A view of the city marina from our anchorage spot. We transited up on Friday with light winds and will sit here at anchor for a couple days of north winds. Then on Monday the wind shifts to the southwest and we will ride that up to Charleston or Georgetown.
Here's the view on the other side of the boat away from town. This is the start of the grasslands that extend from here, through Georgia, and up past Charleston to Georgetown.
It is pretty your first time through the grasslands with the meandering ICW waters but not something you want to do by choice if you can avoid the tedium, shallow waters and 8ft tides with strong currents.
We always try to transit offshore past Georgia which saves about 4-5 days.
Fernandina is a very cute small town, quite touristy, and would be a great place to live if it wasn't for the two foul smelling factories. This is the paper plant to the north that produces corrugated cardboard for boxes.
This is the wood products factory to the south, equally bad smelling. I suppose the residents get used to the smells and capitalize on the jobs they provide. It certainly smells better than the fish meal plant in Reedville, in the Chesapeake. That smell drove us off our anchorage at 4am when the wind shifted directly towards us.
Downtown mainstreet in Fernandina. Very quaint town. Our favorite spots are the Amelia Island Coffee, AIBC Tavern, First Love Brewery, and Aloha Bagel. Also Timoti"s for seafood baskets.
Full moon rising over Fernandina waterfront.
Heading out St Mary's Inlet for sea, heading for Charleston or Georgetown SC. We'll see how far north we can get over the next two days.
Winds are forecasted to increase over the day and night. We hope to get to Georgetown in the mid-afternoon tomorrow before the wind shifts to the west, the direction we need to enter the inlet there.
