Cumberland Island to Charleston

We had a very pleasant sail from St. Augustine to Cumberland Island. Most of the Island is a National Park with a few private residences scattered about. This is one of the few barrier islands that still has live oak forests and in many places retains a wild untouched atmosphere.  We were able to anchor by the dinghy dock so going ashore was easy.  As we approached the island, the wild horses were grazing on the sea grass.  We hear that there are over 150 horses at last count.  They are feral and do tend to avoid the tourists passing through. Ferry boats bring people from the mainland for day-trips and to camp in the rather primitive campgrounds; they have no hot water so it felt luxurious to come back to Emme for a hot shower.   We walked over to the beach through the beautiful dunes and saw horseshoe crabs, numerous sandpipers and shells galore. We also hiked a mile or so down the sandy road to the old Dungeness mansion which was built and owned by Thomas and Lucy Carnegie.

 They entertained during the gilded age at this beautiful location.  They had a  green house, and a hunting lodge and were basically self sufficient.  We walked around the grounds of the burned out mansion trying to avoid the horse manure which was everywhere!  We read that the house ruins are inhabited by diamond back rattle snakes so needless to say we avoided that area.

 In the marsh area we saw hundreds of fiddler crabs scurrying around and diving into holes in the ground.  At first I thought they were giant spiders!!! There were many butterflies, lots of live oaks, grape vines, and palms.
We spent our first full rainy day just hanging out in the anchorage reading and cooking a few meals for our overnight sail coming up.

On April 1, we hauled anchor and set sail for Charleston, SC.  We started the day with fair winds and 1 foot seas.  The winds clocked around from the west to the NE to the E during the daylight hours so we were able to sail a good deal.  By sunset the wind had moved around to the southwest and was now behind us making a very lumpy wave combination.  This persisted all night long.  The sunrise was spectacular and with it the winds once again returned to the west and gusted to 25Knots as we sailed the final leg into Charleston Harbor.  We tied up to the dock as the sky was darkening.  A few drops of rain started to fall and then the wind picked up and up.  Our knot meter was still on and measured 42 knot winds which is about 50 mph.  We timed that one just right!

Now we will take our time to enjoy Charleston and what it has to offer.