NEW KETTLE CREEK, GA

Yesterday we spent a weather day at the Jekyll Island dock.  Overcast and occasional heavy rain in scattered thunderstorms gave us some time to see parts of the island.  This was once the winter playground for the rich and famous such as the Rockerfellers, JP Morgan, etc.  The island is owned by the State of Georgia and the residents lease the land under their homes from the state.  Redevelopment on the island has come to a halt due to sate budget constraints.  Gee, that's unusal! It's a nice place but woldn't want to live here.

I had plenty of time to make phone calls re: control problems.  I found that the controls are made by a company in South Carolina and was able to get through to a very helpful customer service rep at that company.  Turns out he is the same person the Cummins rep consulted with last Friday while we were in Jacksonville so he was familiar with our problem. He was aware that the Cummins tech in Ft Myers installed a new throttle control at the pilot house station so he suggested that I install the original control unit at the fly bridge station because the diagnostic tests he talked me through indicated that that could be where the gremlins are hanging out.  I made the change over last night and called him back this morning so that he could talk me through reprograming the unit so that it could be used on the flybridge.

We departed Jekyll late in the morning accompanied by KIM JO III, the people from Montana.  We made our way across St Simmons Sound, traveled along the Mackay River, crossed Doboy Sound and the Mud River (all parts of the ICW) and pulled into New Kettle Creek to anchor for the night.  The creek is on the west side of Sapelo Island which is the home of the the Blackbeard National Wildlife Preserve. This area is know as the coastal lowlands and if you Google map the are you can see that it is mostly marshlands and the ICW snakes though the marshes and is subject to severe shoaling.  Travel guides suggest that passage through areas of the Mud River be made only at or near high tide.  It was a drizzly overcast day.  The WX and navigation combination made it seem like a very long day.  The WX forecast for the next few days may force us to find a dock to hang out at while a few fronts make their way through.

The good news is that we had no throttle problems but then again I could not work from the fly bridge  to control the engine from that station due to the WX.  Maybe I can try it tomorrow.  Otherwise the boat is operating well and we are enjoying operating from the pilot house.

Y'all stay vertical,

Capt John and First Mate Sue