12/5/15   Saturday  

Out not-nearly-as-early-as-we-promised each other but we left Beaufort, SC this morning.

Alice and John's boat

Since Charleston on Thanksgiving Day we're paying MUCH more attention to the tides and planning to travel on rising and high tides...avoiding all the "skinny water" by waiting until it is fatter! We also spoke about how we get snippy with each other upon leaving after being in port for more than a day. Agreed to review all the charts and "how to motor", how to read the buoys and markers before we started the engine, just so we both had a better idea of what the other was thinking and knew how/when to do. And we didn't snipe at each other today.

David took us under the first bridge at Port Royal then I took over the helm for several hours. I got to cross the Port Royal Sound with...wait for it....wind against tide. Not terrible but lumpy and tiring. I was tired afterwards anyway. But the day was beautiful. And the WHITE sand beaches of the backside of Hilton Head were lovely, too.

Even the Shrimp boats have white wall tires

Lots of twists and turns again today but mostly easy passage. Saw some fall colors even here in Georgia (! we're in Georgia now!)

And fall colors of a different sort. I'd seen the top of this vessel and wondered at a hugh, white building on top of a hill...in the middle of the low country??? We were glad to be out of the Savannah River before it came around the bend.

Container ship trying to disguise itself as colorful trees

Friends, Darlene and John, texted us to see where we were. They were about 1/2 hour ahead of us. My energy was waning and I wasn't sure we'd make Thunderbolt today, just past Savannah. But David soldiered on and we came into the same river to anchor. No energy to get together tonight though. Perhaps coffee tomorrow morning before we all take off again.

Meanwhile, we saw a Holiday/Christmas Boat Parade!!! We were sorry to be missing the one in Beaufort tonight and we saw a couple of decorated boats in the marinas a few miles from our anchorage. AND, we spied those same boats with their lights blazing as they lined up for a parade somewhere not in our sight. WONDER-full! And the commentary on ch11 as the captains talked to the organizer - "Are the boats in numerical order?" "That's a negative." "I'm boat #16. I was given that number." "Okay, #16, are you the 40' catch rig?" "Slow down. The sailboats are having trouble keeping up with the wind and current." (that wind against tide thing again). "Everybody, say who you are, your number and your theme as you pass the watch boat." "Oh, except boat #1 won't do that 'cause he doesn't have a radio."  What?!? No radio and they are out in the dark...in a parade??? Reminded me a bit of Freeport's July 4th parade. One boat had a very large palm tree (lights so the branches/fronds were at the top of the mast and the trunk down the mast.)

In the dark this was mostly blue and the largest in the parade

It really was a child's delight. Both David and I had our binoculars, called our friends but they were less impressed. We were far away. And we DO have a pilot house to keep us warm as we watched.
There were 18 numbers in the parade but #s 2,3,4 and 6 "don't exist" according to the organizer on the radio.

Meanwhile, my boat garden is blooming, just in time for Christmas and with Christmas color.