"Volans": A Boat. A Fish. A Constellation

 10/26/21 Woke up a little close to the marsh so we got an early start. We cruised through Jax, St Augustine, and ended up at Palm Coast marina for the night. There are a surprisingly few number of places to anchor or stay in such a boaty state.  Another 91 miles today.  The last Georgia sunrise for a while... Tug n barge Jacksonville, Florida A really bad day. We passed him just minutes after he did it. He was fine and in communication with the coast guard. He walked away from the helm "for just a minute!".  St Augustine lighthouse. A shrimp boat with some extra long outriggers. The bridge of LIONS! Roar? "So we built another castle. And that one, also, sank into the swamp."  I'm not really sure what the story is, but it's a little castle in the mangroves. Just south of Saint Augustine. Looking pretty Florida-y!! At the dock!  You know you're in Florida when.... Dinner. Pulled pork. It's no Marine rescue squadron bbq, but it certainly checked the bo...

 10/25/21 We're about 5 miles from the border, anchored in a little creek just south of Jekyll island. We covered a meandering 95 miles today, leaving Coffee Bluff around 930 this morning and dropping the hook at 7 pm.  We tried to make a run outside, in the ocean, but it was a little lumpy so ran back into the next sound south, St Catherine's and continued down the ICW. This was actually one of the first days we ran from inside for any length of time. It was raining. Nice to get a freshwater rinse. Yep. Rain. Ever seen it before?  Ketchup!!! Sweet sweet ketchup!  Em drove for most of the day. I caught her looking like Steve zissou at one point.  Lots of dolphins today. Here's Maizey on patrol in her bulletproof uniform, I mean flowery life jacket.  She looks like Dwayne Johnson, ready to rumble, with her muscles bulging out of a Hawaiian shirt. Donkeys! A new critter to add to the list. On one of the little islands in the low country.  There's a littl...

 Oct 24 Pulled into coffee Bluff around 6 after an early start. It was great to see the gang again!  0515, the alarm went off. The Volans kind of looks like the Nautilus in the old "10,000 leagues under the sea" movie.  We saw another PDQ! This one was in Thunderbolt, GA.  Here's a terrible photo of the amazing welcoming committee. They brought us ketchup. We ran out a little over a week ago! (Gasp! The horror!) Some old, familiar sights start to appear, on our approach to what was our home dock for three years. Buncha kooks in Volans swag waiting to catch our dock lines. Stylin!  The rest of the evening was spent sober and civilized, with a prompt 0800 bedtime. (I just spit my beer out, trying to proof read that!!). It was really good to catch up with some great friends. It made for a solid recharge for the soul along our journey. 

 10/23/21 We really made it to the low country today! After a beautiful night in the Cyprus swamp that is northern South Carolina, we broke through to big tides, oysters, and mud flats. We were noticing a strange vibration in the post engine at certain rpms. I finally got in to check for anything in the prop. See the photos below to see what I found...Here's some photos to catch you up from the last three days! Shrimp boats.  This is it. The finest cuisine in the world.  We make a grocery store run in Carolina beach. We had to carry everything almost a mile, back to the dinghy. We brought every ounce of this stuff we could carry.  Highlights from the last couple days:  "Old Smokie". Probably has a brand new, tier IV emissions common rail biodiesel Scania in there.  Motorized tiki hut. "But officer, my only option was to drink and drive!"  Sarah's house. Yeah that's a life size mermaid sculpture. Lighthouse for the calendar. Lighthouse keepers marina, S...