We had a long haul scheduled for today.  The marsh and islands abound with few cities, marina, or ports for dockage.  The best we could find was 70 miles from Jekyll Island. We got up early to make our 8 hour day as pleasant as possible.   Again, cloudy and cool but no rain in the forecast.  Winds had died down over night and the water was very quiet.

Leaving Jekyll Island, GA

As we were leaving Jekyll Island we saw a number of Trawlers.  Shrimp Trawlers getting ready for the shrimp season to begin first of May.  I love this trawler’s moniker, “Bug Hunter”.

Bug Hunter

“The Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival” held in Fernandina Beach, FL the first weekend in May.  I did converse with the Logistics Chairman of the shrimp festival who remarked that this is the 52nd year of having the festival.  Sorry we missed all the excitement.  Maybe next year.  The trawlers we saw looked like they have brand new nets and getting ready for the new season.

William Patrick

Calm winds and smooth water.  The first drama for the day was trying to decide which river to go up.  The chart plotter didn’t continue the “magenta line”.  Which way to go??  Do we go up Black River, Mackay River or around Lanier Island on the right?

North of St. Simons Sound

As you can see there is plenty of water depth in all the ‘fingers’ going north from St Simons Sound.  The three fingers, which I call them, all meet together a bit north anyway.  We chose the middle path… Mackay River into Manhead Sound.

Mackay River it is

As we traveled the day, there ended up to be 4 of us all headed to the same location, Kilkenny Marina.

2 trawlers behind us.

We were the second trawler in the line.  We were going to go through “Mud River” which we were warned to go through at mid-tide or better being that it is notorious for shoaling and not very deep at low tide.  Some folks have reported as little as 3ft depths at low tide.  Our draft is 4.5 ft so we need at least 6-7 ft to be safe.   We all traversed this river with no problems.   Only at one spot did we see less than 7 ft.  Going slow and giving lots of room between the boats.

Little Mud River

By late afternoon, we were finally at Kilkenny Marina.  Out in the middle of nowhere, Georgia.

Kilkenny Marina

Kilkenny Marina is described as being “rustic”.  You know what that means, right?  Don’t expect much but a great place to pull over for the night and enjoy the wonders of no-see-ums if there is no wind.  The least complicated registration ever.  Just put our boat name and destination in a paper logbook that looks like a hotel registry of times past.  Quaint.

Kilkenny Marina Dock

The marina has a wooden floating dock that is held on top of the water with blue barrels.  When you walk on the dock, it sways under your weight back and forth.  Each segment is independent of the next so everything moves forward, backward, and side-to-side.  You really have to watch your step.

Rustic Ramp at Kilkenny Marina

A great travel day.  All four of the trawlers were safely docked for the night.  A couple sailing boats came in after us.

Evening sky at Kilkenny Marina, GA

We expect to get up early tomorrow morning because we have 2 more challenging areas to traverse at mid-tide.   All four of us again going in the same direction…North.