First Ocean Voyage !

Elixir at rest in her slip at Delegal Creek Marina in Savannah

It all started on the last night of our Vacation.  After a week and a half of enduring cold weather on board Elixir, the last day turned out beautiful!  It was calm seas and 74 degree temps.  The night sky was awash with colors as though some unnamed painter had placed them there.  But of course, we had not planned to be out that day so the only great day of the vacation was wasted in port performing maintenance on the boat.  Some would say that maintenance is never a waste, but with Elixir only having been operational for a short time, I like to take advantage of every nice day to test out her capabilities.

Weather Channel said the next day (our travel day back to Albany) was going to be even better!  No rain, sunny skies, moderate wind, and 76 degree temps!  OK, enough is enough.  We talked it over and decided to stay one more day and take advantage of that great weather in the middle of November!

Ft. McAllister battle embankments

 But where to go?  Since it was a Sunday, the Fish Tales Restaurant we had tried to cruise to before would be open for lunch.  Yes, I double checked.

The problem was, low tide would hit just as we would return from the restaurant.  In case I haven't mentioned it before, we can not arrive or depart at low tide due to a sandbar that blocks the entrance to our marina.  So we had to kill at least two hours.  Well, we had yet to go out into the open ocean, so now is as good of time as any!

The day started out cold and dreary, but the Weather Channel said it would clear into that beautiful day, so we cruised down the ICW making our first trip through Hell Gate, a very narrow passage with sandbars lurking on either side just beneath the surface and out of sight, but not out of reach of the bottom of your boat!  We fell into a convoy of six other boats: four sailboats, one Kady-Krogen trawler, and one 65-70 foot yacht.  Following in their path, we made it through just fine and stayed with them until we reached the Ogeechee River, were we turned up-river.  After about an hour, we passed Ft. McAllister State Park.  I don't know the history of the park, but judging by the embankments and cannons I'm guessing it was a civil war fort.  We have made a note to make it a future destination to learn more about it.

view from Fish Tales

A little further up the river, we arrived at Ft. McAllister Marina.  The marina lets you tie up for free if you are having lunch at Fish Tales, which worked out since that is what we were doing!  We got there a little early and beat the crowd, which soon arrived.  The food was good and the view was great!  We will definitely return again.  After eating, walking the dog, and checking out all the boats in the marina, we headed back down-river.  The trip back only took half the time because we were running with the current.

wide open sea!

This time we bypassed Hell Gate and continued on out into the Ocean.  Our first time at sea!  We were amazed at the difference between the inland waters and the ocean.  The breakers were so loud that we could hear them over Elixir's engine even at a mile away!  The swells were very different from any waves we encountered in the ICW.  She would rise up on a swell without a hint of upward motion and then suddenly drop.  Instead of constant up and down, she would twist and turn and jerk as if the sea was trying to decide which way to throw us!  Marie and I both looked like we were drunk.  Abby had no problem with it because she just went below and curled up on the settee.  The great weather the Weather Channel had promised us never materialized and we were cold and wet under dreary skies, but all in all Elixir handled it very well and we had lots of fun.  Unfortunately, dark was soon to be upon us so we turned and headed back towards our marina.  When we arrived at the mouth of the creek, the sun had already set and we could only see by the remaining light of dusk combined with the rising of a full moon.  Even pushing it to that late, we passed over depths of only 4.5 feet (we have a 3.8 foot draft), so we could not have timed it any closer!  We continue to gain confidence in Elixir and our ability to handle her and plan to take many more trips in the future!