Tuesday, April 30, 2013 – Isle of Hope (Mile 590) to Beaufort (Mile 539):

            Awoke to a dramatic sunrise, but there was no time to enjoy it.  Slack tide was coming up shortly and we were sandwiched in between two boats, and we had to make tracks to leave before the current started running again.  We ate a quick breakfast and told Kitty Cat to head for the covers.  The nice man who lived on the catamaran next door who played Jimmy Buffett music till the wee hours came out in his bathrobe and helped us get off. 

Sunrise at Isle of Hope, Georgia

            There is another factor in this area that I now realize we have to deal with and that is BUGS!  Especially those nasty “no-seeums.”  Annoying little bitey things.  The laundry room was full of them yesterday, and we had to keep the boat closed up because they are so small they can get right in through the screens.  Oh well, you have to take the good with the bad!

            After we left the Isle of Hope Marina we headed back up the Skidaway River.  The tide is low right now and the shoreline is interesting with the muddy banks exposed.  One very nice thing about the morning is that the wind is very calm.

            There are some huge, palatial homes along this stretch of Georgia.  I suppose as we are close to Savannah, this stretch along the water is more affluent.  We also pass Thunderbolt Marine along this stretch, and I wondered if the “boat-munching” shrimp would remember that they fled our boat when they saw all the mega yachts at this marina on our trip south, and would they return to our boat as we passed by going north.  Bob also remembered that Thunderbolt advertised that they offered their customers Krispy Kreme donuts.  I still wonder why we didn’t stop there!

Cemetary near Savannah

We approach the Sam Varnadoe Bridge (which I think used to be called the Causton Bluff Bridge), and I radio the bridge tender and ask him what his clearance is, and he replies 30’ (usually there is only 22’ at mean low tide, but we are lucky and can easily get under the bridge without an opening today).  We are motoring very slowly this morning (which I love) in order to get the right tides and currents as we approach the Savannah River, Field’s Cut, and the Port Royal Landing Marina where we will spend the night.

Two men fishing on the banks

The sky is bright blue, but, unfortunately, there are huge, billowy white clouds mixed with some dark, rain-filled clouds trying to take over the blue sky.  I hope the weather holds out for us today.  As the tide is low, there is a decaying vegetation odor around here from time to time.  However, the shoreline is stilled lined with one McMansion after another, though some of them are quite beautiful with lovely landscaped grounds.

The Skidaway River runs into the Wilmington River, and then you turn left into the Elba Island Cut and then cross the Savannah River and on into Fields Cut which leads to the Wright River, then left into Walls Cut and into the New River.  From the New River you turn right into Ramshorn Creek and right again into the Cooper River.  All these little twisty, windy rivers are quite beautiful in the morning and incredibly quiet.  We are the only boat out here other than for a few people fishing again.

It looks like the boat is aground in the marsh but it's really in the river

WE ARE NOW IN SOUTH CAROLINA!

The Cooper River finally takes you into Calibogue Sounds and past Hilton Head.  We head up Calibogue Sound and turn right into Skull Creek and then cross Port Royal Sound.  You are not supposed to cross Port Royal Sound if the wind is coming from the west, but today it is just a little breezy and the water is calm.  We get across all this water with no trouble at all.  From Calibogue Sound you turn up into the Beaufort River and there the green and red marks reverse!  So you have to pay close attention to what you are doing! 

The Beaufort River takes us to Port Royal Landing Marina, which is just outside Beaufort, South Carolina, one of our favorite places.  We have a much better arrival at this marina today than we did when we came here in November.  I won’t go into all the gory details again, but I will still say that it was all my fault and I took full responsibility because I had angered the Sea Gods.

They have a little restaurant here at the marina, and Bob has suggested we go there for dinner.  That works for me!

Tomorrow – we’ll see what the weather holds!