We left Beaufort and encountered swift currents and 9 foot tides. When the current was with us we seemed to fly down the intercoastal. Likewise when the current was against us we just plodded along. From the bottom of SC and through Georgia the waterway takes you through many rivers connected by short man-made canals. You wind your way through many, many marshes seeing lots of herons and loons, as well as dolphins. It is mostly undeveloped and it is beautiful. We took many pictures and we'll get all of them organized and sent out once we get to Pompano Beach. 

On October 31st we were anchored off of Cumberland Island, which is the last island in Georgia. When you cross the St Mary's River you enter Florida. Cumberland Island is a national park area. They have many hiking trails and camp sites. We took the trail to the beach. The dunes have been left intact. The park provides a walkway and it reminded me of some areas I have seen up in the Outer Banks. The beach itself was endless. We wanted to get further south and didn't spend as much time there, but we hope to get back in the Spring.

In the anchorage there were about 25 boats. This was the largest amount of boats we have anchored with since we left Virginia. About 20 of the boats upped anchor in the morning and began their southward trek. Once you enter Florida you are immediately hit with the smell of a paper mill and a rayon factory in Fernandino Beach. Many boats do stop there but we felt the need to move on. Florida at this point still looks a lot like Georgia. Marshy and windy rivers.

The next day the scenery changed. We entered a very long canal south of the St. John's River. The houses being constructed were in the million dollar category. We wondered who all these houses were being built for. We found out later that since the inception of the Jacksonville Jaguar football team all of these developments sprang up. The houses are palatial. Further on down this same canal we started to see the older houses we remembered from our past trips. Many of those are being remodeled and we had lots of fun deciding which houses we thought were the nicest looking.

We are now moored at a friend's dock in Palm Coast. We are going to a picnic for all the ham radio operators that are also interested in boating tomorrow. It should be fun and we'll be running into some old friends from our past cruising days. After that we'll keep on heading down towards my parents visiting friends as we go. 

As always, thanks for your emails. It is so wonderful to read them and please let us know what you're up to. We look continually for fair winds and following seas.

Pam and Chris