I awoke at 4AM before any of the crew. Neither Happy or Brody came out from under the covers to join me. We are in Georgia and it’s only 40 degrees when I awoke.
Heck, the temps were going to fall deeper before the 7:13AM sunrise.
By 6:30AM the sky was starting to lighten up on the ICW.
I decided to walk out on the bow while underway and snap a picture and a quick video before sunrise.
Once the sun rose you could see it burning the face of the daymarks as we passed.
When you are at the helm for hours the internet is your entertainment. I was watching Mike-the-Drunken-Donkey from Mike’s Weather Page broadcasting FB Live video stream. I tuned in as Mike taught about weather and what to expect from the winter storm making its way across the US.
We were amazed at how flat calm the ICW was as we pushed along at 7 knots.
Not a frozen Lake but contrails in the reflected sky 
Daymarks Reflected 
Flotsam in the sky 
Flotsam everywhere 
My reflection as I snap a picture of the bow’s wake
At the helm I’m wearing my work pajamas because it’s still a bit chilly even with the diesel heat on. Happy just figured out that there is HEAT coming out of that little black round duct below the AC panel door. She parked herself right under my feet to steal all the heat.
We were making incredible time as we approached Cumberland Island in Georgia.
10.4 knots because we were enjoying a strong current on our stern.
Then as we looked out, we could see a current line on the surface of the water.
We feared as soon as we crossed this line that our 10.4 knot speed would begin to erode. We could never have guessed just how much.
Knowing we would face this current from our trip around Cumberland Island we attempted to ride close to shore looking for an eddy current (reverse direction). But alas it was no use. We had a long slow ride around the island.
Then it happened. We crossed over the state line into Florida’s Amelia Island A.K.A. Fernandina Beach. As we passed we saw a ship that looked like a member of the Sea Shepherd fleet. We snapped a photo on the way by and low & behold, it was a Sea Shepherd ship.
Kelly & I have always been fans of ocean conservation and the crew of Sea Shepherd work hard to keep our oceans and their inhabitants safe.
We are currently anchored in the Amelia River just over the GA-FL state line.
Today’s leg looked something like this finger drawn route.
MV Simple Life 