Day 117 off to Hilton Head, South Carolina

We left the dock this morning at 8:25 am with a destination of Hilton Head, specifically Shelter Cove Marina. 

We took a planned 11 mile detour so that we could see the downtown Savannah area by boat. As we headed up the Savannah River, our first view was historic Fort Jackson, which protected Savannah from boats coming up the river.

The skyline is not impressive, but that is at least in part by design. Savannah has done a great job of historic preservation and keeping new construction in line with existing architectural elements.

We had seen the rows of restored warehouses two days earlier when we had walked along some of the waterfront two days ago. However, we got a much different perspective today.

We even got "waked" by a container ship as we were leaving the down town area. The ship was only partially loaded and was putting off a huge bow wave (> 6 feet). Like I said earlier, it was an 11 mile detour to go to downtown Savannah, but the views were definitely worth the time. As we continued our intended trip to Hilton Head, we continued to cross and follow parts of many different rivers.

With today's tides of just over 7 feet, we continued to experience the continual speed changes from less than 6 mph to over 11 mph several times. As we approached Hilton Head, one of our first views was the Harbortown Lighthouse, which is seen so often on TV coverage of golf tournaments. 

We arrived at our marina at 2:35 pm for a total of 46 miles in a little over 6 hours. The marina is like a big lagoon surrounded by 5 story condos that are actually nicely done (i.e. probably very expensive). At the far end of the marina there are three condos where the bottom floors are stores and restaurants. We walked down there for dinner outside at a Mexican restaurant complete with live music.

We did a quick walking tour of part of the area, and I stopped to give Poseidon a helping hand...  Okay, it is just a posed picture, and the statue is a giant sun dial. Tomorrow we plan to tour around the area and possibly spend some time on the beach. In an aerial view of the Hilton Head area, it kind of looks like a giant golf course, but other boaters have assured us that there is plenty to do and see here besides golf courses. Well, by then it was time to "rush" back to Lucky Us to listen to the Aggies versus Sam Houston State football game. after all, everyone has to keep their priorities straight!