November 25th- Duplin River to Jekyll Island

Today I knew we were going to cross through the shallowest part of the Georgia Intracoastal. We left Duplin River at high tide. After crossing Doboy Sound we quickly traversed a few creeks/ rivers. This brought us to the Little Mud River. The Army Corps of Engineers has not dredged this area because the bottom is some kind of liquefied mud. The EPA won’t allow it to be dumped on the side of the river. Transporting the spoils out to the Atlantic is cost prohibitive. They have been experimenting with spraying the mud out into the marshes. Hopefully that’s the solution. We hit the Little Mud while the tide was still high. With an 8 foot tide, I didn’t even break a sweat. The next section, Altamaha River, is also described as “depressingly shallow”. With help of the tide and a beautiful sunny morning, we had an enjoyable ride.

There were around half a dozen houses located out on islands in the marsh. No water. No electricity. They must be self sufficient (like a boat). We also saw a group of bulls on one island.

Bird tree. All the white dots are birds.

The current was the same 50/50 mix, with and against us. It would be better if this buoy were leaning the other way.

Around lunch time we entered St. Simon sound. The Brunswick River empties into it. Brunswick is a busy shipping port.

We have a VHF radio in Catalpa with a very long range. I keep it on during the day (per Coast Guard regulations). Since it picks up a lot of radio chatter, I don’t pay much attention to it. I also have a really good handheld radio in the cockpit. It doesn’t have the range of the other radio but if I need to communicate with another boat or bridge, it works well. If it picks up something I listen.

When we entered the sound I heard a panicked voice calling the Coast Guard over the main radio. I turned on the handheld and it picked up the call. The problem was near. The Coast Guard responded. The captain’s response, “There are bodies in the water.” He gave his location which was a few miles from where we were. The radio lit up with CG station Brunswick, a tow vessel, and EMS. I could see the boats shooting across the harbor from various directions. A few minutes later the man came back on the radio and said that he was performing CPR. The CG radioed back some questions but there was no more radio response. He was busy. It made us sad that all this was happening on a nice, sunny, afternoon only a short distance away. Things go wrong sometimes. The sea can be a dangerous place. So can the highway. Upon further research I found out it was two men in a 17′ jon boat. One was resuscitated, the other deceased. A sad story.

Totally unrelated to the previous narrative, there is a capsized ship in St Simons Sound. It is the car carrier, MV Golden Ray. I read about it a few months ago. All of the crew were rescued. I believe they cut a hole in the hull to get the last few guys out.

MV Golden Ray

We next had to go down Jekyll Creek to get to our anchorage. It is shallow. I was told not to attempt it at low tide. One of the guide books says not to traverse it without local knowledge. By now it was dead low tide. I was in no mood to screw around, waiting for the tide to come in. We did it. At one point the depth sounder was reading just over 4 feet.

Jekyll Island Bridge.

We are anchored off of the Tidelands Nature Center. It’s a great spot to bring Ollie to. There is a marina close by for showers and exploration. We are going to rest here for a day. Still not sure what our Thanksgiving plan is.