TIN CUP

Sunday, November 27, 2022

Roy McAvoy, alias Tin Cup, is one of my favorite movie characters.  And one of my favorite quotes is this: “That… was a defining moment, and when a defining moment comes along, you have to define the moment…or the moment defines you.”

LOL!

Anyway, this morning we had a defining moment.  We woke at 5, thinking about the weather forecasts we had seen last night.  Not good:

• Thunderstorms possible

• 24 knot winds

• Gusts to 35

• 4-foot seas

HOWEVER, those forecasts seemed to be focused on coastal waters, not the ICW.

We feel like we have come a long way, but it’s been a slow trip…visiting friends and family, weather delays (thank-you Nicole), staying one day too many in Charleston.  We have been on the road for 25 days, and we are just over half-way to Key West.  And we are due there in 11 days.  It’s time to put the hammer down.

The trip through Georgia is a lengthy trip – about 6 hours.  You can go outside at Savannah and run all the way down to Brunswick, or even on down to the first inlet in Florida – St. Mary’s.  Given the coastal forecast, however, going outside was not an option.

But it seemed like the ICW might work:

• The route through Georgia takes a serpentine path, winding its way through rivers and creeks.  Six times, this path crosses a sound – a place where inland waters have a direct connection to the ocean.

• I knew that the sounds could be rough – they were on my last trip.  But they don’t last long.  In each case, you are exposed to open water for about 40 minutes before you enter the next protected creek or river.

• And we reasoned that the wind and waves would probably be less than forecast for the coast.

GOOD DECISION!  We left at 7AM and had a very comfortable 6-hour run.  The first hour was overcast; the second and third featured fog (thanks for Radar); the sun broke through for the latter half of the trip; and the seas were calm the entire way!  

There’s not much to see as you travel through this part of Georgia…just miles and miles and hour after hour of marshes. But we had fun watching the seabirds. They also follow the boat drafting off the air currents the boat creates.

Some rain rolled in, but only after we were already tied up, fueled up, and pumped out.

So we defined the moment!

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Some of our regular readers may remember us trying to find funny boat names. We passed this one earlier on the trip and thought it was strange to have a cat’s face in the name Sundog. They were tied up next to us last night and guess what – they have a cat on board! Next time Lynn’s cat, Kaly might join us.
PS: Don’t tell her!