July 10 2011 0045 (12:45am) Leaving the ocean

So being very pleased with the first open water navigation in a long time, and with the Crew all, asleep in the cockpit, I entered the Cumberland Sound from seaward.

It was soooo quiet, and sooo clear, and there was just enough moonlight to be able to make out vague features. The water was like a flat mirror.

In the song Southern Cross, there is a line that says something about "knowing why we came this way". It was that kind of feeling, where you say to yourself "all that other junk was worth it if it got me to this moment".

The engine had been working at about half power. I was not sure just why, but we were moving, it was dark, I was very tired, and I decided not to mess with anything as long as we were moving.

Britney and Nick were out like a light, exhausted from a tough day on awkward seas. Miss Bonnie had taken her evening meds she needs to deal with the effects of the her chemo, and was sleeping sitting up in the cockpit so the kids had room to curl up on each side.

We passed the Kings Bay Naval base where the Triton Submarines live. You pass right by it, but not too near because they get pretty tense if you get too close to their "Boomers".

I had paper charts to work with up to the point where we entered Cumberland Sound, and had lots of electronic navigation stuff as well. I had intended stopping in St. Marys GA to get the other paper charts I needed to proceed, but it was late and I decided to deal with it in the morning.

I noticed that the navigation lights seemed a little dim, then saw that other instruments had gone dead, and the engine seemed to be getting weaker and weaker.

I made a bad call at this point. I needed to go below and see what was causing the electrical problem, but needed someone to steer while I did it.

I awakened Miss Bonnie out of a very deep sleep, said "take this tiller and steer for a minute" then jumped below to check things.

This was in a very narrow channel, and about a minute later I felt the boat come to a pronounced stop.........

It was totally wrong and unfair to have put Bonnie in that position, and she had not had time to wake up or focus and she strayed out of the channel, and we were aground, the engine stalled, and would not restart. The batteries were all dead, the lights were out, the navigation stuff was blank.

It was 0300, I had been at it for 17 hours, I was very tired, and told everyne to go to their bunks and get some sleep.

For the next 2 hours I did what is called "kedging". This is where you do your best to throw an anchor out as far as possible, let it set, then haul it in, hoping you can pull the whole boat in the direction you want that will get you ungrounded.

Using 2 anchors, for the next 3 hours I tossed and pulled, tossed and pulled, until I finally got us of the bottom. I was exhausted.

I decided to just anchor there, and get some much needed sleep.

3 hour later I woke up, only to see that I had NOT gotten up into deep enough water, the tide had gone out while I was sleeping, and we were now aground AGAIN!!!!!!!!

It was 0800 and there was nothing to do but wait for the tide to turn and bring back enough water for us to float off and be on our way.

At 1530 (3:30pm) I finally had enough water up me to try to get away. I began to haul in an anchor and it seemed "hung" on something. I tried the stern anchore and got the same thing. After and hour of hauling, grunting and cussing, I finally figured out that during the night, with the turning of the tide the boat had spun a couple of times and the anchor lines (rodes) had become twisted on each other.

More cussing, grunting, tugging, and with the help of the Kids, I was able to untangle the mess.

Finally we were floating free, but still in a narrow channel, with no power, now batteries, and I had NOT gotten the fresh paper charts I needed so we were really going to have to be "Real Sailors".

For the next 6 hours we sailed under just the jib sail, through narrow channels, thru salt marshes, in switchy winds, with no charts. I think it was actually one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip for the Crew. We were doing some difficult sailing, and doing it well.

At about 2330 hrs (11:30pm) with a marina where we could make repairs, eat, shower, and just plain get off the boat in sight.....I felt the all too familiar thud of the keel of the boat going into the mud AGAIN.

I had done pretty well in such shallow waters all day, but in the dark, and with only 3 hours sleep in 2 days, I had run us aground again, within sight of our goal.

I tried to kedge again for a little while and then decided to just sleep it off, and deal with it in the morning.

I dropped a shallow anchor, and layed out in the cockpit (where I like to sleep when it's nice weather) and pretty much passed out.

I woke everyone, told