Cumberland to St. Simon’s Island (Golden Isles Marina)
Cumberland Island to St. Simon’s Island (Golden Isles Marina)
It’s good to be in Georgia. Anchoring in Cumberland Sound and seeing live oaks, the brown Atlantic waters, and the rich green marsh grass along the banks of the waterways felt like a giant welcome mat to these not so weary travelers. The breeze was gentle all night, and in rhythm with the gentle sway of the boat and fairly swift current, we slept well.
King’s Bay, is just 2-3 miles north of Cumberland and home of the Navy’s submarine base. No nuclear submarine was at port today, darn it.
At 9ish, we pulled anchor and headed North (as usual). With only 28 NM on the docket today, we arrived at Golden Isles Marina just after 1pm. The docks look brand new, floating concrete, and what appears to be all teak decking inlaid. The new power pedestals gave us fits when hooking up our electrical. Neither Steve nor I have had any issues, but today we both did. The marina staff was insistent we had ground fault issues on our boat. I argued that I haven’t had them before today. After my power tripped their breaker 4 times, they switched to another circuit. Like magic, suddenly, MY ground fault issue went away and I had no more trouble. They put in a call to their electician. Steve, on the other hand, was not able to resolve his issue as quickly, but did eventually find something on his boat contributing to the problem. Not knowing what I am talking about electrically, I do know the new GFI (ground fault interrupter) systems are extremely sensitive. Fortunately, most of the marinas on this journey were either older, or they had, at least, worked out all their issues, so I have been to not deal with the headaches associated with this critical safety device.
I gave the Honey Queen an overdue bath this afternoon while Amanda caught up with her old girlfriend, Frances, who lives in St. Simon’s Island. We (Amanda) got the covers to all the seats in the salon washed, as well. They need to be spotless because Sunday afternoon we will be home and thousands will be there waving ‘Welcome Home’ signs, and our boat, inside and out, must look perfect for the cruise into our final stop.
The Coastal Kitchen is the onsite restaurant at the marina. Sometimes, these places are tourist traps and serve mediocre bar food, but occasionally, they are really nice. With the convenience of a restaurant at the end of the pier, we “carless” couples decided it was worth the risk, so we made reservations. We started with calamari, second only to that we recently enjoyed at the Daytona Chart House. Our meals of fried shrimp, shrimp and grits, boiled shrimp, and a filet all got 4 stars. We waddled back to the boat, I plotted our trip to the Wahoo River anchorage for the next day, and fell asleep to the hum of the cool dry air conditioning blowing against my face.