May 3rd

May 3rd. Got underway at 0800 for a 46 mile sail to Fort Oglethorpe on the Fredericka River in southern Georgia. We leave the Saint Mary’s inlet behind as we head into the Atlantic and turn north yet again.

The winds are predicted to be 10 to 15 knots from the east and we’re seeing 6 to 8 knots. It’s better than yesterday but not by much.

We came in through the Saint Simons inlet and were immediately inundated with flies. They’re kind of like the green heads back in New Jersey but slower and much larger. In the hour and a half from when we were besieged until we dropped the hook near the fort it was a non-stop slaughter. I spent quite a while tossing smashed flies over the side after dropping the hook. I lost count at about 170 victims of Christy’s “Swatter of Doom”. Thankfully as quickly as they had come, they disappeared, we didn’t even have mosquitoes. On the VHF I heard some guy explaining that the fly is the Georgia State Bird and that a Georgia man’s favorite cologne is Off

During the day we are visited by a pair of Finches. We were about 7 miles off and they landed on the boat and stayed for about 4 hours. The male was exceptionally brave and came into the cockpit for a couple of minutes about every ten minutes.



The dogs were really surprising as they weren’t interested in the birds at all. In fact several times as the birds traipsed through the cockpit they walked across both dogs.



We got to Fort Fredericka a few hours before sunset so we went over to Bedazzled for sundowners then we all took the dogs to shore together. Rick and Linda are traveling with their dog Kirby the wonder dog. We had the park to ourselves so we were able to let the dogs run free for an hour as we walked around the park. The fort is part of a state park that’s very remote so there’s hardly ever anyone here. This place is really very nice and anyone planning to pass through this area should consider this place a must see.