Our sail from Carolina Beach NC to Cumberland Island GA took about 60 hours and it was quite the ride of contrasts.

Dropping the mooring and heading south through the ICW to Cape Fear.

We dropped the mooring a day early so that we could catch some really good weather and we had essentially zero wind as we moved through the ICW and reached the inlet at Cape Fear without issue. Making as much as 7 knots over the ground as we were moving with the current. Then on the exit I realized that wind from the south with the current pushing us south meant we were going to have a VERY bumpy ride until the current effect disappeared. It was a bit uncomfortable for about an hour or two while we fought the waves to get outside.

Once outside though the seas calmed to glass and we just sailed south close hauled for a few days. Not a cloud in the sky and just enough wind to keep the sails full and to have us moving well.

The second night we were even greeted with fireworks in the form of bioluminescence that would explode around the boat as we moved through the water. No boat traffic of any concern the autopilot just held our course.

The afternoon on the last day of our journey we were off the coast of Georgia and the wind did a 180-degree switch and moved to be right behind us and really picked up. As in went from 10 knots on the bow to 30+ knots from the stern. We really started to fly and the waves also picked up. So much so that we realized we would reach St. Mary’s River a full 12 hours earlier than we’d expected. Meaning … in the dark.

There was talk about skipping the area and going straight on to St. Augustine but I really wanted to enjoy some beach time at Cumberland Island. So we decided to go for it.

Flying into the St. Mary’s River with 6 foot seas on the beam and in a beam reach with a double reefed main and no jib and still going 7-8 knots trying to stay in the channel and not hit the two breakwaters that mark the entrance to the river. In the dark. It was quite the challenge.

We made it inside and lowered the sail and motored up into the anchorage at Cumberland Island. The wind was only 20 knots with the protection of the island and we were able to anchor well. That’s when we discovered that after we’d lowered the sail the thrashing in the wind had let the main halyard come loose and it went all the way up the mast. Someone was going to need to go up and get it.

But that was a problem for another day, for now it was just time to sleep. And sleep we did.