Kilkenny Marina – At a dock



They have one very long dock

 We had a lot of shallow water to traverse today so we started out at 7:00 am, just as the sun was rising. On the way down I can remember being very tense through this area from having to watch the depth and navigate at the same time. However, this time it wasn’t so bad, we both had gotten used to the shallow waters of the south and as long as we had 7 ft or so, it was okay. That would not have been our feeling in the fall.

As we left our anchorage this morning, we saw a trawler pull out right in front of us and then stop! This was at the famous Jekyll Island stretch of the ICW where many boats go aground during the year. He seemed to hesitate so I pull around to pass and he followed after me. In fact, for the next 71 miles, he was no further than 1/8 of a mile back all the way! I guess he figured that if I could make it with my draft of 5 feet through the trouble spots, then he could too.

7 ft tides!

We had intended to anchor out but the reports of a bad line storm due overnight eventually changed our mind, mainly due to concern in getting Hoolie ashore. There is only one marina on this part of the ICW and that’s the Kilkinney Marina. After 8 hours, we finally left the ICW and pulled into the Kilkenny creek – and that trawler than had been following us since 7:00 am also made the same turn! Good, we though, we’ll finally meet this guy since there’s only one marina on this creek. Shortly thereafter, we saw him slow down and stop and then turn around. He was so intent on letting us lead the way that he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going – he meant to keep on the ICW I guess since he backtracked and soldiered on, ending up I know not where.

The Kilkenny Marina is pretty basic. The docks have seen better days but they do have electricity on the docks at least and plenty of depth, 20 feet at low tide. We should be snug for any storms due through here, predicted between 5:00 am and 11:00 am on Tuesday.