We've finally started our northward push

We left Jacksonville to start our Great Loop trip Friday, March 30th. We went to Fernandina Beach for the night and picked up fuel at Florida Petroleum where the prices are about .40/gal less than Jacksonville. As Snoopy always started his novel "it was a dark and stormy night". We had wind and rain but all was well and we left the next morning headed to Cumberland Island. We anchored at North Cumberland and dinghied to shore to explore the north part of the island. On our way in we passed by the King's Bay submarine base and saw a sub in dock.

On our way to the anchorage we saw the famous Cumberland wild horses and while hiking around the north end of the island we found a copper head in the main road and an armadillo rooting around in the brush.


We hiked to the old African settlement and saw the First African Baptist Church that was established in the late 1800's. This is the church where John Kennedy Jr. was married in a top secret ceremony.


Cumberland Island is a beautiful island and the northern part is rarely visited because the ferry from St. Mary's lands at the southern end near the Carnegie mansion ruins.

We left from Cumberland Island this morning and passed Little Cumberland Island and the Cumberland Light

From there we passed by Jekyll Island where we could see the Jekyll Island Club. This club has special historical significance because it is where Sarah, Allyson and Katie asked Aunt Stacy about a clubhouse for the Cousins Club. Little did they know that we were already working on obtaining a clubhouse (SEASEA) at that time.

We passed by the southern end of St. Simon's Island where we have spent a portion of September or October for the last 10 years. Many of the CC's have climbed the St. Simon's Lighthouse. A bit later we passed under what Stacy is now calling her bridge, the causeway over to St. Simon's from the mainland. Stacy has crossed this bridge many times dreaming of one day crossing under it on our boat.


We have anchored for the night in the Fredrica River right off Ft. Fredrica. Bill had Stacy drop him off at the fort so he could look around and found that the oyster beds can be very sharp on the shore.



We are planning to be in Beaufort, SC on Wednesday where we will be staying at Lady's Island Marina for a few days visiting with friends in town.