Savannah, GA to Jacksonville, FL : Day 6 : Land Ho!

Todays workout - see Ariel waaaay back there?

Leg 1 : Day 6 (21MAR11)

Today was a land excursion day, the first day the family has touched
land in 6 days.  Everyone was excited about going to Cumberland island
and exploring.  The plan was for me to take them over in the dinghy
and then for me to return to the boat and wait until 1pm.  At that
time, I was to return to the drop off point and pick them up.
Everything went to plan!

When I dropped off the family, we were near the camp site of those sea
kayakers .... they had stayed the night.  On the way back to the boat,
I decided to bring the dinghy back gondola style.  Standing up like I
was riding a surf board, I took the long oar and slowly worked from
side to side propelling the dinghy and myself half way back to the
boat.  Then I elected to start up the dinghy's engine and enjoy fossil
fuels.  Rendezvousing back with Ariel was nearly perfect.  I had come
up behind Ariel (going into the current) and the dinghy engine cut off
as planned.... I glided to within 3 inches of the grab point!  I just

KJ and her field journal

missed, so as I floated back away, I started the engine back up and made another pass.  Perfect amount of throttle this time as I just drifted into reach of the boat's boarding ladder.

After the girls returned to the boat, I got the run down of the days adventure. I had asked KJ to draw pictures for me of the things she saw.  These were to be drawn in her field book.  I required 1 animal,
1 flower, and 1 building.  From KJ's pictures and her description, my job was to guess, for example, what animal she elected to chronicle.

Working water pump on Cumberland Island

My guess was wrong today, but it was a lot of fun. KJ had highlighted an Armadillo.  I was surprised to learn that those little buggers have made their way onto this island! I remember them making their way
across Texas, but how did they get here?  There are no bridges to this place.  Anyway, today was a good adventure day.