Day 161: Back in SC

Thunderbolt, GA to Safe Harbor Port Royal, Port Royal, SC (docked)

June 25, 2022

The water was so calm this morning that we did not need to deploy John’s plan for departure – we were able to just back out. Mother Nature and Poseidon were on our side today.

Thunderbolt Marina had warm doughnuts for us – it’s apparently one of their cool traditions. Kind of cool that the town likes boaters, dogs and raccoons.

We had to go under one on-demand bridge today. It’s good to be here because there was no waiting at all (unlike south Florida…). I remember heading south under this bridge and being enchanted with the whole bridge tender thing.

When we headed south in January, the Port Royal Sound was so *sporty* that we turned back. Today it was a rolly enough that we closed the hatches and portlights but it was fun – no one got sick and we made good time.

This marina is one that is very familar to us. We looked at a boat here before we got Lailia and John spent a few days here getting fuel polished when he brought Lailia back to Johns Island. This was also our first stop when on our way south.

Tomorrow we will leave early and head to Charleston. Once again, we are reminded that the pace of trip is slow. By car, we could get to Charleston from here in under 90 minutes but Lailia will take most of the day to complete the journey.

Our former marina does not have space for us so we’ll be staying in a marina in town. It’s within a short distance to a lot of Charleston’s stores and restaurants, so in some ways it’s actually a better place to stay for a week or so before we explore further north.