Friday, Nov 11, 2011 (11/11/11) Cumberland Island anchorage

Happy birthday, Morgan!

  I was up early to light the alcohol stove and check the anchorage.  All 3 of us boats had weathered the wind and were sitting in the same spots.  The morning was calm and sunny.  We heard the moorings in Fernandina Beach were miserable with 3 foot waves coming into the mooring field.  We were much better off in our little anchorage.

  We left the anchorage late morning and anchored across from the Sea Camp Ranger Station.  After we got settled, a whole line of boats came into the anchorage.  We ate lunch then launched the dinghy and went ashore.  The Ranger Station was closed for the season but there was a ferryload of school children and other children camping.  We saw no armadillos—do they hibernate??  Walked to Dungeness Ruins and saw horses all over the fields.  Then on to the cemetery and beach where the walkways took us past some marsh at low tide and a large flock of egrets and ibis were feeding in a tidal pool.  I also saw a ray stirring up the mud and coming up to feed.

  Walked along the beach and gathered shells, Shark Eye, Lightning Whelk, and Fig Whelk.  Lots of horseshoe crabs of all sizes washed up along with the shells.  Children were playing in the surf, some in jeans and shirts.  We took the long walk up the Sea Camp Beach then through the forest of live oaks laden with Spanish moss, almost blocking out the light.  After a rest in the rocking chairs at the Ranger Station, we converged on Blue Planet for drinks.  It was a beautiful, calm, peaceful night—quite a change from the previous night.