Georgia

Photo: Mom, Dad, and Schooner Liberty.

The intrepid voyagers finally made it out of the state of Florida (temporarily). We’re anchored on the southwest end of Cumberland Island after a combination of ICW motoring and Atlantic sailing.

We saw most of the sights in St. Augustine, and really enjoyed being anchored there. It was an easy dinghy ride into the marina, where we purchased a “dinghy pass” which included marina privileges for 50 bucks a week. We’ve found that one of the problems of cruising is that once you arrive somewhere, how do you go ashore? With the ever-increasing private ownership of land, virtually all the free places to land a dinghy are gone.

Dad and I toured the Hunter factory. It is a large facility, clean and organized, with about 25 boats in various stages of construction. Dad has been in several boat factories, some overseas, and was impressed with what he saw. I told our tour guide how much we love our boat, and also wrote down a few items I would change based on our “extensive” use of a Hunter. Rachel, Kathy, and Mom took a buggy ride around town while we were at the factory.

We had a nice day sail in the Atlantic. Conditions were perfect with light wind and smooth seas

We hated to leave St. Augustine because we had just made new friends with another cruising family, the Stancils. Jason, Cindy, Hayley, and Jack, live part-time on a Pearson 32, and have just sailed north from the Keys, same as us. Jason is a captain on a huge cargo ship, working for Maersk. We all took in some sights together, enjoyed a lunch at Harry’s, and shared cocktail hour on Stardust. Rachel and Hayley had fun playing together, with young Jack joining in too.

Cumberland Island is scenic, with pine forests, and wild horses roaming around. The fish nibble at my lures, but won’t be hooked.

I said “temporarily” at the beginning of this piece, because we’ll go south across Cumberland Sound back into Florida at Fernandina Beach. We’ll probably be here a couple of days before heading north some more.


The weather is turning cool. We watched the sunrise this morning with sweaters on, and a cold front is due tonight with even cooler temps. Feels good!