During a pitch dark sky, a crescent moon arose around 4 A.M. while sailing from Charleston to Fernandina Beach. John did most of the night watch on his BIRTHDAY. (We celebrated it with pineapple cake later.) When I was on duty, I set my timer every eight minutes and went out to check if there are any other ships nearby and things are okay. In eight minutes the boat travels about 1 mile. The sky was dark and the ocean was darker but I enjoyed watching many stars. John enjoyed the speed of sailing and sound of water splashing by the boat. The sailing distance from Charleston to Fernandina Beach is about 160 nautical miles, the average sailing speed was 7.6 knots (one nautical mile = approximately 1.151 mph or 1.852 km/h), (so 7.6nmh = 8.7mph = 14.1km/h). The trip took about 21 hours from anchor up to anchor down.
Finding the entrance of the port and approaching the channel in the dark made me nervous. All was good except I fell hard on the floor by trying to help my cat when a big wave impacted the side of the boat. So far, no black bruises on my cheek, luckily no broken bones. Cat handled it better than I did. She is still keeping her distance from me after this incident.
By the channel of Fernandina Beach, there are two paper mills (Rayonier Inc. and RockTenn). They are brightly lit with white steam coming out from tall chimneys. In Georgetown, North Carolina, there is the ‘International Pulp Mill Factory’. It says that ‘Each person in the United States consumes approximately 675 pounds (307 kilograms) of paper a year.’ That is about two pounds a day per person. Can you believe that? How about using less paper for packing Christmas gifts this year?
Downtown Fernandina Beach
Fernandina Beach is part of the bible belt. Lots of churches here.
Someone has a sense of humor about history.
Fort Clinch State Park Six Mile Hiking Trail – Worth Doing It!
T-Rays Burger Station, one of the Best Burgers I’ve ever had.