Day 13 – N 32° 23.643’ W 80° 40.669’ Port Royal, SC

Up at 07:00 with time for a nice breakfast before raising the anchor and getting underway at 08:10.  There is a bridge in the Savannah area that doesn’t open until 09:00, and we were anchored about 5 miles before that bridge, so we knew that it would take an hour or less to get there.  Of course it would have been even more pleasant if the temperature were above 40°F, but that was not the case.  As it turned out, we had a favorable current, so we had to slow down the engine to keep our speed at 5 knots until we reached the bridge.  Sure enough, we came around the final bend in the river at 08:55 and there was the bridge, with 2 other sailboats waiting for the opening.  We slowed down just a little and called the bridge tender to confirm the 09:00 opening, then passed through the bridge right on schedule.  After that there were no more low bridges before our arrival in Port Royal Landing marina in South Carolina.

About 2 hours into today’s voyage, we had to cross the Savannah River.  This is a very busy shipping channel and the ICW crosses right at a bend in the river, so it is hard to see what is coming.  But as much of the surrounding terrain is low marshes, we saw a large ship coming up the river about 5 minutes before we got to the crossing, and I knew it would be close if we tried to cross before it.  Peter’s rule #1: big ships sink little sailboats.  So Lyn radioed the ship that we would wait until it passed before crossing.  When we actually arrived at the crossing point, the ship was out of sight around the bend.  But we had said we would wait so we did, which was good because it popped into view a few seconds later.  However, looking upriver we saw that another large ship was coming from the opposite direction, although Peter judged that it was farther away from the crossing than the first ship.  There was also a small tug and barge kind of waiting across the river by the entrance to the ICW on that side, and a dredge operating on our side of the river just a little ways downstream.  With all that going on at once, it was a little hectic, but Peter decided to cross just behind the first large ship, before the second (outgoing) one got to us, and deal with the (slower) barge and tug as the situation developed.  His plan worked out just fine, and we were out of harms way in less than 5 minutes.

The remainder of our trip to Port Royal was mostly through rivers in marshlands of the low country of South Carolina.  Our trip today was only 40 miles from start to finish, and we arrived safely at about 16:00.  We were traveling in a northeasterly direction, and the wind was from the northeast, so we had very few opportunities to use our sails.  Near the end of our day, the wind had shifted to the SE and we had a long stretch of Port Royal Sound to cross on an easterly heading, so we seized the opportunity to get an assist from the wind.  Lyn set up a video camera to provide our readers with a taste of what sailing is about.  Enjoy.

Our friends, Bill and Cheryl Mote live here at Port Royal Landing marina, so we will spend a few days here to visit with them and enjoy the hospitality of South Carolina's lowlands before continuing our journey to Chesapeake Bay.