A beautiful, still morning in our secluded New Tea Kettle Creek anchorage. Cliff was up at 2am to check on the anchor at high tide and spent an hour or so “enjoying” the quiet dark and the stars that finally appeared. (They were no where to be seen when we went to bed because of a thick cloud cover.) He heard alligator bulls sending out raucous love calls, bullfrogs doing the same and the gentle swish of the creek current wrapping itself around the boat. For safety sake, we kept the deck lights on and I’m sure looked like a UFO to anyone with a view toward our boat. We learned that we were moored in a marsh and not a swamp despite the bellowing of alligators. Swamps are populated with trees; marshes feature grass. The specific grass here is called cordgrass and it feeds, protects and otherwise nurtures an abundance of marine and animal life. The water was glassy and nearly still as we ate breakfast as it was slack tide; the water ripples soon multiplied announcing a change in the current before we had the dishes washed. The cruise to St. Simons was mostly gray and it started to rain as we made the long u-turn into the water leading to Golden Isle Marina. Hot showers and fresh clothes were the first order of business before taking a taxi into the village of St. Simons. The shopping/restaurant area was a bit of a disappointment with mostly touristy tee shirt and souvenir stores and pretty ordinary looking restaurants, though Barbara Jean’s Restaurant’s claim of having the world’s best crab cakes was enticing. Fortunately, a salesperson Cliff encountered was polite in responding to his question as to whether there might be a shopping area with a Prada or something like that nearby. (Prada? Cliff?) She didn’t seem offended and answered, “You’d think with all the money on this island there would be. But nope.” We decided dinner back at the marina was a better bet and it was a good choice. We will have an early start tomorrow morning in order to cross St. Andrew’s Sound before the winds increase or decide to take a northerly bearing. We’ve been warned about how nasty the waters in the sound can be. In fact, our friend Ron Greeley advised us to stay put until weather turned fair. “Sell the boat if you have to,” he advised. We are taking his warning to heart!
