Friday, November 9 – Mile 590 (Isle of Hope) to Mile 625 (Cattle Pen Creek):

            Yikes!  It’s granddaughter, Sara’s, 13^th birthday!  Congratulations, Sara, if you are reading this!

            We woke up this morning to a beautiful, bright, sunny day with very little to no wind and hardly a ripple on the water.  Actually, we woke up a lot earlier than that as our neighbors in front and in back of us left at 0 Dark 30 to go through Hell Gate on a mid to falling tide and the sound of their engines woke us up.  We had already decided to wait for a mid to rising tide, so we didn’t need to leave the marina until around noon.

            However, it was very difficult to go back to sleep, because Lucy, the cat, knew things were stirring, and she decided it was time for her breakfast.  She really has the life – and the staff (that would be us) to accommodate her every need.  Don’t do anything upon waking but feed her immediately!  Then the bed must be made promptly before she finishes eating because that’s where she retires to (under the covers) for the rest of the day’s trip if we are planning on starting the engines and moving anywhere.  I know most of you are thinking, “Pitch the cat overboard!”  We can’t – she’s been microchipped, and someone would find her and return her, and then there would be H--- to pay.  Can you imagine the look we would get?  Talk about if looks could kill…

            That leads me to the morning’s activities – grocery shopping - for the cat!  I planned very carefully to bring enough cat food so I wouldn’t have to buy any at a store on the way as we traveled down the waterway (because she will only eat Friskies wet cat food in a pouch and Iams dry cat food – just try and feed her anything else, and you would be accused vehemently of trying to poison her, and the meowing wouldn’t stop until the correct food was placed in front of her), but it seems that Lucy has embarked on a feeding frenzy.  I have bought bags of Iams dry cat food that have lasted months at home, but she has just about completely devoured an entire large bag of the stuff on the boat in addition to her other three meals a day in one month’s time.  I guess she has finally decided that she is on vacation, and she is not going to count calories!  So we borrow the courtesy car again and head off to the Publix (which is a great grocery store, and I wish we had one in Maryland – like in Centreville where I live!).  However, Bob seems to be happy to be heading to the grocery store to buy cat food, and I finally understood why – Publix has these great “Bear Claw” pastries, and Bob is filling up the cart!  I’m sure he was silently thanking Lucy for being a “good eater.”

            So, groceries are unpacked, noon is approaching, I make lunch to take up on the flybridge as we motor off, we cast-off the lines, and we are on our way again. 

            First up, the Skidaway Narrows Bridge, the tide is low (but on the rise), and we are able to get under the bridge without an opening.  So as we travel down the Skidaway River, we cross the famous “Moon River” into Burnside River.  There is a small anchorage inside Moon River, but most of it is very shallow.  Burnside River takes you into the Vernon River and into the Little Ogeechee River, and there you have to go through Hell Gate. This is a beautiful trip.  This area of Georgia is flat with marshes as far as the eye can see.  You can look into the distance and see other boats, but they look like they are gliding through the marsh.  The rivers wind and meander around with plenty of water in the channels, and with little wind, a brilliant sky and calm sea, it was a glorious run.  We went through Hell Gate on the rising tide, as Bob planned, and we saw 12” of water all the way.  Through Hell Gate and into the Ogeechee River then down into the Florida Passage.  I have no idea why they call it the “Florida Passage”, although, again, I am sure some well-travelled reader will inform me, because it doesn’t take you to Florida – it takes you into the Bear River.  Did I see any bear?? No. 

            Once we got into the Bear River we thought we might anchor for the night in Big Tom Creek, but it was only 2:00 p.m., and we decided to go further to make up for some lost time.  So on we went down the Bear River and across St. Catherines Sound – and yes, I could see the ocean, but we didn’t go out there - yet – I think that is still to come.  St. Catherines Sound takes you to the North Newport River into Johnson Creek, and there we decided to go into Cattle Pen Creek to anchor for the night. 

            This is a lovely little creek – a little exposed, but has a tree line in the distance, acres of marsh – it is supposed to have 1 knot of current, but I don’t notice anything.  We go up a little ways to where it widens out a little so we have plenty of room, hopefully, to swing around as the tide and current change and drop the hook.  I wonder if I’ll see an alligator.  I hear the cry of a bird that I don’t think I have heard before.  I can’t see them, yet the birds seem to be all around us.  The sunset is beautiful although it is coming earlier and earlier – all oranges and pinks filling up the sky.  Two other boats come in to join us for the night.

            Lucy is looking out the window, and I wonder what she is thinking.  I wish I could have some idea as to what goes on in her little mind.  She has adjusted nicely to being an adventure cat, and even though I like to write about our “misadventures” with her, she makes our boat a “home.”

Lucy, bravely, on the deck

            We are ready to settle in for the night.  The menu will be steak on the grill, garlic mashed potatoes, some vegetable I will dig out of the freezer, and a nice glass of red wine.  Life is good right now.