Events of Day:

Wx - started out in a fine drizzle, but forecast said that was all; lied; 3 miles into the bay and rain and some TSM started in earnest, such that we couldn't see much and had to rely on our electronic navigation line, etc. to go from one channel marker to the next. Had to have our navigation lights on. Used our AIS [Automatic Identification System - transponder] to identify several other boats/ships in the bay who were in our area, and who we would be better off not hitting! :) Of course, they could also see us on their AIS, so a collision would be unlikely [naive]. After a half hour of poor visibility, but fortunately not too much wind or waves, we were back into canals and streams and protected - until the end of the day when we needed to dock - see below!! We don't mind this wx, since we have a pilothouse and can pilot in in relative comfort. Little boat traffic due to the wx - a nice feature.

Travel - left at 07:40, arrived at Sunbury Harbor Crab Co. Restaurant & Marina at 4:10 pm, in winds pushing 20mph and a 'flood' tide current [the tide was coming in], which made docking a bit tricky; had to use half throttle at times to overcome the wind/current and control her to allow these opposing forces the opportunity to 'push' us gently into the dock; fortunately, their dockhand/owner was there, in the rain, to help and we tied up without incident - i.e. nothing broken, damaged, and egos intact.

It was cloudy all day, with intermittent rain, but not cold. Followed two sailboats through narrow and shallow canals near the end of the day, travelling at 6mph, which is all one could do given the depths, etc, for safe boating and not wanting to run aground. It was helpful actually to follow them because they have deeper drafts than we do!! :) See photo.

Sunbury Marina is a quaint, casual place. It's basic as far as marinas go, with a long face dock, but has a great reputation as a restaurant - written up in Southern Living Magazine as one of the best Southern places to eat for seafood. Which is the main reason we came here, since it is 8 miles off the AICW. For supper, for which we did takeout, Marg had Grilled Fresh Georgia Shrimp with side of okra and tomatoes, I had fried Red Fish with side of mashed potatoes and creamed sweet corn - all were excellent and their reputation is well deserved. Their parking lot was full and people were waiting to sit and eat; no or little evidence of masks or distancing.

After we were all secure and resting, another boat, a 44' Carver arrived, and the crew, of about the same aged vintage as us, needed the same kind of assistance to get onto the dock safely, which we gladly helped him do. Boaters are a helpful bunch.

Photos - several of the Sunbury marina, restaurant, etc. Because of low tide, the mud and grass is uncovered by water between the docks and the shoreline where the restaurant is. They have floating docks, meaning the docks move up/down with the tide, which makes it much nicer for boats to stay tied to the docks [with 7 foot tides!!].

MECHANICAL:

Oils, etc - checked at the end of every travel day;

Windshield wiper switch - the mid-wiper would not shut off and had to turn off the circuit breaker a couple of times. Had the same problem with the port one and I pulled the contact terminals on the back of the switch and sandpapered and greased them, believing the issue was corrosion, and the port has worked fine since; so will have to do the same maintenance to the mid [and might as well go ahead and do the stbd when I have the panel pulled off].

That's all folks. Carry on distancing and keeping in touch.

Tomorrow, we head for Savannah and the Thunderbolt Marina for two days.

PS

Photos to follow tomorrow. Poor cell reception. Hope this post actually gets sent.

PPS

The photos have all been added. The fuel dock 'functional desk' is rather neat - he uses the old SunDrop cooler as his storage desk, with the credit card swipe, and all the usual desk stuff, on the shelves, locks it, but can see at a glance through the glass door where everything is. Very functional and recycled. Also keeps all the humidity out!!

Comments:

Dd  •  05 Jun, 2020:  Rob! You must have been in heaven with your cream corn and mashed potatoes! Enjoy Savannah! You must go on the tour and go to that restaurant 😊🍷

Robert & Margaret  •  06 Jun, 2020:  It was really good mashed pot w/ cr.corn - almost as good as Marg's.