidal current the waves can build steep and close.  As we approached the sound from the protected river it was almost slack tide with ebb tide outbound with the wind.  We retrieved the anchor at 1315 proceeding down the St Marys snake like river toward the sound.  The sound was choppy with an occasional three footer to slosh a bit of salt spray over Serenity.  Only about 1.5 mile of open water crossing and soon we were in the lee of Cumberland island and the ride smoothed out.  The anchorage had numerous blow boats, but we just snuggled into an opening with our stink pot and dropped the hook at 1500 into 18 feet of water.  Ebb tide flowing aligned Serenity into a 10 MPH NE wind.  Water temperature 66.5 degrees.  Another cool night with a diminishing breeze later.  

 We will likely spend most of the day here tomorrow.  Have allowed the glued plug in the dinghy to continue to dry, splashing tomorrow morning for a look.  If no leaks will go ashore and explore the Cumberland island (Cumberland Island National Seashore)

Should be a beautiful night with nearly cloud free skies.

2741 Sm; 1531.4 hours Hobbs