A New Plan

Skull Creek

32 15.11 N 080 44.73 W

Are we here because it's Halloween and this is Skull Creek?  No.  We were heading out to sea.  We just left the Port Royal Sound and were heading away from land when it hit me.   

I was feeling the wind on my face and listening to the NOAA weather radio.   Two things changed.  The wind direction and speed were not what was forecast,  we would be motoring into wind and waves and perhaps moving only 3.5 knots.   Too slow.  Second, the chances of a gale on Tuesday diminished.  Instead, starting Tuesday we may have a 4 day long window with N-NE winds about 20 knots.  A better plan emerged in my very slow brain.  I did a 180 degree turn, we motored back to the ICW and found this anchorage.

The old plan would have us motor 24-30 hours to Cumberland Island, spend a day or two there, then visit friends in Fernandina beach.  We would resume southward next weekend with only 6 days to get to Melbourne for the SSCA Gam on Nov 12.

The new plan has us hanging around for another day or so.  Then we'll be able to go to sea and sail instead of motor.   We could skip all of Georgia and northern Florida.  In three days we could make Port Canaveral, and still have 24 hours of margin left in the window.  That would put us on the Indian River with several days to spare.  It is a much better plan (I hope).  

There's a constant balance between get-there-itis (which tempts one to go when it's better to wait) and chicken (which tempts one to wait for the illusory perfect conditions.)  We strive to avoid either extreme.