Hilton Head & Savannah

A little shade while motorsailing

Beaufort to Hilton Head Cooper River Anchorage:  We get a slow start today, since we were waiting for the tide.  The Captain deliberately left the dinghy in the water and the kayak untied so he'd have something to slow him down in the morning when he got antsy (he said it folks!)  The Captain releases the lines from the mooring ball and the First Mate takes the first leg.  It's a nice cool morning with little traffic.  We have the tide in our favor so we are motoring with one engine at idle and still doing 5 kts.  We clear the first bridge and unfurl the genoa.  We realize the genoa is shading the trampoline up front, so we take turns sitting in the shade up on the bow, with a breeze coming up through the trampoline.

Anchored near Hilton Head

We cross a couple big rivers and inlets as we weave our way to Hilton Head island.  The dolphins arrive and continue to make appearances and we make our way to an isolate offshoot to anchor for the night.  Two dolphins stay and play just off the shore while we get settled in (I lost track at 12 and we see our first tail flap!).  Buffalo chicken sausage and broccoli are cooked on the grill.

Craig is reading the Fatty Goodlander book, Creative Anchoring so most of his sentences now start with, "Fatty says...."

STATS:  we passed over 900 miles!  Total time 5:51, total miles 28.8, avg speed 4.9

She didn't notice the bird sitting on the dinghy davit, but the flag is fascinating

Hilton Head/Cooper River to Savannah/Isle of Hope marina:  The anchor is up and we continue motoring down the ICW.  More zig-zagging through various rivers and cuts today but still relatively remote.  At one point we see only 4 ft of water (that wouldn't work for a monohull!)  The tide is up to 7 ft so now we have to worry about whether the current is with us or against us AND if there are any shoaling spots that would affect us at low tide.

We're in Georgia!

Causton Bluff Bascule Bridge

We pass Bonaventure Cemetery from the movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil on the way into Savannah.  We arrive at Isle of Hope marina at slack current, so docking is easy (but the spot is EXACTLY 36 ft!)

The a/c is hooked up, and we borrow to courtesy car to head out to Your Pie (because they had gf pizza--Hippie no spinach or tofu extra mushrooms), WalMart and back (when cabin reaches 77F, I put on a sweatshirt!)

STATS: Total time 4:38, total mileage 20.3, average speed 4.4

Your Pie in Savannah.  GF Hippie, no tofu, no spinach, extra mushroom

Day 2:  It's our 3 month anniversary of living on the boat.  To celebrate, I defrost the fridge and My Captain, Oh Captain goes to West Marine, then to buy a coax cable so we can watch cable TV while we're in marinas (we're surprised how often that is available at the dock).  We make a BIG grocery run to Publix (Yeah!) and grab more pizza from Your Pie to go.  I spend the afternoon organizing groceries and then do laundry.  The boat boat gets a wash down and water tanks are refilled.  Then it's cable TV in the air conditioning.

This is a nice little marina which is why we're leaving.  They're throwing us out because they are booked for the holiday weekend.  We didn't get a chance to walk through the tree lined neighborhood or check out the Wormsloe historic sight.  They have bicycles to borrow that we didn't even use (shocking!).  Good stop (but no sidewalks--use the car or bicycles).