Ithaka's Odyssey: Leaving Florida Entering Georgia

I am not sure going north is the right way go. Temperatures in the 40's and 50's is not what I had in mind.

Our last stop in Fl. Was at Fernandina. A quaint old town on Amelia Island. Lots of charming old homes.

Our entrance into the Fernandina Marina was our first really big docking challenge. The water was normally quite shallow and we arrived at low tide. The winds that day were 20 miles per hour steady gusting to 30. Jack did a great job docking the boat with almost no water, high winds, and a wild current. We touched bottom twice that day. I haven't tried docking, since we left Harbor Isle Marina. I think I might start with undocking the boat, before I try docking the boat. Docking is a big job with new wind, tide, current challenge each time.

As you can see, not every boat in the marina looks like ITHAKA. Two young guys were our neighbors one night. This is their fishing boat.

"The Loop" takes a lot of body and mind energy. We feel it is worth every bit of energy and we are up to every challenge. There is nothing like this experience. Some moments (marina showers) are like being 12 years old again and back at Girl Scout Camp. Who gets to be 12 again? It is a treat! Some moments are like living the scene from Titanic where they stand on the bow of the boat as "King of the World"!

Because we touched bottom coming into Fernandina, we were advised to find safe water and open ITHAKA up to her top speed and check for vibrations. We normally travel at about 9 to 10 miles per hour. Top speed this day was 28.2 miles per hour. Quite an accomplishment for a trawler. Jack was a glow!!!

This vibration test may have given us a false sense of what slow feels like. As we passed by Jacksonville and were moving through a very confusing signage area around the navy ship yards we were too busy (checking GPS, checking paper charts, looking ahead for on coming vessels, looking behind for upcoming vessels, listening for sounds, paying attention to the smells, watching for crab pots, looking for channel markers, etc., etc., etc.,) to notice the slow, minimum wake sign. Sooooo, on our port side we noticed an approaching small boat with four Florida State Water Police with their blue lights flashing. We thought maybe they were wanting to board us for an inspection. As they flopped their boarding fenders over the side of their boat, I went down to the sun-deck. They yelled "slow it down." I was humble, apologetic, and tried to look as much like their mother as I could. Jack cut our speed way back and they waved us on. Dodged that bullet...

After a beautiful day on the water, we docked at Morningside Marina at St. Simons Island.

A tour of the island the next day took us to some historically significant homes and taught us some local history.

One stop on the tour was Christ Church.

This church is recognized for the burial plot of Henry Lord Page King of the prominent King family. The story is told that a slave named Neptune Small was the "man servant" for the youngest son of the King family of St. Simon Island. He accompanied Henry Lord Page King, know as Lordie during several major civil war battles. During the Battle of Fredricksburg, in 1862, Lordie was killed. Neptune searched all night for his master and finally found him. Because slaves were not allowed to have horses, Neptune bult a wood coffin for his master and pushed or pulled the coffin by hand cart the 500 miles back to Georgia where he could be buried in the family cemetary.

For his actions, the King family gave Neptune a piece of property on their plantation. He built his home and lived there with his family until 1907. He continued to work for the King family after the civil war as a free man.

Another interesting story was the historical landing at Dunbar Creek in St. Simons, GA. It was the site of the 1850 mass suicide of 20 slaves who just arrived from Nigeria and were sold into slavery. A proud people from the Igbo Tribe, including their Chief. They made a suicide pact to keep them from living a life in chains. Following their Chief, who chanted, "The sea brought me and the sea will bring me home. " They all ran into Dunbar Creek chained together instead of walking onto the bank into a life of slavery.

Our next planned stopped was Sudbury Crab Company Marina, a little over half way to Savannah. But, we met the crew of the Motor Vessel "Last Resort" Don and his wife. They are the Ontario Harbor Hosts.They planned to travel from St. Simon to Savannah in one long day (91 miles). It was a glorious, perfect day to be on the water, so we changed our float plan and also went on to Isle of Hope Marina in Savannah.

The next day we toured Savannah. This included lunch at Paula Deans' Restaurant (yummy) and an overview of the city. Jack took pictures of this 10,000 square foot home built in 1819. It had running water and flushing toilets 15 years before the White House and 100 years before other homes. It was built by a 24 year old architect. Revolutionary War General LaFayette was a guest in the home and delivered a speech from the balcony of the guest bedroom, qualifying the home as a national historic site.