"The Moon Over Georgia"

This is the Herb River anchorage in GA where we spent 3 days waiting out a winter storm that had struck all along the east coast from Florida to the northern states. The night time lows fell to the teens and the temperatures inside the cabin were a balmy 38 degrees and the winds outside at times were blowing plus 40 knots. The rain teemed in sideways and we were so glad that it wasn't snowing!!  Our anchorage was very protected, the Summer Wind barely rocked.  We entertained ourselves cuddled under blankets keeping warm, watching movies and indulging in homemade chilli, or a pot of fresh hot soup and.  We ran the generator more often then usual to warm up the inside of the Summer Wind but not at night when we would sleep. Thank goodness for down comforters! Unfortunately we didn't get to see the moon or the stars,,, too cloudy and cold!! Each morning we woke up to ice on the windows and very slippery decks. brrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Finally the winds settled down enough for us to weigh anchor and head down to our next destination. When bringing up the anchor we discovered our salt water wash down pump had froze,, it's a good thing the anchor came up decently clean. Any water that fell onto the deck from the anchor and chain instantly froze. Normally we would steer the boat from the bridge, but because it was still too darn cold we took advantage of being able to steer from inside the cabin.

 Our next stop was the Frederica River anchorage. We could have gone into a marina that evening but decided that this anchorage was pretty protected from any winds and so we would be 'comfortable' for the night. That day the temperature highs were in the high 40's and the nights were in the low 20's,, still not 'boating weather'.

Our last day in Georgia was another anchorage in the Wahoo River. Temperatures were beginning to rise but still too cold for southern comfort.  It would be good to finally get to Florida.



Cows making short work of the tall grass

 The ICW winds through the Georgia marshland with tall grasses, shallow water and fast currents. There are times your crossing your fingers and toes that there is enough water to get through. Our last day in Georgia took us through the Cumberland dividings.. a notorious spot for catching captains off guard that don't pay attention to the markers and as we were traversing through,, it had captured a huge sailboat on a sandbar. We had no problem following the markers,, but we were so happy to cross the Georgia/Florida border.