We used the free courtesy car at the Isle of Hope Marina to go to the grocery store and Home Depot (we’ve had a vexing plumbing problem so we had some bits to pick up; I’ll tell you about it later).

It was strange driving again – it felt very fast. Had to show you this picture – Phill thought the local candidate for district attorney had a funny name.

We left the Isle of Hope marina fully re-provisioned and with a temporary fix for the plumbing problem (it will get fixed permanently in Ft. Lauderdale).

Isle of Hope to New Tea Kettle Creek, Georgia (21 to 23-Oct-2012)

The engine was running fine – which was good because we were getting into a part of the waterway that was tricky to navigate. Lots of ranges and winding, narrow creeks.

A range helps you find the deepest water in a channel, and consists of two structures (one higher than the other) built on pilings, each with a striped board. The ranges we encountered were red with a central vertical stripe. As you enter the channel, you position the boat so that the stripes in the upper and lower boards line up to form an unbroken vertical line. This indicates that you’re in the deepest part of the channel.

There were several places where if you weren’t “in the range”, the water got shallow quickly.

We hadn’t seen many Confederate flags up until now, but there were a few on this stretch.

We anchored in the Vernon River. Another beautiful sunset – sigh.

The next evening, just before anchoring in New Tea Kettle Creek, I saw a manatee! Well, I heard it before I saw it. It sounded like a very congested person trying to blow his nose. I think all I saw of the manatee was its nose. We were told by a guy at the Isle of Hope marina that seeing a manatee is rare – he’s only seen two in all his 24 years, and he lives on the water. Well, this was the first of six manatees we’ve seen so far – and we have video to prove it.

Fort Frederica, Georgia (24-Oct-2012)

The next day we made our way to the Frederica River, which is off the main ICW. We anchored so we could visit Fort Frederica. James Oglethorpe was one busy dude!

Not only did he found the city of Savannah (well, the entire state of Georgia, actually), but he also built Fort Frederica.

We toured around and took in some of the history…

…and really got into it!

We enjoyed our visit and anchored that night about a half hour down the Frederica River. Our next stop was Jekyll Island, where we got “stuck” for 8 days. I’ll tell you about that next time…