Day 19, Thursday, November 15th, 2007

A sleepless night with all the casino boat traffic. Ninkasi’s anchor dragged sometime between 0200 and 0600. Fortunately it reset somewhere mid channel and the traffic had died down. Anyway, I awoke at 0600, made coffee , started getting the boat ready, and weighed anchor at 0640. We led the group out of the anchorage. Larry passed us and made the Causton Bluff Bridge first.

The weather report was calling for a strong front to arrive during the afternoon and the weather to turn really foul with high winds, small craft warnings, etc. Day-O needed fuel so we tried to find fuel and slips for the evening in Thunderbolt, GA. Fuel , yes, but slips were not to be had. Some sport fishing tournament had all the slips full for the next few days. We were given the name of a marina several miles away on the Medway River. Larry called and got us slips, but they were about 40 miles away and the storm was coming. We pressed on but the weather started changing in the late afternoon. Day-O decided to stop at a small anchorage in Kilkenny Creek, MM 613, as Whisper and Ninkasi continue on.

When Ninkasi turned off the ICW and started up the Medway River at MM 620, Whisper was about 3 miles ahead of us. Now the wind was dead on our nose blowing 25+ and gusting. The combined effect of the wind and river current reduced our headway to 2.6 mph up river. Thinking we were almost there, we called Larry for directions to the marina only to have him tell us he was hard aground. When we got closer to Whisper, our chart plotter showed us he had taken the right side of the river and hit a bar that would have been passable at high tide. We took the left side of the river and passed within 50 yards of Whisper. We were in 33 feet of water and cannot get to Whisper to help. Whisper was lying on its port side with the tide still going out. A classic example of tide timing combined with wind had Whisper sitting on a now exposed bar.
Larry said he was going to wait for the tide to return and for us to continue to the marina. So, we pushed on and made it to the dock just as it got dark. Boy was it nice to be tied to a dock! We connected the shore power, started the heater, began to dry out and waited to assist Larry when he arrived.
The winds began to die down some and the tide was coming back in. Sons of the marina owner went out in small boats to assist Larry. There was some water intrusion into Whisper through the sink seacock in the portside head. They had forgot to close it and approximately 200 gallons of water got inside before they realized it. They were able to get the water bailed/pumped out and when Whisper was floating normally made it to the dock shortly after 2100. After we got them tied to the dock, Larry and Judy went to the restaurant for warmth and dinner. It had been a rough day for all. It’s after 2300 as I write this so I’ll sign off for today.

Location: Sunbury Crab Company Marina, GA (Eight miles off the ICW up the Medway River). ICW marker: 620. Today’s progress: 50 Statute Miles