Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Jekyll Island - at anchor

Parked at Fernandina - Somewhere to dock a ship no longer needed, I guess
We headed north and went through many shallows today at low tide but the lowest we saw was 8 MLLW. I used a combination of SonarChart, Aqua Map USACE surveys, and past experience to plot a course. I just uploaded all of my daily tracks to Bob423 ICW Tracks this afternoon. I have to still do the spreadsheet describing each day's coverage, a task for later in the week. There were many opportunities to find less water than 8 MLLW but if you're careful, you can get through.

Fernandina looked very busy! 
One of the challenges is in finding an anchor spot after you've given out all the anchoring secrets like at Jekyll Creek south of the bridge. We pulled into the anchorage about 10 minutes after another boat that anchored right on top of my recommended anchoring location! We made do with a spot farther south with not as much swing room but okay for the night. All of my special anchorages are in my guide and listed in Waterway Guide anchorages. The one at Jekyll is shown in an area that according to NOAA charts has less than 4 MLLW but it actually as 10 to 12 MLLW, such is local knowledge.

A nice end to the evening that's us in the distance to the left.
We will leave Thursday morning and go through Jekyll at near low tide but that is no problem anymore since it was dredged last fall. We plan on winding up at the Crescent River anchorage, another one of our favorites with shore relief for Hoolie, a must. We are also keeping an eye out on the developing tropical depression in the Atlantic which we are hoping will go out to sea, we'll see.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Bob & Ann- That was us on the Cape Dory. I literally had your book open to the page when dropping the hook. It has been very helpful to us in planning the trip and finding anchorages (and doggy spots). We left MA last September. Hopefully we see you again in more normal times.
Safe travels- Brian, Lynne, and Ollie- SV Catalpa

Unknown said...

Hi Bob, we too were in Jekyll last night but on the dock. We are a 53' Marlow, Blue Star. We also happened to be at Fernandina for a few days when you took that pic. Big Eagle, a 167' ship had left earlier that day and was going to come to Jekyll but it was too shallow. We stopped for the night at Crescent River. Safe travels & thank you for ALL the useful information. It is how we are making our 1st southern voyage this year.
Paul & MK Blue Star