Tropical Diversion: ICW-Georgia

We’ve been cruising up the ICW for 3 days now and we are about half way through Georgia. Sometimes it’s a very slow ride because we’ll be going directly into the current and only do about 2 knots then the tide will shift and we’ll speed up to 4-5 knots. There hasn’t been any wind so the sails are useless. Yesterday we had a little bit more wind (around 5-6 knots) so Wes would put out the jib sail but then we would hit a curve and he’d have to pull it in. At least it’s a very smooth ride. We’ve only had to have one bridge lifted so far and that was down in Florida when we first entered the ICW at Jacksonville. We actually stayed in Jacksonville (Sister’s Creek) for three days because we were able to tie up at a free dock. They have several of these along the ICW I guess. This one even had free water.

We rented a car and ran all over Jacksonville picking up things that we’ve done without for several months or things we needed that we couldn’t find down in the Caribbean. We were a bit overwhelmed because there were so many shopping centers and stores to buy stuff that we just weren’t use to having so many options. We also had to find customs so we could check into the US, which was an adventure. We found the office after driving about 25 miles inland only to find out they moved. I thought it was strange that the office wasn’t right on the water like all of the other customs offices in the Caribbean. Once we were able to find it, we found out that we were suppose to call in first and have them complete all the information over the phone then go to the office for a face to face. This was the strangest check in process we encountered our whole time down here, but we were finally able to check in after about 5 hours. We kept the car for two days because Wes’s sister and her family were flying into Jacksonville to visit family so we were able to meet up with them for a few hours on Saturday, which was nice.

There isn’t really much along the ICW in Georgia. You will go for miles before you see any boats, people or structures. Sometimes the water will be really wide then it will get very narrow. It is so different than the cruising we’ve been doing, but we have seen more dolphins inside the ICW then we saw out in the Caribbean.