Tuesday, March 24, 2009
24 Mar - Day #20. Clear, sunny, 60's. Sure can get used to this weather. With Dad now aboard we cast off from the Savannah Yacht Club, Savannah, GA, and head south. Trying to make a habit of checking-in on the Waterway Net. Our radio reception of the hams in the Bahamas is getting better as we head south. Added two new toys to Nellie yesterday: USB GPS and a wireless router for the Verizon AirCard. The USB GPS is a backup to the built-in Garmin system. In the unlikely event that both of Nellie's 5212 chart plotters (and dual GPS') go down, Nobeltec, running on a laptop and getting it's NEMA 0183 data from the USB GPS, will take over. Not sure when the chart plotter became a no-go item for us but it has. The solution to internet connectivity while underway is the AirCard. Yup it's expensive, but here we are deep in the Georgia marshes and still connected. The AirCard plugs directly into the new wireless router and now all three PCs aboard can be surfing at the same time. At midday the position reporting system (APRS) still shows us off Paris Island, SC and yet we're a good 100 miles south of that. As we approach Brunswick, GA, the APRS traffic picks up and we get our first signal out in almost 60 hours. We anchor in the Frederica River just north of Bruswick, GA. It's a narrow river with vast expanses of marsh grass all around and the occasional hammock with its densly packed live oaks. 73nm today: 726nm total. DBH
