We timed the tide and weather so there was little wind and current when we left, giving us an easy departure from the dock, and a good approach to the fuel dock. Heather was not too rusty after not driving the boat for 10 months. We topped off the diesel and got a pump out, but forgot to get more ice - rookie mistake.
After settling up with the marina we threw off the lines from the fuel dock, and finally passed under the bridge that heads to Jekyll Island.
There is only one bridge to Saint Simons Island (SSI), and we had been over it many times. Now, for the first time, we made it under the SSI bridge, the farthest north we have been in the boat.
As we passed by SSI, another boat called the Lynx was just leaving.
I started cleaning the dodger's clear plastic, which hadn't been touched since being installed a month before. Obviously this needs to be done a little more often. The amount of clear plastic on the dodger is much more area than I had on the convertible. To finally get a cool breeze back we tried taking out the center section.
There was some thin water and we were very out of practice. We couldn't have a high tide the entire time we were moving, but we could have timed that better. Still, we didn't touch bottom that we noticed.
Now that we're running the engine at speed it is doing a new thing. The engine temperature is typically from 168 - 170°F, but then it's popping up 10-15 degrees for a few seconds, then slides back down again, repeating maybe twice a minute. As a part of the engine work we acquired a new thermostat. Maybe the spring and the bellows are still learning to get along?
Or maybe not. We seem to be overheating a little when we push the engine too hard. We just had the bottom and prop cleaned again, so I'm starting to think we may be overpropped a little bit. We were there during the haul out for the survey three years ago when buying the boat, and the previous owner (PO) Hal had adjusted the MaxProp when we pulled the boat, but we don't remember what he did exactly and didn't know enough at the time to ask. Hmmm.
We anchored that afternoon next to Dog Hammock. I guess it is named thus because the anchorage is next to a hammock (in the "little island in a salt marsh" version of the word) which is next to Dog Island, but I like the mental picture the name evokes.
The new dinghy is so big we had to pick up the nose with the spinnaker halyard so we could open the forward hatches and get some airflow. There's no air conditioning away from the dock unless we start the generator, but there is almost always a nice breeze at anchor, away from anything that could block the wind. We had a fancy dinner of grilled cheese stuffed with thinly sliced leftover steak and tomato, and a caesar salad.
We were both so tired, having forgotten that boat travel days are full days. We watched videos until we fell asleep, early. There was little wind but quite a bit of reversing current. Nonetheless, the anchor stuck tight all night.
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