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April 18-21, 2016  Days 14-17  Spring 2016

Port Royal Landing Marina
Port Royal, SC

Monday was a long, but necessary travel day on the ICW through northern Florida, passing by Jacksonville and Fernandina Beach. By 1:30, we were in Georgia!

We passed Cumberland Island, where we usually anchor, but pushed on farther this time. We reached St. Andrews Sound at 4:00. The waves weren’t too bad but the ocean had not calmed down yet from recent high winds.

Luckily, Brunswick Landing Marina (Brunswick, GA) was still open at 6pm, (thanks to two other late arrivals) so we were able to dock there at the end of an eleven hour day.

Sunset on the Crescent River in Georgia

Knot Too Big at anchor on Crescent River

We met three other Loopers on Tuesday morning and after getting fuel, we departed with Ken and Donna on Knot Too Big.  This was a day to watch the tides in Georgia. We knew we would arrive at the Little Mud River at low tide, so we stopped at 1:30 to anchor. Knot Too Big rafted to us and we had a nice visit with them.  By 3:45, we resumed our travel and continued on through the spots that now had enough water. We found a peaceful anchorage in the Crescent River where we spent the night.

We got another early start on Wednesday and continued north. More timing was needed to get through Hell’s Gate, but we did fine. Soon we were passing small towns, such as Isle of Hope and Thunderbolt, south of Savannah.  By 3:30 we entered South Carolina, feeling good about our progress.  We anchored in Bull Creek, by Bull Island (near Hilton Head) with Knot Too Big, rafting together again.  We had a very nice shared dinner of chicken, rice, salad, and bread and enjoyed the company!  We have anchored here many times in the past, so it was good to share it with others

On Thursday we said goodbye as they planned to go further. We just took a 3 hour cruise to Port Royal Landing, arriving at 11:15.  Joyce took the courtesy car to Publix to do substantial provisioning. Bill cleaned the boat while she was gone.  The salt accumulation was terrible!

We had a nice dinner on board and relaxed after our busy day. We will stay here at Port Royal on Friday as well.