What a great nights sleep in the New Teakettle Creek last night. It was so quiet and peaceful. We left the anchorage early this morning and made our way back to the ICW accompanied by our friends from Montana in their boat. The WX forecast for the day was not good. If we had been in a marina we would have stayed at the dock but decided that being anchored in the creek all day would probably not be good. The rain started soon after we left followed by increasing winds and scattered thunderstorms. At one point we were overtaken by a squall line the produced heavy rain, thunder, lightning and strong wind gusts. The other boat did not have windshield wipers so we decided we would lead the way and they would follow in our wake in the reduced visibility. It's days like this that make Sue and I appreciate the pilot house even more. In fact sitting there in a plush seat with all of the electronic instrument guidance, autopilot, radios and great visibility brought back memories of the A300, especially when a flight attendant (retired) brought me lunch ;-)
The inclement weather lasted all day and changed our plans to anchor out again tonight. We passed our intended anchorage by and pressed on through the Georgia low country. The bending and weaving through the marshes became tedious in this weather but we pressed on and actully covered more distance than we planned. Despite the winds, etc, the surface conditions remained fairly smooth as we passed through confines of the ICW. We were able to time the tides fairly well and made it through the reported shallow ares without incident. Even the crossings of Sapelo Sound and St Catherin's Sound were no problem. Transiting Hells, Gate between the Ogeechee River and the Vernon River near low tide was interesting and we were able to 'sneak' through without touching bottom. We were beginning to think that all there was to the coast of Georgia was marsh until we came upon Burnside Island where the shore was lined with georgeous homes and trees as we neared the Savannah area.
We are now docked at the Isle of Palms Marina which is very near downtown Savannah. The rain was still with us when we arrived and we now have drizzle. The marina has loaner cars and we put one to good use by finding a good restaurant for dinner. Tomorrow's weather is not looking good so we may stay here another day and see historic Savannah.
The weather kept me from operating the boat using the fly bridge throttle controls but we had no issues operating from the pilot house.
Y'all stay vertical,
Captain John and First Mate Sue
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