After arriving we noticed some fellow MTOA members docked across the fairway from us.... Robert and Kay Creech aboard C-LIFE. We were able to spend a little time with them having cocktails on their boat and dinner at the marina restaurant. Always nice to run into good friends like the Robert and Kay.

In the morning wind and current conditions were going to make it tough for Robert and Kay to get off the dock without hitting either the boat in front or behind them without a dockhand. Little after 0700 I went over to assist them getting off the dock and watched as they backed out of the fairway. Once they were clear I returned to SAILS and we were off the docks at 0730.

As we backed away from the docks I felt a vibration in the steering wheel... normally only feel this when the props are fouled with barnacles... I knew that was not the case and figured it was just backing in the strong current.

Once out and clear of marina I brought SAILS up to cruising RPM... VIBRATION in the starboard engine... checked the engine room camera and all looked good... put the engine in reverse and increased RPM slightly... felt vibration for a few seconds and then it stopped... back in forward and vibration was gone... evidently during the night the current had swept something into the prop and undocking fouled it in the prop. A couple of time during the morning as we cruised I felt the vibration for a brief period and then it would stop... something on the prop was freeing itself... no vibration all afternoon... at this point I am not diving under the boat... but may have to if vibration comes back tomorrow.

We arrived to Elliots Cut just before Charleston and turned to starboard and continuing up the Stono River toward St. John's Yacht Harbor... no marina tonight though... we dropped the hook just north of the marina at 1630. Our location for the night N32°45.440', W080°00.654'. We traveled today for 9 hours covering 57.4 nautical miles averaging 6.4 knots.

We experienced the same wind and current effect at the marina as we had in Walburg Creek... tide ripples and big enough to slap the bottom of the dive platform... did get a little more rest though as sitting tied to the dock gives you a more secure feeling than hanging on the anchor in high winds and current.

We departed earlier than we have the entire trip so far... leaving at 0715 to give us an early arrival time to our destination for the night... Port Royal Landing Marina. Susan was not thrilled with the Publix on Skidaway Island... saying it was "weird"... she did get a few things but the stop at Port Royal will allow her to use the courtesy car they have and go to a "real" Publix per Susan... Can't see what could be that different but she's the boss when it comes to the grocery... :)

It was supposed to be another windy gloomy day but it turned out to be much nicer... winds were down to 20 knots and we sw something we had not seen in a few days... THE SUN! Even saw a few boats moving today compared to the last few days.

One interesting thing that happened was the dredge at the Savannah River and Fields Cut... the dredge and its lines were totally blocking passage into Fields Cut... we had to wait for the dredge to move away from the shore and then pass between it and the shoreline east of Fields Cut and backtrack to the entrance. If you have been through this area and know about the shoaling at the entrance to Fields Cut... don't get exicited thinking they are dredging this... NOT... they are working on the ship channel in the Savannah River... :(

We arrived to Port Royal Landing Marina and were securely docked at 1545. Our location for the night... N32°23.766', W080°40.665'. We traveled today for 8 hours and 30 minutes covering 54.7 nautical miles averaging 6.4 knots.

We had one heck of night on the hook here in Waburg Creek... when we anchored the winds were NE and we had great protection... during the night the wind shifted to NNE, whch was just enough to allow the wind to rip down the anchorage. To add to this, when the current switched to ebb (outbound) it was running so fast and in the opposite direction of the wind... we started seeing these 1 foot waves forming... little swells that were just big enough to slap the bottom of the dive platform causing a lot of noise... slapping of the waves gusts of wind... we did not sleep that well... :)

Morning arrived after a restless night and we decided to get underway... Yesterday we had found a marina with space and a courtesy “Golf Cart” that we could take to the grocery... a Publix... Susan loves Publix.... :) Only problem was that we would have to wait for a mid tide to get in to the marina... mid tide was about 1230 and we were just 3 hours away which meant a laate departure.

We were underway at 1000... after fighting to get the anchor up for 15 minutes... normally takes 5 minutes... the wind and current made it very difficult.

We had to cross St. Catherine's Sound as we exited Walburg Creek... compared to the other sounds that had been rough this was a calm crossing... not smooth by any means, but not an issue... the winds switching to more NNE I think really helped to keep it calmer.

We had to go about 20 miles to reach the marina... we had never been there before.. in fact we never realized it even existed. Delegal Creek Marina on Skidaway Island. The channel has a shallow spot in it that at mid tide (+4 MLW) was about 7.5 feet... other than this one spot the channel was 15 feet plus.

We crossed through Hell Gate and straight across Ossabaw Sound to the marina channel. BTW Hell Gate was not an issue at mid tide... low tide wouldof been skionny but still passable with our 5 foot draft.

We were securely docked at Delegal Creek Marina at 1330. Our location for the night... N31°53.460', W081°03.722'. We traveled today for 3 hours and 30 minutes covering 19.5 nautical miles averaging 5.6 knots.

After docking we checked in and took the golf cart to Publix through a very nice upscale community designed for golf cart traffic. The marina office gace us map of the community that showed all the golf cart trails... pretty cool. Pubix was about 3 miles away and took us about 20 minutes make the trip. Publix even has designed parking spaces for the golf carts... :)