Guided Discovery: Now Georgia - Day 215 - Fernandina Beach to Brunswick, GA

Conventional wisdom (i.e., local knowledge obtained from fellow boaters) universally favored running offshore rather than the Georgia ICW between Fernandina Beach and Savannah, GA. Most boaters felt the ICW had too many shallow spots and was difficult to navigate. However, after carefully studying the cruising guide, the tide tables and talking to Rich, the local TowBoat US Captain (i.e., the guy who tows the boats that have aground), we decided that the benefit of running on protected waters outweighed the potential obstacles. Rich, advised me to run the segment from Jekyll Marina to St Simons Sound on a rising tide as it is narrow and shallow at mean low tide. Fortunately, the tide tables showed that if we left early we would take advantage two feet of tide at our expected time of arrival.

So, on Wednesday, we departed Fernandina Beach bound for Brunswick, GA. Our route took us to Cumberland Sound where we turned north up the main channel to just south of Crab Island where the channel intersects with the ICW. From there we crossed St Andrews Sound, which is open to the Atlantic, and at mile marker 690 turned sharp left and proceeded northwest to the ICW channel on the west side of Jekyll Island. Except for the Jekyll Marina, just north of mile marker 685, the Jekyll Creek segment of the ICW runs through the Georgia marshes.

As we exited Jekyll Creek into St Simons sound I observed a low rock wall to the west, which suggested that the Army Corp of Engineers had installed these to inhibit shoaling. As Rich predicted, we observed 3 feet of water under the boat for about 100 yards. Scary. Three feet means that we had one foot of water under the props. Fortunately we crossed just about an hour and a half after high tide and still had the benefit of "high" water. From there we turned west up the main channel to Brunswick in deep water.

Brunswick was worth the effort. We experienced a very friendly town (based on the people we met). The lady at the marina was terrific. Typically, a marina will give you a packet of information. At Brunswick, she gave us a detailed briefing on the local area. We then took a walk through town and found a neighborhood cafe where we had lunch and a great discussion with the owner (courtesy of our social director).

Dinner was at Brewburgers where we met Candy, the most unique waitress we've every met. While dinner was excellent, Candy personality and approach made it pure entertainment.

Brunswick itself was a bit depressed although the town fathers have tried hard to make the Newberry Street historic district attractive. Unfortunately, the economy here is weak and that was evident by the lack of activity. The historic district is about a held a mile long and then continues into a residential district. Here too the nice home disappeared quickly and are only found on Newberry Street.