3 January - Day #32. We managed to escape the dock this morning. The brisk temperatures, as low as 20F, are motivating us to get to warmer climes. As we head southeast the heavily treed river banks slowly give way to millions of acres of grasslands. This is shrimp country and the grasses are their nursery. Big shrimp boats become a very common sight. In this stretch of the ICW the number of ocean inlets goes up dramatically; there's practically one every five miles. This has several impacts: the currents are strong; the waters are shallow; the channels are constantly moving; and, there are lots of big bodies of water or sounds to cross. The area is also a maze of small islands and oh so easy to get lost in. The GPS keeps us on track while the currents vary our speed from 4.0kts to 10.2kts. At 5pm we anchor in the 200 yard wide mouth of the Darien River. In only 15' of water we use 125' of chain--the current is fast and we want to sleep well. However, at midnight we're both wide awake thanks to the hisses and gurgles of the flood tide's crescendo. The picture above is the sunset in the Darien where we're currently at anchor, 5 miles southeast of Darien, GA. 57nm today and 727nm total. DBH
