savannah bend marina, thunderbolt, GA.

we left beaufort before 7:00 a.m.  the fleet was breaking up as some of the boats wanted to "bump out," i.e. go out into the ocean and save some miles instead of meandering through the georgia ICW and possibly running aground in the trouble spots.  there was no sign at the SC/GA border.  once you enter the savannah river, you are in georgia.  i don't think i've ever actually STOPPED in georgia, not even by car!  eight of us wound up at the savannah bend marina in thunderbolt, GA,  some went ahead and anchored nearby or stayed at another marina and some went out into the ocean for an overnight sail to resurface in  florida.  for us, it was an uneventful short cruise - we crossed the potential trouble spots at high water and that was that.  the only thing was that there were no dockhands at the marina (holiday weekend) so everyone who got there first was helping everyone else.  "oy" is all i can say about that LOL...  tom and i don't like having help - too many people who think they are in charge when actually MOI is in charge :)  the only help i ever need is to let me know if i'm a starboard tie or a port tie and give me the right answer the first time so i don't have to keep moving lines around and be cranky about it!  there was a shrimp dock beside the marina and we lost absolutely no time running over there and buying 3 to 4 pounds of fresh, plump, juicy, yummy shrimp. 

the fleet folks were happy in this marina as they didn't have far to walk to get to the building with the showers (simple joys), and at cocktail hour, we all gathered at the marina office's wrap-around porch.  tom looked up how to clean shrimp and used a sharp pair of scissors and got all of our shrimp cleaned and deveined very quickly, some of which went to cocktail hour.   the other thing about this marina is that it is right ON the ICW so you can see everyone going by.  people you know, or boats you've encountered along the way,  and you can see them from the comfort of a rocking chair on the porch and just yell over if you have a big voice.