At long last, our November 1 insurance deadline passed so we’re onward into Florida.

While waiting to cross the line, we spent a few days at our favorite scenic anchorage, Plum Orchard on Cumberland Island.  Thousands of birds (uniquely wood stocks & roseate spoonbills), dozens of dolphins, wild horses, armadillos, 2 manatees & 1 alligator.  Lots of photos from our stay 2 years ago at: Prior visit to Plum Orchard.

Have you heard the one about what the wild horse said while walking down the road?

More of that Georgia mud at low tide

There we are, poking thru the trees loaded with Spanish moss

These wild horses stopped what they were doing to say goodby as we left our anchorage … not!

Our next stop is St. Augustine, then onward to Vero Beach before a bit of stormy weather arrives next week. Vero Beach will be our base for the next 1 1/2+ months while we get caught up with doctor & dentist appointments, along with prepping for crossing over the Bahamas.

Place those orders now! with Lori before her Etsy Shop is sold out! An impressive stack of orders went out from Jekyll Island via golf cart.

No … we didn’t get stuck in any Georgia mud, while even we, (needing only 3′ of water) have to be mindful of the tide. With nearly 8′ of tide, most boats can travel thru even the shallow stretches at half tide or more, but sequencing your days for each shallow stretch doesn’t always work out.  Fortunately this year, we’ve made our timing work out well. Our depth sounder rarely shows less than 9′ & I can’t even remember the last time our low depth alarm (set at 6′) has gone off.

While some cruisers get tired or annoyed with traveling the serpentine ICW waters of Georgia, we always enjoy it. Birds (egrets especially) are everywhere along nearly every shore. The rivers & creeks have great names, such as Kilkenny Creek, Ogeechee River, Moon River, Skidaway River, Buttermilk Sound, Crooked Creek (aren’t they all are!), Bear River (haven’t seen any), Walburg Creek & our favorite shown below, the Rockdedunny River.

This sandbar, which blocks nearly the entire river at low tide, we crossed over at high tide. Well … we could have with 4’+ to spare, but there is a very narrow gap to the extreme left which has 20′ of depth even at low tide.

Altie

Wait … there’s a song about one of these crazy rivers – CLICK FOR MUSIC VIDEO: The Altamaha River song by Lance Stinson.  A catchy country song (perhaps you have to be on the Altamaha to fully enjoy it…).  In addition to its own song, it has a sea serpent named Altamaha-ha (Altie for short). Ironically, the ICW traverses only a mile or so of the 137-mile long Altamaha River.  Much of the ICW connects a creek here & a river there, along with hundreds of miles of man-made canals & cuts, to make it’s 1,200-mile journey from Norfolk, Virginia to Miami, FL.

The orange shows our route on the ICW. The yellow is the Altamaha River.

 Always interesting sights along the waterway.

These cows surprised us on a tiny, marshy island – just off the Altamaha.

Two bald eagles making … baby bald eagles!

Many creeks have small docks for their local shrimp boats.

A great sunset … up yet another creek.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Note the shrimper’s name: GRAVE DIGGER!

We’ll be in & around Jekyll Island, Georgia for a few days, as our insurance company doesn’t allow us to cross the Georgia/Florida line until after November 1st (even though there are no hurricane or storms on the horizon). Oh well, there are worse places to be stuck!