Mangrove Cay to Brunswick, GA

On Wednesday morning we left the Crab Cay anchorage and had a delightful day of sailing 60 nautical miles to Mangrove Cay, a tiny island north of Grand Bahama. Just before 6 am on Thursday we left Mangrove Cay and set a course for the US. We had purchased a custom forecast from Chris Parker and his staff had given us the waypoints for the Gulf Stream entrance, the center of the Gulf Stream where the current is strongest, and the Gulf Stream exit. The wind was behind us and just light enough that we had to keep the engine on. In keeping with our new plan to run the engine at higher rpms, we kept it at 2200 rpms even though at times we were moving at 11 knots, with 4 knots of current helping us along. The seas weren’t too bad, mostly around four feet. When George gybed to head toward Brunswick at 4:50 am Friday morning the wind direction was less behind us and he could finally shut the engine off and sail for eight hours, until the wind shifted and we had to run the engine again. 

On Friday morning we received Chris’s forecast for the US east coast and briefly considered continuing on up the coast. But, after we discussed it, we decided to continue with our plan to stop at Brunswick. We arrived just after the sun had set and had the anchor down not long before 9 pm. It was challenging anchoring in the dark, but our night at anchor was peaceful. Since leaving the Bahamas we traveled 319 nautical miles in just over 38 hours, averaging 8.3 knots. 

This morning, after a leisurely breakfast, we moved a few more miles up the river to Brunswick Landing Marina. The increasing wind, along with the strong current, made docking at the fuel dock and moving into our slip quite challenging but we got it done. 

After checking in, we walked the short distance to the Farmers Market but the vendors were packing up since it was after noon & many had sold all their goods.  Next, we took long, hot showers and now we both feel much better. Even though we haven’t been here since November it feels like it was just yesterday. At this point it looks like we won’t have another weather window to continue up the coast for over a week, but that could change.  Stay tuned…

Sun rising as we leave Crab Cay. 

Mangrove Cay. It looks quite desolate with a lot of dead foliage. We have seen that quite a bit around the Abacos. 

One of the two ships we met in the channel entering Brunswick. We gave this guy a wide berth and are glad we didn’t meet him in the Devil’s Backbone!

The small cruise ship we passed while entering the Brunswick Channel just after sunset. You can see the bridge connecting Brunswick to Jekyll Island in the background on the right. We pass under that bridge to get to the marina but it has a clearance of 185’.