As I post this it is now several days into spring, and the weather has only gotten colder! It’s been grey with high winds and horizontal rain. I’ve been curled up down below knitting, while Bob has been standing out in the wind and rain at the helm, steering us ever northward. The ICW in Georgia is very shallow so we can only move from shortly before high tide until shortly after high tide. When the winds and currents are against us it’s not worth trying! Hopefully tomorrow we will se a bit Savannah in sun with warm temperatures! That’s what the weather predicts and I’m holding to it!
On the first day of spring we spent the morning walking the streets of Fernandina, while a dense fog had Pandora and various other transient boats lost in the mist. It was perfectly clear on shore, but dense as pea soup out in the harbor.
Fernandina really is a beautiful southern town! Here are some of the lovely houses we saw along our walk. I think this house might be the largest house in town–certainly the largest on our walk. It is now an inn.
This house was fascinating from all directions! It was hard to choose just one photo, but the view of this hand hewn porch won.
I never get tired of looking for beautiful front doors, or doors of any kind. A beautiful entrance to a house is just SO inviting! And there were plenty of houses in Fernandina that just begged me to come sit on the porch or take a look through the front door. I managed to refrain….
Camellias in bloom at many houses, along with azaleas and roses.
A series of lovely doors!
Even a side door caught my attention….
This house had such pretty birdhouses posted as finials on the gate to the front walk!
I know you want to see a close up!
I don’t know what this vine is that is growing on this outbuilding–I bet it doesn’t grown in Connecticut….
And an orange tree with both flowers and fruit.
Many streets smelled positively heavenly with mock orange shubs blooming at several houses.
Getting back onboard I happened to check my email and found a comment from Marjorie recommending that I make sure to visit Bristly Thistle, the embroidery shop right in Fernandina! Yikes! I am so disappointed that I did miss it! By the time I was reading Marjorie’s comment, we had dropped our mooring and were headed to Cumberland Island. If we went back we’d have to give up our visit to Cumberland. It was not an easy decision for me, but I also knew I’d already tortured Bob for quite some time during my visits to all the pretty shops in the center of Fernandina. Well, Bristly Thistle is on my list for next time. I won’t make that mistake twice!
Just to give you an idea of shopping hell for Bob: this shop had curiosities, vintage items and antiques. I had a ball…..Bob, not so much… now I’ve got ideas for what I can do with all my shells.
By mid-afternoon we had anchored off Cumberland Island and were headed ashore in the dinghy. We walked to the ruins of the Carnegie mansion on Cumberland Island, and then into the small town that was built to hold the employees of the mansion. It was beautifully clear on shore with blue skies above us. We thought we were done with fog! Not so!
If you look really closely in the photo you will see that I’m wearing on of my recently finished sweaters! All in all, it was a glorious first day of spring!
We left just after sunrise on Sunday morning in order to take advantage of the rising tide. While we travel through Georgia we will only have 4 or 5 hours a day, just a couple of hours on either side of high tide, to make our way. At low tide the Intra Coastal Waterway here is too shallow for Pandora. So we will move while we can, and then stop each day to await the next high tide during daylight hours. There are no towns on our route, so we will have several days of quiet passage and peaceful anchorages in the salt marshes. The landscape is beautiful here, and there are still dolphins following our wake, and lots of beautiful shore birds.
Arctic terns are following us quite closely at our stern. They are flying just about eye level with us, and at the same speed we are going. It’s fascinating to see a bird in flight this closely. Today I saw one bird cross its legs and rub them together like he was scratching his legs! And I am making eye contact with the birds. It’s so strange to look right into the eyes of a bird in flight and find him looking right at me! I can see closely how they move their heads as they fly, watching the water for interesting tidbits. I think we must have been stirring up stuff on the muddy bottom that attracted these terns. I tried really hard to get a photo of one of terns looking right at me…..no luck!
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